Wednesday 10/26: University of San Francisco presents its fall MFA faculty: Laleh Khadivi, Dave Madden, D. A. Powell, and Susan Steinberg. Free, 7:30 p.m., USF, Fromm Hall, Maraschi Room.
Brit Bennett (The Mothers) reads from her debut novel. Free, 7:30 p.m., Green Apple Books on the Park.
Thursday 10/27: UC Berkeley’s Holloway Series presents Gary Snyder. Free, 6:30 pm., Hearst Field Annex, Room D37, UCB.
Crime writer Patrick Hoffman (The White Van and Every Man a Menace) in conversation with Oscar Villalon (Managing Editor of ZYZZYVA). Free, 7:30 p.m., Booksmith.
Friday 10/28: The Writers Series at California College of the Arts presents Dave Eggers, Master Writer in Residence. Free, 6 p.m., CCA.
Nomadic Press continues its series, “Fruitvale Fridays,” with Julian Schendelman and musical guest Ricardo Tavarez. Free (donations solicited), 7 p.m., Nomadic Press.
Saturday 10/29: Saturday Night Special presents its 6th Annual Halloween Reading & Costume Contest, the theme of Heroes & Villains. Featured Reader: Laura Zink. Free, 7 p.m., Nick’s Lounge.
Sunday 10/30: The Before Columbus Foundation presents the 37th Annual American Book Awards. Free, 2 p.m., Joe Henderson Lab at SF Jazz Center.
Andres Neuman (How to Travel without Seeing: Dispatches from the New Latin America) reads at Green Apple. Free, 6 p.m., Green Apple Books on the Park.
Tuesday 11/01: Tonight kicks off 13 days of the Dada World Fair at City Lights Bookstore with 13 Dada Manifestos presented by an astonishing array of writers. The benediction will be given by Guillermo Gomez-Pena. Free, 7 p.m., City Lights Bookstore.
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This week’s theatre recommendation is Into the Beautiful North at Central Works in Berkeley. This outstanding new play by Karen Zacarías is adapted from the novel by the great Luis Alberto Urrea. The novel is a sweeping story about a pilgrimage by eccentric young people from a small town in rural Mexico to the United States. Inspired by the film The Magnificent Seven, they travel on a quest to find seven magnificent Mexicans to come back to the old country and save their town from corrupt police and drug lords. Performing with no sets—just an empty room, surrounded by audience—the ensemble of eight actors is amazing to watch. They create the impression of an epic journey including a long bus ride through rural Mexico, visits to multiple cities such as Tijuana and Las Vegas, a border crossing through a smuggler’s tunnel, and encounters with multiple eccentric and interesting characters. It’s great! For tickets and further information, 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, Joseph Zaccardi. Read an interview here.
And here’s some video of one of last week’s SF notables, Sarah Griffin.
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