THE THIN POETIC LINE: INTRO TO NARRATIVE POETRY AND FLASH FICTION

Beast Crawl Literary Festival is offering a workshop at our space in San Francisco! It is designed to offer guidance in detailed form to define the distinction between Flash Fiction and Narrative Poetry. Why do writers mix up the two art forms? How often does this happen? Does blurring the line weaken or strengthen the work? These questions and more will be addressed over five subsequent Saturdays at 1446 Market in SF.

Saturdays 10:30 - 1 PM
April 22nd & 29th, May 13th, 20th, & 27th
1446 Market Street, Rhombus Room
Facilitator:  Paul Corman-Roberts
Registration Cost:  $300
Register here:   tiny.cc/yem5vz

This is a five week course that will detail the nuance between flash fiction and narrative poetry, while students generate portfolios or chapbooks of new writings. Classes will be held Saturday mornings from 10:30-1 PM, at Intersection for the Arts (1446 Market Street or 41 Fell Street.) Course facilitator Paul Corman-Roberts will lead writers through a number of challenging prompts and thought experiments that will manifest their rawest personal truths put into short stories or poems that will be emotionally compelling like nothing else.

80% of the proceeds of this workshop will go to fund the 2023 Beast Crawl Literary Festival.

Cost is $300 and writers can register here: tiny.cc/yem5vz

New news! New website edits! New details! Public call for Event Proposals!

If you have been following along, our website is now reflecting the current status of the quickly formulating Beast Crawl 2023. First, we are nothing without you. So now our Event Proposal Form is live! We want you in the Festival! YOU want you in the Festival! Here's how to sign up: Fill out our Beast Crawl 2023 Event Proposal form. As much as you can. Tell us about your organization, what you do, what inspires you, how the reading will go. We have a lot of places for a lot of people and we're excited to offer this opportunity.

*Note* In order to adequately represent the vastness and brilliance of the Oakland Literary Communities, Beast Crawl Literary Festival matches Venues with Curators, not individuals. A Curator is the representative of a Literary Organization, be it a workshop, publisher, magazine, zine, journal, press, school, union, federation, etc. If you are an individual and you want to be involved with the Festival (yes we want you involved for sure) and not currently linked with an Organization, either contact one and propose a Beast Crawl Event or ask to participate with their existing event or... show up for one of our THREE community open mics! We will host one open mic in each Leg of the Beast. <3

At the moment we are planning to welcome Curator Event Proposals. Here is the URL for our entry form. Give us your details, as much as you've got. Determining whether or not your group can participate in the Crawl is based on how much information we have about you and what your group represents in regards to Oakland and the curation/ dissemination of East Bay Literature, meaning: Inclusion, Belonging, Intersectionality, and of course dynamite writing. We're very excited to hear what you've got planned and we have room for lots, but get yourself signed up and on the radar quick. Come back to the form with your Group Name and Contact Email to add detail or make corrections, or email us directly. We want you there. It's going to be a huge festival and a lot of fun.

If you are in communication with Beast Crawl already on this topic, great! If you are an Oakland Curator, want to be, or know someone who should be, show them this page or take note of our email addy: [email protected]

If you represent a venue, business, or collective and organize events in Old Oakland or on the 14th St Corridor and would like to propose an Event, please contact us through the Event Proposal form on our website or send us an email.

San Francisco's INTERSECTION is a historic non profit organization that offers support and education to Bay Area arts and community organizations, We recently were granted entry into their Artist In Residence program which includes advice, building access, and educational workshops. As a part of our involvement in that program, we will host a series of events at the 1446 Market St address.

Our first event is the official launch of The Sincere, a graphic chapbook by Paul Corman-Roberts. Paul and several other writers will donate their book to Beast Crawl and we will sell them for $20 each, to benefit operations costs.

The Sincere Book Launch Benefit

Paul Corman-Roberts breaks the champagne on "The Sincere," a graphic chapbook collaboration with Michigan illustrator Ray Swaney as a benefit where 100% of ALL book proceeds and donations will go to benefit the Beast Crawl Literary Festival in Oakland on July 22nd.
Featured readers are Tureeda Mikell, Youssef Alaoui, Richard Loranger, Missy Church, Andrew J. Thomas, K.R. Morrison and SF Poet Laureate Emerita Kim Shuck. With live open mic to follow!
Admission is free!