4:30 - 5:30
Author René Peña-Govea discusses her new book, Estela, Undrowning.
In her raw and resonant debut novel, René Peña-Govea seamlessly interweaves prose and poetry to uplift the power of language, the courage to fight injustice, and the complex beauty of finding your people—perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X and Carolina Ixta’s Shut Up, This is Serious.
Space limited. Reservations required: (415) 355-2810, email bhemgr@sfpl.org or sign-up at the reference desk.
René Peña-Govea is a San Francisco-born and Bernal-raised writer, educator. René published her first poem and released her first album at age fifteen, and since then, has been named a Publishers Weekly Spring 2026 Writer to Watch, an inaugural Bay Beats musician, a YBCA-100 Honoree, a Las Musas Hermana, an SFPL Brown-Handler Resident, a Creative-in-Residence at The Ruby, and a Nomadic Literary awardee. She works as a middle school librarian, and performs music with three generations of La Familia Peña-Govea and as René y Familia. Estela, Undrowning is her first novel.
Connect: René Peña-Govea - Website
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