• CB Follett and Joseph Zaccardi

    The Fireside Room 240 Channing Way, San Rafael

    Poetry Connection reading series presents CB Follett and Joseph Zaccardi, hosted by Terry Lucas, Marin County Poet Laureate, open mic to follow, light refreshments, The...

    Free
  • 3rd Year Celebration Featuring Tony Aldarondo

    Cafe Leila 1724 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, CA, United States

    It's going down! Jan 10th @ Cafe Leila 7-9:30 pm My Word turns 3 Kicking off the season is no other than Tony Aldarondo &...

    Free
  • SF Sketchfest 2020: Porchlight Storytelling

    Swedish American Hall 2174 Market Street, San Francisco, CA, United States

    For the past seventeen years, Porchlight has been San Francisco's premier storytelling series. Each month, co-founders Beth Lisick and Arline Klatte invite six people to tell ten-minute true...

    $28
  • Rescheduled: Sally Rooney in conversation with Heidi Julavits

    Sydney Goldstein Theater 275 Hayes St, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Sally Rooney “writes about tricky commonplace things (text messages, sex) with a familiarity no one else has” (The Paris Review). Her novels Conversations with Friends and Normal People, are nuanced portraits...

    $29
  • Soul Food for Thought Open Mic Night

    Manny's 3092 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103, San Francisco, United States

    2020 is here! Join us at Manny's for the decade's first poetry night! Come to Manny's for our monthly open mic nights. Poets, readers, performers...

    Free
  • Kiersten White with Katy Rose Pool

    Kepler's Books 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park , CA, United States

    Into every generation a slayer is born… and being the Chosen one isn’t always easy Do you miss having Buffy the Vampire Slayer in your...

    Free
  • Book Release: 10 Books, 1 Night, 10 New Nomadic Press Authors

    Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make Believe 2301 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA, United States

    Help us bring in 2020 right. 10 books, 10 new Nomadic Press authors, 1 night. Join us as we celebrate (and release) new books by:...

    Free
  • Bay Area Queer Zine Fest Zine Reading

    410 13th St, Oakland, CA 94612

    This is a night of zine readings from Bay Area Queer Zine Fest peeps on the eve of the fest. Come hear us vocalize pieces...

    Free
  • Odd Mondays “What Are You Working on?”

    Folio Books 3957 24th St, San Francisco , CA, United States

    One question an author is always asked at events or in chance encounters is what are you working on, and one thing an author always...

    Free
  • Evie Shockley

    Edgehill Mansion in Dominican University 50 Acacia Ave., San Rafael, CA, United States

    Evie Shockley is the author of semiautomatic and the new black, both winners of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry; semiautomatic was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the LA...

    Free
  • Ottessa Moshfegh with Isabel Duffy

    Sydney Goldstein Theater 275 Hayes St, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Ottessa Moshfegh’s characters are wracked with depression, neurosis, and utter ennui, but the care with which she tends to them imbues her books with a...

    $29
  • Zyzzyva celebrates their Bay Area Issue

    City Lights Bookstore 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco , CA, United States

    Moderated by Oscar Villalon with Meg Hurtado Bloom, Rita Bullwinkel, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Chia-Chia Lin, Kevin Simmonds, and Paul Wilner ZYZZYVA's latest volume—the Bay Area Issue—features new writing and poetry...

    Free
  • Steve Inskeep with Angie Coiro

    Kepler's Books 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park , CA, United States

    Michelle and Barack Obama. Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn. John and Jackie Kennedy. Every era has its power couples— teams of two wielding boundless social,...

    $15 – $45
  • Happy Endings: January

    Make-Out Room 3225 22nd St, San Francisco, CA, United States

    HAPPY ENDINGS is a monthly reading series that showcases new writing and wants to shine a little sun on your soul. What's gonna happen? Five...

    $10
  • T.J. Mitchell & Judy Melinek: First Cut

    Green Apple Books on the Park 1231 9th Ave, San Francisco , CA, United States

    Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell discuss their new novel, First Cut. Praise for First Cut “Scalpel sharp. First Cut allows a peek into the autopsy room through the...

