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25 OCTOBER 2020 — sunday

• The Before Columbus Foundation presents the forty-first American Book Awards, honoring Reginald Dwayne Betts (Felon: Poems); Sara Borjas (Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a Cliff); Neeli Cherkovski, Raymond Foye, and Tate Swindell (Collected Poems of Bob Kaufman); Staceyann Chin (Crossfire: A Litany for Survival); Kali Fajardo-Anstine (Sabrina & Corina: Stories); Tara Fickle (The Race Card: From Gaming Technologies to Model Minorities); Erika Lee (America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States); Yoko Ogawa (The Memory Police); Jake Skeets (Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers); George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker (They Called Us Enemy); Ocean Vuong (On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous); De'Shawn Charles Winslow (In West Mills); Albert Woodfox with Leslie George (Solitary: My Story of Transformation and Hope); Eleanor W. Traylor (Lifetime Achievement Award); Kofi Natambu (Editor Award); Jasper Bernes, Joshua Clover, and Juliana Spahr (Publisher Award); Amalia Leticia Ortiz (Oral Literature Award); Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll (Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award), free, online, 2:00-3:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: sfpl.org/events/2020/10/25/celebration-columbus-foundation-41st-annual-american-book-award)
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• Kepler's Literary Foundation presents novelist Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, discussing his book Deny All Charges, his second book about the Fowl twins Myles and Beckett, in conversation with novelist Jonathan Stroud, free, online, 2:00-3:00 pm PDT (RSVP here: www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/2020/10/25/eoin-colfer)
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• The inaugural reading for a new poetry series from Sixteen Rivers Press, Sixteen Rivers Presents, featuring poets Jay Deshpande, Love the Stranger and The Rest of the Body, and Hadara Bar-Nadav, The New Nudity and The Frame Called Ruin, hosted by poet Eliot Schain, free, online, 3:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: sixteenrivers.org/sixteen-rivers-presents)
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• Berkeley Poetry Festival presents Poetry & Dance "To the canvas: are you ready?" featuring performances and readings by poet and dancer Noah James, dancer Ashley Gayle, and the Visceral Roots dance company, free, online, 2:00-3:00 pm PDT (Zoom link: cccconfer.zoom.us/j/95859704475)
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• City Lights Books presents a reading featuring poets published in their Spotlight Series, including Andrew Joron, Cedar Sigo, Will Alexander, Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Lisa Jarnot, Alli Warren, John Coletti, Elaine Kahn, Edmund Berrigan, and Sophia Dahlin, hosted by series editor Garrett Caples, free, online, 3:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.citylights.com/bookstore/?fa=event&event_id=3708)
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• Berkeley Poetry Festival presents Emerging Poets, featuring readings by poets Greer Nakadegawa-Lee, DeMareon Gipson, and others TBA, free, online, Noon-1:00 pm PDT (Zoom link: cccconfer.zoom.us/j/94941304773)
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• The Poetry Salon kicks off National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with this poetry workshop, exploring the ways poetry and prose are connected and using poetry techniques to ground characters and plot structures, free, online, 10:00 am PDT (email tresha@thepoetrysalon.com to register)
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• Omnidawn Publishing presents a book launch for their new fall titles, featuring readings from poets Claire Marie Stancek, wyrd] bird, Leia Penina Wilson, This Red Metropolis What Remains, Maw Shein Win, Storage Unit for the Spirit House, Nathalie Khankan, Quiet Orient Riot, David Rothman, The Lower East Side Tenement Reclamation Association, and Calvin Bedient, The Breathing Place, hosted by Booksmith and The Bindery, free, online, 2:00 pm PDT (RSVP here: www.booksmith.com/event/virtual-omnidawn-fall-book-launch)
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• Berkeley Poetry Festival presents the Lifetime Achievement Award and Reading, honoring poet Michael Warr, featuring readings by poets Chun Yu and Hugh Behm-Steinberg, free, online, 4:00-5:00 pm PDT (Zoom link: cccconfer.zoom.us/j/96612455362)
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• Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center presents "Ekphrastic with the Classics," a workshop with poet Jessica Wilson exploring art history as a way to reevaluate and investigate poetry, $120 members, $150 nonmembers, online, runs six-weeks, October 25-November 29, 4:00-6:00 pm PDT (Enroll here: www.beyondbaroque.org/intensive_workshops.html)
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26 OCTOBER 2020 — monday

