Wednesday 10/19: UCB’s Holloway Series presents Tonya Foster. Free, 6:30 p.m., UC Berkeley.
Sarah Griffin of Dublin, Ireland returns in triumph to San Francisco, the internationally celebrated author of a debut novel, Spare and Found Parts. Free, 7:30 p.m., The Booksmith.
Thursday 10/20: Michelle Bitting and Ewa Chrusciel read at the Marin Poetry Center. $3–$5, 7:30 p.m., Falkirk Cultura Center.
Poetry Flash presents Randall Mann and Adrienne Su. Free, 7:30 p.m., Moe’s Books.
Friday 10/21: Fresh and Best! poetry series features Ari Banias and Margaret Ross. Free, 7 p.m., Diesel, a bookstore.
Journalist, intelligence operative, and novelist Robert Eringer reads from Motional Blur. This book got a nice blurb from T. C. Boyle. Free, 7 p.m., Books, Inc. Berkeley.
Saturday 10/22: André Alexis (The Hidden Keys) reads at Green Apple. Free, 7:30 p.m., Green Apple Books on the Park.
Alley Cat Books celebrates two new chapbook releases: SPEC books presents The Wasp, which is an uncollected prose piece by the late Jack Spicer, with an afterward by Daniel Benjamin, who will be reading. And Omnidawn presents The Field by Robert Andrew Perez, who will also be reading. Free, 3 p.m., Alley Cat Books.
Monday 10/24: Followers of the so-called Culture Wars may find it interesting to hear Calvin Trillin (recently embroiled in controversy) interviewed by Michael Krasney for City Arts and Lectures. $29, 7:30 p.m., Nourse Theater.
Bay Area Generations presents its monthly evening of intergenerational pairs of writers in an edition guest curated by Rochelle Spencer. $7–$10, 7 p.m., Berkeley City Club.
Tuesday 10/25: Jonathan Lethem reads from his newest novel, A Gambler’s Anatomy. Free, 7:30 p.m., The Booksmith.
Suzanne Rivecca (Death Is Not An Option) receives the 2016 Gina Berriault Award from Fourteen Hills Press. Free, 7 p.m., The Poetry Center at SFSU.
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This week’s theatre recommendation is Seared, a world premiere by Theresa Rebeck, commissioned and produced by San Francisco Playhouse. Rebeck is an award-winning playwright, with substantial Broadway, film, and TV credits, who has been championed in the Bay Area by SF Playhouse. The company previously produced Seminar and The Scene. Written with actor Brian Dykstra specifically in mind, Seared is set in an up-and-coming Brooklyn restaurant whose brilliant, autocratic chef resists his partner’s efforts to capitalize on success. It deals with the theme of art versus commerce and the temptations and challenges of selling out. The well-drawn characters hilariously spoof both on-the-make millennials and entitled artists. The unusual staging includes a functioning kitchen, which adds a convincing degree of reality. This one is highly recommended. For further information click here. To read a review, click here.
For 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, Susan Cohen. Read an interview here.
And here’s some video of one of last week’s SF notables, Masande Ntshanga.
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