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Sally Ashton

Sally Ashton and Rafaella Del Bourgo

14 SEPTEMBER 2025 — sunday

Poetry Flash presents a reading featuring Rafaella Del Bourgo, launching her new book, A Tune Both Familiar and Strange, poems, and Sally Ashton, Listening to Mars, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm (poetryflash.org).

Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series. The featured books will be available for signing at the event and at bookshop.org/shop/poetryflash. This event will be posted on the Poetry Flash YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UClwdR-uPFNz7XxbBbLcnoEA.

MORE ABOUT THE READERS
Sally Ashton's fifth book is Listening to Mars. Holly Iglesias says, "Listening is the quietest of talents, and the most fruitful. In this moving collection, Sally Ashton brings to readers what she heard as time and space had their way with us during the early years of the pandemic. In these poems, she creates Einsteinian thought experiments, tools for understanding and enduring the grief and beauty of a world where 'nothing stands still.' Loss and wonder, dread and awe gyrate throughout the book, spinning like heavenly bodies, the poet equally rigorous and tender in her search for 'words that make the world look like what it feels like.' Ashton reveres the mysterious movement of the world and offers it as a comfort: 'While Earth kept turning, gravity held us close.'" Her poem "4.6 Billion Years" is now archived on the Moon as part of the Lunar Codex project. A book of personal essays exploring a personal practice and the race to space, Going to the Moon, is forthcoming from Duke University Press. Former Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, Sally Ashton is also Editor-in-Chief of DMQ Review, an online journal featuring prose poetry and art. Now Faculty Emerita, she taught writing at San José State University and continues to teach workshops locally and online.
Rafaella Del Bourgo's brand new full-length collection launching at this event is A Tune Both Familiar and Strange, winner of the Terry J. Cox Award. Lynne Knight says, "These poems take us to places as far flung as Tasmania or Afghanistan, Israel or Iceland, letting us see across time and space into the lives of others, but also into the love and loss of Del Bourgo's own life. The strange becomes familiar as she braids her narratives with images so precise they seem cinematic. Whether elegies, love poems, or lyrics of wild imagining, these poems are marked by tenderness and compassion, even when the difficult or brutal is acknowledged." Rafaella Del Bourgo's honors include the League of Minnesota Poets Prize, Grandmother Earth Poetry Award, Paumanok Poetry Prize, Northern Colorado Writers Prize for Poetry, New Millennium Prize for Poetry, Mudfish Poetry Prize, and the 2025 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times. Her previous chapbook is Inexplicable Business: Poems Domestic and Wild. Her writings have has appeared in magazines and journals including Puerto Del Sol, Rattle, Oberon, Nimrod, and The Bitter Oleander. She lives in Berkeley.

Daily Listings

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18 MAY 2026 — monday

Green Apple Books presents award-winning author Patrick Cottrell celebrating his new novel, Afternoon Hours of a Hermit, an existential noir exploring the paradoxes of identity and memory, in conversation with Rita Bullwinkel and R.O. Kwon, in-store and on YouTube Live, Green Apple Books on 9th Avenue, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, free, RSVP required, 7:00 pm (RSVP: greenapplebooks.com/event/2026-05-18/9th-ave-patrick-cottrell-rita-bullwinkel-and-ro-kwon )
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City Lights and Alice James Books present award-winning poet Cole Swenson, reading from her new collection, Veer, both in-store and on Zoom, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, registration required for Zoom, 7:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/cole-swenson-tickets-1979956665686?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/cole-swenson)
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Pegasus Books presents "Jazz Stories: Live Tunes & Tales," an evening of live music and anecdotes exploring the colorful lives of legends like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Buddy Rich, Pegasus Books on Solano, 1855 Solano Avenue, Berkeley, free, pre-registration required (call: 510-525-6888), 7:00 pm (Pre-registration: pegasusbookstore.com/event/2026-05-18/jazz-stories-live-tunes-tales-pegasus-solano )
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19 MAY 2026 — tuesday

Mrs. Dalloway's presents Oakland author Eva Des Lauriers launching her new young adult novel, I'm Gonna Get You Back, a contemporary second-chance love story, in conversation with Jenna Evans Welch, in-store, book signing to follow, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free, registration requested, 7:00 pm (Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/eva-des-lauriers-im-gonna-get-you-back-in-store-launch-and-book-signing-tickets-1986550674544?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctct )
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20 MAY 2026 — wednesday

Green Apple Books presents acclaimed novelist Wesley Brown celebrating the release of Looking for Frank Wills: A Novel a reimagining of the life of the security guard who discovered the Watergate break-in, in conversation with Tonya M. Foster, in-store and on YouTube Live, Green Apple Books on 9th Avenue, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, free, RSVP required, 7:00 pm (RSVPgreenapplebooks.com/event/2026-05-20/9th-ave-wesley-brown-tonya-m-foster )
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Mrs. Dalloway's presents a celebration of the late Clare Cooper Marcus and the release of her posthumous memoir, Groundbreaking: My Unmapped Path as an Academic, Mother and Gardener, featuring Wendy Sarkissian, Lynne Elizabeth, and Lucy Marcus, in-store, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free, registration requested, 7:00 pm (Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrate-clare-cooper-marcus-and-her-book-groundbreaking-tickets-1988132893002?aff=ebdsoporgprofile&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctct )
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21 MAY 2026 — thursday

Mrs. Dalloway's presents Ayelet Waldman discussing her new novel of love and class in nineteenth-century England, A Perfect Hand, in conversation with novelist Michael Chabon, in-store, book signing to follow, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free, registration requested, 7:00 pm PDT (Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/ayelet-waldmans-a-perfect-hand-in-store-event-and-book-signing-tickets-1987425724843?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctct )
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22 MAY 2026 — friday

