Wednesday 2/10: WTF?! Infamous and courageous Russian punk band Pussy Riot will be at the Warfield tonight, presented by (and in conversation with) Bay Area expatriate Russian novelist and arts activist Zarina Zabrisky. No further introduction required, right? $25-$48, 8 p.m., The Warfield.
UC Berkeley starts out this spring’s Holloway Reading Series as Christian Nagler presents Bernadette Mayer. Free, 6:30 p.m., UC Berkeley, Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall.
City Lights presents novelist Rob Roberge (read our exclusive excerpt from Liar here) in conversation with Joshua Mohr (All This Life). Free, 7 p.m., City Lights Bookstore.
Thursday 2/11: City Lights celebrates the release of Pure Act: The Uncommon Life of Robert Lax by Michael McGregor. McGregor will be joined in discussions and readings by John Beer and S. T. Georgiou. If you are unfamiliar with Robert Lax (Thomas Merton’s “best friend” and “spiritual touchstone”), this is a good opportunity to make the acquaintance of an extraordinary man and poet. Free, 7 p.m., City Lights Bookstore.
Friday 2/12: St. Mary’s Creative Writing Reading Series presents Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient). This reading will take place at The Infinity Lounge in San Francisco. Due to limited seating, RSVP is required. Free, 7 p.m., Infinity Club Lounge.
Saturday 2/13: Well-loved maven of Writers With Drinks, Charlie Jane Anders, has a new book! (All the Birds in the Sky). Join Diane Cook (Man v. Nature, This American Life), Meredith Maran (Why We Write About Ourselves), and Tongo Eisen-Martin (someone’s dead already) to celebrate its publication. $5-20 (no one turned away & all proceeds go to the Center for Sex and Culture), 7:30 p.m., The Makeout Room.
Barbar In Exile #4 presents Steve Arnston, Kimi Sugioka, and James Cagney. This reading series is a revival of the legendary 90s SF reading series which took place at the Barbar Café and the Paradise Lounge. It is organized by Paul Corman-Roberts and Richard Loranger, and includes a brief open mic. Free, 7 p.m. (sharp), Octopus Literary Salon.
Monday 2/15: Writers on Writing, a Monday night class on craft at SF State University that is open to the public, features Diana Cage, and Jarett Kobek reading from and discussing their fiction. Free, 7 p.m., SF State University Humanities Auditorium.
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This week’s theatre recommendation is CustomMade’s world premiere of Sam and Dede or My Dinner with Andre the Giant by Gino Delorio. From CustomMade’s website: “It’s a totally true story: 12-year old Andre the Giant, already over 6 feet tall and 240 pounds, didn’t fit on the school bus. Andre’s neighbor, as repayment of a favor, offered to drive Andre to school in his truck. The neighbor was Samuel Beckett.” What could they have talked about? This production features Dave Sikula, a leading Bay area actor, in the role of Samuel Beckett, and classically trained New York actor Brendan Averett as the giant Dede. Intriguing, don’t you agree? For further information, click here.
For more extensive coverage of the Bay area theatre scene, visit TheatreStorm.
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Evan Karp presents video of this week’s featured local author, Tara Dorabji. Read an interview here.
And the following video offers a mind-boggling assortment of SF Notables reading last week at the Tribute for Justin Chin (who passed away recently) at the SF Public Library—a major event.
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If you have a Bay Area event listing you’d like us to consider, please contact [email protected] as far in advance as possible, and include the date of the event in the subject line.
