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Poetry Flash Reading Series


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9 OCTOBER 2023 — monday

10 OCTOBER 2023 — tuesday

  • Cobalt Poets presents a reading with featured poet Sigrid Saradunn, followed by an open mic, online via Zoom, free, 7:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
  • City Lights Books presents novelist Justin Torres, We the Animals, winner of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, discussing his new book, Blackouts, in conversation with novelist Jonathan Escoffery, If I Survive You, longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize; this event is part of the Litquake 2023 Festival, Main Room at City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)

11 OCTOBER 2023 — wednesday

12 OCTOBER 2023 — thursday

  • San Francisco Public Library presents a reading that celebrates Iranian women and their current struggle, San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck, What Unseen Thing Blows Wishes Across My Surface?, joined by special guests from Iranian American Women in Network, Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room A, San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00-7:00 pm PDT (More information here: sfpl.org/events/2023/10/12/kim-shucks-poem-jam)
  • Beyond Baroque presents Poets on the Beat, a reading and conversation on politically engaged poetry, featuring poets Shonda Buchanan, Black Indian, Suzanne Lummis, Open 24 Hours, winner of the Blue Lynx Poetry Prize from Lynx House Press, and Lynne Thompson, former Poet Laureate of Los Angeles and author of Fretwork, winner of the 2019 Marsh Hawk Poetry Prize, each poet was commissioned to write an essay that connects poetry to contemporary politics and social themes, a reception with light refreshments and live music by The Modern Jazz Syndicate will precede the reading, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, free, 7:00-9:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.beyondbaroque.org)

13 OCTOBER 2023 — friday

14 OCTOBER 2023 — saturday

  • Medicine for Nightmares presents a reading and musical performance by author and musician Conrad J. Benedicto, reading from his debut novel, Musalaya's Gift, followed by a Kulintang performance, a form of music originating in the southern Philippines, Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery, 3036 24th Street, San Francisco, free, 7:00-9:00 pm PDT (More information here: medicinefornightmares.com/events)
  • Dominican University of California presents a Creative Writing Retreat, with writing workshops led by a variety of writers, including "Contrast as a Poetic Device," with Judy Halebsky, "The Body Multiple: Beliefs Systems in Fiction," with Claudia Morales, "All Dialogue is Diamonds: Three Methods for Creating Vital Dialogue," with Lee Kravetz, "Digging under Narrative to Find the Truth: Exploring the Lyric Essay," with Iris Dunkle, and an online writing studio with Kim Culbertson, a campus walk with journal writing will follow the workshops, with a close reading discussion with workshop leaders, and a panel discussion of new books with Cintia Santana and Hannah Michell, Edgehill Mansion at Dominican University, 75 Magnolia Avenue, San Rafael, $80 in person, $50 online, 9:30 am-4:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.eventbrite.com/e/creative-writing-retreat-tickets-700060508827)
  • Sacramento Poetry Alliance presents a poetry reading with Gail Entrekin, Walking Each Other Home, and Stewart Florsheim, Amusing the Angels, winner of the Blue Light Book Award, fSacramento Poetry Alliance, 1169 Perkins Way, Sacramento, free, 4:00 pm PDT (More information here: www.facebook.com/sacramentopoetryalliance)
  • Left Margin LIT presents "Turning Toward Surprise," a poetry class led by Jacques J. Rancourt, Novena, winner of the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize; this workshop is for both new and experienced poets and will explore how poems can turn in surprising and unexpected ways, Left Margin LIT, 1543 Shattuck Avenue, Suite B, Berkeley, $195, 10:00 am-3:00 pm PDT (with one-hour lunch break) (Enroll here: www.leftmarginlit.org/turning-toward-surprise-rancourt)
  • Strawberry Creek Walk, led by Nevada County Poet Laureate emerita Chris (J.C.) Olander, with poetry, eco-dance by Sharon Coleman, and nature commentary by Elizabeth Dougherty, on an easy walk along beautiful Strawberry Creek, meet at Center and Oxford, on the edge of the UC Berkeley campus, Berkeley, free, 10:00 am PDT (510/525-5476; for updates, see: Poetryflash.org)
  • Celebrate Writers, Nature & Community at the 28th annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival, in-person poetry and music alongside the Berkeley Farmers' Market, poets and speakers to be announced, to sign up for the We Are Nature Open Mic, email with WATERSHED OPEN MIC in the subject heading, to exhibit, email for arrangements, Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park, Berkeley, free, Noon-4:30 pm PDT (510/525-5476; To sign up for open mic or to exhibit, email: info@poetryflash.org; for more information: Poetryflash.org)

