[Virtual] Write-In Session
Come join the virtual Ruby Write-In! A warm and welcoming community to support each other on our projects.
All Rubies are welcome, whether you are journaling, just beginning to explore your writing, working on a poetry collection or zine, or grinding on the umpteenth revision of your manuscript – no matter where you are in your practice, you’ll find a friendly community here.
Our 2026 biweekly Write-In sessions will open with a brief share-out of our individual goals, and a short guided meditation. We'll spend the majority of time in quiet writing, and then check in during the final five minutes to reflect.
*This is an intimate gathering for Ruby members.
Late Summer Fermentation Club
Let’s make Carrot-Ginger Kraut and Curry Cauliflower!
We’ll be making former Ruby Kelly McVicker’s Curry Cauliflower, a fermented adaptation of her prize-winning pickle which took home a 2017 Good Food Award from her book Essential Vegetable Fermentation. As well as a whey-fermented Carrot-Ginger Kraut from the book Fermented Foods for Health.
This is an event for Ruby members (+ friends) only!
Write-In Craft Session with Amy Berkowitz
To complement our Ruby Write-In sessions, we're hosting once-a-month craft talks with Ruby authors!
This month, please join Ruby Amy Berkowitz!
Writing collaboratively is not only a lot of fun, it's also powerful— it's a way of resisting alienation, embracing interdependence, and reconnecting with the pure pleasure of writing. In this generative workshop, we’ll abandon ourselves to the joys of writing collaborative poems, experimenting with several methods in groups and pairs. Surprise yourself! Surprise others! Write weird things you could never write alone!
This workshop is for anyone who’s curious about poetry and collaboration. No writing experience needed!
Join us in the gallery space on the ground floor! 💞
This is an intimate group of Ruby members.
Female Life on Planet Earth with author Laleh Khadivi
Join Laleh Khadivi in conversation with Margaret Wilkerson Sexton on Khadivi’s latest novel, Female Life on Planet Earth at the Mechanic’s Institute!
“When Heti’s mother, Ana, dies, she leaves behind a spotless legacy: affectionate parent, modern career woman, and life of the party. Heti moves in a daze until her grief is upended by the arrival of an unmarked package containing photographs of Ana as a young woman—robed, standing in front of a burning building, and pointing a gun at a group of sobbing women.
Female Life on Planet Earth follows Heti as she raises teenage daughters, keeps up with client accounts, sits in LA traffic, and prepares to host the traditional anniversary memorial—all while quietly reeling with the violent secrets of the woman she thought she knew. Inside surprising, uproarious stories of female life, Heti discovers the selves women hide away, selves defiantly in search of pleasure, autonomy, delight, and connection. As the one-year mark of Ana’s death arrives, Heti calls together the women who knew her and asks them: Who was my mother, truly? And who are we?
Told with humor and emotional precision, Female Life on Planet Earth is a celebration of lineage, inheritance, and the boundlessness of women over time and space.”
“Female Life on Planet Earth is a spellbinding fever dream. A wholly engrossing deep dive into womanhood and loss. A must-read revelation of a book.” - Jonathan Escoffrey, author of If I Survive You
About the Speakers
Laleh Khadivi’s debut novel, The Age of Orphans, received the Whiting Award for Fiction, the Barnes and Nobles Discover New Writers Award and an Emory Fiction Fellowship. Her debut documentary film 900 WOMEN aired on A&E and premiered at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. She has worked as director, producer and cinematographer of documentary films since 1999. Her fiction and non-fiction can be found in The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, VQR, The Sun and other publications. She is the recipient of a 2016 National Endowment for the Arts Grant and a 2016 Pushcart Prize for her story Wanderlust.
Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s most recent novel, On the Rooftop, was a Reese Witherspoon “Reese’s Book Club” pick for September 2022. Her novel, The Revisioners, won a 2020 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work and a George Garrett New Writing Award; was a California and Northern California Book Award finalist, a 2020 Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award Finalist and a Willie Morris Award for Southern Writing finalist; was nominated for the 2020 Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Prize; and was a national bestseller as well 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 and the Northern California Book Award, won the Crook's Corner Book Prize, and was the recipient of the First Novelist Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.
[Virtual] Write-In Session
Come join the virtual Ruby Write-In! A warm and welcoming community to support each other on our projects.
All Rubies are welcome, whether you are journaling, just beginning to explore your writing, working on a poetry collection or zine, or grinding on the umpteenth revision of your manuscript – no matter where you are in your practice, you’ll find a friendly community here.
Our 2026 biweekly Write-In sessions will open with a brief share-out of our individual goals, and a short guided meditation. We'll spend the majority of time in quiet writing, and then check in during the final five minutes to reflect.
*This is an intimate gathering for Ruby members.
Fika Cake & Coffee Break
From Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break: "Functioning as both a verb and a noun, the concept of fika is simple. It is the moment that you take a break, often with a cup of coffee, but alternatively with tea, and find a baked good to pair with it. You can do it alone, you can do it with friends. You can do it at home, in a park or at work. But the essential thing is that you do it, that you make time to take a break: that’s what fika is all about."
Join us at 3 p.m. for a sweet break. There will be baked goodies, and we'll make small batches of tea and coffee to enjoy together. For bakers, feel free to bake favorites while also preparing something for gf and vegan members to enjoy (fruit, non-dairy ice cream, etc)!
*This is an intimate gathering for Ruby members.
Italian Book Club Night | TROUBLING LOVE by Elena Ferrante
You loved Elena Ferrante’s quartet My Brilliant Friend, and devoured each volume, but you haven’t had the chance to explore her first— and outstanding— works.
Here is the chance to read Ferrante’s debut novel, Troubling Love (1992, trans. by Ann Goldstein, Europa Editions), for an Italian Book Club night at The Ruby.
Also set in Naples, Ferrante’s first novel is a visceral journey into a mother-daughter relationship, which cannot be separated from the city’s patriarchal culture and violence. It is also a story about love and identity, and what it means to return to a place you fled.
Please note that the book includes references to sexual molestation, domestic violence, and portrays some disturbing scenes. If you’ve read any of Ferrante’s books, you know that she can be unsparing and interested in investigating precisely what can trouble us.
There will also be Neapolitan music and a Neapolitan pasta dish.
*This is an intimate gathering for Ruby members only.
For the love of Dolly | 9 to 5 Watch Party 🕘📌🗃️🖇️
Dolly Parton was such a special and beautiful gem of a person. Let's celebrate our favorite country wonder together with a Ruby Watch Party for the historic (and sadly, still timely) film about work culture, 9 to 5!
Let's get cozy. Comfy socks and blankets and soft pants recommended. The Ruby will supply some light snacks and drinks.
*This event is for Ruby members only.
Disability Reading Challenge Book Club x The Ruby | Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Disability Reading Challenge is excited to continue its partnership with The Ruby, hosting the next installment of its monthly virtual book club series.
The Disability Reading Challenge is a year-long community reading initiative exploring disability representation, disability justice, and disabled storytelling across genres and lived experiences.
Through monthly reading prompts, featured books, and community discussions, the challenge invites participants to engage with disability narratives in whatever way feels accessible to them.
For our August discussion, we'll be reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.
This speculative novel offers a powerful vision of community, resilience, and futurity. Through its exploration of adaptation, belief, and collective responsibility, the book resonates deeply with disability justice questions about survival and world-building. This month's theme, Disabled Futures, invites imagination and speculation about how disabled people survive, adapt, and build worlds under changing social, political, and environmental conditions — without losing sight of present realities, and while centering disabled knowledge, creativity, and collective survival.
Whether you've finished the book, read only a few chapters, are reading another book related to August's theme of Disabled Futures, or simply want to listen and participate in the conversation, you're welcome. There is no expectation that you've finished the book—or even read it at all.
