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9 JULY 2021 — friday
- The Mechanics' Institute presents Frederik H. Green, translator and professor of Chinese Literature at San Francisco State University, and Fiammetta Hsu, daughter of the widely read Chinese author Xu Xu, who is in the process of archiving the personal correspondence of her late father; they will discuss the life and work of Xu Xu, as well as Green's translations of Xu Xu's work in the book Bird Talk and Other Stories by Xu Xu: Modern Tales of a Chinese Romantic, free, online, Noon-1:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.milibrary.org/events/bird-talk-and-other-stories-xu-xu-modern-tales-chinese-romantic-jul-09-2021)
- Bird & Beckett Books and Records present an evening of spoken word poetry and music, featuring San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin and poet Jxtheo, founding member of the hip-hop and rock band Boondock Squad, with music by The Free Press, with Christie Harbinski (vocals), Dave Mihaly (drums), Annelise Zamula (saxophone and flute), Jibril Alvarez (piano), and Phillip Ryan (guitar), Bird & Beckett Bookstore, 653 Chenery Street, San Francisco, $10-$20 sliding scale, cash at the door, $5-$10 to watch the livestream, also livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook, 10:00 pm-11:00 pm PDT (More information here: birdbeckett.com/tongo-eisen-martin-and-friends-jxtheo-free-press)
- Blue Light at the Gallery presents a poetry reading featuring Emilie Lygren, What We Were Born For, and acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Nye, Cast Away, The Tiny Journalist, online via Zoom, free, 6:00 pm PDT (RSVP to bluelightpress@aol.com for the Zoom link)
10 JULY 2021 — saturday
- Sacramento Poetry Alliance presents a reading featuring poets Sue Daly, Language of the Tea Leaves, A Voice at Last, and Lara Gularte, Kissing the Bee, Fourth World Woman, with Rick Costa opening on guitar, hosted by poet Tim Kahl, 1169 Perkins Way, Sacramento, free, 7:30 pm PDT (More information: www.facebook.com/events/494883881573699)
11 JULY 2021 — sunday
- The Marin Poetry Center presents the Traveling Show, a series of poetry readings featuring new and longtime members of MPC, this reading features poet and artist Diane Lee Moomey, poet Peter Neil Carroll, Something is Bound to Break, poet Kitty Baker, poet Susan Robinson, poet and spiritual mentor Susanne West, Subterranean Light, and poet Dave Holt, Voyages to Ancestral Lands, free, online, 3:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.marinpoetrycenter.org/programs/trav-show)
- The Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium presents a reading featuring Dane Cervine. The World is God's Language, and Santa Cruz Poet Laureate David Allen Sullivan, Strong-Armed Angels, Bombs Have Not Breakfasted Yet, hosted by Jennifer Lewis Lagier Fellguth, online via Zoom, free,, 2:00 pm PDT (Email: jfellguth@sbcglobal.net by July 10, to receive the Zoom link; information: www.facebook.com/events/163220002515551)
- Join poets Sarah Kobrinsky and Caroline Goodwin for a reading featuring two Wales-based poets, David Annwn, Resonance Field, and Peter Hughes, A Berlin Entertainment, and two Bay Area poets, Susan Cohen, A Different Wakeful Animal, and Donna de la Perrière, Works of Love and Terror, free, online via Zoom, Noon PDT (RSVP to attend: www.facebook.com/events/800658523911808)
- Northern California Book Reviewers, Poetry Flash, and the San Francisco Public Library present the 40th Annual Northern California Book Awards, honoring the best published works and authors of Northern California, as well as California translators state-wide, the nominees: POETRY: Ellen Bass (Indigo), Alan Chazaro (Piñata Theory), Judy Halebsky (Spring and a Thousand Years (Unabridged)), Danusha Laméris (Bonfire Opera), Maw Shein Win (Storage Unit for the Spirit House), Kathleen Winter (Transformer); FICTION: Ann Harleman (Tell Me, Signora), Caroline Kim (The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories), Daniel Mason (A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth), Anne Raeff (Only the River), and Lysley Tenorio (The Son of Good Fortune); nominees CREATIVE NONFICTION: Joan Frank (Try to Get Lost: Essays on Travel and Place), Megan Harlan (Mobile Home: A Memoir in Essays), Kay Ryan (Synthesizing Gravity: Selected Prose), Rebecca Solnit (Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoir), and Elizabeth Tallent (Scratched: A Memoir of Perfectionism); GENERAL NONFICTION: Marilyn Chase (Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa), Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano (Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy), Obi Kaufmann (The Forests of California: A California Field Atlas), Marie Mutsuki Mockett (American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland), and Lawrence Rosenthal (Empire of Resentment: Populism's Toxic Embrace of Nationalism); CALIFORNIA TRANSLATION IN POETRY: Terry Ehret, John Johnson, and Nancy Morales (Plagios/Plagiarisms, by Ulalume Gonzalez de Leon), Art Beck (Etudes: A Rilke Recital, by Rainer Maria Rilke), and John Balcom (My Village: Selected Poems 1972-2014, by Wu Sheng); CALIFORNIA TRANSLATION IN PROSE: Anne Milano Appel (Heaven and Earth, by Paolo Giordano), Carolina De Robertis (SurrenderBezoar and Other Unsettling Stories, by Guadalupe Nettel), Antony Shugaar (Savage Kiss, by Roberto Saviano), and Jessica Powell (Nine Moons, by Gabriela Wiener); CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, YOUNGER READERS: Alexandria Giardino and Penelope Dullaghan (The Good Song), Christian Robinson (You Matter), and Dashka Slater and Sydney Hanson (A Book for Escargot); CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, MIDDLE GRADE: Gennifer Choldenko (Orphan Eleven), Kate O'Shaughnessy (The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane), and Aida Salazar (Land of the Cranes); CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, YOUNG ADULT: Traci Chee (We Are Not Free), Anna-Marie McLemore (Dark and Deepest Red), and Maggie Tokuda-Hall (The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea), free, online via Zoom and the SFPL YouTube channel, 2:00 pm PDT (Go to poetryflash.org/programs/?p=ncba_2021, or go to the San Francisco Public Library YouTube channel for the live stream)
12 JULY 2021 — monday
- Odd Mondays Reading Series presents writers Tsun Yuan Chen, Along Alien Roads: The I-Jing of a Life, Wayne Goodman Tim-Tam and the Space Pirates: Race to the Phantom Moon, and Olga Zilberbourg, Like Water and Other Stories, reading from and discussing their work, free, online via Zoom, 7:00 pm PDT (Email: oddmondaysnoevalley@gmail.com for the Zoom link; more information here: www.facebook.com/events/340480890889050)
13 JULY 2021 — tuesday
- Cobalt Poets presents a poetry reading featuring Sophia Falco, open mic to follow, online via Zoom, free, 7:30 pm PDT (Zoom link here: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
- Well-RED presents a poetry reading featuring poet AE Hines, Any Dumb Animal, and poet and artist Kelly Cressio-Moeller, Shade of Blue Trees, open mic to follow, five minutes per participant, co-sponsored by Works/San Jose art and performance center, online via Zoom, free, 7:00-9:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.facebook.com/events/349931903329010)
- Book Passage presents editor and novelist Megha Majumdar, discussing her debut novel, A Burning, in conversation with Julie Carlucci, leader of Book Passage's Signed First Edition Club as well as multiple book discussion groups, free, online, 2:00 pm PDT (Watch here: www.bookpassage.com/event/megha-majumdar-burning-online-event)
- Join the On the Page, Off the Page open mic poetry reading and music performance, poets and musicians welcome to perform, free, online via Zoom, 7:00 pm PDT (Zoom link here: us02web.zoom.us/j/81712189887?pwd=QkpNdXVKb0VSNHpyN0hXQSsrOFhLdz09, Meeting ID: 817 1218 9887, Passcode: 948848)
14 JULY 2021 — wednesday
15 JULY 2021 — thursday
- City Lights Books presents novelist Matt Bell, Scrapper, discussing his new novel Appleseed, exploring climate change and humanity's effect on the natural world over the span of a thousand years, in conversation with novelists Cecil Castellucci, Shade, The Changing Girl, and Brian Evenson, The Song for the Unraveling of the World, free, online via Zoom, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.citylights.com/bookstore/?fa=books_events)
- Point Arena Third Thursday Poetry presents a reading featuring poet Roarshock, First Hours of a Rainy Day and Other Poems, open mic to follow, online, free, 7:00 pm PDT (Email: blake@snakelyone.com for Zoom link/to participate in the open mic; more information here: www.artsmendocino.org/event/point-arena-third-thursday-poetry-series-virtual-zoom-reading-7)
- Skylight Books presents best-selling novelist Dana Spiotta, Innocents and Others, Stone Arabia, reading from and discussing her new novel, Wayward, in conversation with novelist Rachel Kushner, The Mars Room, free, online, 6:30 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-dana-spiotta-discusses-wayward-rachel-kushner)
