Silent Water (& Dream Books) Productions
Honoring the Difficult & Divine
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Our Mission
We will bring some of the most dynamic writers, artists and activists from diverse backgrounds to uplift books/art and spark change. The Diversity Project is a creative outlet dedicated to female and Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) voices, and a consulting agency supporting stores and venues looking to incorporate diverse representation to their customers and communities. The primary goal of The Diversity Project is to use various media platforms and promotional pieces to elevate unique BIPOC and female issues and stories.
Our Focus
Topical issues and relevant books will be presented by writers, other artists and agents of change. For too long BIPOC and women have been marginalized in the literary and activist circles, but recently their stories have become more appreciated and sought after. Now more than ever as the world is facing unique challenges and changing drastically on several levels, people need the healing aspect(?) of diverse and inclusive communities. As such, SWP will creatively and effectively connect the writers/artists with the targeted audiences and merchants.
Our Values
Educate I Entertain I Engage I Inspire
At SWP, we curate, promote and moderate live and lively topical interviews and other type of events with authors, artists and activists. We do so by using various media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook and other virtual outlets. Be it for our own SWP events or on behalf of our clients, we provide full service curation. From more simple one-on-one discussions, book promotions and launches, to complex special panel events, we bring all the necessary elements together. Whether virtually or in-person; whether intimate or larger functions, it all matters to us, and these presentations allow us and our clients to engage our audience.
Series Curator/Moderator
PAULA FARMER is a buyer and event host/moderator for Book Passage bookstores, having overseen hundreds of author events during her tenure there. In recent years, she’s been known for curating special panel events such as “Race in America” and “Immigration in America.” Additionally, she was selected to chair the Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee for the California Independent Booksellers Association (2019- present). Paula was recently (2021) selected by the American Booksellers Association (ABA) to be on their Diversity Equity & Inclusion committee board. Her background is as a news journalist/producer for outlets such as CBS Radio, ABC Radio, and a film and theater reviewer for the Detroit Metro Times, and Culture Vulture online arts magazine. After growing up in Detroit, and spending several years in New York, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where in addition to holding positions at Book Passage, she continues work as a freelance journalist and website writer. For more information on Paula go HERE.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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SPECIAL AUTHOR INTERVIEW EVENTS FOR Book Passage and other clients
Upcoming & Archive Client Events of Note
Native American Tribute Panel Event - Native American Tribute: Honoring Their Stories, Issues & Voices. Sausalito Books by the Bay is commemorating Native American Heritage Month with a special tribute event featuring writers, poets, artists and activists. We will uplift their voices, hear their stories, experience their art, and discuss relevant issues that impact us all. Join the in-person discussion and be a part of the celebration on Friday, Nov. 18 at 6:00pm. Panelists include poets Kim Shuck, Denise Low, Kurt Schweigman, Georgina Guardado, and documentary filmmaker Todd Darling.
Go HERE for event details
Fall Panel 2022 - For the Book Passage special panel events focus on timely issues with an impressive array of authors and activists well-versed on the subject. The event this fall is no exception as we feature an in-depth discussion on midterm elections 2022, voter rights, the importance of grassroots political movements and why voter engagement matters now more than ever. Curated and moderated by Paula Farmer, the panel will be navigating these issues. Panelists include the following:
Carol Anderson is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of the New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award winner, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. She is also the author of Eyes Off the Prize: The United Nations and the African American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944-1955; Bourgeois Radicals: The NAACP and the Struggle for Colonial Liberation, 1941-1960, and One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy, which was long-listed for the National Book Award and a finalist for the PEN/Galbraith Award in non-fiction.
Joshua A. Douglas of the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law is the Ashland-Spears, Inc. Distinguished Research Professor of Law. He teaches and researches election law and voting rights, civil procedure, constitutional law, and judicial decision making. He is the author of Vote for US: How to Take Back our Elections and Change the Future of Voting, a popular press book that provides hope and inspiration for a positive path forward on voting rights. His most recent legal scholarship focuses on the constitutional right to vote, with an emphasis on state constitutions, as well as the various laws, rules, and judicial decisions impacting election administration.
Anita Gail Jones - lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, but was born and raised in Albany, Georgia, and maintains a strong connection with this southwest corner of the state. In fact, it is that connection, among other things, that inspired her to get involve with Georgia's changing and volatile political landscape. She recently launch Anita's Peach Corp to enlist Bay Area residents to help her home state send 2020 Democratic candidates to the U.S. Senate through grassroots efforts. She's continuing the work with a volunteer network in California for this year's midterm elections.
Go HERE to access this event in the Book Passage video archives
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Speaking Of ..." interview series - Paula Farmer on Instagram Live in conversation
@paulawritesreviews
Upcoming IG Interviews -
Caleb Gayle - Speaking Of ... Black identity within Native-American communities. Caleb Gayle is an award-winning journalist who writes about race and identity, and a professor at Northeastern University. In We Refuse to Forget, Gayle tells the extraordinary story of the Creek Nation, a Native tribe that two centuries ago both owned slaves and accepted Black people as full citizens. Thanks to the efforts of Creek leaders like Cow Tom, a Black Creek citizen who rose to become chief, the U.S. government recognized Creek citizenship in 1866 for its Black members.