15 OCTOBER 2023 — sunday

16 OCTOBER 2023 — monday

  • City Lights Books presents an evening with The Third Thing Press, showcasing short readings and screenings from the press's genre-bending offerings, featuring Alissa Hattman, Sift, interdisciplinary artist Summer J. Hart, Carlos Sirah, The High Alive: an Epic Hoodoo Diptych, poet Diane Exavier, The Math of Saint Felix, media artist M Freeman, The Illuminated Space: A Personal Theory and Contemplative Practice of Media Art, and artists Rana San and Chelsea Werner-Jatzke, co-founders of the Cadence Video Poetry Festival, moderated by Anne de Marcken, editor and publisher at The Third Thing Press, online via Zoom, free, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)

17 OCTOBER 2023 — tuesday

  • City Lights Books presents best-selling novelist Ayana Mathis, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, reading from her latest book, The Unsettled, online via Zoom, free, Noon PDT (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)
  • Poet and critic Norman Finkelstein, Further Adventures, and poet Peter Waldor, Understandings and Misunderstandings, read and celebrate the launch of their new books, Specs' Twelve Adler Museum Café, 12 William Saroyan Place, San Francisco, free, 7:00-9:00 pm PDT (More information here: www.specsbarsf.com)
  • Cobalt Poets presents a reading with featured poet Jasmine Elizabeth Smith, South Flight, followed by an open mic, online via Zoom, free, 7:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)

18 OCTOBER 2023 — wednesday

  • Medicine for Nightmares presents The Last Supper Party, a monthly poetry reading on the third Wednesday of each month, this month featuring Genny Lim, San Francisco Jazz Poet Laureate emeritus and author of Winter Place, MK Chavez, Dear Animal, and Nathaniel Vincent, an open mic follows, hosted by Alameda Poet Laureate Kimi Sugioka, Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery, 3036 24th Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00-8:00 pm PDT (More information here: medicinefornightmares.com/events)

19 OCTOBER 2023 — thursday

  • Medicine for Nightmares presents Speaking Axolotl, the long-running monthly Latinx reading series, this month featuring performance artist Paul Flores, celebrating his new book, We Still Be, accompanied by Jon Jang on piano, Gary Brown on double bass, and Deszon Clairborne, with special guest poets Genny Lim, Winter Place, and Matt Sedillo, City on the Second Floor, hosted by Norman Zelaya, a five-slot open mic opens the show, Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery, 3036 24th Street, San Francisco, free, 7:00-9:00 pm PDT (More information here: medicinefornightmares.com/events)

20 OCTOBER 2023 — friday

  • Green Apple Books presents "Grace Notes: Poetry at Grace Cathedral," featuring Gillian Conoley, Notes from the Passenger, Jane Hirshfield, The Asking: New and Selected Poems, Vandana Khanna, Train to Agra, J. Michael Martinez, Heredities, winner of the Walt Whitman Award, and sam sax, Bury It, winner of the James Laughlin Award, curated and hosted by poets D.A. Powell and Preeti Vangani, presented as part of Litquake, San Francisco's annual literary festival, Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street, San Francisco, free, $5-$10 suggested donation, 7:30 pm PDT (More information here: www.greenapplebooks.com/event/offsite-litquake-grace-cathedral)
  • Point Reyes Books presents a reading with featured poets Myronn Hardy, Radioactive Starlings, and Simon West, Carol and Ahoy and The Ladder, shortlisted for the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards, reading from their latest collections, Aurora Americana and Prickly Moses, respectively, both published in the Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets, online via Zoom, free, Noon PDT (Register to attend: www.ptreyesbooks.com/event/myronn-hardy-simon-west)

