Poetry Flash > calendar > Jose Antonio Villarán and Sesshu Foster

Daily Listings

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.

Daily Listings

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12 JULY 2025 — saturday

Marin Poetry Center Traveling Show presents a poetry reading by Abby Caplin, Margaret Stawowy, Simona Carini, Steve Maxwell, and Arlene Wohl, with host Francesca Bell, O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, 616 Throckmorton Avenue, Mill Valley, free, 2:30 (marinpoetrycenter.org/mec-events-category/traveling-show)
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13 JULY 2025 — sunday

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14 JULY 2025 — monday

Litquake presents Literary Pub Trivia, hosted by forty-time Jeopardy! winner Amy Schneider, co-presented by Berkeleyside, the event is absolutely open to the public, people who do not have a team will just get matched up with others in a similar position, Gilman Brewing, 912 Gilman Street, Berkeley, a fundraiser for Litquake, $25, 6:00 pm (www.eventbrite.com/e/litquake-literary-pub-trivia-the-sequel-tickets-1342787165559?aff=oddtdtcreator)
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15 JULY 2025 — tuesday

Jackie Thomas-Kennedy reads from her new novel, The Other Wife, joined in conversation by Carol Edgarian, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)
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16 JULY 2025 — wednesday

City Lights and NYU Press celebrate the publication of Get It Out: On the Politics of Hysterectomy, by Andréa Becker, in conversation with writer and critic, Moira Donegan, Zoom, free, 6:00 pm (www.eventbrite.com/e/andrea-becker-in-conversation-with-moira-donegan-tickets-1343850134929?aff=oddtdtcreator)
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Crystal Haryanto presents her new book, The Glory of Giving Everything: The Taylor Swift Business Model, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)
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17 JULY 2025 — thursday

City Lights and Shakespeare and Company, a bookstore in Paris, celebrate the publication of The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews, edited by Adam Biles, he will be in conversation with Sylvia Whitman, the proprietor of Shakespeare and Company, and Peter Maravelis, Events Director at City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco, Zoom, free, Noon (citylights.com/events/adam-biles-sylvia-whitman-in-conversation-with-peter-maravelis)
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Poetry Night Reading Series presents Dane Cervine, Nine Volt Nirvana, and Adela Najarro, with host Dr. Andy Jones, air-conditioned venue, John Natsoulas Gallery, 521 1st Street, Davis, 7:00 (www.poetryindavis.com)
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Poets Molly Fisk and Kim Shuck present poems from varied perspectives about wildfire, flooding and related catastrophes in California from the California Fire & Water anthology; they will be joined by six other contributors to the anthology, Gene Berson, Heather Bourbeau, Aileen Cassinetto, Susan Cohen, Alison Luterman, and Maw Shein Win, California Fire & Water anthology, San Francisco Main Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Room, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00 (415/557-4400, on.sfpl.org/07-17-25)
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City Lights and Verso Books celebrate the publication of EVERYTHING IS NOW: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde–Primal Happenings, Underground Movies, Radical Pop, this groundbreaking cultural history of 1960s New York, from J. Hoberman, the legendary writer on art and film, Zoom, free, 6:00 pm (www.eventbrite.com/e/j-hoberman-tickets-1295155518019?aff=oddtdtcreator)
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Miranda S. Spivack reads from her new book, Backroom Deals in Our Backyards, a groundbreaking look at how ordinary people are fighting back against local governments to keep their communities safe, joined in conversation by Victoria Baranetsky, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)
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18 JULY 2025 — friday

Community Open Mic featuring 826LA students, the culminating event of 826LS's Summer Writers Workshop, emcee Ariadne Makridakis Arroyo, all participants have five minutes to share, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice Beach, Los Angeles, doors open 7:00, reading 7:30 (www.eventbrite.com/e/826la-beyond-baroque-present-community-open-mic-tickets-1397352441769?aff=oddtdtcreator)
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19 JULY 2025 — saturday

