San Mateo County Libraries hosts novelist Vanessa Hua at San Carlos on Sept. 13 and cookbook author Clarissa Wei at Foster City on Sept. 19. Both talks are free — and early arrivals get a free copy of the book.

If your idea of a good weekend includes a novelist, a Q&A and a free hardcover to take home, the San Mateo County library system has two of those lined up in September — and for both, the giveaway copy is the reason to show up early.

Vanessa Hua, Coyoteland — San Carlos Library, Sunday, Sept. 13, 1 p.m.

Bay Area novelist and former San Francisco Chronicle columnist Vanessa Hua comes to the San Carlos Library (external source, opens in a new tab) at 610 Elm Street to talk about her new novel, Coyoteland, according to the library's event page (external source, opens in a new tab). It's a suburban drama set in El Nido, an invented gated community "in the hills east of Berkeley," where a father's last-ditch real-estate scheme, a teenager scrambling through cliques, an ugly fire season and a roaming coyote all collide. Hua is a national bestseller (A River of Stars, Forbidden City) whose honors include a federal arts fellowship — so this is a genuine draw, not a filler booking.

The talk is free, followed by a Q&A and a signing. The catch worth planning around: the first 25 people in the room get a free copy of the book. The branch opens at 10 a.m. Sunday, so the doors are unlocked long before the 1 p.m. start — get there by about 12:30 if the free hardcover is the point. San Carlos Library has its own lot plus street parking, and it's a short walk from the San Carlos Caltrain station, which runs on weekends.

Clarissa Wei, Sitting the Month — Foster City Library, Saturday, Sept. 19, 1 p.m.

Six days later, food writer Clarissa Wei brings her new cookbook to the Foster City Library (external source, opens in a new tab) at 1000 East Hillsdale Blvd. She'll be joined onstage by Stella Wang, the Taipei herbalist who worked with her on the recipes, per SMCL's events calendar (external source, opens in a new tab). Sitting the Month is a modern take on the Chinese postpartum tradition of resting and recovering in the weeks after childbirth — 88 recipes organized around three stages of recovery, plus historical context and a postpartum-pantry guide. Wei wrote the IACP-winning, James Beard–finalist Made in Taiwan, so the cooking credentials are real. The library pitches the talk at expecting parents, anyone caring for one, or the merely curious. It runs 1 to 2 p.m., with a signing after.

Same giveaway idea, looser terms: free copies go out at the event first-come, first-served while supplies last — no hard number, but early still wins. Foster City has no Caltrain stop, so this one's a drive or a SamTrans bus; the library shares the Foster City Government Center lot, so parking is free and easy.

Both events are ADA accessible and open to adults and teens. Neither listing mentions an RSVP; questions go through SMCL's contact page (external source, opens in a new tab).

If you only do one: take the Hua talk. A bestselling novelist doing a free Sunday-afternoon signing on the Peninsula, with a hard cap of 25 free books, is the kind of thing that quietly fills up — and San Carlos on a Sunday is an easy Caltrain ride. Line up by 12:30, grab the book, stay for the Q&A.