"Colossus: Home": Sarah Kobrinsky, D.L. Lang, Juanita J. Martin, Kim Shuck, Kimi Sugioka
11 APRIL 2021 — sunday
Poetry Flash presents a virtual poetry reading by Sarah Kobrinsky, D.L. Lang, Juanita J. Martin, Kim Shuck, and Kimi Sugioka, current and former poet laureate contributors to Colossus: Home; the anthology addresses the Bay Area housing crisis, online via Zoom, free, 3:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: please click here; you will receive an email with a link to join the reading)
Please join us for a Poetry Flash virtual reading on Sunday, April 11, at 3:00 pm PDT! We are pleased to bring you a Colossus: Home anthology reading via Zoom. To register for this reading, please click on the link in the calendar listing above. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series during these unprecedented times.
Colossus: Home, An Anthology of Lives In & Out of Place, edited by Sara Biel and Karla Brundage, presents poetry on the San Francisco Bay Area's housing crisis. These poets, all contributors to the anthology, are current or former Poet Laureates from across the Bay Area. You can purchase this exciting anthology at www.colossuspress.org/buy.
MORE ABOUT THE READERS
Sarah Kobrinsky's recent book is Nighttime on the Other Side of Everything. Jill McDonough says, "In Nighttime on the Other Side of Everything, Sarah Kobrinsky opens with a brief meditation on the imposter syndrome that also speaks to where all poems come from, anyway. Elsewhere we read 'I make. I tinker. I create. An instinct born/of my blueprints, deep within my DNA.' But these poems also come from us, from knowing what people say about kids looking like the milkman, pranks like TP-ing houses and tying shoelaces together, a recognizable rhythm of punchlines." Born in Canada, raised in North Dakota, seasoned in England, and tempered in California, she was the Poet Laureate of Emeryville, California, 2013-2015.
D.L. Lang is the former Poet Laureate of Vallejo, California, 2017-2019. She is the author of twelve poetry books, most recently Paradise Collectors: A Book of Jewish Poetry and Armor Against the Dawn: Poetry of Protest, and one spoken word album. She can be found behind a mic throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and at poetryebook.com.
Juanita J. Martin is Fairfield, California's first Poet Laureate, 2010-2012. Her poetry book is The Lighthouse Beckons. Her poems have appeared in Blue Collar Review, SoMa Literary Review, Rattlesnake Review, and others; her nonfiction writing has appeared in Sonoma Discoveries Magazine. She was a longtime member of Redwood Writers, and is a current member of Napa Valley Writers, Benicia Writers Salon, Ina Coolbrith Circle, and Benicia First Tuesday Poets. When she isn't writing or volunteering, she reads on Vallejo Ozcat radio's ARTbeat. For more see www.jmartinpoetwriter.com.
Kim Shuck is San Francisco's seventh Poet Laureate, 2017-2020. Deer Trails, published by City Lights Books, is her most recent book. She is an Ani Yun Wiya (Cherokee)/Polish-American poet, author, weaver, and beadwork artist who draws from Southeastern Native American culture and tradition as well as contemporary urban Indian life. She is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She earned an M.F.A. in Textiles from San Francisco State University. She is the winner of the Diane Decorah First Book Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas and the Mary Tallmountain Award for Freedom Voices. She also received the Academy of American Poets National Laureate Fellowship and the Northern California Book Reviewers Groundbreaker Award.
Kimi Sugioka's newest poetry book is Wile & Wing. She is the current Poet Laureate of Alameda, California, 2020-2023. Anne Waldman said, "Kimi Sugioka is a poet with a lot of guises: maternal, witchy, passionate, detached observer…She moves through the female cycle confidently, poised, strong in her observance and power." Born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and raised in Berkeley, Kimi Sugioka is a poet, songwriter, and educator who performs her work frequently throughout the Bay Area. She has worked in public education for decades. She earned her BA from San Francisco State University and MFA from the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado.


