Wednesday 3/25: The University of San Francisco presents Day 2 of their annual Emerging Writers Festival, featuring Stegner Fellow Shara Lessley and the winner of the 2012 American Short(er) Fiction Award, Ryan MacDonald. Free, 7:45 p.m., University of San Francisco, Marschi Room, Fromm Hall.
Celebrated novelist and Yale Professor Caryl Phillips is in town to promote The Lost Child, his tenth novel, published this month by Farrar, Straus. Giroux. He will be reading excerpts tonight at City Lights. It’s probably a good idea to arrive early for this one. Free, 7 p.m., City Lights.
Thursday 3/26: The Emerald Tablet will host a closing party for its gallery show, “From Mission to North Beach,” which features large scale paintings by artists from these iconic neighborhoods, many of them celebrated writers as well. There will be performances by musician Jorge Molina, Jack Hirschman (San Francisco’s poet laureate emeritus), slam champion Matt Sedillo, and others. Free, 6-10 p.m., The Emerald Tablet.
If you’re near the Sunset District, you might want to stop by Green Apple’s Irving Avenue location to hear ZYZZYVA‘s Oscar Villalon in conversation with poet Quan Barry about Barry’s debut novel, She Weeps Each Time You’re Born, co-sponsored by The Asia Society. Free, 7:30 p.m., Green Apple Books On The Park.
Friday 3/27: The Basement Series presents Molly Giles and Jason Bayani, along with five emerging writers, presenting on the theme of “Betrayal.” Admission fees to this series benefit scholarship funds for LitCamp and ScholarMatch. And they give away free beer. $5-10 sliding scale, 7 p.m., The Sports Basement.
Omnidawn Publishing presents Omnidawn Night at Moe’s Books, featuring Donald Revell, Claudia Keelan, C. Violet Eaton, Susan Terris, Erik Ekstrand, and Richard O. Moore. That ought to fill you up. Free, 7:30 p.m., Moe’s Books.
Saturday 3/28: Radar Productions and City Lights Books celebrate their release of the children’s book Rad American Women A-Z by Kate Schatz, with illustrations by Miriam Klein Stahl, both of whom will be in attendance. Hosted by Michelle Tea. The presentation will be child friendly. Free, 12:30 p.m., City Lights Books.
Sunday 3/29: Poetry & Brunch on the island of Alameda. What’s not to like? Featuring Kathleen Wright and Cassandra Dallett, Jan Steckel, and a brief open mic. Order brunch from the menu at the High Street Cafe. Free, 11 a.m., High Street Cafe.
Tuesday 3/31: British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro is here to promote his first new novel in over a decade. That’s an Event with a capital “E”. He will appear in conversation with novelist Michael David Lucas at Berkeley Arts & Letters. $25-45, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church of Berkeley.
Booksmith presents Chris Tarry reading from his debut collection of short stories, How To Carry Bigfoot Home, and in conversation with Mark E. Cull and Brynn Saito. Free, 7:30 p.m., Booksmith.
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This week’s theater recommendation is SF Playhouse’s Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron Posner, an outrageously funny and surprisingly moving riff on Anton Chekhov’s classic, The Seagull, deftly directed by Susi Damilano. See a stuffy classic get skillfully unpacked and gleefully unstuffed. Read a review here. Get ticket information here.
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This week’s featured local author is Curt Anderson (click here to read an interview):
