City Arts & Lectures

This week, we remember the life of Gloria Steinem – legendary feminist, activist, and journalist, with a rebroadcast of a conversation recorded in San Francisco on November 9, 2015.

For more than half a century, Gloria Steinem was one of the most influential voices for women’s rights, equality, and social justice.

Steinem began her journalism career in New York, gaining national attention with an undercover investigation of the working conditions at the Playboy Club. In 1971, she co-founded Ms. Magazine, a groundbreaking publication that centered women’s lives in the larger political and cultural conversation. 

Steinem was a mentor to generations of women - whether through her writing, her activism, or simply her example, Steinem offered women an invitation to speak out, organize, and imagine a different future.  City Arts & Lectures’ founder, Sydney Goldstein, was one of those women, and Gloria was a guest onstage many times - and lent her advice and support offstage.

Gloria Steinem died on September 3, 2026, in New York. She was 92.

In this 2015 appearance, Steinem talked with filmmaker, activist and artist Chinaka  Hodge, after the publication of her memoir, My Life On The Road. 

Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, is one of today’s leading voices addressing issues of income inequality.  Reich served in three presidential administrations, and recently retired from teaching at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Policy after nearly 20 years.  His classes were among the most popular on campus, and the end of his teaching career inspired the documentary “The Last Class”.  Reich publishes extensively on social media and is the author of more than 20 books including his 2025 memoir, “Coming Up Short”. 

On July 23, 2025, Reich spoke with Monika Bauerlein, the CEO of the Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit multimedia news organization that houses Mother Jones magazine and the radio show and podcast Reveal. 

Essayist and novelist Edwidge Danticat moved from Port-au-Prince to the United States at the age of twelve and began writing about Haitian culture and the immigrant experience when she was just 13. Danticat has gone on to write numerous critically acclaimed books, and currently teaches at Columbia University. On August 3, 2026, Danticat talked  about her most recent novel, Dey, with Lisa Armstrong, Associate Dean at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. 

Emmy-nominated actress and activist Laverne Cox rose to fame through her role on Orange is the New Black, quickly becoming an important voice for transgender rights. In her debut memoir Transcendent, Cox delves into her traumas, gender identity, transition, and, in the end, her journey to healing.

Laverne Cox spent years tirelessly working to make it as an actress before her breakout, Emmy-nominated role in Orange Is the New Black. She studied dance, acted in off-Broadway shows, and worked in restaurants, all while honing her craft. Now, she has appeared in award-winning movies and shows, produced the award-winning documentary The T Word, and become a leading voice advocating for queer and transgender people. In her debut memoir Transcendent, Cox delves into her traumas, gender identity, transition, and, in the end, her journey to healing.

On June 11, 2026, Laverne Cox came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage conversation with filmmaker, writer, and actress Cheryl Dunye.

This is an encore presentation of a program originally broadcast in October of 2025. Arundhati Roy’s internationally best-selling novels include The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness.  Her nonfiction works engage elegantly and passionately with class and power, among other issues.  Roy’s new memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, examines her childhood in Kerala, India, and a mother whose commitment to justice and education made her a powerful force in the community – but whose volatility made for a challenging family life that included emotional abuse.  On September 19, 2025, Arundhati Roy came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to read from her memoir and hold an on-stage conversation with journalist Deepa Fernandes.