Featured

• Jarett Kobek
  Author of "I Hate the Internet", an international bestseller set mostly in San Francisco and inspired by the tech-fueled gentrification that has so rapidly changed the city, Jarett Kobek reads from his new novel "Only Americans Burn in Hell." Set in 2019, it's a satirical fantasy featuring an immortal fairy queen and a Saudi prince […]
• Mimi Lok
  Recipient of a Smithsonian Ingenuity Award for her work with Voice of Witness, the human rights and oral history nonprofit she co-founded to amplify marginalized voices through a book series and national education program, Mimi Lok celebrates the publication of her debut novella and story collection, "Last of Her Name." She'll be in conversation with […]
• 2019 Moby Dick Reading Marathon
  Now an annual tradition, the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park hosts a 24-hour reading marathon of Herman Melville's classic novel "Moby Dick", considered by many to be one of the great American novels. The marathon is open, so you can join the cast of 100+ readers by signing up for a chapter or two, […]
• Zadie Smith
  The beloved author of six novels including "White Teeth", "NW" and "Swing Time", and a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, Zadie Smith appears at City Arts & Lectures to read from her first story collection "Grand Union", which includes 10 new stories. She is celebrated for her superb dialogue and emotionally rich writing, which […]
• Nick Flynn
  Best known for his 2004 memoir "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City", which was adapted into the film "Being Flynn" starring Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore, Nick Flynn is a lyrically intense poet. His first collection, "Some Ether", won the debut PEN/Joyce Osterwil Award for Poetry. He reads from his 5th collection, "I Will […]
• Patricia Smith
  Poet and masterful spoken word artist Patricia Smith visits USF for their MFA in Writing Reading Series. Smith's latest of eight books, "Incendiary Art", won the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the NAACP Image Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She is a four-time individual National […]
• Naomi Klein: On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Gre
  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 […]
• Nancy Au: Spider Songs and Other Stories
  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: The Testaments
  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 […]
• Oakland Peace Festival - Finale
  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, […]