Bonnie on The Rich Roll Podcast.
archived events & interviews
2020
March 30, 2020: Book Passage and Alta Asks Live with Heather Partington, Corte Madera. Watch the video here!
April 7: Green Apple Books with Daniel Handler and Andrew Sean Greer, San Francisco. Watch the video here!
April 14: Listen to this interview with Wisconsin Public Radio: “Like Fish to Water: Why We Swim”
April 14: Listen to this mini book reading on KALW’s Crosscurrents, “New Arrivals”
April 21: Harvard Book Store with Caroline Paul, Cambridge. Watch the video here!
April 23: DIESEL, A Bookstore with Mary Melton, co-sponsored by The Journal of Alta California, Santa Monica. Watch the video here!
April 25: Listen to this interview with NPR’s Weekend Edition host Scott Simon: “‘Why We Swim’ Looks for Answers in People and Places across the Globe”
April 29: Listen to this interview with host Evan Ratliff on the Longform podcast: Episode #390: Bonnie Tsui
May 4: Reading Group Choices’ Book a Day Facebook Live chat with Bridget Quinn. Watch the video here!
May 8: World Open Water Swimming Association conversation with Kim Chambers, Antonio Argüelles, and Steven Munatones. Watch the video here!
May 26: Instagram Live with Zibby Owens for Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books. Watch the video here, and listen to the June 28 podcast episode here!
June 3: Berkeley City Club with Susan Helmrich of Swim Across America. Watch the video here!
June 25: Readings by Writers with Pam Houston, hosted by Writing x Writers. Watch the video here!
June 29: St. Louis County Library presents its Virtual Author Series. Watch here!
June 30: Lockdown Lit @ Lunch salon with Jennifer Steinhauer, presented by The Booksmith/ZYZZVA, San Francisco. Watch the video here!
July 18: Politics & Prose Live with Leanne Shapton, Washington, D.C. Watch the video here!
July 28: Los Angeles Times Book Club with James Rainey, L.A. Watch the video here!
August 6: Powells Books with Crissy Van Meter, Portland. Watch the video here!
October 11: Six Bridges Literary Festival with Eliza Borné, editor of the Oxford American, Little Rock.
October 24: Litquake Festival reading with the Writers Grotto, San Francisco. Watch the video here!
November 21: Kendal Mountain Literature Festival, in conversation with poet Polly Atkin, Lake District, U.K. Watch the interview here!
December 22: Brooklyn Public Library and Writers Rebel NYC present Climate Reads: Why We Swim with Leanne Shapton, Lidia Yuknavitch, and Anna Weber, New York.
2021
January 18, 2021: Listen to or watch this interview with Rich Roll on the Rich Roll podcast: Episode #574: Bonnie Tsui and Why We Swim.
January 22: AAJA Book Club, in conversation with Amy Wu, New York.
February 2: The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio UK, London. Listen here!
March 3: Listen to this episode of The Forum on the BBC World Service, Making Waves: The History of Swimming, with Bonnie, Kevin Dawson, Mikael Rosén, and Howard Means.
April 11: Interview and photo essay for the Apiece Apart WOMAN series here.
April 13: PAPERBACK LAUNCH! Interview with Mina Kim on KQED Forum here.
Plus: Chaucer’s Books with Caitlin Roper of The New York Times, Santa Barbara. Watch the video here!
April 14: The Daily Stoic podcast with Ryan Holiday, listen to the conversation here! And read the Q&A about Why We Swim here.
April 21: Bookshop Santa Cruz with Boston Marathon champ and *NEW 50K WORLD RECORD HOLDER Des Linden, Santa Cruz. Watch the video here!
April 22: Interview with Haley Chura and Alyssa Godesky of the IronWomen podcast, listen here!
April 27: Tattered Cover with Christopher McDougall, Denver. Watch the video here!
April 29: Bookshop West Portal with Rachel Levin, San Francisco. Watch the video here!
May 3: The Forum at Grace Cathedral with Dean Malcolm Young, San Francisco. Watch the video here!
May 4: Instagram Live with Phyllis Grant, Rachel Levin, and Chris Colin. Watch here!
May 5: Bay Area Book Festival presents a Writer to Writer conversation with Nathaniel Rich and Annalee Newitz, moderated by Bonnie.
May 11: SARAH AND THE BIG WAVE BOOK LAUNCH! Books Inc. with Sarah Gerhardt and illustrator Sophie Diao. Watch the video here!
May 25: Waterlog Reissue Celebration with Craig Popelars of Tin House and Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books, with special guest star Rufus Deakin! San Francisco. Watch the video here!
June 10: Sarah and the Big Wave is featured on KALW’s “New Arrivals.” Listen here!
June 16: Bonnie is profiled in the July/August issue of Harvard Magazine: “The Wave Rider.”
July 11: Authors on the Street presents a FREE, IN-PERSON OUTDOOR EVENT! Hosted by Charlie Jane Anders, Inner Sunset Flea Market, and Green Apple Books on the Park, San Francisco.
July 16: The Berkeley Public Library presents Children’s Author Talk: Bonnie Tsui, author of Sarah and the Big Wave.
July 23: On Day 1 of the Tokyo Olympics, four-time world champion surfer and gold-medal favorite Carissa Moore reads SARAH AND THE BIG WAVE for Warwick’s Books’ weekly storytime! Watch the video here!
