
Hannah Sward
Rose Black and Hannah Sward
27 APRIL 2023 — thursday
Poetry Flash presents "An Evening of Poetry & Memoir," reading and discussion with poet Rose Black, Green Field, and memorist Hannah Sward, Strip, both writers work with Right to Write Press, a nonprofit that supports emerging writers who are incarcerated in California prisons; in-person, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 7:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).
Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series.
Featured books for this event will be available for signing at the event and at bookshop.org/shop/poetryflash. Proceeds from the in-person book sales will benefit Poetry Flash, and a portion of the online proceeds will also support the series.
MORE ABOUT THE READERS
Hannah Sward's new book is Strip: A Memoir. She tells of being abandoned by her mother and living with her poet father on an island with no stores or cars. Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee says, "Hannah Sward's memoir of how she blundered into the sex industry is touchingly honest, and written with a light touch." Booklist wrote, "Elegant prose, stripped of all sensationalism and demands for pity…a fresh, literary addition to the courageous and resonant addiction-memoir genre." Her writing has appeared in Halcoyne, Arts & Letters, Red Wheelbarrow, and Porter Gulch Review, among other magazines. She was Editor and Columnist at Third Street Villager Los Angeles, and has written for Fix and Your Tango. A longtime contributor at Erotic Review, she is also a Board member of Right to Write Press, a nonprofit that supports emerging writers who are incarcerated.
Rose Black's poetry books are Clearing, Winter Light, and Green Field. David St. John says, "Rose Black's superb new collection of poems, Green Field, is a sobering volume of recollections, reflections and meditations upon a life's ravaged hopes, the echoes of a personal past, and the raw realities of our present. Like fables and dreams gone dark in the lens, these poems instruct us in the complex measures we need to employ in determining what values still remain—and endure—in our lives." A Pushcart nominee, her poetry has been widely published, and her first two books are included in Yale's Beinecke Library for the Yale Collection of American Literature. She teaches poetry at Salinas Valley State Prison and is one of the founders of Right to Write Press, a nonprofit that promotes the growth of emerging poets who are incarcerated in California state prisons. She will read from her own work and from poetry by incarcerated writers, including Ubaldo Teque, Jr., who recently won first place in a statewide prison poetry contest with thousands of entries. She edited his chapbook, Niño Inmigrante. Rose Black lives and works at Renaissance Studios, an artists' collective in East Oakland.


Daily Listings
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12 SEPTEMBER 2026 — saturday
- Sixteen Rivers Press presents a poetry reading by Molly Fisk, Walking Wheel, Inaugural Poet Laureate emerita of Nevada County, and Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Frangible Operas, former Wallace Stegner fellow, Camille Norton will introduce, Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley, free, 3:00 pm (sixteenrivers.org/readings-events)
13 SEPTEMBER 2026 — sunday
14 SEPTEMBER 2026 — monday
15 SEPTEMBER 2026 — tuesday
16 SEPTEMBER 2026 — wednesday
17 SEPTEMBER 2026 — thursday
18 SEPTEMBER 2026 — friday
19 SEPTEMBER 2026 — saturday
- Beyond Baroque presents "What Remains: Erasure as Resistance and Reclamation," a generative writing workshop with Elina Katrin, recipient of scholarships and fellowships from Lambda Literary, the Vermont Studio Center, and Periplus, at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, Los Angeles, $95.49 general admission, $84.99 for members, 11:00 am (Tickets available: www.eventbrite.com/e/what-remains-erasure-as-resistance-and-reclamation-tickets-1996286048309?aff=ebdsoporgprofile)
