Library Laureates 2019

Event Co-Chairs
Sarah Smith Jones
Nicola Miner &
Robert Mailer Anderson
Ashley Nutter

Event Committee
(As of May 2018)

Laureate Salons
Camilla Smith
William & Ruth Isenberg
Nion McEvoy
Chronicle Books
Daniel Handler & Lisa Brown
Peter Wiley
John Briscoe
Deborah Doyle

Laureate Gallery
Darren Bechtel
Samuel Hodges
Lauren Packard
Beverly See
Alexi Wattis

Set for Friday, March 8, 2019 in the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, Library Laureates 2019 builds on its time-honored tradition of intimate salon dining and conversation with brilliant writers, with a new open-space experience in the 6th floor Laureate Gallery designed by and for our next generation of young influencers and library supporters. We expect more than 400 guests to participate as sponsors in laureate salons and as ticket buyers in the Laureate Gallery.

Thirty-eight brilliant authors will grace our laureate salons and the gallery: creative writers, poets, screenwriters and playwrights who embody the Library’s values of inclusion, access, and free expression.

Tables will be distributed throughout the Library in intimate corner rooms of six to eight tables of ten (the Hormel Center, the Wallace Stegner Environmental Center, African American Center, etc). At each table an honored Laureate will engage guests in discourse about their latest work, creative process and evolution as a writer. Full salon and table sponsorships range from $25,000 to $2,500.

Responding to the demand to share the iconic Library Laureates experience with the city’s emerging next wave of young talent and influence, we are launching the first Laureate Gallery Next Gen on the 6th floor Skylight Galleron the same night. This future-forward literary event will feature three Laureates in a non-seated, performative setting with live music and dancing to follow. Admission to Laureate Gallery is a ticketed price of $250 (early bird tickets available December 3, 2018).

The goal for Library Laureates 2019 is to raise $500,000, with net proceeds going to annual support for San Francisco Public Library programs and resources. Friends has a fifty-six year history of keeping the future of the Library in focus to ensure responsive services to the community. Residents of all ages are turning to our Library for responsive 21st century programs and services, especially as the cost of meeting basic needs, raising a family and acquiring the skills to thrive in the technology-driven economy grows. The public-private partnership between Friends, you and the Library makes the exceptional difference in neighborhoods throughout the city.