Wednesday 3/29: Poet Larry Beckett (Beat Poetry) considers the poetry of the San Francisco Renaissance of the 50s as literature. Free, 7 p.m., The Beat Museum.
USF’s Emerging Writers Festival features Vanessa Hua, Sam Sax, and Mike Salise. Free, 7:30 p.m., USF.
Thursday 3/30: Margaret Randall, an extraordinary person, appears at The Poetry Center at San Francisco State University, to present Only The Road/Solo el Camino, “the most complete bilingual anthology of Cuban poetry available to an English readership.” Free, 7 p.m., The Poetry Center at SFSU.
Loria Mendoza reads from her new award-winning (Michael Rubin Book Award from Fourteen Hills) collection of short stories, Life’s Too Short. Free, 7 p.m., Alley Cat Books.
Friday 3/31: If you were unable to visit SFSU to hear Margaret Randall on Thursday night, you’ll have another opportunity this afternoon at CCA’s Writers Series. Or maybe you’ll want to meet her twice? Free, 4:30 p.m., California College of the Arts.
Saturday 4/1: Rumpus Comics Editor Emeritus Paul Madonna celebrates the release of his new book (On to the Next Dream) with a party, gallery show, and book signing. Free, 5–9 p.m., 3 Fish Studios.
Sunday 4/2: The Center for New Music presents “Signals & Intersections,” a musical and poetic collaboration led by Bonnie Lai-Wee Kwong and Tessa Brinckman, featuring writers Javier Huerta, Evan Karp, and Danny Thanh Nguyen along with musicians Gael Alcock, Jean Robertson, and Miles Karp. There will also be an open mic. $15, 2:30 p.m., Center for New Music.
Spring is here, so it must be time to announce initial plans for Beast Crawl 2017 coming up at summer’s end! Tonight’s the night: Beast Crawl’s 2017 Hat Party Fundraiser. Beer, literature, fun, beer, hamburgers, beer, auctions, and did we say beer? But even if you’re sober, this is a good time for sure. Lots of your friends will be in attendance (although perhaps you haven’t met them yet). Oh! And don’t forget to wear your funny, stylish, ridiculous, or otherwise interesting hat. 5–7 p.m., $5, Telegraph Beer Garden.
Monday 4/3: Quiet Lightning strikes at The Elbo Room, for the first time since 2012, with this impressive lineup: Adam Moskowitz, Katie Wheeler-Dubin, Kazumi Chin, Peter Bullen, Jeff Bostic, Hugh Behm-Steinberg, Goldie Negelev, and Linette Escobar. This is also the release party for vitriol 3. Free (must be 21+), 7 p.m., The Elbo Room.
Not a binge listener? Prefer to take your poets one at a time? You could head over to the edge of Golden Gate Park to hear Whiting Award winner Safiya Sinclair read from her debut collection of poems, Cannibal. Free, 7:30 p.m., Green Apple Books on the Park.
Tuesday 4/4: Dean Radar celebrates the release of his new book of poetry, Self Portrait as Wikipedia Entry (Copper Canyon Press). Free, 7 p.m., City Lights.
The success of Augusten Burroughs’s multiple memoirs is arguably responsible in large part for the explosion of the genre in recent years. Fan or foe or ambivalent, one has to acknowledge that Burroughs is an interesting guy. He’ll be reading this evening from his newest memoir, Lust and Wonder. Free, 7 p.m., Books, Inc. The Opera Plaza.
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This week’s theatre recommendation is San Francisco Playhouse’s revival of Michael Frayn’s frenetic backstage farce, Noises Off. Even after three and a half decades, Frayn’s masterpiece of fun continues to delight, as evidenced by the multiple Tony-nominated Broadway revival of 2015. Farce, of course, is fraught with danger, nevertheless, and may flop if not done right. SF Playhouse does it right. If you attend and don’t get some belly laughs, your funny bone must be anesthetized. 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 and Rebecca Samuelson of Litseen present video of this week’s featured local author, Genie Gratto.
And here’s video of one of last week’s SF Notables, Jami Attenberg.
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Logo art by Max Winter.
