Silent Water (& Dream Books) Productions
Honoring the Difficult, Diverse & the 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 & ARCHIVED EVENTS
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SPECIAL AUTHOR INTERVIEW EVENTS FOR Book Passage and other clients
Upcoming & Archive Client Events of Note
Book Passage's PRIDE program special panel event featuring authors and agents of change- In honor of PRIDE Week 2023, Book Passage is proud to uplift LGBTQ voices, stories and issues with a special panel discussion at our Ferry Building location. The event will feature exciting new and established authors on the literary landscape discussing their writings, the importance of Queer books and their take on political and social issues within the community. Whether you are part of the LBTQ community or an ally, this is a discussion you don’t want to miss! The panelists include …
Laura Gao is a Chinese-American comics artist. Gao became famous when she released a short comic called "The Wuhan I Know" in response to the growing xenophobia in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Baruch Porras-Hernandez is a writer, performer, organizer, professional MC/Host, curator, stand up comedian, and the author of the chapbooks I Miss You, Delicate and Lovers of the Deep Fried Circle.
MariNaomi is the award-winning author and illustrator of Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories, Turning Japanese, I Thought YOU Hated ME followed up by her latest, I Thought You Loved Me and many more.
This will be a live, in-person event at Book Passage- Ferry Building SF - Wednesday, June 21 @ 5:30 pm
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In honor of Women’s History Month, Sausalito Books by the Bay + Silent Water Productions is proud to present a special panel discussion exploring female autonomy and their health at work, home; in their bodies and mind. Increasingly, women’s well-being is threatened, with challenges coming from many directions. What are the challenges exactly? How have things changed for women in these areas over the decades? And how to counter the challenges while maintaining a healthy balance and thrive? We’ll answer these questions and more and welcome your participation in what is sure to be an inspired discussion.
This IN-PERSON event features a dynamic panel of talented, accomplished and diverse Bay Area authors, educators and activists, including…
Lara Bazelon, American academic and journalist and law professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law
Rachel Lehman Haupt, author of Reconceptions: Modern Relationships, Reproductive Science, and the Unfolding Future of Family
Cathy Rath, author of Ripple Effects
Acharya Shunya, author of Roar Like a Goddess
Dr. September Williams, author of The Elephant in the Room: Bioethical Concerns in Human Milk Banking.
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Speaking Of ..." interview series - Paula Farmer on Instagram Live in conversation
@paulawritesreviews
Upcoming IG Interviews -
Federico Erebia - Speaking of the importance of LGBTQ stories and authors. Federico is a retired physician, woodworker, author, illustrator. He was born in Port Clinton, Ohio. He received a BA from the College of Wooster, and an MD from Brown University. He is on the SCBWI Impact & Legacy Fund Steering Committee, is in the inaugural Poets & Writers publicity incubator for debut authors, is a Grubbie Debut Author, and is a member of the Boston Author’s Club and several other writing groups. His debut YA novel, Pedro & Daniel is a sweeping and deeply personal novel that spans from childhood, through their teen years, and into adulthood. Theirs is a bond that won't be broken. Together the brothers endure an abusive home life, coming out, first loves, first jobs, and the AIDS pandemic, in a coming-of-age story unlike any other.
Join the IG interview live! Wednesday, June 14 at 4:00 PT / 7:00 ET @paulawritesreviews
Dorothy Lazard / What You Don't Know Will Make a Whole New World- Dorothy Lazard grew up in the Bay Area of the 1960s and ’70s, surrounded by an expansive network of family, and hungry for knowledge. Today Lazard is celebrated for her distinguished career as a librarian and public historian, and in these pages she connects her early intellectual pursuits to the career that made her a community pillar. As she writes with honesty about the challenges she faced in her youth, Lazard’s recently released memoir remains triumphant, animated by curiosity, careful reflection, and deep enthusiasm for life.
Join the IG interview live! Wednesday, July 26 at 4:00 PT / 7:00 ET @paulawritesreviews
Anita Gail Jones / The Peach Seed - Born and raised in Albany, Georgia, Anita maintains a strong connection with this southwest corner of the state. This region is the setting for her upcoming debut novel, The Peach Seed, coming out on August 1 to an independent bookstore near you. The Peach Seed is a sweeping multigenerational novel showing the origins of one south Georgia family’s tradition of giving carved peach seed monkeys to all male descendants… And how its modern-day sons and daughters navigate the legacies of America’s Civil Rights Movement and the far-reaching impacts of the 1800 slave trade from northern Senegal to Charleston, South Carolina.
Prior to writing her novel, Anita engaged in oral tradition storytelling which grew out of an early desire to write and illustrate children’s stories. She worked many years in San Francisco Bay Area schools as an artist-in-residence, combining storytelling, visual arts and writing in K-12 workshops.
Join the IG interview live! Tuesday, August 8 at 4:00 PT / 7:00 ET @paulawritesreviews
Margo Candela - Speaking of new paperback releases that are great for summer reading. Margo is the author of our featured book The Neapolitan Sisters, a humorous yet moving look at what it means to be a sister, daughters, and ultimately, your own person. Margo Candela was born and raised in Los Angeles and began her writing career when she joined Glendale Community College’s student newspaper. She transferred to San Francisco State University as a journalism major, and upon graduation began writing for websites and magazines before writing her first two novels, Underneath It All and Life Over Easy. She returned to Los Angeles to raise her son and wrote More Than This and Good-bye to All That. The Neapolitan Sisters is her fifth novel.