16 JULY 2021 — friday
17 JULY 2021 — saturday
- Hedgebrook presents the poetry and prose workshop "Between and Around the Lines," led by Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna, One River, A Thousand Voices, Killing Marías; participants will read poems written by women from all times around the world, and create new work in response to these poems, $80 general admission, pay-what-you-can options, online, 11:00 am-1:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.hedgebrook.org/webinar-series)
- Community of Writers presents Festival Day, a free, day-long event featuring readings, panels, and craft talks, with writers and special guests including best-selling novelist Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club, and actor Anna Deavere Smith, craft talks with novelists Janet Fitch, Michelle Latiolais, and screenwriter Megan Fay Raveneau, a virtual nature walk through Paige Meadows with naturalist Will Richardson, readings by Karen Joy Fowler, Tom Lutz, Peter Orner, and more, concluding with a reading by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, Time and Materials, with music by the CE Trio, free, with suggested donation, online, 8:30 am-7:00 pm PDT (Reserve your ticket here: communityofwriters.org/events/event/festival-day)
- The Point Reyes Field Institute presents the writing workshop, "Writing in the Wild," led by poet and essayist Patti Trimble; participants will follow prompts to write short poetry and prose, drawing inspiration from the beautiful Point Reyes landscape, $70 members, $80 nonmembers, Limantour Beach, Limantour Road, Point Reyes Station, 10:30 am-4:30 pm PDT (Purchase tickets here: www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-in-the-wild-tickets-158318887053)
18 JULY 2021 — sunday
- Skylight Books celebrates the launch of Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution: An Oral History, a comprehensive look at the queercore movement and how it radicalized gay politics and spilled into mainstream culture, featuring writer and director Yony Leyser, William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, writer and artist Anna Joy Springer, The Vicious Red Relic, Love, writer and musician Lynn Breedlove, Godspeed, acclaimed filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, Otto; or Up with Dead People, and writer and editor Liam Warfield, online, free, Noon PDT (RSVP to attend: www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-queercore-launch-event)
- Bookshop Santa Cruz presents best-selling writer and naturalist Helen Macdonald, H is for Hawk, celebrating the paperback release of Macdonald's collection of essays, Vesper Flights, co-sponsored by Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, free, online, 11:00 am PDT (Register to attend: www.bookshopsantacruz.com/vesper-flights)
- Join poet Sally Love Saunders, Fresh Bread, Pauses, for an open mic poetry reading on Zoom, open to everyone, bring a poem or two to read, or come just to listen, free, online, 11:00 am PDT (Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/j/83157476805?pwd=M1lpdzl4VUZjbGZ0dklCdVFsUW5DZz09; Meeting ID: 831 5747 6805, Passcode: 018200)
19 JULY 2021 — monday
- Blue Light at the Gallery presents an Ekphrastic Poetry Reading, featuring poets Loretta Walker, Lisha Adela Garcia, Mary Kay Rummel, Marsha Nelson, Pat Barone, Nancy Lee Melmon, Jennifer Lagier, Holly Veldhuis, Barbara Saxton, Claudia Reder, Mylo Schaaf, Elaina Whitesell, MJ Moore, Paul Fisher, Steve Trenam, Jaime Zukowski, Jeffrey Bartfeld, and Diane Frank, poets will read new work created after four days together exploring Ekphrastic Poetry, free, online via Zoom, 6:00 pm PDT (RSVP to bluelightpress@aol.com for the Zoom link)
20 JULY 2021 — tuesday
21 JULY 2021 — wednesday
- Skylight Books presents artist and writer Pik-Shuen Fung, reads from and discusses her new novel, Ghost Forest, about how a family navigates grief after the protagonist's father dies, in conversation with novelist Megha Majumdar, A Burning, free, online, 5:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-pik-shuen-fung-discusses-ghost-forest-megha-majumdar)
- Kepler's Literary Foundation presents novelist Alka Joshi, The Henna Artist, discussing her new novel, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, the much-anticipated second installment of the Jaipur trilogy, in conversation with Angie Coiro, host and producer of the radio talk show "In Deep with Angie Coiro," free, online, 6:00-7:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/alka-book2-2021)