City Lights and PM Press celebrate the publication of Surrealism, Bugs Bunny, and the Blues: Selected Writings on Popular Culture, with the editors Abigail Susik and Paul Buhle, the book is a collection of Franklin Rosemont's writings on popular culture over a period of more than forty years, Zoom, free, Noon (citylights.com/events/abigail-susik-and-paul-buhle)
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Marin Poetry Center Traveling Show presents a poetry reading by Louise Yost and Jonathan Livingston, with host Dotty LeMieux, Novato Library, 1720 Novato Blvd., Novato, free, 2:00 (marinpoetrycenter.org/mec-events-category/traveling-show)
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20 JULY 2025 — sunday

Roberto Tejada, Why the Assembly Disbanded, celebrates the release of his new poetry collection, Carbonate of Copper: Poems, with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Forrest Gander, Mojave Ghost, limited seating, Kerouac Alley, between City Lights Bookstore and Vesuvio Cafe, 257 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 1:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/forrest-gander-with-roberto-tejada)
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Poetry Flash presents a poetry reading featuring Rachel Richardson, Smother, and Mia Ayumi Malhotra, Mothersalt, 2727 California Street, a Cooperative Art Gallery, Berkeley, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).
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21 JULY 2025 — monday

Blue Light Press presents "Eleven Poets from the Blue Light Press Summer Workshop," a poetry reading by Barbara Saxton, Mylo Schaaf, Susanna Praetzel, MJ Moore, Nancy Lee Melmon, Melissa Hobbs, Jennifer Grant, Robin Gabbert, Kay Barnes, Pat Barone, and Diane Frank, Society of Artists Gallery, 1513 3rd Street (at E Street), San Rafael, free, 6:00 pm (www.bluelightpress.com/events.php)
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22 JULY 2025 — tuesday

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23 JULY 2025 — wednesday

Bridget A. Lyons reads from and presents her new book, Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species, joined in conversation by Leigh Marz, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free admission, 7:00 (510/704-8222, www.mrsdalloways.com)
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24 JULY 2025 — thursday

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25 JULY 2025 — friday

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26 JULY 2025 — saturday

Fourth Saturdays: Poetry at the Claremont Library presents Karen Greenbaum-Maya and Diosa Xochiquetzalcóatl, 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)
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The Bay Area Book Festival and Litquake present "Narrating the Mother," an intimate (virtual) conversation with Iman Mersal and Kate Briggs, two writers who reshape our understanding of motherhood and the art of living, moderated by Sri Lankan American novelist Nayomi Munaweera, Gilman Brewing, 912 Gilman Street, Berkeley, free, 10:00 am-11:00 am (www.eventbrite.com/e/narrating-the-mother-tickets-1328737101439)
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Sacramento Poetry Alliance presents the VOICES reading with Cold River Press, 1169 Perkins Way, Sacramento, refreshments, 4:00 (see Sacramento Poetry Alliance on Facebook)
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Marin Poetry Center Traveling Show presents a poetry reading by Judy Wells, Dale Jensen, Carol Dorf, LeeAnn Pickrell, and Judy Bertelsen, with host Kathryn Jordan, North Branch of the Berkeley Public Library,1170 The Alameda (at Hopkins), Berkeley, free, 2:00 (marinpoetrycenter.org/mec-events-category/traveling-show)
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27 JULY 2025 — sunday

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28 JULY 2025 — monday

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29 JULY 2025 — tuesday

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30 JULY 2025 — wednesday

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31 JULY 2025 — thursday

"The Jingwei Bird" is a program that explores the complexity of climate change and our relationship to the planet through multi-disciplinary performances with Del Sol Quartet and San Francisco poet laureate Genny Lim, weaving newly composed music by Asian-American composers with powerful bilingual poetry, using storytelling and mythology to deepen our understanding and awareness of the environment, San Francisco Main Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Room, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00 (415/557-4400, on.sfpl.org/07-31-25)
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