Journeying into San Francisco’s Underbelly with Novelist Brittany Newell

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

San Francisco author Brittany Newell’s novel “Soft Core” explores the city’s underbelly — while making its tech bros minor characters. With pinpoint descriptions of the sweat on a west-bound Muni in October, the ceiling of the sometimes-cool, sometimes-not Makeout Room and the vinyl seats of the now-shuttered Silver Crest Diner, Newell writes of the city as lived by her protagonist, a stripper and dominatrix. And she pushes back on the negative narratives of the city she loves, drawing from San Francisco’s rich history of sex and love to argue the city’s not dead — and not just for the very rich. She joins us to share her San Francisco and to hear yours. Guest: Brittany Newell, writer and performer living in San Francisco, author of the new novel, “Soft Core” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho La Puerta, a wellness resort in Baja, California, just an hour from San Diego,
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0:12.8	Summer retreat packages of three, four, or seven nights including hiking, water classes,
0:19.0	mindfulness, spa therapies, and culinary adventures with
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0:27.3	Support for Forum comes from Broadway S.F. presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a
0:33.2	true story. From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and
0:39.7	Lucille Frank, a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused
0:46.3	of an unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice,
0:53.4	and devotion.
1:02.6	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orphium Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
1:06.9	Tickets on sale now at Broadway, sF.com.
1:09.5	From KQED. From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:24.6	You know, one of the things that makes a city a city is that on any
1:28.2	given block, you don't really know what's going on behind every door. There's the official
1:32.3	business of a place like San Francisco, and then there's what happens in the dark, in the
1:37.7	shadows, in the underworld. Writer and performer, Brittany Newell's new novel Softcore is a trip
1:43.8	into the Bay Area's soft underbelly
1:46.0	where the men are tender and the women are tough. What do you learn in the wee hours and the hidden
1:51.6	places? And can that knowledge survive being brought into the light? It's coming up next after this
1:57.2	news.
2:13.6	Alexis Madrigal here.
	...

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