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PROGRAMS
Beverly Burch and Robert Thomas
Jose Antonio Villarán
Jose Antonio Villarán and Sesshu Foster
20 NOVEMBER 2022 — sunday
Poetry Flash presents a reading by Jose Antonio Villarán, Open Pit, and Sesshu Foster, City of the Future, online via Zoom, free, 3:00 pm PST (Register to attend: please click here; you will receive an email with a link to join the reading)
Please join us for a virtual reading on Sunday, November 20 at 3:00 pm PST. We are excited to bring you this event 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.
Featured books for this event are available at bookshop.org/shop/poetryflash.
MORE ABOUT THE READERS
Jose Antonio Villarán's new collection is Open Pit. He is author of two previous collections, including la distancia es siempre la misma and el cerrajero. He is also author of one book of translation, Album of Fences, by Omar Pimienta. Sandra and Ben Doller say, "Jose Antonio Villarán's Open Pit affectively pits global addictions against personal extractions, calculating the enormous human and environmental weight of techno-privilege. Hurtling down the superhighway of forms—the ocean on one side, the desert on the other—the poems in this book accumulate into a desperate investigation of complicity, commodity, and heredity, as they swerve from Sacramento to San Diego to Lima to China to dust. The open pit of the title—of the exploited town of Morococha, of the raided earth itself—echoes and plumbs as it is stripped bare, as it is offered to the poet's young son Miqel, the future. This text is a necessary addition to the canon of disembordered political poetry which, here, honestly acknowledging its own limits, dilates the aperture." He holds an MFA in Writing from UC San Diego and is a PhD candidate in Literature at UC Santa Cruz.
Sesshu Foster is a poet, novelist, and veteran public school teacher. Foster's most recent poetry collection, City of the Future, is "the poetic soundtrack of a people and a place, of their history and their dreams." He is co-author, with artist Arturo Romo, of the surrealist, multigenre novel ELADATL: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines. Ben Ehrenreich says "ELADATL is strong medicine against the erasures of history, a mega-vitamin for struggles yet to come." Foster has taught writing in East Los Angeles, at the University of Iowa, the California Institute for the Arts, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. His work has been published in The Oxford Anthology of Modern American Poetry, Language for a New Century: Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond, and State of the Union: 50 Political Poems. Foster earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He lives in Alhambra, California.
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2 FEBRUARY 2023 — thursday
- City Lights Books presents poet and novelist adrienne maree brown, discussing her new book, Maroons: A Grievers Novel, published by AK Press, in conversation with filmmaker and writer dream hampton, executive producer of the 2019 Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, online via Zoom, free, Noon PST (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)
- Lunch Poems, a monthly noontime reading series, presents poet and essayist Louise Glück, recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature and author of over a dozen books including The Wild Iris, winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize, and Faithful and Virtuous Night, winner of the 2014 National Book Award, Morrison Library, 101 Library Ct., University of California campus, Berkeley, free, 12:10-12:50 pm PST (More information here: www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/lunch-poems)
3 FEBRUARY 2023 — friday
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4 FEBRUARY 2023 — saturday
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5 FEBRUARY 2023 — sunday
- The San Francisco Public Library presents a reading of environmental poetry, featuring Dee Allen, Elohi Unitsi, Avotcja, John Curl, Rainbow Weather, Lucille Lang Day, Birds of San Pancho and Other Poems of Place, Genny Lim, Winter Place, and devorah major, and then we became, hosted by playwright and editor Dr. Kim McMillon, Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room A, San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 1:00-2:30 pm PST (More information here: sfpl.org/events/2023/02/05/performance-environmental-poetry)
- Poetry Flash presents a reading by Beverly Burch, Leave Me a Little Want, and Robert Thomas, Sonnets with Two Torches and One Cliff, in person, 2727 California Street, between Ward and Stuart Streets, Berkeley, free, 3:00 pm PST (poetryflash.org).