21 OCTOBER 2023 — saturday

  • Medicine for Nightmares celebrates Lit Crawl, the poetry crawl finale of Litquake, with back-to-back readings, beginning with queer Filipinx poets of Sampaguita Press, Maria Bolaños, Christian Aldana, Czaerra Galicinao Ucol, and Keana Aguila Labra, then a Chicano Futurism reading featuring local authors in the upcoming anthology El Porvenir, Ya! (The Future Now), Armando Rendon, Maria Nieto, Juan G. Berumen, Scott Russell Duncan, W.O. Torres, and Ricardo Tavarez, and finally a special reading of Speaking Axolotl, with Sara Borjas, Angel Dominguez, and Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta, hosted by Josiah Luis Alderete, Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery, 3036 24th Street, San Francisco, free, 5:00-9:00 pm PDT (More information here: medicinefornightmares.com/events)
  • Come celebrate Dia de Los Muertos in Petaluma with "Poetry of Remembrance," a community event of bilingual poetry, lectures, and song, with featured speakers Lalin the Poet, aka Luis Vasquez, poet Gina Tello Bugarín, poet and painter Sandra Anfang, artist Irma Vega Bijou, former Sonoma County Poet Laureate Phyllis Meshulam, and more, hosted by current Sonoma County Poet Laureate Elizabeth Herron, the second hour will invite participants to share a brief poem or statement about a loved one, limited to two to three minutes per person, Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, 20 4th Street, Petaluma, free, 6:00-8:30 pm PDT

22 OCTOBER 2023 — sunday

  • Sixteen Rivers Press 2023 Fall Fundraiser presents a reading by California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, in an afternoon of wine, hors d'oeuvres, and a silent auction to benefit Sixteen Rivers Press, Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley, admission free, donations welcome, 2:00-5:00 pm PDT (for Eventbrite tickets, see: www.eventbrite.com/e/sixteen-rivers-2023-fall-fundraiser-tickets-680501587567?aff=oddtdtcreator)
  • Village Poets presents a reading by poets Ambika Talwar, 4 Stars and 25 Roses, and Susan Suntree, Eye of the Womb, with an open mic, Bolton Hall Museum, 10110 Commerce Avenue, Tujunga, Los Angeles, suggested donation of $5 per person, 4:30 pm PDT (More information here: villagepoets.blogspot.com)

23 OCTOBER 2023 — monday

24 OCTOBER 2023 — tuesday

25 OCTOBER 2023 — wednesday

26 OCTOBER 2023 — thursday

  • City Lights Books presents "Found in Translation: Adventures in Language," a conversation that celebrates the translation of literature, featuring Gabriela Alemán, Poso Wells, Dick Cluster, Gillian Conoley, Notes from the Passenger, Elaine Katzenberger, Emilie Moorehouse, and Mark Schafer, moderated by Olivia E. Sears, board president and founder of the Center for the Art of Translation, online via Zoom, free, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)
  • The Poetry Center presents a reading and conversation with poets Julia Drescher, Open Epic, and C.J. Martin, novelppl/practicebk, both poets will engage in conversation with each other and the audience about their work and publishing ventures, including their collaboratively run press, Further Other Book Works, The Poetry Center, Humanities 512, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, free, 1:00-3:00 pm PDT (More information here: poetry.sfsu.edu/event/julia-drescher-and-cj-martin-reading-and-conversation)
  • Marin Poetry Center presents a reading in celebration of MPC members who published books during the pandemic but didn't get a proper book launch due to shelter-in-place, featuring Gerald Fleming, The Bastard and the Bishop, Joan Baranow, Reading Szymborska in a Time of Plague, winner of the 2021 Brick Road Press contest, Dotty LeMieux, Henceforth I Ask Not Good Fortune, Erin Rodini, And If the Woods Carry You, Emilie Lygren, What We Were Born For, and David Booth, Too Bright to See, this event is co-presented with The Marin Shakespeare Company and also features a costume contest, Marin Shakespeare Company's Center for Performing Arts, Education, and Social Justice, 514 Fourth Street, San Rafael, free, 7:00-9:00 pm PDT (More information here: marinpoetrycenter.org/mec-events/pandemic-published-poets-costume-celebration)
  • The Center for Literary Arts presents best-selling author K-Ming Chang, Bestiary, longlisted for Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, reading from her latest work, including her recent book Gods of Want and forthcoming works Organ Meat and Cecilia, Hammer Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose, free, 7:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: hammertheatre.vbotickets.com/events)