You're invited to participate in whatever way feels accessible to you. The discussion will take place virtually via Zoom.
This continued partnership with The Ruby expands the Disability Reading Challenge's existing community discussions, creating another welcoming space for disabled and nondisabled readers alike to explore literature, identity, and disability justice together.
Discussion Format This is a lightly facilitated, community-centered discussion designed to be welcoming to readers of all backgrounds and levels of familiarity with the book. The event will include:
Brief introductions and community agreements
A short overview of the month's Disability Reading Challenge theme
Guided discussion questions about the theme and book
Open conversation and participant reflections
Time for recommendations, resources, and closing thoughts
There is no expectation that participants have finished the book—or even read it at all. Whether you've read every page, only a few chapters, another book related to the monthly theme, or simply want to listen, you're welcome. The discussion is grounded in curiosity, accessibility, disability justice, and mutual respect.
About the Facilitator Geetanshi Sharma is a Bay Area–based writer, educator, advocate, and community organizer whose work centers disability justice and inclusive storytelling. She is the founder and facilitator of the Disability Reading Challenge, a global community reading initiative exploring disability representation and disabled storytelling, and is a current Creative in Residence at The Ruby. She has taught creative writing courses focused on decolonization and global perspectives at San Francisco State University and previously worked in accessibility in the tech industry. She writes growing in the margins on Substack and hosts Characters Like Us, a podcast featuring authors writing from the margins.
Fika Cake & Coffee Break
From Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break: "Functioning as both a verb and a noun, the concept of fika is simple. It is the moment that you take a break, often with a cup of coffee, but alternatively with tea, and find a baked good to pair with it. You can do it alone, you can do it with friends. You can do it at home, in a park or at work. But the essential thing is that you do it, that you make time to take a break: that’s what fika is all about."
Join us at 3 p.m. for a sweet break. There will be baked goodies, and we'll make small batches of tea and coffee to enjoy together. For bakers, feel free to bake favorites while also preparing something for gf and vegan members to enjoy (fruit, non-dairy ice cream, etc)!
*This is an intimate gathering for Ruby members.
Script Club: Ever After Screening and Discussion
Join the Ruby for a film screening and craft discussion of beloved 90s classic Ever After, starring Drew Barrymore! We'll watch the movie together, discuss the story changes that screenwriter Susannah Grant made to the Cinderella fairy tale, and examine a few scenes for craft takeaways. Attendees will be sent a link to the screenplay before the event.
Movie screening of a 90s feminist retelling of Cinderella, written by Susannah Grant. Discussion to center around the specific changes to the classic fairy tale, as well as a short script-centered craft examination of screenplay conventions.
[Virtual] Write-In Session
Come join the virtual Ruby Write-In! A warm and welcoming community to support each other on our projects.
All Rubies are welcome, whether you are journaling, just beginning to explore your writing, working on a poetry collection or zine, or grinding on the umpteenth revision of your manuscript – no matter where you are in your practice, you’ll find a friendly community here.
Our 2026 biweekly Write-In sessions will open with a brief share-out of our individual goals, and a short guided meditation. We'll spend the majority of time in quiet writing, and then check in during the final five minutes to reflect.
This is an intimate group for Ruby members.
Write-In Craft Session with Kat Cu
To complement our Ruby Write-In sessions, we're hosting once-a-month craft talks with Rubies!
This month, please join Ruby Kat Cua!
If you’ve ever applied to a grant, fellowship, open call, or residency, chances are you’ve been asked to submit an artist statement, or a short account of your work as an artist or storyteller. Distilling the fullness of your practice into a 250-word paragraph can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be! ;-)
This craft-in will provide a low-stakes and affirming environment for attendees to workshop and receive group feedback on an existing artist statement that they want to edit, change, or make current. Attendees will be led through a series of reflective writing prompts and group discussion with the end goal of revising or rewriting their artist statements.