- Book Passage presents best-selling author Patricia Engel, The Veins of the Ocean, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, discussing her new book, The Faraway World, a beautiful collection of stories exploring the spectrum of Latin American immigration, Book Passage, 51 Tama Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, free, 1:00 pm PST (More information here: www.bookpassage.com/event/patricia-engel-faraway-world-corte-madera-store)
- San Diego Writers, Ink, presents an open mic reading with Poets Underground, held the first Sunday of each month, in person at Inspirations Gallery, upstairs in Barracks 16, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, #204, San Diego, donations at the door, 6:00 pm PST (More information here: www.sandiegowriters.org/2022-in-person-open-mic-sundays-with-poets-underground)
6 FEBRUARY 2023 — monday
- Green Apple Books presents novelist Patricia Engel, Vida, winner of the Premio Biblioteca de Narrativa Colombiana and finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Fiction Award, celebrating the release of her short story collection, The Faraway World, Green Apple Books, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, free, 7:00 pm PST (More information here: www.greenapplebooks.com/event/9th-ave-patricia-engel)
7 FEBRUARY 2023 — tuesday
- Green Apple Books presents poet Tina Cane, Body of Work, reading from and discussing her latest collection, Year of the Murder Hornet, joined by Tongo Eisen-Martin, Poet Laureate of San Francisco and author of Heaven Is All Goodbyes, winner of the California Book Award for Poetry and an American Book Award, and San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck, Exile Heart, Green Apple Books, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, free, 7:00 pm PST (More information here: www.greenapplebooks.com/event/9th-ave-tina-cane-tongo-eisen-martin-and-kim-shuck)
- Cobalt Poets presents a reading featuring poet Susan Nguyen, Dear Diaspora, winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry, with open mic to follow, online via Zoom, free, 7:30 pm PST (Register to attend: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
- City Lights Books presents writer and editor Peter Turchi, discussing his new book, (Don't) Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before (and Other Essays on Writing Fiction), published by Trinity University Press, in conversation with best-selling author Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist, online via Zoom, free, 6:00 pm PST (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)
8 FEBRUARY 2023 — wednesday
- City Lights Books presents award-winning novelist Isabel Waidner, Corey Fah Does Social Mobility, discussing their new book, Sterling Karat Gold, in conversation with poet and playwright Maxe Crandall, The Nancy Reagan Collection, finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry, online via Zoom, free, Noon PST (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)
9 FEBRUARY 2023 — thursday
- Open mic reading, anything goes, poetry, recitals, rants, rejoicings, come to read or to listen, and be a part of this collaborative experience, with musical accompaniment by Psi Process, every second Thursday of the month, The Ugly Mug Coffee House, 4640 Soquel Drive, Soquel, free, 5:30-7:15 pm PST
- The monthly Poem Jam reading series presents writers published in the new anthology Uncommon Ground: BIPOC Journeys to Creative Activism, hosted by San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck, What Unseen Thing Blows Wishes Across My Surface?, San Francisco Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room A, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00-7:15 pm PST (More information here: sfpl.org/events/2023/02/09/performance-kim-shucks-poem-jam-celebrates-uncommon-ground)
10 FEBRUARY 2023 — friday
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11 FEBRUARY 2023 — saturday
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12 FEBRUARY 2023 — sunday
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13 FEBRUARY 2023 — monday
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14 FEBRUARY 2023 — tuesday
- Cobalt Poets presents a reading featuring poet and editor Michael Dylan Welch, Dance into the World, with open mic to follow, online via Zoom, free, 7:30 pm PST (Register to attend: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
15 FEBRUARY 2023 — wednesday
- No events listed for this date. Find out how to submit your event listing.
16 FEBRUARY 2023 — thursday
- Green Apple Books presents poet Tawanda Mulalu, Nearness, reading from and discussing his debut full-length collection Please make me pretty, I don't want to die, joined by poets Ritchie Hofmann, Second Empire, and Amy Shimshon-Santo, Catastrophic Molting, Green Apple Books, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, free, 7:00 pm PST (More information here: www.greenapplebooks.com/event/9th-ave-tawanda-mulalu-richie-hofmann-and-amy-shimshon-santo)
17 FEBRUARY 2023 — friday
- No events listed for this date. Find out how to submit your event listing.
18 FEBRUARY 2023 — saturday
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19 FEBRUARY 2023 — sunday
- No events listed for this date. Find out how to submit your event listing.
20 FEBRUARY 2023 — monday
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21 FEBRUARY 2023 — tuesday
- Cobalt Poets presents a reading featuring poet Shonda Buchanan, Black Indian, winner of the 2020 Indie New Generation Book Award, with open mic to follow, online via Zoom, free, 7:30 pm PST (Register to attend: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
22 FEBRUARY 2023 — wednesday
- No events listed for this date. Find out how to submit your event listing.
23 FEBRUARY 2023 — thursday
- Poet and artist Daniela Molnar celebrates her debut collection, Chorus, winner of the Omnidawn 1st/2nd Book Award, in conjunction with her solo art show of the same name, joined by poet Brenda Hillman, Extra Hidden Life, among the Days, come for an evening of art and poetry reading, Round Weather Gallery, 951 Aileen Street, Suite P, Oakland, free, 5:00 pm PST
- Kim Shuck, San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita, reads from her new collection of essays, Noodle, Rant, Tangent, San Francisco Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room A, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00-7:15 pm PST (More information here: sfpl.org/events/2023/02/23/author-kim-shuck-noodle-rant-tangent)
24 FEBRUARY 2023 — friday
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25 FEBRUARY 2023 — saturday
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26 FEBRUARY 2023 — sunday
- Valley Contemporary SoCal Poets Reading, featuring Laurel Ann Bogen, Washing a Language, Michael C. Ford, Emergency Exits, nominated for a 1998 Pulitzer Prize, Rick Lupert, I am not Writing a Book of Poems in Hawaii, E Amato, Swimming Through Amber, Beth Ruscio, Speaking Parts, Robert Krut, Watch Me Trick Ghosts, and Ashaki Jackson, Language Lesson, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, 2:00 pm PST (RSVP to attend: www.beyondbaroque.org/calendar.html)
27 FEBRUARY 2023 — monday
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28 FEBRUARY 2023 — tuesday
- Cobalt Poets presents a reading featuring poet George Hammons, Hungry to Bed/Love Poems, with open mic to follow, online via Zoom, free, 7:30 pm PST (Register to attend: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
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