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23 MAY 2026 — saturday

Mrs. Dalloway's presents local bestseller Adam Mansbach sharing the latest installment in his profane series, Go The F*ck To College, in conversation with Peggy Orenstein, in-store, book signing to follow, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free, registration requested, 7:00 pm (Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/adam-mansbachs-go-the-fck-to-college-in-store-event-and-book-signing-tickets-1985649419867?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctct )
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Sacramento Poetry Alliance presents Indigo Moor, Poet Laureate Emeritus of Sacramento, sharing his fifth collection, Reconstructing Eden: A Southern Bastard's Lyric Journey, a memoir-in-verse exploring inheritance and healing through a "jazz triptych" form, with poet and pianist Valdez Hill, whose artistic practice weaves sound and language into a single expressive voice, open mic to follow, Musiclandria, 808 O Street, Sacramento, 6:00 pm (sacramentopoetryalliance.com )
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City Lights and Verso Books present Trevor Paglen presenting his new book, How To See Like A Machine: Images After AI, on Zoom, free, registration required, 11:00 am PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/trevor-paglen-how-to-see-like-a-machine-images-after-ai-tickets-1982667454729?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/trevor-paglen-how-to-see-like-a-machine-images-after-ai)
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24 MAY 2026 — sunday

"Words, blue flowers streaming…" presents poetry and music to celebrate spring in the garden, poetry written by Jaime Robles for the event will be sung and spoken, with voice and bird whistle, with Gael Alcock, cello and voice, Nancy Beckman, shakuhachi, double ocarina, and voice, and Tom Bickley, recorders and voice; a selection of short instrumental works for recorder and cello by Thomas Morley and Gael Alcock, and solos for shakuhachi, recorder, and cello will begin the afternoon, conversation and refreshments to follow, at The Tiger Garage Garden, a private studio, South Berkeley, near Ashby BART, location provided when you reserve a seat by emailing Tom Bickley, free, limited seating, reserve early, 3:00 pm (Reservation required, please email Tom Bickley, tbickley@gmail.com)
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25 MAY 2026 — monday

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26 MAY 2026 — tuesday

City Lights and Human Rights First present Joshua Colangelo-Bryan discussing his new book, Through The Gates of Hell: American Injustice at Guatanamo Bay, in-store and on Zoom, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, registration required, 7:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/joshua-colangelo-bryan-through-the-gates-of-hell-tickets-1982668835860?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/joshua-colangelo-bryan-through-the-gates-of-hell-american-injustice-at-guatanamo-bay)
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Mrs. Dalloway's presents writer and musician Alicia Jo Rabins sharing her new memoir, When We're Born We Forget Everything, a journey of spiritual self-invention and feminist awakening, in conversation with Rabbi Adina Allen, in-store, book signing to follow, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free, registration requested, 7:00 pm (Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/alicia-jo-rabins-when-were-born-we-forget-everything-in-store-event-tickets-1986746582510?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctct )
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Join the first meeting of Book Society's new Tough and Tannic Book Club, to discuss Walter Mosley's Gray Down: An Easy Rawlins Mystery, and other detectives and plots, with refreshments, Book Society, 2945 College Avenue, Berkeley, $30, members $15, 6:30-8:00 pm (www.booksociety.social/event-details/the-tough-tannic-book-club-gray-dawn)
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27 MAY 2026 — wednesday

Pegasus Books presents "Lyrics & Dirges," a monthly reading series curated by East Bay poets MK Chavez and Sharon Coleman featuring a mix of prominent and emerging voices from the Bay Area literary community, Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, free, 7:00 pm (pegasusbookstore.com/event/2026-05-27/lyrics-dirges-monthly-poetry-series )
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City Lights and Melville House present Jeremy Lent, presenting his new book, Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All, both in-store and on Zoom, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, registration required for Zoom, 7:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/jeremy-lent-ecocivilization-making-a-world-that-works-for-all-tickets-1982670686395?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/jeremy-lent-ecocivilization-making-a-world-that-works-for-all)
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Green Apple Books presents Paige Lewis celebrating their debut novel, Canon, a profoundly heartfelt and humorous epic following two unlikely heroes on quests for divine favor, in conversation with fiction writer Karen Russell, in-store and on YouTube Live, Green Apple Books on 9th Avenue, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, free, RSVP required, 7:00 pm (RSVP: greenapplebooks.com/event/2026-05-27/9th-ave-paige-lewis-karen-russell ).
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Mrs. Dalloway's presents Gwenyth Reitz discussing her debut young adult supernatural romcom, You're Dead To Me, Reed Walker, in conversation with Eva Des Lauriers, in-store, book signing to follow, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free, registration requested, 6:30 pm PDT (Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/gwenyth-reitz-youre-dead-to-me-reed-walker-in-store-event-for-teens-tickets-1984142135539?aff=ebdsoporgprofile&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctct )
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28 MAY 2026 — thursday

Mrs. Dalloway's presents environmental writer Jennie Durant sharing her new book, Bitter Honey: Big Ag's Threat to Bees and the Fight to Save Them, in conversation with Mary Volmer, in-store, book signing to follow, Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, free, registration requested, 7:00 pm (www.eventbrite.com/e/jennie-durants-bitter-honey-in-store-event-and-book-signing-tickets-1986742393982?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctct )
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29 MAY 2026 — friday

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30 MAY 2026 — saturday

Green Apple Books presents an Audiobook Walk hosted by Libro.fm, a community walk through Golden Gate Park followed by snacks, coffee, and merch at the bookstore, meet at Green Apple Books on 9th Avenue, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, free, RSVP required, Noon (greenapplebooks.com/event/2026-05-30/9th-ave-audiobook-walk-librofm )
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31 MAY 2026 — sunday

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