27 OCTOBER 2023 — friday

  • Beyond Baroque presents a reading and conversation with poets and award-winning translators Paul Vangelisti, Liquid Prisoner, and Vincent Katz, Broadway for Paul, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, free, 8:00-9:30 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.beyondbaroque.org)

28 OCTOBER 2023 — saturday

  • San Francisco Public Library presents The Presidio Poetry Series, with readings highlighting local poets, writers, and musicians, featuring co-founders of the Coit Tower Poetry Club Scott Bird and Andrew Paul Nelson, How to Draw a Guillotine, forthcoming in spring 2024, Presidio Meeting Room in the Presidio Branch Library, 3150 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, free, 2:00-3:30 pm PDT (More information here: sfpl.org/events/2023/10/28/author-scott-bird-and-andrew-paul-nelson)
  • Fourth Saturdays presents a reading with featured poets Karen Greenbaum-Maya, The Book of Knots and their Untying, and Anders Carlson-Wee, Disease of Kings, Claremont Helen Renwick Library, 208 N. Harvard Ave, Claremont, free, 2:00 pm PDT (More information here: www.facebook.com/fourthsaturdayspoetry)
  • Medicine for Nightmares presents poet and multidisciplinary artist Mimi Tempestt, celebrating the release of her new book, The Delicacy of Embracing Spirals, joined by poets Darius Simpson, Toya Groves, hector son of hector, Jessica Hairston, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Zouhair Mussa, soledad con carne, Truong Tran, and Josiah Luis Alderete, come for an evening of poetry and costumes for this part Halloween extravaganza, part book release party, Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery, 3036 24th Street, San Francisco, free, 7:00-10:00 pm PDT (More information here: medicinefornightmares.com/events)
  • Beyond Baroque presents Dr. Annahita Mahdavi West, reading and discussing her new collection, Dusty Relics, in conversation with activist and philosopher Dr. Cornel West, Black Prophetic Fire, poet and translator Gail Wronsky, The Stranger You Are, and author Theresia de Vroom, The Lady Vanishes: Fantasies of Female Heroism in Shakespeare's Last Plays, the conversation will cover topics of poetics of the Iranian diaspora, Iranian women's poetry, and immigration due to war and political conflict, books will be available for purchase and signing at the event, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, free, 7:00 pm PDT (RSVP to attend: www.beyondbaroque.org)

29 OCTOBER 2023 — sunday

  • Medicine for Nightmares presents the Odd Verse open mic, a justice-oriented open mic every final Sunday of the month, aimed at amplifying voices of underrepresented communities and calls to collective action for justice and liberation, come for an evening of powerful poetry, art, and community, Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore, 3036 24th Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00-8:00 pm PDT (More information here: medicinefornightmares.com/events)
  • From Tribe and Fire 2023: Jane Hirshfield, Ellen Bass, Marie Howe, and Danusha Laméris read from their poetry, along with acclaimed cellist and composer Jami Sieber, and best-selling author, Geneen Roth, to benefit the courageous students of the S.H.E. College Fund, a nonprofit that administers a college scholarship program for young Kenya Masaii women living in Narok County who have escaped their community's harmful tranditional practices of female genital mutilation and early, forced child marriage, online, free to attend, donations encouraged, 11:00 am PDT (To register: bit.ly/from-tribe-and-fire-2023; for more information contact Sarah Degnan Kambou, skambou@shecollegefund.org)

30 OCTOBER 2023 — monday

31 OCTOBER 2023 — tuesday


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