Taking Kepler’s Literary Foundation into the Future

Kepler’s Literary Foundation’s mission is to enrich, engage, and inspire our community through literary programs that foster creative thinking and the wonder of new ideas.  The Foundation provides a vital forum for notable writers, artists, scientists, and other original thinkers to connect with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.  At a moment when our society is fragmented and we are at risk of living within our own echo chambers, Kepler’s brings people together to help reinforce a strong civic fabric.

Kepler’s Books, founded in 1955, is a Menlo Park and Bay Area institution.  Kepler’s Literary Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, was founded in 2012 as a bold and necessary response to a moment of crisis and opportunity.  When Kepler’s Books faced the risk of losing its long-standing literary programs, the store joined with customers and visionary donors to create an innovative solution: launching a new literary arts nonprofit paired with their beloved community bookstore to protect, expand, and reimagine public literary life. What began as a local intervention has since become a national model.

Our Programs

We present over 100 literary events each year, featuring: 

1. Award-winning authors 

We’ve hosted notable authors, including Nobel, Pulitzer, and Booker Prize winners like Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, placing Kepler’s at the center of the world’s most important literary conversations.

2. Thought leaders offering powerful insights on important issues

We find leading thinkers who help audiences make sense of a rapidly changing world, including Sal Khan on AI and education, Bryan Stevenson on justice and equity, and Heather Cox Richardson on the state of democracy in America.

3. Authors who reach across ages and demographics

Kepler’s welcomes everyone: whether children discovering reading with Rick Riordan, teens finding themselves through Jason Reynolds, or adults engaging with public leaders like Nancy Pelosi.  Our youth programs bring writers into local schools and help ignite a passion for reading, writing, and storytelling among the next generation.

4. A variety of cultural offerings

Our Literary Seminars offer guided, in-depth engagement with major works. We support emerging authors through Story Is the Thing, and present This Is Now with Angie Coiro, where pressing issues are explored through conversations with leading thinkers.

5. Access for all

We believe literary culture is a necessity, not a luxury. This commitment underpins our free programs for Title I schools and lower-priced or complimentary tickets for students and low-income attendees.

Our Impact

Every dollar invested in Kepler’s Literary Foundation delivers triple impact: it builds local community through powerful literary programs, it strengthens Kepler’s Books as a vital resource and anchor for our community, and it advances a nationally influential model for developing strong communities through strong independent bookstores.

Each year over ten thousand participants share experiences that deepen empathy and turn reading into a lived, civic practice.  As a trusted forum for open, thoughtful dialogue, we ensure that literature remains a living force in our public life.

These programs also directly strengthen the sustainability of Kepler’s bookstore.  Our literary events draw audiences from Northern California and beyond, expanding the bookstore’s reach, reputation, and relevance.  Under Kepler’s hybrid model, the Foundation absorbs event production and marketing costs, allowing the bookstore to direct its scarce resources into improving wages that help staff keep pace with our region’s rapidly increasing cost of living.

Kepler’s has become a national model.  More than 40 independent bookstores have followed Kepler’s lead and set up similar hybrid models to deepen their community impact and improve their financial resilience.  This movement for reimagining bookstores now includes highly regarded philanthropic organizations such as the Emerson Collective.

Your Role

To build on our momentum, we must raise $150,000 annually from major donors.  We are therefore establishing Kepler’s Leadership Circle, a community of philanthropists committed to sustaining one of the Bay Area’s most trusted cultural institutions.  We invite you to join as a Founder with a three-year commitment of $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 per year.

Ticket sales cover only about 60% of the cost of producing these world-class literary programs.  Major donor support will bridge the gap, enabling us to continue hosting leading voices while offering accessible tickets for everyone.

As a member of Kepler’s Leadership Circle, you’ll join an extraordinary group of major donors who believe in our vision of Kepler’s – not just as a retail space, but as an essential cultural, civic, and community institution that is a grounding force and a shining light for generations to come.