22 JULY 2021 — thursday
- The San Francisco Public Library presents a reading of authors featured in the anthology Muslim American Writers at Home: Stories, Essays and Poems of Identity, Diversity and Belonging, hosted by editors of the anthology, Valerie Behiery, Kitty Costello, and Hanan Hazime, free, online, 6:00-7:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: sfpl.org/events/2021/07/22/performance-muslim-american-writers-home-stories-essays-and-poems)
- Skylight Books presents acclaimed novelists Katie Kitamura, A Separation, and Brandon Taylor, Real Life, discussing and reading from their new books, Intimacies and Filthy Animals, respectively, free, online, 5:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.skylightbooks.com/event/live-crowdcast-katie-kitamura-and-brandon-taylor)
- The Mechanics' Institute presents novelist Susan Meissner, The Last Year of the War, As Bright as Heaven, and short story writer and novelist Ron Nyren, Deepening Fiction: A Practical Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Fiction Writers, discussing their new novels, The Nature of Fragile Things and The Book of Lost Light, respectively, both set in 1906 San Francisco, online via Zoom, free for members, public sliding scale $5-$10, 5:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.milibrary.org/events/author-susan-meissner-nature-fragile-things-author-ron-nyren-book-lost-light-jul-22-2021)
23 JULY 2021 — friday
- Point Reyes Books presents best-selling novelist Katie Kitamura, A Separation, Gone to the Forest, reading from and discussing her latest novel, Intimacies, about an interpreter who moves to The Hague and becomes embroiled in political controversy and a violent crime she witnessed, free, online, 7:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.ptreyesbooks.com/event/katie-kitamura)
24 JULY 2021 — saturday
- The Richmond Literary Arts Center presents a reading featuring poets Carrie Bennett, biography of water, The Land Is a Painted Thing, and Kirun Kapur, Women in the Waiting Room, Visiting Indira Gandhi's Palmist, online via Zoom, free, donations welcome, Noon PDT (Zoom link here: us02web.zoom.us/j/84562727581?pwd=OUlUUnExYlN4TTJ3R2hVOUd2cW9aQT09; Meeting ID: 845 6272 7581, Passcode: 526981)
25 JULY 2021 — sunday
- Join poet Cecilia Woloch and friends for a poetry reading featuring poets Brendan Constantine, Bouncy Bounce, Dementia, My Darling, and Julianna McCarthy, Photoplay, followed by a brief reading by Cecilia Woloch, Tsigan: The Gypsy Poem, and Q&A with the audience, online via Zoom, free, Noon-1:30 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.facebook.com/events/1048211052619918)
- The Berkeley Historical Society presents a panel discussion featuring the lead researcher and curatorial assistants of the "African Americans in Berkeley History and Legacy" exhibit, images and archival material on African American contributions and history in the City of Berkeley, featuring Mary Jackson, Lead Researcher, and Curatorial Assistants Luceiris Collymore Abbas, Celise O. Knott, Raquel Matthews, and Mimia Ousilas, moderated by Stephanie Anne Johnson, co-curator of the exhibit, Berkeley Historical Society, 1931 Center Street, Berkeley, free, 3:00 pm PDT (More information: www.berkeleyhistoricalsociety.org/news/129/87/Panel-the-Art-of-Black-Research.html)
- Long Beach Literary Arts Center presents the Lit240! reading series, featuring poets Romaine Washington, Purgatory Has an Address, Sirens in Her Belly, Ja'net Danielo, The Song of Our Disappearing, and Emily Hockaday, Starting a Life, Ophelia, followed by a Q&A on publishing and poetry, free, online via Zoom, 2:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.lbliteraryarts.com/lit240)
- The Marin Poetry Center presents the Traveling Show, a series of poetry readings featuring new and longtime members of MPC, this reading features poets Christina Waters, Dale Jensen, Twisted History, Judy Wells, The Glass Ship, Deborah Bachels Schmidt, Milky Breath of Stars, Crystal Monique, A Look Inside, and Margaret H. Wagner, Dancing Poems), online, free, 3:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.marinpoetrycenter.org/programs/trav-show)
26 JULY 2021 — monday
- Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center presents a reading celebrating work from the Monday Night Fiction Workshop led by poet and fiction writer Raquel Baker, with readings by Baker and participants from the workshop, online, free, 7:00-9:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-baroques-monday-night-workshop-reading-tickets-161164335867)
