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Poetry Flash Reading Series


Jan Steckel

Bruce Isaacson, James Norman, Andrew Romanelli, Jan Steckel

2 MAY 2024 — thursday

Poetry Flash presents a Zeitgeist Press reading by Zeitgeist publisher, poet and novelist Bruce Isaacson, Anthems of the Damned; poet James Norman, A Monk with No Religion; poet Andrew Romanelli, Rotgut; and poet and fiction writer Jan Steckel, Ghosts and Oceans, stories, 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 reading will be available for signing at the event. The video of this event will be posted on the Poetry Flash YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/channel/UClwdR-uPFNz7XxbBbLcnoEA.

MORE ABOUT THE READERS

Bruce Isaacson's new book of poems is Anthems of the Damned, in which the poet shows how it feels "to be human in an age of the ghosted soul." His most recent previous collection was Leningrad to Las Vegas. His new novel is Vegas Dirt, as he says, "These are human stories of the Great Recession—the salesman with two families, the mogul in misery, the erotic dancer who took the stage name America." Isaacson was the first Poet Laureate of Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas. He's also publisher of Zeitgeist Press. Recipient of degrees from Claremont McKenna, Dartmouth, and Brooklyn College, where he submitted a thesis to Allen Ginsberg, he has long been associated with the Café Babar readings, a San Francisco poetry and spoken word series that formed part of the '80s spoken word resurgence. Also known as a finalist in the inaugural Nuyorican Poetry Slam, he is a founder of Poetry Promise, Inc., a non-profit curator of poetry programs in Clark County, Nevada.

James Norman's new book of poems is How to Set Yourself on Fire and Call It Art, focusing on his relation to activism. His recent collections include A Monk with No Religion. Among his other previous titles are One Night the Buddha Drank Himself to Death and At the Point Where Gravity Finally Fails Us. Zeitgeist Press says, "James Norman assumes the open road would call his name. Musician, part-time lover—a heterodoxical historian of the forgotten, a half-assed Buddhist in his concrete monastery, a traveling freak show feeding LSD to a higher consciousness—Contradictions are the meat on the bones that construct him."

Andrew Romanelli's first book of poems is Rotgut. An IWW member and an activist for the disenfranchised, he's worked many jobs from busboy, debt collector, traveling salesman, deliverer of hair products, and much else. A teaching artist for the Alzheimer's Poetry Project, he's "the boy who cannot be pulled away from the beauty inherent in the discarded." His chapbook Supermarket Poems was published in 2023. Among his honors is a John Oliver Simon Award for a student poet of exceptional promise.

Jan Steckel's newest book is her debut short story collection, Ghosts and Oceans. Thaisa Frank says, "In Ghosts and Oceans, Jan Steckel has created her own magic realism, exploring fluid realms between rumor and myth. A woman becomes the color of a mango. An angel makes a hurried appearance at the hour of death. The sea is alternatively seductive and dangerous. The language is so musical; you can hear the book. Or—as one character says—'The words are one thing and the music another, but there comes a time in the imagination of the singer when the words are the music and the music the words.' Both the lush musicality and startling imagination invite the reader to travel in tilted and surprising worlds." Her latest poetry book is Like Flesh Covers Bone; her previous books include The Horizontal Poet, winner of the Lambda Literary Best Bisexual Book Award, her fiction chapbook Mixing Tracks, and her poetry chapbook The Underwater Hospital. She is a Harvard-Yale trained pediatrician, who worked in the Peace Corps and serviced poor communities. Nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize, she lives in Oakland, California.




Daily Listings

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26 JULY 2024 — friday

  • Green Apple Books welcomes journalist Jesse Katz for the release of his book, The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant LA, Green Apple Books, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, free, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.greenapplebooks.com/event/9th-ave-jesse-katz)

