Wednesday 6/8: Jon Sindell brings his popular west side reading series to the East Bay at the Octopus Literary Salon, featuring Peter Bullen, Sharon Coleman, Stephen D. Gutierrez, Hollie Hardy, Sarah Kobrinsky, Lisa Martinovic, SB Stokes, Sandra Wassilie, and Maw Shein Win. That’s a helluva lineup! Free, 7 p.m., Octopus Literary Salon.
Ruth Thompson (Crazing) and Jayne Benjulian (Five Sextillion Atoms) read at Pegasus Books. Free, 7:30 p.m., Pegasus Books Downtown.
Thursday 6/9: Alas, we can’t attend everything! If you missed Ruth Thompson and Jayne Benjulian last night, they will both appear again tonight in Sausalito, along with Mark Ciabattari, Joe Clifford, Leora Fridman, Alyssa Oursler, and Karen Terrey, in the “Solidarity” edition of Why There Are Words. $10, 7 p.m., Studio 333.
Friday 6/10: If you want a break from literary readings, this might be a good night to check out an offering at DocFest, (San Francisco’s documentary film festival, produced by SF IndieFest). DocFest runs from 6/2 through 6/16 at the Roxie, Vogue, and Great Star cinemas. $12 per ticket, various locations and times. Detailed information here.
Saturday 6/11: Tonight, Writers With Drinks will be guest hosted by Bucky Sinister (Black Hole), and features Tsering Wangmo Dhompa (In the Absent Everyday), Anne Gross (The Conjured Woman), Juan Alvarado Valdivia (Cancerlandia!), and Jim Morton (Re/Search #10: Incredibly Strange Films.) $5-$20 (all proceeds benefit the Center for Sex and Culture), 7:30 p.m., The Makeout Room.
Sunday 6/12: Poet Susan Cohen reads to celebrate the launch of her second full-length collection, A Different Wakeful Animal and will be joined by Catherine Abbey Hodges (Instead of Sadness). Presented by Poetry Flash. Free, 3 p.m., Diesel.
Two writers from Sixteen Rivers Press, Rosa Lane (Roots and Reckonings) and Nina Lindsay (Today’s Special Dish), read Adobe. Free, 3 p.m., Adobe Books and Arts Collective.
Monday 6/13: The Commonwealth Club presents the winners of the 85th Annual California Book Awards with a ceremony, followed by readings and book signings. Free, 6 p.m., Commonwealth Club.
Tuesday 6/14: Here’s one for our friends in the South Bay. Kate Folk and Lisa Locascio are the featured readers for the series Well-RED, presented by the Poetry Center San Jose at Works/San Jose. $2 suggested donation (no one turned away), 7 p.m., Works/San Jose.
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This week’s theatre recommendation is Chester Bailey at A.C.T.’s Strand Theatre. Academy award nominee David Strathairn stars in this two-hander with local actor Dan Clegg. Dr. Philip Cotton is called upon to treat Chester Bailey, a young man in a mental hospital who has been the victim of a horrific attack with a blow torch, blinding his eyes and reducing his hands to stumps. But Chester is in denial, and, through sheer imagination, has created a delusional world in which he believes his sight has returned and his hands are intact. Is Chester’s imaginary world to be preferred to so-called” reality?” What is the meaning of art and imagination? What is the value of blind faith? What, indeed, is truth? Joseph Dougherty’s new play is intelligent, fascinating, challenging, and touching. To read a review, click here. For further information, click here.
For coverage of the Bay Area theatre scene, visit TheatreStorm.
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Evan Karp presents video of this week’s featured local author Evan Burton. Read an interview here.
And here’s some older video of one of last week’s SF notables, Annelyse Gelman.
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