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2020, a year we will never forget for the challenges it has thrown in our path. Our dear Residents had to roll with the changes that left them unable to access the studio during the shelter in place order. Thank you for your patience. We will miss seeing you, but you are always part of the Residency family! ​

​​​Earle McCartney - Earle McCartney's short stories have appeared in Zyzzyva, The Common, Meridian, Big Fiction, and The Greensboro Review. He received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and was a recipient of The San Francisco Foundation's 2013 Joseph Henry Jackson Award. A native of rural southern New Jersey, Earle has lived in San Francisco for the last twelve years.

Amanda Moore - Amanda Moore's poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies including ZZYZVA, Cream City Review, and Best New Poets, and her essays have appeared in The Baltimore Review, Hippocampus Magazine, and on the University of Arizona Poetry Center’s blog. She is a Contributing Poetry Editor at Women’s Voices for Change, a Board member for the Marin Poetry Center, and a high school teacher. Amanda lives by the beach in the Outer Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco with her husband and daughter.

Mia Paschal - Mia Paschal is an actress and playwright who moved to San Francisco from Milan, Italy to study with Ed Hooks. Along with her ensemble theater and film work, she has written and performed four award-winning solo shows: "some life", "This Lily Was (Fontana)”, "Along the Path of Larks and Swallows", and "Heartbreak Velocity." The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Oakland Museum of California have also commissioned her to write site-specific works, “My Jim Dine Valentine” and “Trevlig.” Writing in Italian, French, Danish, and English, her poetry will be next featured in the winter issue of The Copenhagen Review.

Maddy Raskulinecz - Maddy Raskulinecz is a fiction writer from Maryland, now living in San Francisco. Her fiction has appeared in Zyzzyva, Guernica, Joyland, Tin House Online, and elsewhere, and was recently included in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2019. She holds an MFA from Johns Hopkins University.
​
Shruti Swamy - The winner of two O. Henry Awards, Shruti Swamy's work has appeared in The Paris Review, the Kenyon Review Online, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. She is a Kundiman fiction fellow, a 2017 – 2018 Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University, and a recipient of a 2018 grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation. Her story collection A House Is a Body is out from Algonquin Books.
Friends is excited to announce plans for the next round of writers to join the Residency. As Lisa and Daniel say, this is no time to reduce support for artists. While Friends has undergone some adjustments to the COVID era, our commitment to providing the Residency is unchanged. However, there are some logistical changes, the most significant of which is the location. Friends is no longer occupying its office space on Van Ness Avenue and has moved all operations to its Book Donation Center in sunny Portero Hill. The writing studio is coming along with us and will now have a beautiful view of Jackson Park. The second change, of course, is that we are operating under all health and safety guidelines of the San Francisco Health Officer. Details of the location and health guidelines are contained in the application (link here).  

Applications are due on November 10th with the Residency starting in December 2020 and running through December 2021. ​
 
​Earle McCartney - Earle McCartney's short stories have appeared in Zyzzyva, The Common, Meridian, Big Fiction, and The Greensboro Review. He received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and was a recipient of The San Francisco Foundation's 2013 Joseph Henry Jackson Award. A native of rural southern New Jersey, Earle has lived in San Francisco for the last twelve years.

Amanda Moore - Amanda Moore's poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies including ZZYZVA, Cream City Review, and Best New Poets, and her essays have appeared in The Baltimore Review, Hippocampus Magazine, and on the University of Arizona Poetry Center’s blog. She is a Contributing Poetry Editor at Women’s Voices for Change, a Board member for the Marin Poetry Center, and a high school teacher. Amanda lives by the beach in the Outer Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco with her husband and daughter.

Mia Paschal - Mia Paschal is an actress and playwright who moved to San Francisco from Milan, Italy to study with Ed Hooks. Along with her ensemble theater and film work, she has written and performed four award-winning solo shows: "some life", "This Lily Was (Fontana)”, "Along the Path of Larks and Swallows", and "Heartbreak Velocity." The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Oakland Museum of California have also commissioned her to write site-specific works, “My Jim Dine Valentine” and “Trevlig.” Writing in Italian, French, Danish, and English, her poetry will be next featured in the winter issue of The Copenhagen Review.