27 JULY 2024 — saturday

  • Calling all literary enthusiasts! The Beast Crawl Literary Festival showcases some of the Bay Area's most captivating voices throughout downtown Oakland, begin at 3:30 at COMMUNE, Beast Crawl information table: Leg 1 at 4:00 pm features readings by Poetry Flash, AfroSurrealist Writers Workshop, and Oakland Youth Poet Laureates; Leg 2 at 5:30 pm features readings by Black Freighter Press, Colossus Press, and Manic D Press; Leg 3 at 7:00 pm features readings by Paper Press, Celebration of Queer Poets, and Apocrypha Press; Leg 4 at 8:30 pm features an afterparty at COMMUNE and Binny's; there's an open mic at each Leg; start at Beast Crawl's headquarters for information, COMMUNE, 1716 Broadway, Oakland, free, 3:30 pm PDT (For more information, including maps, visit: www.beastcrawl.org/2024.html)
  • Beast Crawl Literary Festival presents a Poetry Flash 50+ Anniversary reading, featured readers include Sally Ashton, Listening to Mars; Judy Halebsky, Spring and a Thousand Years (Unabridged); Eliot Schain, The Distant Sound; and Rosalinda Monroy, Poetry Flash assistant editor and contributor; these are poets and writers who have all read for, worked on, or been published in Poetry Flash, hosted by Joyce Jenkins, editor, Poetry Flash, The Punchdown Wine Bar + Bottle Shop, 1737 Broadway, Oakland, free, Leg 1 at 4:00 pm sharp (For more information, including a map, visit: www.beastcrawl.org/blog/poetry-flash-2024)
  • Beast Crawl Literary Festival presents "The Erotic," a reading featuring Rusty Morrison, Risk, editor of Omnidawn Publishing; Richard Silberg, The Horses: New and Selected, associate editor of Poetry Flash; Steven Rood, Music from Behind a Stone Wall; Joyce Jenkins, Joy Road, editor of Poetry Flash, Feelmore Social Club, 1542 Broadway, Oakland, free, Leg 2 at 5:30 pm sharp (For more information, including a map, visit: www.beastcrawl.org/blog/the-erotic-2024)
  • Warwick's welcomes historical-fantasy novelist Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches to discuss her latest in the All Souls series, The Black Bird Oracle, offsite at IPJ Theatre, Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, 5555 Marian Way, San Diego, free, 2:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.warwicks.com/event/harkness-2024)
  • The Glendale Poet Laureate Program welcomes Summer Farah, I could die today and live again, Arthur Kayzakian, The Book of Redacted Paintings, and David Romero Diamond Bars 2, for a reading and workshop designed for all skill levels, Brand Library and Art Center, 1601 West Mountain Street, Glendale, free, 11:00 am PDT (For more information, visit: www.eventbrite.com/e/glendale-poet-laureate-poetry-workshop-reading-tickets-939958058857?aff=ebdssbdestsearch)
  • Marin Poetry Center's Traveling Show will visit Berkeley for an afternoon of poetry featuring readers: Judy Juanita, The High Price of Freeways, Judy Bertelsen, Susan Cohen, Democracy of Fire, Jeanne Wagner, Everything Turns Into Something Else, and Carol Dorf, Berkeley Public Library Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch, 1901 Russell Street, Berkeley, 2:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: marinpoetrycenter.org/programs/traveling-show-3)
  • The CODEX Foundation Logan Book Arts Center presents a two-day poetry printing workshop with Jonathan Gerkin; the class will honor Navajo poet Sherwin Bitsui, Flood Song, by teaching to print using one of his poems, CODEX Foundation, 1331 Seventh Street, Unit D, Berkeley, $320, 9:30 am PDT (For more information, visit: www.codexfoundation.org/events)
  • Westside Satellite for Writers presents a workshop, "Identity as an Act of Courage," participants will mine their history for ideas and learn how their personal identity informs the characters in their stories, hosted by writing coach Terrie Silverman and editor Robin Quinn, Virtual on Zoom, $15, 10:00 am PDT (For more information, visit: iwosc.org/events/westside-satellite-for-writers-identity-as-an-act-of-courage-a-writing-and-storytelling-interview-workshop/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=identity_as_an_act_of_courage_a_writing_and_storytelling_interview_workshop_on_saturday_july_27_part_of_wpn_education_series&utm_term=2024-07-17#iwosc-event-registration)

28 JULY 2024 — sunday

  • Marcus Books welcomes author Eisa Davis, Angela's Mixtape/the History of Light, for a discussion, reading, and book signing, Marcus Books, 3900 Martin L King Jr Way, Oakland, 1:30 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.instagram.com/marcus.books/?hl=en)
  • The CODEX Foundation Logan Book Arts Center presents a two-day poetry printing workshop with Jonathan Gerkin; the class will honor Navajo poet Sherwin Bitsui, Flood Song, by teaching to print using one of his poems, CODEX Foundation, 1331 Seventh Street, Unit D, Berkeley, $320, 9:30 am PDT (For more information, visit: www.codexfoundation.org/events)
  • Join Genie Cartier and special guests for "the Curve!" a special show that combines spoken word poetry, comedy, and acrobatics, Circus Center Theater, 755 Frederick Street, San Francisco, $18, 6:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-curve-an-acro-poem-tickets-929837768797?aff=ebdssbdestsearch)

29 JULY 2024 — monday

30 JULY 2024 — tuesday

  • ZYZZYVA Magazine presents Movie Night at the Roxie with novelists Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Fruit of the Drunken Tree, and R.O. Kwon, Exhibit; the featured film will be Secretary, Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, $15, 6:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: roxie.com/film/zzyva-movie-night-secretary)

31 JULY 2024 — wednesday

  • City Lights Bookstore welcomes poet and translator Daniel Borzutzky, The Performance of Becoming Human, discussing his latest book, The Murmuring Grief of the Americas, in conversation with Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, The Life Assignment, virtual on Zoom, free, 6:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/daniel-borzutzky-in-conversation-with-ricardo-alberto-maldonado)
  • Lyrics & Dirges reading series presents Anastasia Lê, Taneesh Kaur, Linette Escobar, Jessica Ke'mani, Abby Bogomolny, hosted by MK Chávez and Sharon Coleman, curated by Sharon Coleman, Pegasus Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, refreshments, 7:00-9:00 pm PDT (www.pegasusbookstore.com)
  • Vroman's Bookstore welcomes Melissa Mogollon for a discussion of her new novel, Oye, in conversation with Greg Mania, Born to Be Public, Vroman's Bookstore, 695 East Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.vromansbookstore.com/Melissa-Mogollon-discusses-Oye)
  • Green Apple Books welcomes author Willy Vlautin, The Night Always Comes, to celebrate the release of his new book, The Horse; Green Apple Books, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, Free, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.greenapplebooks.com/event/9th-ave-willy-vlautin)

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