Curated by Heather Bourbeau, three musician-poet pairs each perform a set—one new poem inspired by an original song, one new song inspired by an original poem, and one piece of pure collaboration—on Sunday, October 28, 2018 at the Red Poppy Art House:
Nick Johnson was born and raised near the brackish Chesapeake Bay but now calls the Bay Area waters home. He received his MFA from the California College of the Arts. Johnson’s work has been featured on KPFA’s Rude Awakening and has appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Black Renaissance Noire, Eleven Eleven, Metazen, and other fine journals. His book, music for mussolini, was released by Nomadic Press in 2016 and was a finalist for the 2017 CLMP Firecracker Award.
Arula has been singing and composing songs since childhood. She views sound and movement as sacred expressions of a universal language—a language that connects, empowers, and unites people from all backgrounds. Music and dance have been central themes in her life; of all her gurus, they are the most revered teachers. With haunting vocals amid sensual beats, Arula creates a cohesive yet dynamic spectrum of sound. Her music is a rich interplay of her many influences; her sultry vocals and downtempo melodies take and hold shape as they blend with global music rhythms and become ancestral and grounded while dancing over trap and hip-hop beats.
Maw Shein Win‘s writing has appeared in many journals and several anthologies, including MARY: A Journal of New Writing, Cimarron Review, and Poetry International. Win’s most recent poetry chapbook is Score and Bone (Nomadic Press), and her new full-length collection Invisible Gifts: Poems (Manic D Press) was a City Lights Books bestselling paperback. She is the first poet laureate of El Cerrito.
Evan Karp is the creator and executive director of Quiet Lightning, founding editor of Litseen, and half of Turk & Divis—a musical collaboration with his brother Miles. He developed the interdisciplinary performance series Under the Influence and Call and Response, as well as the interview profile series The Write Stuff.
The #1 international and New York Times bestselling author of "The Shock Doctrine" and "This Changes Everything", Naomi Klein presents her new essay collection, "On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal" as part of the Berkeley Arts & Letters series, which offers discounted ticket/book bundles in advance. In conversation with Mother Jones […]
The Oakland-based writer and co-founder of The Escapery celebrates the publication of their debut short story collection, "Spider Love Song and Other Stories", with a group reading. They're joined by Carson Beker, Natasha Dennerstein, Kimberly Gomes, and Tomas Moniz. The book contains seventeen stories that focus on the challenges facing characters whose inner and outer […]
Margaret Atwood presents the sequel to her classic dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985), set in a totalitarian state that subjects fertile women into child-bearing slavery. The book is the basis of the popular television show of the same name, which debuted in 2017 and continues on Hulu. "The Testaments" is set fifteen years after […]
The finale of a three-event series organized by Nomadic Press, the inaugural Oakland Peace Festival celebrates Oakland and peace through music, art, writing, food, and community building. September's theme is Peace, with readings by Terry Taplin, Jevohn Tyler Newsom, Madi Dangerously, Joyce E. Young, and Asantewaa Boykin, a talk by Sandhya Jha and Yvette Felarca, […]
Quiet Lightning and California State Parks present the 5th annual Poetry in Parks, this year collaborating with Kearny Street Workshop for a free, all-ages festival on Angel Island. The program includes youth readings, a literary mixtape, music, dance, live painting by ArtSpan, and readings by some of KSW's Neighborhood Heroes, including Genny Lim, Kenji C. […]
The quarterly reading series features for its Fall reading Daniel Handler and Jenny Odell. Handler is the author of seven novels, including the just-out "Bottle Grove", and writes books for children under the nom de plume Lemony Snicket. Odell, who has exhibited her art all over the world, is author of the recently published "How […]
The international bestselling author of "The Invisible Mountain" launches her new novel "Cantoras." Set in 1977 Uruguay, where the dictatorship has crushed political dissent, citizens are routinely kidnapped, raped, and tortured, and homosexuality is a dangerous transgression, the novel follows five queer women who fight to live authentic lives. In conversation with R. O. Kwon […]
The finale of a three-event series organized by Nomadic Press, the inaugural Oakland Peace Festival celebrates Oakland and peace through music, art, writing, food, and community building. September's theme is Peace, with readings by Terry Taplin, Jevohn Tyler Newsom, Madi Dangerously, Joyce E. Young, and Asantewaa Boykin, a talk by Sandhya Jha and Yvette Felarca, […]
Author of three previous collections of poetry, and founder of the indie press Black Ocean, Janaka Stucky celebrates his new book "Ascend Ascend" (Third Man Books). Written over the course of just twenty days, as Stucky was coming in and out of trance states induced by intermittent fasting and somatic rituals, the book-length poem is […]
San Francisco Zine Fest returns for its 18th annual festival celebrating independent and underground publishing, with a spotlight on the do-it-yourself ethos. Nearly 250 artists and collectives from around the world present their zines, comics, and other goods. This year's guest of honor is Lawrence Lindell ("From Black Boy With Love" and "Couldn't Afford Therapy, […]
