Wednesday 4/20: National Book Award finalist Paolo Bacigalupi reads from The Water Knife, “a near-future thriller about climate change and drought in the southwestern United States.” Free, 7:30 p.m., Pegasus Books Downtown Berkeley.
Thursday 4/21: RADAR Productions presents Hella Close: Stories of Intimacy by Sex Workers. Featuring Aria Sa’id, Lyric Seal aka Neve Be, Natalia Garcia, and Titana Kumeh. Part of RADAR’s year-long Queering the Castro program. Free, 6 p.m. Books, Inc. In The Castro.
Inside StoryTime presents Superpowers, featuring Seanan McGuire (Indexing Reflections), Charlie Jane Anders (All The Birds in the Sky), Daryl Gregory (Harrison Squared), and Elwin Colman (Hard Times Blues). Free, 7 p.m., The Armory Club.
Friday 4/22: Diesel Bookstore hosts A Celebration of Small Presses with Scott Esposito (The Surrender, The End of Oulipo?), Janice Lee (The Sky Isn’t Blue), and Kit Schluter (NEA Translation Fellow). Free, 7 p.m., Diesel A Bookstore, Oakland.
Saturday 4/23: The San Francisco Art Institute hosts Write of Way Literary Festival Readings and Bazaar. More than two dozen literary organizations are scheduled to participate presenting a variety of readings and panels, plus book tables. A great opportunity to network with a large number of Bay area writers and publishers. Free, 2 p.m.–10 p.m., San Francisco Art Institute.
Kevin Killian hosts Explosive Poetry featuring Shiloh Jines, Jason Zuzga, and Maxe Crandall. Free, 7 p.m., Alley Cat Books.
Sunday 4/24: Justice Morrighan curates “Poetry of a Different Beat” at one of our favorite bookstores featuring Dan Langton, Jenna Littlejohn, Lucille Lang Day, Kimi Sugioka, Ryanaustin Dennis, Sherrie Lovler, and Carl Wiener. Free, 2 p.m., Bird and Beckett.
Kearny Street Workshop hosts Dastanhayeh-jadid (New Stories) by Iranian Writers, with reading and discussion. Siamak Vossoughi (Better Than War), Persis Karim (Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian-American Writers), Jasmin Darznik (The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother’s Life), and Shideh Etaat (recipient of the 2015 James D. Phelan Award) will be discussing the new narratives being shaped today in Iranian-American literature. Free, 6 p.m., Arc Gallery & Studios.
Monday 4/25: Bay Area Generations returns for its bimonthly residency at The Berkeley City Club, presenting eight intergenerational pairs of writers reading their work in a performance curated by Ellen Woods, Sherry Wilson, and Charles Kruger. $7 ($10 with souvenir chapbook), 7:30 p.m., Berkeley City Club.
Poet Larry Kearney reads from his new collection, Fish Gotta Swim. Free, 7 p.m., Green Apple Books on Clement.
Tuesday 4/26: Beloved (and prolific!) SF State philosopher Jacob Needleman visits Berkeley to talk about a new work directed to young adults (I am not I) on spiritual and philosophical ideas. Free, 7 p.m., Books, Inc., Berkeley.
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This week’s theatre recommendation is the world premier of Amy Sass’s Whale’s Wake by Ragged Wing Ensemble. This ambitious dark comedy about a family dealing with the sudden death of their patriarch engages the audience in a sweeping story that moves from slapstick and religious satire (I dare you not to laugh at Zombie Lazarus) to haunting, abstract, poetic images to explore major themes about the meaning of life, death, and family. Presented with the usual visual flare typical of this company, Whale’s Wake is a fine introduction to one of Oakland’s most exciting theatrical organizations. 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, Lyzette Wanzer. To read an interview, click here.
And here’s some older video of one of last week’s SF Notables, Maw Shein Win.
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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.