- The University of California, Berkeley, is offering four three-week creative writing courses for the summer, available in two sessions, with Session E running July 26-August 13, classes are "The Craft of Creative Nonfiction" and "The Craft of Short Fiction," both taught by Matthew J. Parker, Larceny in My Blood, "The Craft of Dramatic Writing," and "The Craft of Poetry," taught by poet Miriam Bird Greenberg, In the Volcano's Mouth, also available is "The Craft of Creative Writing: Workshopping and Performance," a personalized class open to writers in all genres to learn to workshop and perform their work, taught by playwright Joseph Horton, all are welcome, classes are offered synchronously and asynchronously, online via Zoom (Enroll here: writing.berkeley.edu/courses/summer-creative-writing-workshops)
27 JULY 2021 — tuesday
- Join Poetic License Sonoma every fourth Tuesday for an evening of poetry readings, featuring the nine poets that make up Poetic License Sonoma, Susanne Arrhenius, Jeffrey Bartfeld, Joseph Cutler, Paul DeMarco, Kusum Irene Jain, Leo McCloskey, Steve Trenam, Judith Vaughn, and Jaime Zukowski; this week with special guest Jeffrey Bartfeld, A Poet's Portrait of Point Reyes, free/donations welcome, 7:00-8:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: poeticlicensesonoma.com/events)
- Cobalt Poets presents an open mic reading with guest host Jon Wesick, Words of Power, Dances of Freedom, free, online via Zoom, 7:30 pm PDT (Zoom link here: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
- City Lights Books presents best-selling novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad, American War, reading from his new novel, What Strange Paradise, a deeply touching story of two children washed ashore on an island after the refugee ship they were on sank, and what they must do to protect each other and survive, online, free, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.citylights.com/bookstore/?fa=books_events)
- Green Apple Books presents best-selling author N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, reading from and discussing her latest novel, The City We Became, the first book in the Great Cities trilogy, online, free, 5:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.greenapplebooks.com/event/virtual-event-nk-jemisin)
- Vroman's Bookstore presents novelist Willa C. Richards, reading from and discussing her debut novel The Comfort of Monsters, a haunting story of a woman dealing with the disappearance of her sister thirty years later and the truths and shortcomings of memory, in conversation with novelist Chia-Chia Lin, The Unpassing, free, online, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.vromansbookstore.com/event/vromans-live-willa-c-richards-conversation-chia-chia-lin-discusses-comfort-monsters)
- Join poet Jan Steckel, Like Flesh Covers Bone, for a California Writers Club Poetry Guild Reading, with readings from Steckel and poets Keith Gaboury, Hello Universe Lovers, Aquiela Lewis-Ross, Stop Hurting and Dance, and special guest Anna Allen, I've Titled This Poem with Your Name, hosted by Terry Tierney, free, online via Zoom, 7:00-8:15 pm PDT (Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/j/86970053663?pwd=U1N3NHBJcjNaNE83dFQwemNnMzhJZz09; Meeting ID: 869 7005 3663, Passcode: 416473)
28 JULY 2021 — wednesday
- City Lights Books presents novelist and nonfiction writer Matthew Specktor, American Dream Machine, The Sting, discussing his new book, Always Crashing in the Same Car: On Art, Crisis, and Los Angeles, California, in conversation with Adam Pfahler, musician and founding member of the band Jawbreaker, online, free, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.citylights.com/bookstore/?fa=books_events)
29 JULY 2021 — thursday
30 JULY 2021 — friday
- Bird & Beckett Books presents an 80th Birthday Celebration event for legendary poet, musician, and playwright Avotcja, who will read her poetry and perform small percussion with Modúpue, featuring Sandy Poindexter on violin, Francis Wong on saxophone, Heshima Mark Williams on bass, and Myron Cohen on drums, $20 cover charge requested, with pay-what-you-can options, online via YouTube and Facebook, 7:30 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.facebook.com/bird.and.beckett)
31 JULY 2021 — saturday
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