It’s true. Artist and critic Jenny Odell and immigration lawyer and activist J. J. Mulligan Sepúlveda will be among the participants at this year’s Bay Area Book Festival, which runs Saturday and Sunday this coming weekend (May 4-5).

Saturday
Mulligan Sepúlveda, author of the stirring No Human Is Illegal, a powerful document of one lawyer’s fight for those seeking a better life in America against its ever-tightening borders, will participate in “Us vs. Them: Refugees, Asylum, and the Politics of the Borderlands,” described as an examination of “the history behind this human rights crisis and tell the urgent stories of those who have experienced it firsthand.” With Aaron Bobrow-Strain (The Death and Life of Aida Hernández), Steven Mayers and Jonathan Freedman (Solito, Solita), and Eileen Truax (We Built The Wall). 10 a.m. Berkeley City College auditorium.

Sunday
Odell, author of the galvanizing How to Do Nothing, an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism, will participate in “A Bird’s Eye View: Attention, Observation, Birdwatching, and the Fine Art of Doing Nothing” described as a reflection by “writer-artists and bird lovers to explore the wonders that acts of attention can bring.” With English author Tim Dee (Landfill: Notes on Gull Watching and Trash Picking in the Anthropocene),  French author Jérémie Royer (Audubon, On the Wings of the World, a graphic novel), and KQED reporter Dan Brekke. 1:30 p.m. Brower Center—Goldman Theater.