Attendees are highly encouraged to come with an pre-written statement (max 250 words).
Join us in the gallery space on the ground floor! 💞
This is an intimate group of Ruby members.
[Virtual] Write-In Session
Come join the virtual Ruby Write-In! A warm and welcoming community to support each other on our projects.
All Rubies are welcome, whether you are journaling, just beginning to explore your writing, working on a poetry collection or zine, or grinding on the umpteenth revision of your manuscript – no matter where you are in your practice, you’ll find a friendly community here.
Our 2026 biweekly Write-In sessions will open with a brief share-out of our individual goals, and a short guided meditation. We'll spend the majority of time in quiet writing, and then check in during the final five minutes to reflect.
This is an intimate group for Ruby members.
Write-In Craft Session with Preeti Vangani
To complement our Ruby Write-In sessions, we're hosting once-a-month craft talks with Ruby authors!
This month, please join Ruby Preeti Vangani!
As poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz writes, "The true subject of poetry is the loss of the beloved." We will write elegies emerging from personal and communal grief, and discuss the pains and pleasures of "re-membering" the gone. We will do this by reading and discussing modern and contemporary poems, examining poetic strategies and craft elements, followed by guided prompts. Works we read will include poems by Lucille Clifton, Victoria Chang, Mary Jo Bang, and Li-Young Lee, among others.
All participants will leave with drafts that they can continue working on after. There will also be room for sharing and peer feedback. This class is great for all levels of writers who seek to find new ways to write into loss and to rediscover a sense of joy while reimagining our beloveds on the page.
Join us in the gallery space on the ground floor! 💞
This is an intimate group of Ruby members.
Directed by Desire: A Ruby Member Reading, Book Sale, & Happy Hour Fundraiser!
For this very special Ruby Happy Hour, we’re hosting:
A member reading on the theme of Desire
An indie book and art sale featuring works by Ruby members
An extension of Papel & Papelón, a used-book fundraiser benefiting Venezuelan earthquake relief via the Fundana Foundation
Drinks and snacks will be provided!
The Reading: Directed By Desire
Community members of The Ruby will share short readings exploring desire in all its forms: all-consuming desire, thwarted desire, torturous desire, and every carnal and non-carnal variation in between. Expect voices that delve into what gets our blood pumping and what makes us feel hungry & alive.
The Book Sales
Indie Book & Art Sale (Ruby Members)
Ruby members will sell their own works at a dedicated table, including:
Books and chapbooks
Prints and artwork
Zines and other small publications
This sale directly supports local indie creators in our community.
Used Book Fundraiser: Papel & Papelón for Fundana
This event extends last Saturday’s Papel & Papelón fundraiser, organized by Ruby members Alex Clemente Perez, Crista García, and Fabiola Fernández. All proceeds support the Fundana Foundation’s emergency earthquake relief program in Venezuela.
Fundana is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting vulnerable families and protecting children and women across Venezuela
Learn more about their work: Fundana Foundation
Admission & Support
Free to anyone who commits to buying a book (or work of creative art) and/or donating to Fundana.
Friends of Ruby members are welcome with a suggested donation of $15 (NODFLAF).
If you pay the suggested donation and then also purchase papel & papelón books, member books or other items, you’ll receive a complimentary pass to join us at a future Ruby Happy Hour.
RSVP Required, please have had your most recent COVID vaccination or be willing to wear a mask, all genders welcome!
Full Moon Meditation & Yoga w/ Gladys Lu & Katie Gaddini 🌕🧘♂️
This month, Meditation & Yoga are coming together for a chance to ground and connect us to our body and to the celestial. This will be a blend of gentle vinyasa flow yoga and meditation. Wonderful teacher and gentle guide, Katie Gaddini, will lead us in a yoga session, and Gladys Lu will also make space for meditation.
