Sara Calvosa Olson: Chimi Nu'am
2023-12-09 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Golden Gate Valley Library Branch, 1801 Green Street, San Francisco, 94123
Celebrate the tapestry of Native Californian food in a conversation with cookbook author Sara Calvosa Olson (Karuk).
Calvosa Olson, a talented food writer and editor, reimagines some of California’s oldest foods, infusing them with her own delicious and inventive twists. With over seventy seasonal recipes, this cookbook takes you on a culinary odyssey, guiding you through the flavors of Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. From elk chili beans and acorn crepes to wild boar pozole and huckleberry hand pies, each dish is a celebration of Indigenous ingredients and the bountiful diversity of California’s natural landscape.
Calvosa Olson has spent many years connecting her family’s foodways with a growing community, and these recipes, techniques, and insights invite everyone to Calvosa Olson’s table. Designed as an accessible entry for people beginning their journey toward a decolonized diet, Chimi Nu’am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen welcomes readers in with Calvosa Olson’s politically perceptive and irresistibly funny writing. With more than 100 photographs, this cookbook is a culinary gift that will add warmth and mouthwatering aromas to any kitchen.
Calvosa Olson (Karuk) is a food writer and editor living in the Bay Area with her husband and two teenage sons. Her work dwells at the intersection of storytelling, Indigenous food systems, security, sovereignty, reconnection and recipe development. Her writing has appeared in News from Native California and Edible Shasta-Butte.
Free
https://sfpl.org/events/2023/12/09/author-sara-calvosa-olson-chimi-nuam
sfplcpp@sfpl.org
415-557-4400

Writing Into The Extraordinary: Generating Text for Devised Theater
2024-01-10 17:30 - 21:30 | Joe Goode Annex, 401 Alabama Street, San Francisco, 94110
A 4-hour workshop facilitated by Brian Thorstenson, part of Detour Dance’s Winter 2024 Intensive Series.
ABOUT THE “WRITING INTO THE EXTRAORDINARY” WORKSHOP
Delve into the written world of devised theater, where collaborative creativity replaces traditional scripts. Develop essential skills to craft and weave narratives that ignite a new dimension of storytelling. Participants will be guided through dynamic exercises and prompts in order to understand the construction of compelling and resonant narratives, providing you with a strong foundation in generating text for ensemble-devised performance.
ABOUT DETOUR’S WINTER 2024 INTENSIVE SERIES
* Participants will be immersed in Detour Dance’s approach to devised theater, experiential work, and drag artistry;
* Each workshop is facilitated by Detour collaborators, offering unique vantage points into the company’s creative process;
* These workshops are geared towards advanced, pre-professional, and professional level dance & theater artists;
* Detour is offering sliding-scale tuition for each workshop;
* All workshop venues are ADA accessible and have gender-neutral restrooms;
* Masks are optional, not required;
* If you have any access needs that you would like to share with us, please email detourdance@gmail.com
ABOUT BRIAN THORSTENSON
Brian Thorstenson is a San Francisco based writer, teacher. His last series of projects included Dearly Gathered with choreographers Rowena Richie, Christy Funsch and Chris Black, Fugue and We Build Houses Here with Detour Dance and Wakefield with 6NewPlays. He is a Senior Lecturer in Playwriting/Devised Theater at Santa Clara University and has an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.
$60-$200.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-into-the-extraordinary-generating-text-for-devised-theater-tickets-726787148927?aff=oddtdtcreator detourdance@gmail.com

Poets for Palestine SF Poetry Marathon
2024-10-14 12:00 - 20:00 | Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 653 Chenery St, San Francisco , CA, 94131, United States
We are inviting Bay Area poets to come and read a 3-minute poem for peace in Palestine at our all-day Marathon at Bird & Beckett Books & Records–and please also make a donation to the Middle East Children’s Alliance. It will be streamed live at https://www.youtube.com/@birdbeckett1601/streams

Dump GEO, Melt ICE: Poetry Reading in Support of Compton's Coalition
2025-08-15 18:00 - 19:30 | Oakland Tamarack, 1501 Harrison St., Oakland, 94612, United States
Featuring readings by Anna Avery, Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta & Trinh Lê.
Masks required
6pm doors. 6:30 reading.
More event info
Compton’s Coalition

Berkeley Poetry Festival 2026
2026-03-16 08:00 - 2026-03-22 17:00 | various venues, CA, United States
We are so honored to offer the community a week of FREE poetry events.