Maddy Raskulinecz - Maddy Raskulinecz is a fiction writer from Maryland, now living in San Francisco. Her fiction has appeared in Zyzzyva, Guernica, Joyland, Tin House Online, and elsewhere, and was recently included in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2019. She holds an MFA from Johns Hopkins University.
​
Shruti Swamy - The winner of two O. Henry Awards, Shruti Swamy's work has appeared in The Paris Review, the Kenyon Review Online, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. She is a Kundiman fiction fellow, a 2017 – 2018 Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University, and a recipient of a 2018 grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation. Her story collection A House Is a Body is out from Algonquin Books.
ALWAYS AVAILABLE:
We have quantities of books and media available for purchase from our warehouse by the box or pallet (32 boxes). Each box contains 20-30 books sorted by subject and of the same general quality seen at our annual Big Book Sale. Prices start at $25/box. Buyer must pick up at our San Francisco location. Bulk discounts available. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Spring Campaign, Member
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Spring Campaign, Second Gift
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Spring Campaign 2020
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THE  BIG  BOOK  SALE 

Sale Dates 2019: September 18-22,  10 AM - 6 PM 
Friends Member Preview: Tuesday, September 17, 4-8 PM
Every year the Fort Mason Festival overflows with bargain shoppers at the Big Book Sale, an iconic San Francisco tradition. Friends’ Members will kick off the sale Tuesday night at the Member Preview Sale and Reception, from 4-8PM. The sale opens to the public on Wednesday morning through Sunday. On Sunday, all items will be sold for just $1. All sections will be restocked daily with new and exciting finds; there will be no shortage of great titles. The multi-day event attracts over 10,000 book lovers from the Bay Area and beyond. We can’t wait to see you at the Big Book Sale this fall!
Sponsors and Media Partners
Shifts for the 2019 Big Book Sale open NOW! Sign up below to stay informed! For questions about how to become involved in the 55th Annual Big Book Sale, please contact Kelenia Olsen, Manager of Volunteer Services, 415-477-5223 or kelenia.olsen@friendssfpl.org

About

​ Volunteering

It takes a village to raise a Big Book Sale! Each year we need volunteers to help:
  • Set up and break down the sale
  • Sort and organize items
  • Cashier and more!
  • Support our Info and Membership tables

​GROUP VOLUNTEERS
This is an excellent group volunteer opportunity! If your school, company or organization is interested in pitching in, please call us or email us. You can also sign up online by clicking the big red button below:

Benefits

Picture
Volunteering for The Annual Big Book Sale is a ton of fun & comes with great perks!
​
  • First access to all of the items
  • ​The satisfaction that comes with helping your community

For more information please contact Kelenia Olsen, Manager of Volunteer Services, 415-477-5223 or kelenia.olsen@friendssfpl.org

Volunteer

Book Donation Center
Out of an abundance of caution, we are closing are the Donation Center and the Friends Bookstores until further notice. 

Address: 1630 17th Street (between Carolina & Wisconsin)
Drop Off Hours: Tuesday–Friday: 10am–4pm
Saturday: 10am–2pm


Please note that the Book Donation Center is closed during the follow holidays: New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day & day-after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve & Christmas Day.


Friends Bookstore
​Fort Mason Center
We take smaller donations of books at our bookstore at Fort Mason Center. 4 boxes or less. Please call ahead if you have any questions. 
Building C, Room 165, Fort Mason Center 
Phone: (415) 771-1076 
Hours: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. ​
​
Please note that the store is closed during the follow holidays: New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day & day-after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. 


​Perpetual

​Garage Sale!

​At our ​​Donation Center
1630 17th Street
An always-changing selection of books, CDs, DVDs and Vinyl from recent donations
Priced $4 and under
New items added daily
Open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm and Saturday 10am-2pm

Step Sales !
PLEASE NOTE: STEPS SALES WILL BE POSTPONED FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH

Step Sales everything $1 !
Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Main Library’s Larkin Street steps
(100 Larkin St.)
(Please note that the Step Sales are cancelled in the event of rain.)

WE  NEED  YOU  FOR  THE 
BIG  BOOK  SALE! 

THE ANNUAL BIG BOOK SALE
We need hundreds of volunteers in the fall to help make the largest used book sale on the west coast a huge success! Volunteers will help set up, pack up, monitor and stock tables, sign-in and welcome other volunteers, help at our information table, cashier, and other tasks. Each volunteer receives FREE books for volunteering.
Location: Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center. 
Volunteer Schedule: September 16- 23, 2019

Please use the volunteer portal above! 

