Wednesday, 6/18: Joanne Kyger and Michael McClure join Bill Morgan to celebrate Peter Orlovsky, a Life in Words: Intimate Chronicles of a Beat Writer. Free, 7 p.m., City Lights.
Joel Streicker will be in conversation with Peruvian novelist and playwright Rafael Dumett, and will read from his new book of poetry, El Amor en los Tiempos de Belisario. This event will be in Spanish. Free, 7 p.m., Modern Times Bookstore Collective.
This month’s edition of Lyrics & Dirges features Jeana Poindexter, Stephen D. Gutierrez, Zahra Noorbakhsh, Jelal Huyler, and Madison Young. Free, 7:30 p.m., Pegasus Books.
Thursday, 6/19: ¡Cuéntamelo! is a bilingual collection of testimonios by LGBT Latino immigrants. Reading, performance, oral history, illustrations by Adela Vázquez, Nelson D’Alerta, Alexandra Cruz, Mahogany Sánchez, Marlen Hernández, Carlos Sayán Wong, and Manuel Rodríguez Cruz. $5-$20 (no one turned away for lack of funds), 6:30 p.m., Galería de la Raza. – Lauren Traetto
Laurie Doyle, Gina Goldblatt, and Dan Lau are amongst those reading at this month’s MFA Mixer. Free, 7 p.m., Cat Club.
Blanche DuBois is counting on your kindness. Come for the Stella Artois and stay for the “Stella!!!!!!!” scream-off, photos of you ‘n yours in powdered wigs, and a chance to win big. Score tickets to the upcoming Merola Opera adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s signature play, “A Streetcar Named Desire“! $10 includes drinks, 7:30 p.m., The Booksmith. – Jeff Von Ward
Friday, 6/20: The New Shit Show is hosting a Battle of the Bay Slam Competition this month, where teams from all over the bay will battle it out to prepare for the upcoming National competition. $5, workshop at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m., Merchants Of Reality. – Baruch Porras-Hernandez
Don Mee Choi, Robert Hass, Harryette Mullen, C.D. Wright, and Matthew Zapruder—all staff of this year’s Community of Writers’ Summer Poetry Workshop in Squaw Valley—will read to benefit the financial aid and scholarship program for poetry. $24, 7 p.m., First Unitarian Universalist Center.
Brooklyn-based Wendy Lotterman joins Sunnylyn Thibodeaux and Zoe Tuck for this month’s installment of Heart’s Desire Reading Series. Free, 8 p.m., Bay Area Public School.
Saturday, 6/21: Writer-in-residence Erika Staiti, Sara Mumolo, and Caroline Goodwin will present new work at Featherboard Writing Series, along with Fact & Fancy: interactive works of a 19th century naturalist, presented by Danielle Schlunegger, and paintings by Jana Rumberger. Free, 6 p.m., Aggregate Space.
Noir @ the Bar is “a night of classy libations, gritty crime fiction and dangerous women,” featuring Joe Clifford, Sean Craven, Seth Harwood, Rob Pierce, Josh Stallings, Tom Pitts, Holly West, Dyer Wilk, and Mckay Williams. Free, 7 p.m., 50 Mason Social House.
Cassandra Dallett’s been getting rave reviews for her series of release parties for Wet Reckless; this one features Sonya Renee Taylor, Tim Toaster Henderson, Nic Alea, SB Stokes, and Paul Corman-Roberts. Free, 7 p.m., The Make-Out Room.
The Bay Area Poetry Marathon kicks off its annual series of monthly summer events on the summer solstice, with guest curation by Tiff Dressen: Christopher Daniels (aka Güel Almeréida),Susanne Dyckman, John Sakkis, Anna Soteria Morrison, Denise Leto, Monica Regan, Eleni Stecopoulos, Alana Siegel, and Claiborne McDonald. $5, 7 p.m., The Emerald Tablet.
Sunday, 6/22: Name Drop Swamp Records has produced a day-long music and poetry festival, featuring readings by the likes of Charlie Getter, Jon Siegel, Chris Peck, and Shye Powers. Free, 12 p.m., The Emerald Tablet.
Poetry Flash presents The Collected Poems of Denise Levertov, the new book by Anita Barrows, Peter Dale Scott, David Shaddock, and Al Young that covers six decades and includes, chronologically, every poem Levertov ever published. Free, 3 p.m., Diesel, A Bookstore.
Monday, 6/23: Professor of History and Director of the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas at the University of California, Davis, Charles F. Walker presents The Tupac Amaru Rebellion. Free, 7 p.m., City Lights.
Tuesday, 6/24: anthology returns for its third installment: featured writers Lydia Conklin, Marcus Lund, Lauren Traetto, and Alan O’Gorman, followed by an open mic (and a shot at being invited back as a feature for next month’s show). Free, 7 p.m., La Movida.
Litquake’s series of conversations, The Epicenter, hosts Katie Crouch and Glen David Gold. $5-15, 7 p.m., Hotel Rex.
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Videos and reviews from some of last week’s notables: Emma Straub reading from The Vacationers. Xan Roberti covers One Lone Pear Tree; Mick Harris covers Wet Reckless; Christopher Patrick Steffen covers Voz Sin Tinta.
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This week’s featured local author is Arisa White (click here to read an interview):
