Divas, Dames, and Daredevils: A talk and slideshow by author Mike Madrid

Wonder Woman, Mary Marvel, and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle ruled the pages of comic books in the 1940s, but many other heroines of the WWII era have been forgotten. Divas, Dames & Daredevils reintroduces their ingenious abilities to mete out justice to Nazis, aliens, and evildoers of all kinds. His book reveals a universe populated by extraordinary women—superheroes, reporters, galactic warriors, daring detectives, and ace fighter pilots—who protected America and the world with wit and guile. The book introduces us to heroines with striking similarities to more modern superheroes, including The Spider Queen, who deployed web shooters20 years before Spider Man, and Marga the Panther Woman, whose feral instincts and sharp claws tore up the bad guys long before Wolverine. These women may have been overlooked in the annals of history, but their influence on popular culture, and the heroes we’re passionate about today, is unmistakable.

Mike Madrid is the author of Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics and The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines, an NPR “Best Book To Share With Your Friends” and American Library Association Amelia Bloomer Project Notable Book. Madrid, a San Francisco native and lifelong fan of comic books and popular culture, also appears in the documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines.

Author event and live music performance with Dan Caro, Wednesday, August 21, 7-8:30pm

Local author and jazz drummer, Dan Caro, shares excerpts from his book The Gift of Fire: How I Made Adversity Work for Me, in addition to stories of writing his debut work. You will by inspired as Dan demonstrates, in spite of losing his hands and fingers from a childhood burn accident, his drumming abilities in a live music performance. This is an event not to miss!

Season of the Witch - An author event with David Talbot, Tuesday, July 16, 7-8:30pm

San Francisco history buffs, join us for an author reading with David Talbot who will talk about his bestseller Season of the Witch, the May/June On the Same Page book club selection.

David Talbot recounts the gripping story of San Francisco in the turbulent years between 1967 and 1982 – and of the extraordinary men and women who led to the city's ultimate rebirth and triumph. Season of the Witch is the first book to fully capture the dark magic of San Francisco in this breathtaking period, when the city radically changed itself – and then revolutionized the world.

A book sale by Bird & Beckett Books and signing will follow the program.

On the Same Page author reading and talk, Wednesday, August 29, 7pm

Filipino-American author Lysley Tenorio will be at Excelsior Branch to talk about and read from his short story collection Monstress, the On the Same Page city-wide bookclub selection for July/August.

Monstress introduces a bold new writer who explores the clash and meld of disparate cultures. Lysley Tenorio reveals the lives of people on the outside looking in with rare skill, humor, and deep understanding, in stories exploring the fantastical and the realistic, the familiar and the strange.

A book sale and signing follows the event. Please join us for this literary treat!

Author reading: "Bamboo Women: Stories from Ming Quong, a Chinese Orphanage in California" Monday, June 25, 7-8:30 pm

Please join us for an author reading with Women of Distinction for Humanitarianism winner Nona Mock Wyman who will discuss her new book Bamboo Women: Stories from Ming Quong, a Chinese Orphanage in California.

In 1935, at the age of two, Nona was abandoned at the Ming Quong orphanage in Los Gatos, California. In this groundbreaking book, Nona shares stories of coming-of-age from the women of Ming Quong and how their bonds of love and friendship carried them through life’s challenges.

This program will be in English; a book sale and signing will follow this program.

City of Secrets: An Author Event with Kelli Stanley - Wednesday, February 15, 7-8:30pm

Join us for this month's Excelsior Branch Library Arts and Culture Salon with local mystery author Kelli Stanley. She will talk about her latest novel, City of Secrets, the second mystery in the Miranda Corbie series set in 1940s San Francisco (after City of Dragons). Tough-talking PI Miranda Corbie searches for the killer of two young women, both brutally murdered with an anti-Semitic slur written in blood on their bodies.

A book sale and signing will follow this event.