If you have any questions or comments please contact Kelenia Olsen, Manager of Volunteer Services, 415-477-5223 or kelenia.olsen@friendssfpl.org
Check out our 2017-2018 Annual Report!
Stock Gift Transfer Form
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File Type: pdf
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Our Library. Our Voice. Next Generation. 

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Legacy  of  Hope: 
Citizen  Science  and Tomorrow's  Earth

May 24, 2019, 10: 00 am, Koret Auditorium,​ Main Branch
San Francisco Public Library
To learn more about planned giving, join us for Legacy of Hope: Citizen Science and Tomorrow’s Earth, a collaborative presentation co-hosted by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, Academy of Sciences and the Golden Gate National Park Conservancy. The program includes a panel discussion led by Mary Ellen Hannibal, (author of Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction) and a tour of the Library’s Wallace Stegner Environmental Center. 
 
For information, email Craig Palmer.

BIG  BOOK  SALE! 

Record  Breaking  year!!!
 
Thank  you! 

WE'll  be  back  in

​  September! 


Tuesday September 17th:  Members preview sale 
Weds the 18th thru Sunday the 22nd: open to general public

In September, Friends will fill up the Festival Pavilion Pier at Fort Mason for the 55th Big Book Sale, an iconic San Francisco tradition!

Events

Thank you so much for an amazing night! 
​Photo Gallery Part 1: CLICK HERE
​
Photo Gallery Part 2: CLICK HERE

THANK  YOU  SO  MUCH  FOR  AN  AMAZING  NIGHT!!!

March 8, 2019
Dave Eggers • Samin Nosrat • Tyehimba Jess • R.O. Kwon • Tommy Orange • Rachel Khong • T.J. Stiles • Jade Chang • Elaine Castillo • Joshua Mohr • Kim Shuck • Marcus Gardley
CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST
Laureate Salons 
​For sponsorships and salon dining
with our honored Laureates: CLICK HERE
​
Laureate Gallery 
Tickets to the dance party upstairs: CLICK HERE​

Administrative Office

Administrative Offices
710 Van Ness Ave.
​Phone: (415) 626-7500 
Hours: Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 

Tuesdays  at 
​ North  Beach

WHERE: North Beach Branch Library
WHEN: Every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
WHAT: Free poetry readings

First Fridays at Fort Mason
​
Every first Friday of the month we'll  feature a special sale at Readers Fort Mason. Join us Friday, November 2nd-4th for a massive Kids Book Sale!
All picture books, board books and young adult books will be 20% off all day starting Friday and continuing through Sunday.
Shop all weekend!
In addition to Readers regular selection, the sale features special inventory that will be set aside and in store that day. Buy Books Support Our Libraries!

Steps Sales 
Everything $1!
Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Main Library’s Larkin Street steps (100 Larkin St.)
(Please note that the Steps Sales are cancelled
in the event of rain.)

​
Or you can CLICK HERE to download our Take-a-Stand form to fill it out by hand and mail it in!

SFMOMA:  ADDED  VALUE 

Sat  and  Sun,  Sept  22-23,  2018  10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Member  Preview  Sept  21,  6 p.m.- 9 p.m.

Friends of the San Francisco Public Library (Friends) and the SFMOMA’s Public Knowledge Library are teaming with critically acclaimed Bay Area artist Stephanie Syjuco for a book sale and found art event called Added Value. Taking place on September 22-23 in SFMOMA’s free public spaces, Added Value is a playful, interactive event where not only will used books from Friends’ Book Donation Center be refashioned, re-catalogued and revived as valuable objects, but used books on art and related topics will also be on sale. Proceeds from this event, as well as Friends’ Big Book Sale coming October 30 to November 4, will benefit our #1 Award-winning San Francisco Public Library.  

For a full schedule of events, click here! 
Date: September 22-23 
Time: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.  
Where: SFMOMA’s free public spaces. (Main Lobby.)  
Cost: Free  
Friends Members get early access to the sale on Friday from 6 p.m.–9 p.m.  
SFMOMA Members get early access to the sale on Saturday from 8:00 a.m.–10 a.m.  
As part of the event, the Friends of the SFPL will also have a booth of rare, collectible and unusual books as well as a number of bargain books starting at $10. The items range from a copy of Picasso’s La Guerre et la Paix , to a number of signed catalogs and monographs and just some unusual and hard-to-find items. The booth will be in the project area near the space the invited artists are using to repurpose book materials into unique creations. 

A  Mary  Louise  Stong  Society 
salon  breakfast  event!

