Heyday Books honored their founder, Malcolm Margolin, two months after he died at their Heyday Harvest event on October 19, 2025. We partnered with Heyday to make this video and bring Malcolm into the room at the event.
For more than five decades, Malcolm Margolin has been a fixture at the heart of Berkeley’s intellectual community. After founding Heyday Books in 1974, he was instrumental in publishing hundreds of titles. Most significantly, in 1978 he wrote the groundbreaking book, The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area. Ever since his introduction to the indigenous peoples of northern California, Malcolm has been involved in cultural revitalization projects, including Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, California Indian Basketweavers’ Association and Heyday’s magazine, News from Native California.
Sadly, he died on August 20, 2025, from complications with Parkinson’s disease.
Listen to our extended interview with Malcolm on our Podcast, Sacred Land Speaks. https://sacredlandspeaks.podbean.com/…
Directed by Christopher McLeod
Produced by Kalie Caetano
Edited by Callie Shanafelt Wong
Camera Andrew Black
Sound David Wendlinger
Additional footage thanks to
San Francisco Foundation
Cody Lucich
Photos thanks to
Heyday
Claire Greensfelder
Christopher McLeod
and others
Music thanks to
Sunol