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Andrena Zawinski

Andrena Zawinski and Jerry Ratch

18 FEBRUARY 2024 — sunday

Poetry Flash presents a reading by poet and flash fiction writer Andrena Zawinski, Born Under the Influence, and novelist and poet Jerry Ratch, A Body Divided, memoir, who will read some of his poems accompanied by live music, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm PST (poetryflash.org).


Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series.
Featured books for this reading will be available for signing at the event and at bookshop.org/shop/poetryflash.

MORE ABOUT THE READERS

Jerry Ratch's most recent poetry books are Follow Your Heart, or Your Dreams, Abundance: Selected Poems, and A Few Guilty Pleasures: New Poems. The author of eighteen book of poetry, he is also the author of seven books of prose, including Wild Dreams of Reality, a novel, and A Body Divided, a memoir, the story of a one-armed boy growing up in a two-fisted world, in the time of polio. Lawrence Ferlinghetti said of it, "A gritty and valiant story…I would be glad to recommend it." Richard Ford wrote about Wild Dreams of Reality, "The almost, but not quite innocent directness of Ratch's savvy little novel is irresistible to me. I read it in a sitting. I'm glad real writers still want to write books this way." Jerry Ratch's poems have been published in Antioch Review, Beatitude, Carolina Quarterly, Ironwood, Louisville Review, Maryland Literary Review, Milvia Street Journal, Negative Capability, Slant, and elsewhere. Most of his titles are available as Kindle Books from Amazon, or through his website: www.jerryratch.com. He lives in Oakland.
Andrena Zawinski's new poetry collection is Born Under the Influence; her recent flash fiction collection is Plumes and Other Flights of Fancy. Born Under the Influence, through a wide range of craft from narrative free verse through European and Asian forms, grapples with the trials, anger, rebellion, survival, and joys influenced by gender, class, nature, pop culture, and contemporary history. Mary Mackey says of her work, "Andrena Zawinski is a poet of rare talent and radical empathy who combines the straightforward, take-no-prisoners, blue collar directness of a steelworker's daughter in her narratives, along with the rules of formal verse, creating lines which blossom into poems of memory, rebellion, longing, righteous anger, and—above all—survival. These poems are tough, smart, and beautifully crafted." Andrena Zawinski has also published three previous full-length poetry collections, four chapbooks, and edited two anthologies. Her work has received accolades for lyricism, form, and social concern including a Kenneth Patchen Poetry Prize and PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she makes her home in Alameda, California.




Daily Listings

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9 APRIL 2026 — thursday

10 APRIL 2026 — friday

11 APRIL 2026 — saturday

12 APRIL 2026 — sunday

  • Poetry Flash presents a poetry reading by Jesse Nathan, Eggtooth, and Diana Arterian, Agrippina the Younger: Poems, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm (poetryflash.org).
  • Bird & Beckett celebrates the release of Salvadoran poet and children's author Jorge Argueta's new children's picture book, Tay Naja Nitajtaketzki Achtu Tik Nawat/My First Words in Nahuat, Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 653 Chenery Street, San Francisco, free, 3:00 pm (birdbeckett.com/events)

13 APRIL 2026 — monday

14 APRIL 2026 — tuesday

15 APRIL 2026 — wednesday

16 APRIL 2026 — thursday

  • The Altadena Library hosts their first ever Adult Literacy Book Club, a limited supply of books will be available on a first-come, first serve basis, Bob Lucas Memorial Library and Literacy Center, 2659 Lincoln Avenue, Altadena, adults 19 or older, free, 10:30 am (altadenalibrary.libnet.info/event/15871101)
  • With beguiling stories and images Peter Maravelis explores the multilayered histories of legendary City Lights Bookstore; renowned for its role in the cultural and literary life of San Francisco and the nation, as both bookstore and a publisher, San Francisco Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Room, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00 pm (sfpl.org/events/2026/04/16/presentation-insurgent-beatitudes-history-city-lights)

17 APRIL 2026 — friday

18 APRIL 2026 — saturday

  • Join "Last Days Poet" to share your poetry, write a poem during a poetry movement exercise, and meet other poets, Robbie Waters Library Meeting Room, 7336 Gloria Drive, Sacramento, free, 1:30 pm (Registration via email simone@lastdayspoet.com)
  • Join poet Jamie Asaye FitzGerald for a generative workshop: "World Within a Poem: From Micro to Macro and Back Again," hosted by Sehba Sarwar and Lester Graves, Bob Lucas Memorial Library and Literacy Center, 2659 Lincoln Avenue, Altadena, free, 11:00 am (altadenalibrary.libnet.info/event/16133533)
  • Walker Brents III talks on topics TBA, Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 653 Chenery Street, San Francisco, free, 7:00 pm (birdbeckett.com/events)

19 APRIL 2026 — sunday

20 APRIL 2026 — monday

21 APRIL 2026 — tuesday

  • Join local poets reading their contributions to the poetry anthology Catching Fire: The Los Angeles Wildfires, featuring Susan Auerbach, Mary Anne Berry, Teresa Mei Chuc, Spencer Griffin, Richard Modiano, Riot Renwick, Maryrose Smyth, Loma Alta Park Gymnasium, Multipurpose Room, 3330 Sunset Ridge Road, Altadena, free, 6:00 pm (Registration required at altadenalibrary.libnet.info/event/16123059)

22 APRIL 2026 — wednesday

23 APRIL 2026 — thursday

24 APRIL 2026 — friday

25 APRIL 2026 — saturday

  • Small Press Traffic presents Terrence Arjoon, Sophia Dahlin, and Ronaldo V. Wilson with introductions by Ebti, Jacob Kahn, and Kristen Nelson, event takes place at Et al., 2831 a Mission Street, San Francisco, free, doors open at 6:30 pm, reading starts at 7:00 pm (Registration required: www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/terrence-arjoon-sophia-dahlin-ronaldo-wilson)
  • In celebration of twenty years of the Altadena Libraries' Altadena Poets Laureate Program, and as the Closing Event for the After the Fire Series, the Altadena Library presents "Poetry & Cookies," a reading with an open mic, featuring writer Viet Thanh Nguyen, poets published in Altadena Poetry Review 2026, indie publishers and their poets, with art activities by the Altadena Library and Armory Center for the Arts, and the announcement of the Altadena Poets Laureate 2026–2028, hosted by Sehba Sarwar and Lester Graves Lennon, Bob Lucas Memorial Library and Literacy Center, Bob Lucas Parking Lot, Bob Lucas Reading Court, 2659 Lincoln Avenue, Altadena, adults nineteen or older, free, 3:00 pm (altadenalibrary.libnet.info/event/16132810)

26 APRIL 2026 — sunday

27 APRIL 2026 — monday

28 APRIL 2026 — tuesday

29 APRIL 2026 — wednesday

30 APRIL 2026 — thursday


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