Program highlights include:
  • Special Laureate guest:  Iranian American novelist and filmmaker Laleh Khadivi (The Age of Orphans)
  • First preview of the final draft of Friends’ new five-year strategic plan identifying key strategies that reinforce Friends’ strong partnership with the Library and our donors as we align ourselves to meet the new challenges ahead.
  • After the meeting, join us for a tour of Special Collections to see some of the SFPL rarest treasures.
 
For information, email Craig Palmer.
 Friday, May 11, 2018
9 am to 11:30 am
6th Floor, Main Branch
San Francisco Public Library

​A  Special  Thanks  To  our  supporters

If you have already made a legacy gift, please let us know so we may send you an invitation to our Mary Louise Stong Society Legacy Circle. If you intend to make a planned gift or have any questions, please email ([email protected].) or call our Chief Advancement Officer, Craig Palmer, at (415) 477-5220 so we may provide you with more information and answer your questions.

Our History

Friends has been a part of making substantial change in San Francisco since its founding. 

Our Supporters

We have a diverse group of donors and members that support the San Francisco library system.

Our Work

Learn more about the specific work that Friends does to help the community! 

/ Investors
/  Advocates
/ Champions

     Bring together 30 distinguished writers and poets -- Laureates as different as Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally or international best-seller Carolina de Robertis – and what do you suppose is uppermost on their minds?
     Overwhelmingly, one galvanizing idea: Libraries deliver democracy.
     The occasion was our recent Library Laureates 2017. As each Laureate rose to speak, sharing a singular passion from a variety of perspectives, inevitably their comments came around to the contemporary immediacy of this concept.
​     This is the idea which is driving us right now at Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. We want to be sure we are doing everything we can to provide the funding our San Francisco Public Library needs to keep strong and accessible to everyone – especially in times like these.
The mosaics of our neighborhoods are changing dramatically. As the cost of meeting basic needs, raising a family and acquiring the skills to thrive in the technology-driven economy grows, residents of all ages are turning to the Library for responsive and fully accessible 21st Century programs and services, such as:
  • Young families needing early literacy and out of school support for academic success
  • Youth exploring their identities, voice and vision for their future
  • Job-seekers acquiring new technology and robust digital connection
  • Seniors thriving in lifelong learning
  • Access to free public exhibitions, performances and literacy events.
Together, Friends, the Library and you, create a powerful partnership to meet the challenges of today. We call it The Partnership Making the Exceptional Difference because you help Friends fund what the Library cannot.
The City of San Francisco’s budget for the Library primarily funds salaries and daily operations. Friends’ financial support allows the Library to do the exceptional.  Here are a few examples of these exceptional differences:
  • In FY16, the Library presented 13,961 free programs for 432,995 children, teens and families many of which were funded by Friends
  • 27 grants were made to Branch Libraries for programs relating to health and wellness, cultural awareness and the arts
  • Innovation grants supported the creation of Biblio Bistro, which won the 2016 Innovator Award from the Urban Libraries Council
For author and 2017 Library Laureate Dennis McNally, “The principle of the public library – that all information be held in common, free to any person – is as fine an expression of civilized behavior as the human race has yet achieved.” For Carolina de Robertis, that democracy is “a beacon of possibility and urgently needed hope.”
​
This certainly rings true for us here at Friends. We know this is a priority for you, too, and we hope it becomes that clarion call to join us in the partnership making the exceptional difference -- Friends, the Library, and you. Just click the button below to become a member of friends:
Or make a donation today to help us ensure our Public Library remains a premiere public institution. To make a donation, simply click the button below
Now it's your turn: We want to hear from you! Please click this link and tell us why you think Libraries Deliver Democracy. We look forward to sharing your response on our Facebook page and our website. And please make sure to use the hashtag #LibrariesAreDemocracy on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Help us spread the word!
What will be featured this week?

CHeck Out our Blog! 

Library 
​Branches

Volunteers Annually 

hours  of Volunteering 
​In addition to gifting annual financial support to the Library, Friends provides fiscal management, investment services and guidance to the Library for both unrestricted and restricted funds including endowments.

New Copy needed for book sales & donation 

  • 5/11 -5/19 Friends Spring Member Sale
  • 5/12 CANCELED DONATION CENTER SALE

​ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES &
Donation center Location
1630 17TH STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107
​Administrative Phone: (415) 626-7500
BOOK DONATION CENTER: (415) 522-8606 

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