16 March—7pm—Monday: Poems as Portals Virtual Workshop—Zoom—FULL
17 March—7PM—Tuesday: Rooted & Written—Zoom—
Come gather with us for an evening of poems that honor where we come from, question where we’re headed, and remind us that writing—like root, hosted by Rowena Leong Singer, Readers: Angel Bista, Ashia S. Ajani, Kevin Madrigal Galindo, Sabina Khan-Ibarra & Zara Jamshed.
More info & RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1980166922570?aff=oddtdtcreator
18 March—6:30-8pm—Wednesday: Open Mic with Nazelah Jamison with readings by darius simpson and Wendy M. Thompson—Pegasus Books, Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley.
Sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc4lAJUOG2P_YqGAAdvgVj9tzg37GsG-nlAhjJhPqKT77ZY4Q/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=100129209506081294655
19 March—7PM—Thursday: A Celebration of Queer Poetics—La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley.
CQP is migrating space embracing radical tenderness to celebrate a queer poetics with poets Juju Martinez, Maria Esquinca, Maribel Martínez, Melí Gómez, Michelle Ngô, Zander Moreno Lozano & performance by Corazón de Cedro Duet Evelyn Donají & Camellia Boutros, emceed by Lourdes Figueroa.
More info & RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1981274259645?aff=oddtdtcreator
20 March—6:30PM—Friday: SF Write Now: Life into Action/Action into Words—2727 California Street, Berkeley—
SF Write Now is a community reading series, created to hold space for poets across generations and styles—poetry that listens as much as it speaks. Readings by Shizue Seigel, Christl Rikka Perkins, and Andre Le Mont Wilson, hosted by Esperanza Cabrales.
More info & RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1981806247836?aff=oddtdtcreator
21 March—Saturday: Whispers from the Body: In person Workshop—1:30-2:30pm—Berkeley Public Library West Branch, 1125 University Avenue—A somatic writing and movement workshop: we will begin to access sudden pleasures, unexpected strength, hidden stresses and enduring scars that inhabit the body and our memories. Come wearing comfortable clothes and bring a pen and notebook. Led by Sharon Coleman.
Sign up: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1982242691250?aff=oddtdtcreator
21 March—Saturday: Creative PLAYshop Dance & Poetry—6pm—Berkeley Ballet Theater, 1370 Tenth Street, Berkeley.
Weaving sound and poetry that explores themes of healing, Jordon Ellis Dabney and Dazaun Soleyn create an immersive experience that begins with dance, music, words, followed by a dynamic workshop weaving sound and poetry that explores themes of healing. Open to all experience levels.
More info & RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1982741579438?aff=oddtdtcreator
22 March—3pm—Sunday: Lifetime Achievement Award Ceremony: Honoring devorah major and with readers Joyce E. Young and Leticia Hernández Linares—First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley.
The Berkeley Poetry Festival is honored to celebrate devorah major recipient of the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award—a poet whose work has shaped revolutionary poetics, feminist thought, and cultural memory for decades.
devorah major’s writing insists on presence. It refuses erasure. Across poetry, essays, performance, and community work, she has traced the living intersections of race, gender, history, and imagination. Her voice has long been a compass for writers committed not just to craft, but to truth-telling, survival, and collective futures.
More info & RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/1982324268249?aff=oddtdtcreator