    Free
  • Mapping the Bay: with Kim Shuck and friends

    City Lights Bookstore 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco , CA, United States

    poetry and discussion exploring the pathways language takes through land, water, and air. Poetry is all around us. Hidden in the trauma and joys of...

    Free
  • Miranda Popkey: Topics of Conversation

    Green Apple Books on the Park 1231 9th Ave, San Francisco , CA, United States

    Miranda Popkey discusses her debut novel Topics of Conversation with Rachel Khong. Praise for Topics of Conversation "An intimate evisceration of our narrow imaginings of female sexuality,...

    Free
  • Lyrics & Dirges

    Pegasus Books Downtown 2349 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley , CA, United States

    Lyrics & Dirges is a monthly reading series featuring a mix of prominent, emerging and beginning writers. Its aim is to highlight various forms of writing...

    Free
  • Bina Venkataraman: Long-Term Thinking in a Distracted World

    SFJAZZ Center 201 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA, United States

    What does practical long-term thinking look like? Bina Venkataraman’s new book, The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age, brings this abstract question to life....

    $25
  • Claire Rudy Foster / Shine of the Ever

    The Booksmith 1644 Haight St, San Francisco , CA, United States

    Booksmith hosts Claire Rudy Foster (I've Never Done This Before) for their new book, Shine of the Ever. Please join us! Shine of the Ever is a literary mix tape...

    Free
  • Miranda Popkey, Topics of Conversation

    Bookshop Santa Cruz 1520 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz , CA, United States

    Bookshop welcomes Santa Cruz native Miranda Popkey for a reading and signing of her searing new novel, Topics of Conversation. For readers of Rachel Cusk, Lydia...

    Free
  • Christopher Bernard

    Green Apple Books 506 Clement St, San Francisco , CA, United States

    Christopher Bernard joins us to discuss his novel, Meditations on Love & Catastrophe at The Liars' Cafe. About Meditations on Love & Catastrophe at The Liars'...

    Free
  • Confessions of a Psychedelic Journalist

    CIIS Public Programs 1453 Mission St., San Francisco, CA, United States

    For more than four decades, Don Lattin has written about the social, spiritual, and political aspects of the psychedelic drug movement as a newspaper reporter,...

    $15
  • The War That Used Up Words? Literature in Paris 1910-1940

    Alliance Française de San Francisco 1345 Bush St., San Francisco, California, United States

    For decades, works like Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris have captivated our imaginations with their images of lively cafés that...

    $15
  • Red Light Lit & The Los Angeles Press

    Make-Out Room 3225 22nd St, San Francisco, CA, United States

    Red Light Lit and The Los Angeles Press doubleheader with a live musical score by AJ Bahnken🎈The performers explore love relationships, sexuality, and gender. Featured...

    $10
  • The Nocturnists: Transitions

    Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA San Francisco, CA 700 Howard St, San Francisco

    Join us for an evening of medical storytelling on the theme of "Transitions," featuring stories by David Elkin, Tobin Greensweig, Catherine Humikowski, Shaili Jain, Christina...

    $25 – $35
  • This is Now: Kelly McGonigal

    Kepler's Books 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park , CA, United States

    What if the key to feeling vividly alive and energetic in your body is closer than you think? No matter what your past experience with...

    $15 – $45
  • Wile & Wing Poetry Book Launch

    Tenderloin Museum 398 Eddy St, San Francisco , CA, United States

    A poetry reading hosted by author and songwriter Kimi Sugioka. Author and songwriter Kimi Sugioka is a mesmerizing—and folkloric—figure in the Bay Area literary community....

    Free
  • Gary Snyder and Jane Hirshfield

    Mill Valley Public Library 375 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley , CA, United States

    Cosponsored by Poetry Society of America  Gary Snyder began his career in the 1950s as a noted member of the “Beat Generation,” though he has since...

    Free