Helene Wecker – The Gates of Midnight

Award-winning and bestselling novelist Helene Wecker comes to JCCSF to celebrate the publication of The Gates of Midnight, the epic conclusion to her beloved Golem and the Jinni trilogy. 

In conversation with Bay Area author Ilana DeBare, Wecker will reflect on bringing her acclaimed trilogy to its long-awaited conclusion, crafting unforgettable characters inspired by Jewish and Arab folklore and mythology, and building richly imagined worlds where history and magic collide. 

Thirty years after the events of The Hidden Palace, Chava the golem and Ahmad the jinni have built separate lives, believing the dangerous wizard Yehudah Schaalman has been defeated forever. But when Schaalman begins his return, old allies and unexpected new figures are drawn together for one final reckoning. Sweeping from Brooklyn to Chicago and beyond, The Gates of Midnight delivers a thrilling, deeply satisfying finale to Wecker’s award-winning trilogy. 

“Wecker is a marvelous storyteller.” — USA Today 

“An intoxicating fusion of fantasy and historical fiction… Wecker’s storytelling skills dazzle.” — Entertainment Weekly 

Helene Wecker is the author of The Golem and the Jinni—which was awarded the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature, the VCU Cabell Award for First Novel, and the Harold U. Ribalow Prize, and was nominated for a Nebula Award and a World Fantasy Award—and its sequel, book two of the trilogy, The Hidden Palace. A Midwest native, she holds a B.A. in English from Carleton College and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia University. Her work has appeared in literary journals such as Joyland and Catamaran, as well as the fantasy anthology The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and children.

Ilana DeBare is an Oakland-based author and former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and Sacramento Bee. She is the author of the fantasy novels Shaken Loose and Shaken Free, as well as Where Girls Come First: The Rise, Fall, and Surprising Revival of Girls’ Schools.

Our bookstore partner is Bookshop West Portal

All seating is first come, first served.

Questions? Email [email protected]