# Event Details - **Event Name**: Story is the Thing - **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 28 May, 2026 at 06:00 pm – Thu, 28 May, 2026 at 07:30 pm (-07:00) - **Event Description**: Free! Meet and hear from local authors Ellen Barker, Meg Donohue, Portia Elan and Victoria Tatum.About this EventLooking to discover your new favorite author? Join us for our signature reading series, Story Is the Thing, to hear four stellar Northern California fiction authors read from their debut and latest titles.The Program6:30 - Reception with the authors7:00 - Readings, discussion, and Q&A8:00 - Book Signing Our guests are Ellen Barker for Nothing North of Delmar, a novel of one woman’s post-college foray into the adult realities of landlords, economics, and urban politics; Meg Donohue for The Memory Gardener, a cozy tale of the power of memory and the nourishing magic of garden; Portia Elan for her dazzling adventure across centuries and continents in search of the things that hold us together, Homebound; and finally Victoria Tatum for her Chinatown-meets-Grapes-of-Wrath novel More Than Any River. The Line Up Ellen Barker grew up in Missouri and had a front-row seat to the demographic shifts, the hope, and the turmoil of the civil rights era of the 1960s. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from Washington University in Saint Louis, where she developed a passion for how cities work, and don’t. She began her career as an urban planner in Saint Louis and then spent many years working for large consulting firms specializing in urban infrastructure, first as a tech writer-editor and later managing large data systems. She now lives in Northern California with her husband. Her prior novels include the East of Troost series.Meg Donohue is the USA Today bestselling author of The Memory Gardener (Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster), You, Me, and the Sea, Every Wild Heart, Dog Crazy, All the Summer Girls, and How to Eat a Cupcake. Meg has an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from Dartmouth College. Born and raised in Philadelphia, she now lives in San Francisco with her husband, three daughters, and dog. She is working on her next novel.Portia Elan studied history at Stanford University and earned an MFA from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, before returning to California, where she has worked as a teacher and public librarian. A former Lambda Literary Fellow, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife and an abundance of cats. Homebound is her first novel.Victoria Tatum received her MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State and her MA in Education from UC Santa Cruz. Her first novel, The Virgin’s Children, was released by a Canadian publisher formerly known as Rain Publishing in 2006. She and her husband have two adult children and live in Santa Cruz, California. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/menlo-park/story-is-the-thing/100001983401019842 - **Event Categories**: art, literary-art, dog, trips-adventures - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: USD ## Event venue details - **city**: Menlo Park - **state**: CA - **country**: United States - **location**: Kepler's Books - **lat**: 37.453569 - **long**: -122.182167 - **full address**: Kepler's Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, United States ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Story is the Thing - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events10/banners/c1bdab43fae7f451ea147368bda07e093dd35d21cf023297382800bbad8fa587-rimg-w1200-h675-dcbfc1bc-gmir.jpg?v=1771659669 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Story is the Thing being held? - **A:** Story is the Thing takes place on Thu, 28 May, 2026 at 06:00 pm to Thu, 28 May, 2026 at 07:30 pm at Kepler's Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, United States. - **Q**: Who is organizing Story is the Thing? - **A:** Story is the Thing is organized by Kepler's Literary Foundation. - **Q**: What has been the experience of attendees at Kepler's Literary Foundation's events? - **A:** Attendees have given Kepler's Literary Foundation a rating of 4/5 based on reviews from early attendees on AllEvents. Kepler's Literary Foundation has a verified profile on AllEvents where you can read reviews and explore their upcoming events. - **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me? - **A:** Story is the Thing is ideal for party-goers, social butterflies, and anyone looking for a great night out with music, drinks, and good vibes. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Menlo Park, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. If Story is the Thing sounds like your kind of event, don't wait - spots fill up fast. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Story is the Thing", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events10/banners/c1bdab43fae7f451ea147368bda07e093dd35d21cf023297382800bbad8fa587-rimg-w1200-h675-dcbfc1bc-gmir.jpg?v=1771659669", "startDate": "2026-05-28T18:00:00-07:00", "endDate": "2026-05-28T19:30:00-07:00", "url": "https://allevents.in/menlo-park/story-is-the-thing/100001983401019842", "eventStatus": "https://schema.org/EventScheduled", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Kepler's Books", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "1010 El Camino Real", "postalCode": "94025", "addressLocality": "Menlo Park", "addressRegion": "CA", "addressCountry": "US" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "37.453569", "longitude": "-122.182167" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Free! 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We produce over 150 programs each year bringing celebrated writers, artists, and original thinkers to engage with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.Your ticket purchases and donations support our ability to provide outstanding literary programming for the readers and writers in our community. It also enables us to bring exceptional writers to underserved schools, put books in the hands of children who often don't have books at home, and offer free admission to students and their teachers to our literary events." } ] } ] ```