- 45th annual NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARDS, honoring the books and authors of Northern California, as well as California translators state-wide; presentation of the Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service, the NCBA Groundbreaker Award, and the NCBA Recognition Award, presentation of awards in Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Translation In Poetry and Prose by California translators, and Children's Literature: Younger Readers, Middle Grade, Young Adult; bookselling and a reception open to all in the SFPL's Latino/Hispanic Community Room follows, nominated books are selected by the Northern California Book Reviewers, event presented by Poetry Flash and the San Francisco Public Library, with our community partners Women's National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter and Mechanics' Institute Library, Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free and open to the public, 2:00 pm (Check back for updates and nominee announcements, poetryflash.org/programs/?p=ncba_2026 or sfpl.org)
20 SEPTEMBER 2026 — sunday
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Award-Winning Poets," with readings by Farnaz Fatemi, Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate Emerita; Ellen Kombiyil, Raleigh Review's Geri Digiorno Multi-Genre Prize-winner, and Claire Drucker, 2026-2028 Sonoma County Poet Laureate, with event host Kary Hess, Copperfield's Books, 140 Kentucky Street, Petaluma, free, 2:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Found Poets in The Round," with readings by Lorrie Chang, Mahrs Emerson Schoppman, mOody bLaCk, with event host Original Giotis, The Phoenix Theater, 201 Washington Street, Petaluma, free, 1:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- The Freight presents Rumi's Caravan, an evening of spoken word with musical accompaniment in an improvised poetic conversation that meanders through moods of prayer and grief to humor and celebration, with words by poets from Rumi and Hafiz to Yeats, Rilke, Neruda, and Mary Oliver, benefitting the Middle East Children's Alliance, The Freight, 2020 Addison Street Berkeley, $30 advance, $35 at the door, 7:30 pm, doors open 7:00 pm (Tickets available: secure.thefreight.org/16039/16041-rumis-caravan-260920)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Sixteen Rivers Press Poets," with poetry readings by Dane Cervine, Lenore Myers, and Carolyn Miller, with event host Terry Ehret, Hotel Petaluma, Ballroom, 205 Kentucky Street, Petaluma, free, 11:00 am (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Taurean Horn and Friends," with readings by Donna Emerson, Jack Crimmins, and Dr. Jeanne Powell, with event host Bill Vartnaw, founder of Taurean Horn Press and Petaluma Poetry Walk director emeritus, Usher Gallery, 1 Petaluma Boulevard North, Petaluma, free, 4:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Tender Hearts Poets," with poetry readings by Maw Shein Win, Lourdes Figueroa, and Luisa Giulianetti, with event host Ingrid Keir, Jess Brown Design, 144 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, free, 5:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk and the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum present "Translator Poets," with readings by Pat Nolan, Adrian Arias, and Francesca Bell, with event host Jennifer Barone, The Petaluma Historical Library and Museum, 20 Fourth Street, Petaluma, free, 3:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Word Flights," with readings by Deyci Carrillo López, Wendy M. Thompson, and Cintia Santana, with event host Daedalus Howell, The Big Easy, 128 American Alley, Petaluma, free, 6:00 pm (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
- Petaluma Poetry Walk presents "Youth Poets," with readings by Elizabeth Foster, Nika Grajqevci, and Juno Phipps, with event host Maxine Flasher-Düzgünes, Keller Street CoWork, 140 Keller Street, Petaluma, free, Noon (petalumapoetrywalk.org/2026-schedule)
21 SEPTEMBER 2026 — monday
22 SEPTEMBER 2026 — tuesday
23 SEPTEMBER 2026 — wednesday
24 SEPTEMBER 2026 — thursday
25 SEPTEMBER 2026 — friday
26 SEPTEMBER 2026 — saturday
- Fourth Saturdays Poetry at the Claremont Library presents a reading by poet and essayist Maurya Simon, The Blue Bridge, and Adam O. Davis, poet and editor, Helen Renwick Library, 208 North Harvard Avenue, Claremont, free, 2:00 pm (www.claremontlibrary.org/monthly-poetry-readings.html)
27 SEPTEMBER 2026 — sunday
28 SEPTEMBER 2026 — monday
29 SEPTEMBER 2026 — tuesday
30 SEPTEMBER 2026 — wednesday
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