This book is a landmark work of untold American history that reshapes our understanding of identity, race, and belonging
Join the IG talk - Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 4:00 PT / 7:00 ET
Audrey Huang - Speaking Of ... the best of books of 2022 - Holiday Edition! I'll be talking with experienced and enthusiastic bookseller who is also a co-member of mine for the American Booksellers Association's DEIA Committee. Audrey Huang is a front line bookseller at Belmont Books (Massachusetts). She’s been with the store since they opened in June, 2017. She is also a lapsed lawyer, happily not practicing the law while discovering all the books. Audrey reads across almost all genres and age groups but primarily reads BIPOC authors with all the intersections. One of her favorite things to do in the store is to rip open the arc envelopes, to see what treasure lies inside.
Join the IG talk- Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 4:00 PT / 7:00 ET
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Archived IG Interviews -
Carell Augustus - Speaking Of ... reimagining Hollywood film classics. A visionary photography book and calendar that bring together the best of classic Hollywood with today's iconic Black entertainers for an immersive experience unlike anything you've ever seen before. Compiled over the course of more than ten years and highlighting more than sixty-five stars, Carell Augustus says, "Black Hollywood is not just a book for Black people — it's a book for all people about Black people. About the dreams we were never told we could achieve. About the places we were never told we could go. And now, finally, about how we can get there."
Carell Augustus is a Los Angeles-based photographer whose career has taken him around the world to shoot some of the biggest stars on the planet. His celebrity clients have included Viola Davis, Beverly Johnson, Mariah Carey, Elizabeth Banks, Pierce Bronson, Meghan Markle, Serena Williams, Snoop Dogg, and more.
Beth Davila Waldman - Speaking Of ... Art as activism. Meet this cross-disciplinary artist. Learn about her creative practice, conceptual and material explorations, and how the “Divisions” series reflects her personal and social concerns. Her art practice has been influenced by borrowed symbols and landscapes from her maternal homeland Peru as well as other international sites such as Hong Kong and Vietnam.
Beth pursued her career in the arts initially at Wellesley College where she launched her current practice. Her current exhibit, Resiliences: A visual proclamation is showing in Sausalito, CA through Oct. 26. "With the latest Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe vs Wade, once guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights reproductive rights have been effectively criminalized in many states."
Andrea Garcia - Speaking Of ... Banned Books Week and why you should read them. Andrea Garcia became an English major at Riverside City College then transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in English with a Chicanx Studies minor. Her work was published in MUSE Literary Journal 2020. As a Chicana writer, Andrea finds it important that Latinx stories are told from the mouths of the beautifully fluid culture. She is currently a bookseller and the social media content creator at Cellar Door Bookstore in Riverside, California. She will never turn down an oat milk horchata.
Anita Gail Jones - Speaking Of ... midterm elections 2022, voter's rights and keeping up the fight. Anita Gail Jones lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, but was born and raised in Albany, Georgia, and maintains a strong connection with this southwest corner of the state.
In fact, it is that connection, among other things, that inspired her to get involve with Georgia's changing and volatile political landscape. She recently launch Anita's Peach Corp to enlist Bay Area residents to help her home state send 2020 Democratic candidates to the U.S. Senate through grassroots efforts. She's continuing the work with a volunteer network in California for this year's midterm elections. This includes a push to help get Stacey Abrams in the Georgia Governor's seat!
Anita is doing this all while also working on her novel, The Peach Seed. The manuscript was selected as a 2021 Finalist in the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and was acquired by Retha Powers at Holt in a two-book deal for publication in August 2023.
Kris Ferguson - Speaking of ... Pride Month 2022 and coming out loud and proud! My guest in honor of Pride Month is a former bookselling colleague who identifies as non-binary. They are an 8th grade teacher of U.S. History for the San Francisco School District. As such, they puts particular teaching focus on Reconstruction Era and how it connects to systemic issues we witness today.. Kris came out last fall and has since been a vocal advocate for the LGBTQIA community. Additionally, they are one of the most prolific readers I know and will share their insights about the importance of LGBTQ literature for today's youth.
A.J. Verdelle - Speaking Of iconic friendships with literary giants. A. J. Verdelle is the award-winning author of the novel, The Good Negress. She teaches Creative Writing at Morgan State University and at the MFA program at Lesley University. A.J. Verdelle has published fiction, essays and a memoir. Verdelle is motivated to write by love of language, and by fascination with a society so incorrect in its views of Black people, of Black richness, and of the value inherent in Black culture. Verdelle's first novel, The Good Negress, was first published in 1995, and has been continuously in print since its initial publication. Verdelle's second book, Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison, was released in May 2022.
Join the IG talk - Tuesday, May 17 at 4;00 PT/ 7:00 ET
Vanessa Hua - Speaking Of uplifting Asian stories and voices. Vanessa Hua is an award-winning, best-selling author and columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Her novel, A River of Stars, was named to the Washington Post and NPR’s Best Books of 2018 lists, and has been called a "marvel" by O, The Oprah Magazine, and "delightful" by The Economist. For more than two decades, she has been writing about Asia and the diaspora, filing stories from China, Burma, Panama, South Korea, and Ecuador. She began her career at the Los Angeles Times before heading east to the Hartford Courant. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, San Francisco Magazine, Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Newsweek, among other publications. Her recently released novel, Forbidden City is one of the most anticipated books for 2022.
And many more archived events @paulawritesreviews IGTV
EVENT NOTES FROM OUR GUEST
MERCHANDISE
Are you tired of seeing the same ol' faces on book totes? They are often dead and monochromatic, and usually men. Not here. With the "Mixed Bag" selection we are featuring diversity and contemporary, along with some classic figures. The project is in early days, with varying stages of production. As soon as the inventory increases, you will be alerted and encouraged to buy for yourself, for friends, family and fellow book lovers.
