Wednesday 3/30: Helen McDonald (H is for Hawk and Shaleer’s Fish: Poems) will appear at Dominican University, presented by Book Passage. If you haven’t yet visited Dominican University, you will find it to be one of the sweetest venues in the Bay area. $25 (includes autographed copy of book), 7 p.m., Angelico Hall, Dominican University of California.
Malaysian Australian rapper, novelist, and former winner of the Australian Poetry Slam, Omar Musa (Here Come the Dogs) reads at City Lights. Free, 7 p.m., City Lights Bookstore.
Thursday 3/31: Rachel Cassandra and Lauren Gucik (Women Street Artists of Latin America) read at Pegasus Books in Berkeley. Interesting women with an interesting book. Free, 7:30 p.m., Pegasus Books Downtown.
Friday 4/1: Brooks Brodan (Mare Island) in discussion with Jay Harris (former publisher of Mother Jones). Brodan refers to Mare Island, the first American Naval Base opened on the Pacific Ocean, now shuttered, as “the Stonehenge of the American Empire.” Free, 7 p.m., Green Apple on the Park.
Saturday 4/2: While San Francisco struggles with the exodus of artists and writers under the pressures of the infamous tech invasion, some of our institutions endure, like the beloved Bernal Yoga Literary Series, hosted by Jeff Von Ward. Tonight’s features: Terra Brigando, Peter Bullen, Nancy Davis Kho, Emily Kiernan, François Luong, and Jon Sindell. $5 suggested donation, 7:30, Bernal Yoga.
The Beat Museum welcomes visiting New York poets Mark Gurarie (Everybody’s Automat), Alex Crowley (Improper Maps), and Keara Driscoll, along with local readers Charlie Getter and Miguel Pereira (the last two being early organizers of the deservedly famous 16th and Mission Open Mic Without a Mic). Free, 7 p.m., The Beat Museum.
Monday 4/4: Sara Schulman (novelist, playwright, essayist, activist, and distinguished professor at City University of New York ) is the featured guest tonight at Writers On Writing, the open-to-the-public craft series at SF State University. Free, 7 p.m., Humanities Auditorium, SFSU.
Or you could check out the San Francisco edition of The Poetry Brothel. If you haven’t heard of this rather unusual performance event, you might want to read this, or perhaps this. Among the night’s delights, you can hire some private poetic moments with none other than D. A. Powell. This may be hard to resist. $20 (private readings are extra), 8 p.m.–12 a.m., Slide.
Or you could seek out the peripatetic Quiet Lightning, which strikes tonight in the Mission at Adobe Books with featured readers Peter Bullen, Madeleine Mori, Ryan Johnson, Cassandra Dallett, Claire Moshenberg, Lisa Locascio, Brigid Hughes, Kirin Khan, Hanna Pesha, Kristin Acredolo, Christine No, Rei Jackler, Miriam Bird Greenberg, Danny Scuderi, Sarah Henry, Emily Kiernan, Dorian Maffei, Jason Buchholz, Robert Pesich. QL doesn’t skimp on the goods! Plus, there’s cheap draft beer courtesy of Lagunitas Brewing Company. $5-10 suggested donation, 7 p.m., Adobe Books.
Tuesday 4/5: Poet Paul Casey, of Cork, Ireland, is visiting the Bay area courtesy of a travel award from Culture Ireland, and you can hear him read tonight along with local poet, St. Mary’s College Associate Professor and Cave Canem fellow Raina J. Léon. Free, 8 p.m., Pegasus Downtown.
Literary Pop, hosted by Wonder Dave, celebrates the collision of literature and pop culture. Where else, but in North Beach? Featuring Baruch Porras-Hernandez, Lauren Wheeler, Maggie Takuda-Hall, Damian Ledbetter, and Mandy Hu. $10-$15, 8 p.m., Doc’s Lab.
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This week’s theatre recommendation is the West Coast premiere of Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses at A.C.T. Eno, whose absurdist, existentialist style of writing has often been compared favorably with Samuel Beckett, is generally considered one of the leading English language playwrights of his generation. To read a review, click here. For further information, or to purchase tickets, 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, Deborah Steinberg. Read an interview here.
And here’s some older video of one of last week’s SF Notables, Louise Glück.
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If you have a Bay Area event listing you’d like us to consider for Notable SF, please contact [email protected] as far in advance as possible, and include the date of the event in the subject line.