No need to bring mats, we have them at The Ruby
We invite people of all levels and bodies and abilities to Yoga and meditation activities.
No prior meditation experience needed — only a willingness to arrive as you are.
About Gladys Lu
Gladys is an artist, ritualist and meditation facilitator. Her path includes a 200-hour yoga teacher training and a 40-hour sound healing training. She is a student of the Dzogchen Tibetan lineage and earth-based traditions, both of which deepen her commitment to somatic, embodied and relational practice. She brings this contemplative dimensions into her teaching and the communities practice.
About Katie Gaddini
Katie has been teaching yoga since 2014, having trained in London with Erin Pritchard and developed her practice across different styles and teachers in multiple countries.
Disability Reading Challenge Book Club at The Ruby
The Disability Reading Challenge is excited to partner with The Ruby to host its monthly virtual book club series.
The Disability Reading Challenge is a year-long community reading initiative exploring disability representation, disability justice, and disabled storytelling across genres and lived experiences. Through monthly reading prompts, featured books, and community discussions, the challenge invites participants to engage with disability narratives in whatever way feels accessible to them.
For our July discussion, we'll be reading Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure by Eli Clare.
Part memoir, part political analysis, and part cultural critique, Brilliant Imperfection examines cure as both a personal and political concept, challenging assumptions about disability, medicine, and what it means to live a full disabled life. Drawing on disability justice, environmental activism, and queer identity, Clare invites readers to imagine futures beyond the expectation that disabled people must be fixed.
Whether you've finished the book, read only a few chapters, are reading another book related to July's theme of Disability & Cure, or simply want to listen and participate in the conversation, you're welcome. There is no expectation that you've finished the book—or even read it at all. You're invited to participate in whatever way feels accessible to you.
The discussion will take place virtually via Zoom.
This new partnership with The Ruby expands the Disability Reading Challenge's existing community discussions, creating another welcoming space for disabled and nondisabled readers alike to explore literature, identity, and disability justice together.
Discussion Format
This is a lightly facilitated, community-centered discussion designed to be welcoming to readers of all backgrounds and levels of familiarity with the book.
The event will include:
Brief introductions and community agreements
A short overview of the month's Disability Reading Challenge theme
Guided discussion questions about the theme and book
Open conversation and participant reflections
Time for recommendations, resources, and closing thoughts
There is no expectation that participants have finished the book—or even read it at all. Whether you've read every page, only a few chapters, another book related to the monthly theme, or simply want to listen, you're welcome. The discussion is grounded in curiosity, accessibility, disability justice, and mutual respect.
About the Facilitator
Geetanshi Sharma is a Bay Area–based writer, educator, advocate, and community organizer whose work centers disability justice and inclusive storytelling. She is the founder and facilitator of the Disability Reading Challenge, a global community reading initiative exploring disability representation and disabled storytelling, and is a current Creative in Residence at The Ruby. She has taught creative writing courses focused on decolonization and global perspectives at San Francisco State University and previously worked in accessibility in the tech industry. She writes growing in the margins on Substack and hosts Characters Like Us, a podcast featuring authors writing from the margins.
RSVP
Ruby Journal & Zine Club (1 year!) 🎂
Help us celebrate our 1 year birthday at the Ruby Journal & Zine Club! We'll have cake and snacks to commemorate this milestone 🎉 Hope to see you there!
🌞 We will be taking a summer break in August, and plan to resume in September.
About the event:
This is a relaxed monthly session for anyone who enjoys or wants to start zine-making or journaling, or other forms of diaristic expression! We’ll open up the session with introductions, a conversation about our artistic practices and goals, and an optional creative prompt to get us started. The rest of the time will be spent writing, drawing, planning, reflecting, and/or creating. The Ruby will provide paper, magazines, art supplies, and some zines and journal spreads for inspiration. We welcome you to bring your own journals, materials, and tools of choice!
*This is an intimate gathering of Ruby members.