Oakland Review of Books, ORB to those in the orbit, is an exercise in counterprogramming. Like Oakland itself, we’re doomed to define ourselves by what we are not, but with a chip or two on our shoulders, we make that into a virtue. What is ORB? As an answer, “What’s the opposite of Nextdoor" will do, if all we have is a sentence. But for a fuller introduction, just look to each word of our name …

We are a new publication in Oakland, and we are fully of Oakland but not exclusively about Oakland. We’re seeking pitches for pieces of all kinds right now—essays, reviews, interviews, conceptual art masquerading as journalism, maps, pranks. And of course, we’re interested in books, in how they move through the world and illuminate it (or obscure it), reading Oakland in books and on reading books in …