Plus: Bonnie is featured in Outside magazine’s primer on Olympic sports debuts: “We love everything Bonnie Tsui writes about water sports.” Read more here!
Aug 1: Bonnie is featured in The Telegraph’s story about swimming and the Olympics for the UK paperback release of Why We Swim.
Aug 4: Interview with Bonnie about Sarah and the Big Wave, in the 2021 Waters of the West summer issue of Sunset magazine here.
Aug 12: Bonnie and Pop-Up Magazine senior producer Haley Howle appear at a special NightLife x Pop-Up Magazine event at the California Academy of Sciences, as the FIELD GUIDE audio experience and art project takes over.
Oct 14: Litquake Festival 2021 presents Bonnie in conversation with J.M. Thompson about his new book, Running Is a Kind of Dreaming.
Nov 16: Emma Watson selects Why We Swim as a COP26 Book Fairies selection for the U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow.
Nov 17: The San Francisco Chronicle’s Total SF Book Club presents its first LIVE, IN-PERSON event at the San Francisco Public Library! Bonnie is in conversation with The Chronicle’s Heather Knight and Peter Hartlaub.
2022
January 24, 2022: Bonnie interviews Bill Hayes about his new book, Sweat: A History of Exercise, in a virtual event with Green Apple Books in San Francisco. Watch the video here!
April 28: Podcast and photo essay for the Finisterre “Hell or High Water” series here.
July 7: In-store book reading and open conversation with Bonnie at Finisterre London! An evening of beers and cold water tales.
July 8: Bonnie swims with the historic Serpentine Swimming Club in Hyde Park, the oldest swimming club in Britain. Read the club swim report here!
August 18: Bonnie is a guest on the Looking Sideways podcast with Matt Barr. Listen to the episode here.
September 9: American Swim Coaches Association 54th Annual World Clinic, “Why We Swim” Open Water session with Aaron Peirsol, Steven Munatones, and Quinn Fitzgerald; Las Vegas.
October 7: Litquake Literary Festival presents Kidquake 2022! Bonnie presents Sarah and the Big Wave to SFUSD K-2 students at the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch.
October 19: Bonnie performs live onstage for the San Francisco debut of Generation Women for Litquake at the Verdi Club.
October 20: As part of NEA’s Big Read, Bonnie hosts a conversation with Charles Yu, author of the National Book Award-winning novel Interior Chinatown, co-sponsored by the Mechanics’ Institute, Litquake, and the Chinese Historical Society of America. Video to come!
November 1: The Portland Book Festival presents a special episode of Literary Arts’ The Archive Project: “Keep Swimming” with Bonnie and Karen Eva Carr, moderated by Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Paul Marshall.
November 9: Bonnie is the guest speaker at this year’s MCDS Book Fair Literary Luncheon and fundraiser; Marin Country Day School, open to the public.
2023
January 24, 2023: Bonnie interviews Kathryn Ma at the launch event for Kathryn’s wonderful new novel, The Chinese Groove, at the Booksmith, San Francisco. Watch the video here!
February 1-3: Bonnie speaks about Why We Swim at the 2023 Rancho Mirage Writers Festival at the Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory. Watch the video here!
April 15: Bonnie discusses Why We Swim and all things aquatic with librarian Joy Marston a the Berkeley Public Library North Branch.
April 29: Bonnie is a 2023 San Francisco Public Library Laureate; join the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library at the 2023 Library Laureates gala at the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch to celebrate and support the library!
May 11: Bonnie interviews Matthew Zapruder about his beautiful new book, Story of a Poem, at Green Apple Books on the Park. Watch the video here!
June 15: Bonnie will be a special guest during the California Book Club featuring a conversation with Charles Yu about his novel Interior Chinatown, hosted by John Freeman. Watch video here!
August 31: Bonnie is interviewed by reporter Daniel Wolfe for his Washington Post story about the Triple Crown of open-water swimming. Read the piece here.
October 12: Bonnie performs at Fort Point, San Francisco, as part of the “Keepers of the Fire” series, a FOR-SITE and National Park Service evening dedicated to the theme of water, curated by Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center.
December 8: Bonnie is a featured speaker at Patagonia’s Not Mars: Tools for Saving Our Home Planet, an evening of storytelling and activism focused on protecting healthy waters and building healthy communities. Hosted by Yessenia Funes, presenters include community organizer Nikkita Oliver, activist Jamie Henn, and ocean advocate and surfer Greg Long. All proceeds benefit Wild Orca, Save our Wild Salmon, and Washington Conservation Action. Town Hall Seattle.
2024
March 3: Bonnie interviews her pal and NYT-bestselling author Caroline Paul for the launch party of TOUGH BROAD: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking, How Outdoor Adventure Improves our Lives as We Age, at the beautiful Potrero Hill Neighborhood House (a Julia Morgan gem!) in San Francisco.
March 7: The Chico State Humanities Center Visiting Scholar series hosts a conversation with Bonnie and Rob Davidson, a professor of English and Creative Writing. Video coming soon!
April 26: Bonnie is featured in Brené Brown’s “Five Questions With” on all things swimming and water; read the interview here.
August 29: Listen to the AFAR “Travel Tales” podcast episode featuring Bonnie’s upcoming story on Swiss river swimming here!