Speaking

Smokler on January 17, 2009

“Entertaining, accessible, and incredibly informative.” — Eve Bridburg (Founder, Grub Street)

KevinatGH

Kevin Smokler has been invited to speak on the relationship between the arts, business and technology in our rapidly changing 21st century at universities, conferences, corporations and festivals throughout North America since 2002.  

 

His regular topics and themes include…

 

  • Great Books, Great Lives: “How the books we were assigned in High School can make us smarter, more creative and happier.” 
  • Reading Today and Tomorrow: “The history of reading and our future relationship with books and literature.” 
  • Making Learning Pop: “Using pop culture as a learning tool in schools and the workplace.” 
  • Lost Without Our Stories: “How good stories and storytelling make our lives, jobs and families happier, healthier places to be.”  
  • Useful Nostalgia:  “How we learn from the past to be better in the future.” 

 

“I have known Kevin Smokler for the better part of 15 years — mainly through his involvement with the SXSW Interactive Festival. Kevin has spoken numerous times the event in March in Austin and his talks have always drawn rave reviews from attundees. A consummate professional.” — Hugh Forrest (Director, South by Southwest Interactive) 

“Informing and entertaining. You can trust Kevin not only to be on top of trends but to engage with audiences in a generous way.” — Christopher Castellini (Artistic Director, Muse and the Marketplace) 

 “Kevin brings energy, wit, excitement, and intelligence to his audiences.  We hope to rely on Kevin for many years to come.”  — Kent Watson (Executive Director, Pubwest)

 

Speaking Samples

 

  • Mill Valley Public Library (2013)
  • SF Writer’s Conference Opening Keynote (audio).

Past Engagements

2014

 

2013

 

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

Books

Smokler on January 17, 2009

Books:

BPA+rbg 

Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to 80s Teen Movies (Rare Bird Books, 2016)

Amazon | Powells | B&N | Indiebound

 

Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School by Kevin Smokler

Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven’t Touched Since High School

Available at a bookstore near you or via
Amazon | Powells | B&N | IndieBound

 

 

 

 

 

Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times: Edited by Kevin Smokler

Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times (June 2005)

A 2005 San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book

Available at a bookstore near you or via
Amazon | Powells | B&N | IndieBound

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Essays and Commentary

 

My writing has appeared in

 

About Kevin

Smokler on January 17, 2009

Kevs looking into distance

Short Bio

Kevin Smokler is a writer, performer and  public speaker based in San Francisco. He writes about culture and technology, tells stories onstage and likes people a lot. 

Full Bio (200 words)

 

Kevin Smokler (@weegee) is the author of the essay collection “Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books you Haven’t Touched Since High School” (Prometheus Books, Feb. 2013) which The Atlantic Wire called “truly enjoyable” and the editor of “Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times,” A San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of 2005. His work has appeared in the LA Times, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, Vulture, The San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly and on National Public Radio. In 2013, he was BookRiot’s first ever Writer in Residence. 

 

He’s currently working on a book about movies from the 1980s which will be published in 2015

 

As a performer, he’s told stories onstage at events in San Francisco, Austin, New York and Boston. Since 2007, He’s been the host of Fray Cafe, South by Southwest’s annual evening of live storytelling. He’s a two-time artist-in-residence of the Ragdale Foundation. 

 

Kevin Smokler sits on the advisory boards of SXSW Interactive, Salon97 and Symbolia Magazine and speaks on the future of media and culture at companies (AOL), conferences (SXSW, The IdeaFestival) and universities (M.I.T, Stanford, University of Michigan) throughout North America.

 

He is represented by Amy Rennert of Amy Rennert Literary Agency, has 60,000 followers on Twitter and  lives in San Francisco with his wife and cat.

 

 

Greening ain’t easy…

Smokler on March 1, 2008

Lest you thought fixing global warming was all about driving less and buying better lightbulbs (and believe me, I was plenty comfortable with that assessment), this great article in last week’s New Yorker lays out just how many ways there are to tackle the program and the political forces yanking at the sleeves of each.

One scary example: Did you know about "carbon colonialism?" Because I sure didn’t.

Just two countries—Indonesia and Brazil—account for about ten per
cent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Neither
possesses the type of heavy industry that can be found in the West, or
for that matter in Russia or India. Still, only the United States and
China are responsible for greater levels of emissions. That is because
tropical forests in Indonesia and Brazil are disappearing with
incredible speed.

“It’s really very simple,” John O. Niles told me.
Niles, the chief science and policy officer for the environmental group
Carbon Conservation, argues that spending five billion dollars a year
to prevent deforestation in countries like Indonesia would be one of
the best investments the world could ever make. “The value of that land
is seen as consisting only of the value of its lumber,” he said. “A
logging company comes along and offers to strip the forest to make some
trivial wooden product, or a palm-oil plantation. The governments in
these places have no cash. They are sitting on this resource that is
doing nothing for their economy. So when a guy says, ‘I will give you a
few hundred dollars if you let me cut down these trees,’ it’s not easy
to turn your nose up at that. Those are dollars people can spend on
schools and hospitals.”

The ecological impact of decisions like that are devastating.
Decaying trees contribute greatly to increases in the levels of
greenhouse gases. Plant life absorbs CO2. But when forests
disappear, the earth loses one of its two essential carbon sponges (the
other is the ocean). The results are visible even from space. Satellite
photographs taken over Indonesia and Brazil show thick plumes of smoke
rising from the forest. According to the latest figures, deforestation
pushes nearly six billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere
every year. That amounts to thirty million acres—an area half the size
of the United Kingdom—chopped down each year. Put another way,
according to one recent calculation, during the next twenty-four hours
the effect of losing forests in Brazil and Indonesia will be the same
as if eight million people boarded airplanes at Heathrow Airport and
flew en masse to New York.

From both a political and an economic perspective, it would be
easier and cheaper to reduce the rate of deforestation than to cut back
significantly on air travel. It would also have a far greater impact on
climate change and on social welfare in the developing world.
Possessing rights to carbon would grant new power to farmers who, for
the first time, would be paid to preserve their forests rather than
destroy them. Unfortunately, such plans are seen by many people as
morally unattractive. “The whole issue is tied up with the misconceived
notion of ‘carbon colonialism,’ ” Niles told me. “Some activists do not
want the Third World to have to alter their behavior, because the
problem was largely caused by us in the West.”

Oy.

Instapaper:

Smokler on February 7, 2008

Any messed around with Instapaper yet? Its a simple tool for saving things you want to read later. I’m not sure it’s all that much different than my Del.icio.us page but I’m willing to give it a spin.

Anyone else spun?

The 4th of July…

Smokler on July 4, 2007

“Did you think I could ever forget
The night by the Arlington Flame?
In the silence I heard it
Through streets so deserted
You whispered and called me by name.

Did you think I could ever forget
That powerful look in your eye?
Where Lincoln stood strong there
You held me so long there that night
On the fourth of July.”

Total Flag Count: 313.

Last year: 234

Guests: 3

Last Flag: On a fire engine in front of Fenton’s Creamery where we always stop for lunch afterward.

The Closing Song: (mp3)

“Washington’s Day” by The Hooters

Happy birthday, you crazy country of mine. I see a bright future for you.

Mac Problems: Help?

Smokler on July 24, 2006

Anybody had these problems?

1. Mac Powerbook G4 (OS 10.4.7) that will not play sound out of its speakers and crashes any time it tries to download a windows media file

2. iMac G5. Also will not play sound when external speakers are plugged in.

Help a brutha out?