• Vroman's Bookstore's Local Author Day, featuring novelists Gayle Brandeis, Many Restless Concerns, Katharine Coldiron, Ceremonials, and Jennifer Calkins, Fugitive Assemblage, free, online, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.vromansbookstore.com/event/vromans-local-author-day-crowdcast-edition-october)
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• Los Angeles Times Festival of Books presents Marlon James and his latest science fiction novel Black Leopard Red Wolf, in conversation with writer and Afrofuturism professor Tananarive Due, free, online, 6:00-7:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/?3_route=/client-embeds/la-times-festival-of-books-2020/1/3/__/&)
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• Booksmith and The Bindery present a special event featuring poets Valerie Witte and Sarah Rosenthal reading from their new book The Grass is Greener When the Sun Is Yellow, a mix of poems and letters exploring women's dance and the integration of ideas, intimacy, and reflection, reading to be followed by a viewing of the short film We Agree on the Sun, a collaboration by Rosenthal and dance-choreographer Ayana Yonesaka, Q&A to follow, free, online, 6:00 pm PDT (RSVP here: app.gopassage.com/events/inter-col-lab)
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27 OCTOBER 2020 — tuesday

• Vroman's Bookstore presents novelist Elin Hilderbrand discussing her latest novel Troubles in Paradise, in conversation with novelist Amanda Eyre Ward, free, online, 4:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.vromansbookstore.com/event/elin-hilderbrand)
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• Kepler's Literary Foundation presents " Selling Your Manuscript," a wokshop led by novelist Alka Joshi, The Henna Artist, with guest instructors Margaret Sutherland Brown, literary agent at Folio Literary New York, and Heather Lazare, book editor and publishing consultant, $125, online, 4:00-5:30 pm PDT (Purchase tickets here: www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/https/wwweventbritecom/e/master-writitng-class-with-alka-joshi-tickets-121619173221affsession2)
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• The Green Arcade presents a book launch for poet Evan Kennedy's latest book I am, am I, also featuring readings by poets Brian Blanchfield and Bruno Dario, with English translations of Dario's poetry read by translator Kit Schluter, free, online, 6:00 pm PDT (Register via Zoom: thegreenarcade.com)
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• Catamaran Literary Reader presents a book launch celebrating poet Alison Luterman's book In the Time of Great Fires, winner of the Catamaran Poetry Prize 2020, in conversation with Zack Rogow, Catamaran's judge for the poetry prize, free, online, 5:30-6:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: catamaranliteraryreader.com/events-2020/2020/10/27/launch-event-alison-luterman-in-conversation-with-zack-rogow)
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• Red Hen Press presents a reading featuring poets Marie Tozier, Open the Dark, Erin Coughlin Hollowell, Every Atom, and novelist Mia Heavener, Under Nushagak Bluff, moderated by Peggy Shumaker, free, online, 4:00-5:00 pm PDT (RSVP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/359078005477622)
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28 OCTOBER 2020 — wednesday

