

San Francisco
Having 'The Talk' with Pulitzer Prize-Winning Cartoonist Darrin Bell
This event has been postponed, new date TBA.
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Darrin Bell was 6 years old when his mother told him he couldn’t have a realistic water gun. She said she feared for his safety, that police tend to think of little Black boys as older and less innocent than they really are.
Join us in-person in downtown San Francisco for an in-depth talk with Bell about his experience—and the experience of millions of other parents and children in this country—which he has now told in his new graphic novel, The Talk. Through evocative illustrations and sharp humor, Bell examines how The Talk shaped intimate and public moments from childhood to adulthood. While coming of age in Los Angeles―and finding a voice through cartooning―Bell becomes painfully aware of being regarded as dangerous by white teachers, neighbors, and police officers and thus of his mortality. Drawing attention to the brutal murders of African Americans and showcasing revealing insights and cartoons along the way, he brings us up to the moment of reckoning when people took to the streets protesting the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
And now Bell must decide whether he and his own six-year-old son are ready to have The Talk.
Darrin Bell received the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, the 2016 Berryman Award for Editorial Cartooning, the 2015 RFK Award for Editorial Cartooning, and UC Berkeley’s 2015 Daily Californian Alumni of the Year Award, began his career in 1995 at the age of 20. While serving as the Daily Californian’s staff cartoonist, he began freelancing for the Opinion pages of the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune. In 1997, he co-created the comic strip Rudy Park and self-syndicated it to technology magazines. United Media launched it into newspapers in 2001. In 2003, Darrin launched his other comic strip, Candorville, in newspapers via the Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG), which also began syndicating his editorial cartoons in 2013. While WPWG still syndicates Candorville and Rudy Park, Darrin moved his editorial cartoons to King Features Syndicate in late 2018. He’s also a contributing cartoonist for The New Yorker. Darrin lives with his wife and two children in California.
Notes
This program has 2 types of tickets available: In-person and online-only. For online viewing, pre-register to receive a link to the live-stream event.
Safety Protocols for in-person attendance:
- We follow best practices laid out by the CDC and state and local guidelines.
- We strongly recommend vaccination for guests, staff, and volunteers.
- Masks are strongly encouraged while indoors (if you do not have one and would like one, inquire at our front desk for a complimentary mask).
- We reserve the right to require different rules for specific events as necessary.
Our LEED Gold-certified building is designed to cool with outside air, using digitally controlled moveable windows and large ceiling fans. We are deploying additional HEPA filters inside to scrub the air. This is all in addition to increased cleaning of surfaces throughout the building.
Copies of The Talk are available for purchase during checkout (for U.S. domestic shipping only).
The Commonwealth Club of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our online programming.
This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.
See more Michelle Meow Show programs at The Commonwealth Club of California.
Bell photo by Makeda Rashidi.
Wed, Jun 14 / 6:00 pm PDT
The Commonwealth Club of California
110 The Embarcadero
Taube Family Auditorium
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States
Speakers

Darrin Bell
Cartoonist; Author, The Talk graphic novel; Creator, Candorville; Co-creator, Rudy Park

Michelle Meow
Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-host

John Zipperer
Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of California—Co-host
Format
5:30 p.m. doors open & check-in
6–7 p.m. program
7 p.m. book signing
(all times PDT)
COST
In-person:
$10 members
$15 nonmembers
$40 members with a book
$45 nonmembers with a book
Free for students (without a book)
Free for Leadership Circle members
Online:
Free for members
$5 nonmembers
$30 members with a book
$35 nonmembers with a book
Free for students (without a book)
Free for Leadership Circle members