Notable San Francisco

Wednesday 5/20: Reports of the cultural death of San Francisco have been greatly exaggerated. We may be down, but we are definitely not out. (In a manner of speaking.) Need proof? Tonight you can encounter a rare appearance by transgressive musical…

Wednesday 5/13: Did you know that Reed Magazine was founded in San Jose in 1867 and is the oldest literary journal published west of the Mississippi River? It was and is and deserves our attention. They are having a launch party…

Wednesday 5/6: Leila Rae curates 1st Wednesdays in the Loft for Pandemonium Press featuring Paul Corman-Roberts, Jannie Dresser, George Korolog, Colleen McKee, and guitarist Hao Tao. Open mic before and after. Free, 6:45 p.m., Spice Monkey. Thursday 5/7: E.M. Wolfman is a…

Wednesday 4/29: Paul Corman-Roberts, curator for the monthly reading series Passages On The Lake, presents a typically outstanding group of writers: Neeli Cherkovski (PEN Oakland award winner), A. Razor (founder of Punk Hostage Press), July Westhale (Pushcart nominee and Fullbright scholar),…

Wednesday 4/22: Viet Thanh Nguyen will read from his debut novel, The Sympathizer, set in the time of the Vietnam War. In his review for the New York Times, Philip Caputo compared Nguyen to Joseph Conrad, no less. Free, 7:30 p.m.,…

Wednesday 4/15: In this time of the movement for “Black Lives Matter,” the release from Ecco Press/Harper Collins of Ryan Gattis‘s new novel, All Involved, about the Rodney King beating and the subsequent Los Angeles Uprising of 1992 is well worth…

Wednesday 4/8: Beloved elder David Meltzer, a Beat Generation poet described by Lawrence Ferlinghetti as “one of the greats,” will read from his City Lights publication, a new edition of Two-Way Mirror: A Poetry Notebook (first released in 1977). Free, 7…

Wednesday 4/1: Tonight, in Oakland, the upcoming Beast Crawl hosts its 2015 kick off fundraising party (open to all ages), with an amazing collection of literary enthusiasts, ridiculous hats, raffles, good food, good drink, good times. Looking for community? Here it…

Wednesday 3/25: The University of San Francisco presents Day 2 of their annual Emerging Writers Festival, featuring Stegner Fellow Shara Lessley and the winner of the 2012 American Short(er) Fiction Award, Ryan MacDonald. Free, 7:45 p.m., University of San Francisco, Marschi…

Wednesday 3/18: A Bay area sighting of poet Kazim Ali is always notable, and even more so when it includes a chance to check out the Center for Literary Arts at San Jose State University. Do you know the way to…

Wednesday 3/11: Alley Cat Books presents the inaugural reading for the Alley Cat Resident Writers program. Each of the writers will read from an original chapbook produced by Alley Cat. Featuring Amy Berkowitz, Howard Isaac Williams, and James Fleming. Free, 6…

Wednesday 3/4: Alameda Island Poets present Sharon Coleman and Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts. Coleman has been a huge influence on the East Bay poetry community through the classes she teaches at Berkeley City College.…