• Spoken Interludes presents novelist Rumaan Alam reading from his new book Leave the World Behind, a suspenseful story of two families stranded in a house on Long Island as a blackout sweeps New York City, $10, online, 8:00-9:00 pm EST/5:00-6:00 pm PDT (Purchase tickets here: spokeninterludes.com)
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• Vroman's Bookstore presents journalist and essayist Lynell George discussing her book A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, about the award-winning science fiction writer and the creative, stunning worlds she built, in conversation with short story writer Dana Johnson, free, online, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.vromansbookstore.com/event/vromans-live-lynell-george-with-dana-johnson)
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• Los Angeles Times Festival of Book presents novelist Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians, discussing his new book Sex and Vanity, joined by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, co-authors of The Royal We, moderated by novelist and essayist Jade Change, free, online, 6:00-7:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/?3_route=/client-embeds/la-times-festival-of-books-2020/1/3/__/&)
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• Skylight Books presents a reading featuring author and editor Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, Stages: On Dying, Working, and Feeling, and playwright and novelist Agnes Borinsky, The Seeing Place, followed by short writing and dialogue-based exercise led by Nalebuff and Borinsky focusing on creating a care-based world and listening to new voices and language to usher in change, suggested donation of $5-$50, ticket sales will benefit Skylight Books, National Domestic Workers Alliance, and the Disability Project at the Transgender Law Center, online, 5:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-zoom-rachel-kauder-nalebuff-and-agnes-borinsky-host-reading-and-writing-workshop-benefit)
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• The San Francisco Public Library presents a reading featuring poet Barbara Jane Reyes in celebration of her new book Letters to a Young Brown Girl, with readings by poets Rachelle Cruz, Jan-Henry Gray, and Aldrin Valdez, in honor of Filipino American History Month, free, online, 6:00-7:15 pm PDT (RSVP here: sfpl.org/events/2020/10/28/author-barbara-jane-reyes-rachelle-cruz-jan-henry-gray-and-aldrin-valdez)
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• Kepler's Literary Foundation presents neuroscientist Daniel Siegel and Julie Lythcott-Haims, How to Raise an Adult, in conversation with journalist Angie Coiro, discussing the development of children in a digital aid, and how best to support parents, caretakers, and teachers as a community, free, online, 6:30-7:30 pm PDT (RSVP here: www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/siegel-lythcott-haims2020)
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29 OCTOBER 2020 — thursday

• Copperfield's Books presents novelist Alice Henderson and her latest book A Solitude of Wolverines, a story of mystery and survival in the wilderness, in conversation with natural historian and author Mary Ellen Hannibal, free, online, 7:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.copperfieldsbooks.com/event/alice-henderson)
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• City Lights Books, with The Poetry Center and The Green Arcade, present an evening of poetry and jazz, celebrating City Lights' recent publication of the The Collected Poems of Bob Kaufman, edited by Neeli Cherkovski, Raymond Foye, and Tate Swindell, the evening will feature over thirty video contributions by poets, artists, and musicians, free, online, 7:00 pm PDT (Register via Zoom: linktr.ee/thepoetrycenter)
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• Skylight Books presents librarian and journalist Megan Rosenbloom reading from her latest book Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin, in conversation with Caitlin Doughty, mortician, activist, and founder of The Order of the Good Death, free, online, 7:30 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-megan-rosenbloom-reads-dark-archives-caitlin-doughty)
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• The Mechanics' Institute Library of San Francisco hosts "Write If You Dare," a drop-in writing workshop for all genres and levels with directed free writing and sharing, member-led, free for MI members, 11:00 am–1:00 pm PDT (For questions: tedwards@milibrary.org, online sign up: www.milibrary.org/events)
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30 OCTOBER 2020 — friday

• Skylight Books presents Claire Cronin reading from her book Blue Light of the Screen, examining what it means to be afraid, a mix of critical theory of the horror genre and the author's personal story of growing up in a Catholic family, intergenerational trauma, and encounters with real and imagined ghosts, in conversation with writer and speaker Colin Dickey, free, online, 6:30 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-claire-cronin-discusses-her-new-book-blue-light-screen-colin-dickey)
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• Los Angeles Times Festival of Books presents essayist Laila Lalami, Conditional Citizens, and journalist Maria Hinojosa, Once I Was You, in a discussion about immigration and what it means to be an American, moderated by Los Angeles Times editor Steve Padilla, free, online, 5:00-6:00 pm PDT (RSVP: events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/?3_route=/client-embeds/la-times-festival-of-books-2020/1/3/__/&)
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• Nomadic Press hosts a virtual open mic with thirty slots, hosted by Nazelah Jamison, every Friday, three minutes per reader, 6:00–7:30 pm PDT (Sign up to read: forms.gle/1ZNKSnnzRZpXxvUE7; online Zoom link is posted on Nomadic Press Facebook invitation)
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31 OCTOBER 2020 — saturday

• Saturday Night Special presents their annual Halloween costume party and open mic reading, featuring fiction writer and performer Lee Foust and poet Heather Quinn, open mic to follow, free, online, 7:00-9:30 pm PDT (RSVP on Facebook for the Zoom info: www.facebook.com/events/377128083291661)
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• Skylight Books presents a special Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Halloween reading, featuring interactive writer C.E. Simpson and editor and book coach Katherine Factor, free, online, 2:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-halloween-choose-your-own-adventure-ce-simpson-and-katherine-factor)
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