Two Guests on the Same Program!
Audrey Huang - Speaking of AAPI Heritage Month and paperback releases for summer. Audrey is a rockstar bookseller sharing her passion with colleagues and customers at Belmont Books and Cafe in Belmont, MA just outside of Boston. Additionally for the past two years, Audrey has served alongside me as a member of the American Booksellers Association DEI committee. She will be sharing with us the paperback releases she's most excited about and AAPI books and authors that should be on your radar.
Join the IG interview live! Wednesday, May 24 at 4:00 PT / 7:00 ET @paulawritesreviews
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Archived IG Interviews - IGTV @paulawritesreveiws
MariNaomi - Speaking of AAPI National Heritage Month and creative excellence. MariNaomi (they/them) is the award-winning author and illustrator of several books. Their work has appeared in nearly 100 print publications and has been featured on websites such as The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts, The Washington Post, LA Times, The Rumpus, LA Review of Books, BuzzFeed, and many more. Their comics have been translated into French, German, and Russian. MariNaomi’s comics and paintings have been featured in the Smithsonian, the de Young Museum, the Cartoon Art Museum, the Asian Art Museum, and the Japanese American National Museum.
Dr. Raina Leon - Speaking of National Poetry Month - Raina is a Black and Afro-Boricua poet and educator. Originally from Philadelphia, she holds an MFA in Poetry from Saint Mary’s College of California and a PhD in Education from University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She is a member of the Carolina African American Writers Collective, Cave Canem, CantoMundo, Macondo, SF Writers Grotto in San Francisco, She is a founding editor of The Acentos Review and a professor of education at Saint Mary’s College of California.
Her latest poetry collection black god mother this body is a soft and sharp meditation on Black motherhood, colorism, identity, ancestry, and what it means to heal and nurture our inner self.
Akaya Windwood and Rajasvini Bhansali - Speaking of community leadership and financial empowerment with the co-authors of Leading With Joy. In a time of increasing disconnection and uncertainty, Leading with Joy, shows how leaders can reclaim their purpose and embrace joy in service of social transformation.
Akaya Windwood facilitates transformation. She advises, trains, and consults on how change happens individually, organizationally, and societally. She is on faculty of the Just Economy Institute, is Lead Advisor at Third Act, and is founder of the New Universal Wisdom and Leadership Institute, which centers human wisdom in the wisdom of brown womxn. She was President of Rockwood Leadership Institute for ten years, and directs the Thriving Roots Fund, which supports young womxn’s finance and philanthropic learning and leadership based in generosity and interconnectedness.
Rajasvini Bhansali is the Executive Director of Solidaire Network and Solidaire Action, a community of donor organizers mobilizing critical resources to the frontlines of social justice. She is a passionate advocate for participatory grassroots-led power building and a lifelong student of social movements. In a wide-ranging career devoted to racial, economic and climate justice, she has previously led an international public foundation that funds grassroots organizing in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and worked as a community organizer, researcher, planner, policy analyst and strategy consultant.
Lyzette Wanzer - Speaking of the complex and convaluted relationship with hair. Lyzette is a San Francisco writer, editor, and writing workshop instructor. She received her MFA in Fiction from Mills College. A flash fiction connoisseur and essay aficionado, her work has appeared in Natural Bridge, The Los Angeles Review, Callaloo, Tampa Review, The MacGuffin, Ampersand Review, and many others. She is a contributor to Lyric Essay as Resistance: Truth From the Margins (Wayne State University Press 2022), The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays, Civil Liberties United: Diverse Voices from the San Francisco Bay Area
We'll be discussing her latest book, Trauma, Tresses & Truth - From grammar and high schools to corporate boardrooms and military squadrons, Black and Afro Latina natural hair continues to confound, transfix, and enrage members of White American society. Why, in 2022, is this still the case? Why have we not moved beyond that perennial racist emblem? And why are women so disproportionately affected? Particularly relevant during this time of emboldened White supremacy, racism, and provocative othering, this work explores how writing about one of the still-remaining systemic biases in schools, academia, and corporate America might lead to greater understanding and respect.
Margaret Wilkerson-Sexton - Speaking of Black History Month in literature. Our guest for this segment has a new novel that navigates family dynamics and Black female empowerment through the lens of historical fiction. Margaret was born and raised in New Orleans, studied creative writing at Dartmouth College and law at UC Berkeley. She is an award-nominate and winning author. This includes her 2020 novel, The Revisioners being listed as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her debut novel, A Kind of Freedom, was long-listed for the National Book Award. Margaret's latest book, On the Rooftop is a stunning novel about a mother whose dream of musical stardom for her three daughters collides with the daughters' ambitions for their own lives--set against the backdrop of gentrifying 1950s San Francisco.
Join the IG discussion on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 4:00 PT / 7:00 ET
Terrence A. Reese - Speaking of the perfect books for BHM and Valentines Day. Chicago-born Terrence A. Reese (TAR) pursued his passion for photography in NYC. He has always had an eye for letting his subjects tell the story. "Reflections" is a black and white - documentary-style photography series, of personal living spaces of renowned Americans whose lives and careers have addressed the fundamental political, economic, and social realities of the 20th Century and beyond. Recently, TAR put his creative energies in a novel, The Science of Seduction. A straight forward, easy and enjoyable read about what happens when you try to mix business with pleasure.
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.