Daily Listings
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12 SEPTEMBER 2026 — saturday
- Sixteen Rivers Press presents a poetry reading by Molly Fisk, Walking Wheel, Inaugural Poet Laureate emerita of Nevada County, and Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Frangible Operas, former Wallace Stegner fellow, Camille Norton will introduce, Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley, free, 3:00 pm (sixteenrivers.org/readings-events)
13 SEPTEMBER 2026 — sunday
14 SEPTEMBER 2026 — monday
15 SEPTEMBER 2026 — tuesday
16 SEPTEMBER 2026 — wednesday
17 SEPTEMBER 2026 — thursday
18 SEPTEMBER 2026 — friday
19 SEPTEMBER 2026 — saturday
- Beyond Baroque presents "What Remains: Erasure as Resistance and Reclamation," a generative writing workshop with Elina Katrin, recipient of scholarships and fellowships from Lambda Literary, the Vermont Studio Center, and Periplus, at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, Los Angeles, $95.49 general admission, $84.99 for members, 11:00 am (Tickets available: www.eventbrite.com/e/what-remains-erasure-as-resistance-and-reclamation-tickets-1996286048309?aff=ebdsoporgprofile)
- 45th annual NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARDS, honoring the books and authors of Northern California, as well as California translators state-wide; presentation of the Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service, the NCBA Groundbreaker Award, and the NCBA Recognition Award, presentation of awards in Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Translation In Poetry and Prose by California translators, and Children's Literature: Younger Readers, Middle Grade, Young Adult; bookselling and a reception open to all in the SFPL's Latino/Hispanic Community Room follows, nominated books are selected by the Northern California Book Reviewers, event presented by Poetry Flash and the San Francisco Public Library, with our community partners Women's National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter and Mechanics' Institute Library, Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free and open to the public, 2:00 pm (Check back for updates and nominee announcements, poetryflash.org/programs/?p=ncba_2026 or sfpl.org)
20 SEPTEMBER 2026 — sunday
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Award-Winning Poets," with readings by Farnaz Fatemi, Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate Emerita; Ellen Kombiyil, Raleigh Review's Geri Digiorno Multi-Genre Prize-winner, and Claire Drucker, 2026-2028 Sonoma County Poet Laureate, with event host Kary Hess, Copperfield's Books, 140 Kentucky Street, Petaluma, free, 2:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Found Poets in The Round," with readings by Lorrie Chang, Mahrs Emerson Schoppman, mOody bLaCk, with event host Original Giotis, The Phoenix Theater, 201 Washington Street, Petaluma, free, 1:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- The Freight presents Rumi's Caravan, an evening of spoken word with musical accompaniment in an improvised poetic conversation that meanders through moods of prayer and grief to humor and celebration, with words by poets from Rumi and Hafiz to Yeats, Rilke, Neruda, and Mary Oliver, benefitting the Middle East Children's Alliance, The Freight, 2020 Addison Street Berkeley, $30 advance, $35 at the door, 7:30 pm, doors open 7:00 pm (Tickets available: secure.thefreight.org/16039/16041-rumis-caravan-260920)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Sixteen Rivers Press Poets," with poetry readings by Dane Cervine, Lenore Myers, and Carolyn Miller, with event host Terry Ehret, Hotel Petaluma, Ballroom, 205 Kentucky Street, Petaluma, free, 11:00 am (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Taurean Horn and Friends," with readings by Donna Emerson, Jack Crimmins, and Dr. Jeanne Powell, with event host Bill Vartnaw, founder of Taurean Horn Press and Petaluma Poetry Walk director emeritus, Usher Gallery, 1 Petaluma Boulevard North, Petaluma, free, 4:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Tender Hearts Poets," with poetry readings by Maw Shein Win, Lourdes Figueroa, and Luisa Giulianetti, with event host Ingrid Keir, Jess Brown Design, 144 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, free, 5:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk and the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum present "Translator Poets," with readings by Pat Nolan, Adrian Arias, and Francesca Bell, with event host Jennifer Barone, The Petaluma Historical Library and Museum, 20 Fourth Street, Petaluma, free, 3:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Word Flights," with readings by Deyci Carrillo López, Wendy M. Thompson, and Cintia Santana, with event host Daedalus Howell, The Big Easy, 128 American Alley, Petaluma, free, 6:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Youth Poets," with readings by Elizabeth Foster, Nika Grajqevci, and Juno Phipps, with event host Maxine Flasher-Düzgünes, Keller Street CoWork, 140 Keller Street, Petaluma, free, Noon (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
21 SEPTEMBER 2026 — monday
22 SEPTEMBER 2026 — tuesday
23 SEPTEMBER 2026 — wednesday
24 SEPTEMBER 2026 — thursday
25 SEPTEMBER 2026 — friday
26 SEPTEMBER 2026 — saturday
- Fourth Saturdays Poetry at the Claremont Library presents a reading by poet and essayist Maurya Simon, The Blue Bridge, and Adam O. Davis, poet and editor, Helen Renwick Library, 208 North Harvard Avenue, Claremont, free, 2:00 pm (www.claremontlibrary.org/monthly-poetry-readings.html)
27 SEPTEMBER 2026 — sunday
28 SEPTEMBER 2026 — monday
29 SEPTEMBER 2026 — tuesday
30 SEPTEMBER 2026 — wednesday
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