
Linda Norton
Norman Fischer and Linda Norton
20 JUNE 2021 — sunday
Poetry Flash presents a virtual poetry reading by Norman Fischer, There was a clattering as…, and poememoirist Linda Norton, Wite Out: Love and Work, 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, June 20 at 3:00 pm PDT! We are excited to bring you Norman Fischer and Linda Norton 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.
This reading is co-sponsored by Moe's Books in Berkeley; the featured books are available at bookshop.org/lists/poetry-flash-readings and at www.spdbooks.org/AdvancedSearch/DefaultWFilter.aspx?SearchTerm=norman+fischer.
MORE ABOUT THE READERS
Linda Norton's new memoir with poems is Wite Out: Love and Work. John Keene says, "With Wite Out Linda Norton breaks new ground as an autobiographical poememoirist. Combining an exploration of her familial roots, an interrogation and critique of whiteness as lived experience, a diaristic account of relationships in all their complexity, and a personal, social, and cultural history of certain precincts in American poetry's late twentieth century avant-garde. Wite Out is a masterpiece." Her previous collection, its prequel, The Public Gardens: Poems and History, introduction by Fanny Howe, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A recent East Bay Express review calls Wite Out "a must for anyone trying to understand the nuanced aggression of systemic oppression and how it affects the afflictor and afflicted in equal measure." Born in Boston, Norton lived in Brooklyn for many years before moving to Oakland, where she raised her daughter and met her foster son, who are the heart and soul of Wite Out. She's also a visual artist with a background in book publishing, oral history, and libraries and archives. She was a 2020 columnist-in-residence at SFMoMA's Open Space; you can see her essays, collages, and photographs at openspace.sfmoma,org/author/lindanorton and find her blog here: thepublicgardens.blogspot.com/2012/03/love-and-work.html.
Zen Buddhist priest and poet Norman Fischer's brand new book of poems is There was a clattering as…. Maged Zaher says, "Can you write about the plague without this writing being situational and somehow banal? Yes you can, There was a clattering as… is a poem about the plague, human condition, world materiality, soul fertility, and the mutual creation of God and human…This book is magnificent and as human as it could get." His other 2021 poetry title is Nature, "(a fractured re-do of Emerson) …about nature but also about thinking, language, identity, consciousness, science, idealism, economics, religion, and, in general, about the unsettling (in case you haven't noticed) paradox of being human in a human, non-human world." His other poetry books include any would be if, Untitled Series: Life As It Is, and On a Train At Night. His latest Buddhist books are The World Could be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path and When You Greet Me I Bow: notes and reflections from a life in Zen. His 2002 translation of the Hebrew psalms, Opening to You, is read by both Jews and Christians, and Experience: Essays on Thinking, Writing, Language, and Religion was published in 2016.


Daily Listings
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18 OCTOBER 2025 — saturday
- The Women's National Book Association presents "No Poetry, No Peace™," a free virtual National Book Month celebration featuring poets with published books and chapbooks; hosted by series founder Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte, who will also read from her own work, the evening includes Anne Babson, Diane Frank, Sheila Smith McKoy, Arabella Grayson, and Tamara Miles, sharing poems that speak to resilience, history, and lived experience, 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm PDT / 7:00 pm EDT (Register: (www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/no-poetry-no-peacetm)
- City Arts and Lectures presents Andrew Ross Sorkin, journalist for The New York Times and co-anchor of Squawk Box, CNBC's signature morning program, reading from and discussing his new book, 1929: The Inside Story of the Greatest Crash of Wall Street, a spellbinding narrative of the most infamous stock market crash in history, in conversation with CEO of Stripe Patrick Collison, Sydney Goldstein Theater, 275 Hayes Street, San Francisco, $64-$69, 7:30 (https://www.cityarts.net)
19 OCTOBER 2025 — sunday
20 OCTOBER 2025 — monday
21 OCTOBER 2025 — tuesday
22 OCTOBER 2025 — wednesday
23 OCTOBER 2025 — thursday
- City Arts and Lectures presents photographer Richard Misrach discusses his new book, Half-Baked Stories about My Dead Mom, photographs of cargo ships to and from the Port of Oakland, in conversation with award-winning author and historian Rebecca Solnit, Recollections of My Nonexistence, Sydney Goldstein Theater, 275 Hayes Street, San Francisco, $49, 7:30 (https://www.cityarts.net)
24 OCTOBER 2025 — friday
- Transit Books presents A Very Fine Fête, a fundraiser celebrating Transit's tenth anniversary, eat and drink among friends, enjoy Edward Gorey tarot readings, a book apothecary, special edition merch, a prize for best costume, and more, Edward Gorey-inspired dresswear encouraged: Edwardian costume, fur coats, top hats, fascinators, or something that's been calling in your closet, Cellar Maker Brewing Co., 940 Parker Street, Berkeley, $30-$10,000, 7:00-10:00 (www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/a-very-fine-fete)
25 OCTOBER 2025 — saturday
- Fourth Saturdays: Poetry at the Claremont Library presents a reading by Nicelle Davis and Chiwan Choi, Claremont Helen Renwick Library, 208 N. Harvard Avenue, in the Claremont Village, Claremont, free, 2:00 (909/621-4902, www.claremontlibrary.org/monthly-poetry-readings.html)
26 OCTOBER 2025 — sunday
- Poetry Flash presents Women in a Golden State, California Poets at 60 and Beyond, an anthology celebration and contributor's reading featuring poets Laurel Benjamin, Caroline Goodwin, Robin Michel, and Lisa Rosenberg, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm (poetryflash.org).
27 OCTOBER 2025 — monday
28 OCTOBER 2025 — tuesday
29 OCTOBER 2025 — wednesday
- Poetry reading by Marcia Falk, The Sky Will Overtake You, and Lucille Lang Day, Birds of San Pancho and Other Poems of Place; she is publisher of Scarlet Tanager Books, reading introduced by Richard Silberg, homemade goodies will be served, sponsored by Temple Sinai's Fine Arts Committee on Culture and Community, Temple Sinai Chapel, 2808 Summit, at 28th Street between Webster and Summit, enter at gate in parking lot, Oakland, free, 7:00 (www.oaklandsinai.org/event/poetry-reading1.html)
- Sacramento Poetry Center presents "Dangerous Women," a poetry reading by Molly Fisk, Kim Shuck, Moira Magneson, and Tricia Caspers, open mic follows, Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th Street, Sacramento, 7:30
30 OCTOBER 2025 — thursday
31 OCTOBER 2025 — friday
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