Read the Beast Crawl Literary Festival Equity Statement here.

Due to the continued threat of Covid-19, The Beast Crawl Lit Festival respectfully requests that all participants wear masks at all indoor events and to otherwise comply with individual venues and businesses’ posted policies regarding health and safety protocols including, but not limited to proof of vaccination and social distancing. Thank you for observing safety first and keeping Beast Crawl safe for everyone!

Beast Crawl Literary Festival is proudly partnering with Chapter 510 and the Department of Make Believe. We will hold an Event there for each Leg and the Information Table will be located out front on the sidewalk on the corner of 9th and Clay. We will be setting up at around 3:00PM. Stop by at 3:30 to say hi and pick up a paper map. Leg 1 begins at 4:00!

​A community of Black writers and scholars who write in and about the speculative fiction of the African Diaspora. Our membership includes poets, novelists, essayists and memoirists; published authors, students and award winners; and writers from around California and beyond. Since 2015, we have met regularly to support each other's growth and to share through public readings with the larger community.

A reading by members of the Workshop of original works in the Afrosurreal tradition

Ellen McBarnette is a life-long storyteller whose earliest tales were transcribed by her mother on scrap paper. Ellen’s career has taken her from the halls of the US Congress to boozey poetry slams. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens, a second generation Caribbean, she has traveled widely in the US, with a long career in public policy in Washington DC. She lives in Hayward, Ca with her partner and fellow writer, Ben and their cat Java. Ellen is celebrating the publication of her novella "Negrita" this February in Vol 2 of the Midnight and Indigo Speculative Fiction edition, 2022. Available in bookstores, at Barnes and Noble and, if you must, Amazon

Thaddeus Howze is an award winning writer, essayist, author and professional storyteller. Originally from New York, he hails from Hayward. His published works include "Hayward's Reach" and Broken Glass," both are available on Amazon.

​LaMar Mitchel is a cyberpunk/absurdist/slipstream author. Born and raised in Oakland. Currently exploring ways to become a Kardashian-level poet celebrity.”

A.J. Harper, the Oakland based author, educator and artist. A.j. Harper has crafted more than ten YA novels. He specializes in themes addressing the Black experience in novel circumstances. https://urbanhorror.wordpress.com/about/

Born in Brooklyn in '89, a lifelong lover of books, in the written word Gabriel found a window into the often baffling actions and motivations of others, as well as a way to make himself understood. He began writing stories and journal entries early. A Forum-Based Role Playing Games built on the childhood series, Animorphs was pivotal in his development as an author. Empowered by academics, he writes speculative fiction but also nonfiction in the areas of History, Social Theory, Politics, and Race.

Venue: Graffiti Pizza Leg: Two 5:30PM

We at Beast Crawl Literary Festival dearly miss our friend J. de Salvo. He was the founder and editor of The Bicycle Review & Pedestrian Press which published many great works. J was a prolific writer and exemplary performer. He had a profound understanding of literature and knew how to read it. For that, he saw the highest good in the writers in his midst and did his best to promote them. In his memory, we created the J. de Salvo Open Mic.

This year, we have a special guest writer, performer, and all-around excellent gentleman Charlie Getter hosting the group reading. Charlie is the author of four poetry collections, and his work has appeared in numerous anthologies, journals, zines, and other publications. He’s a founding member of the Collaborative Arts Insurgency (CAI), the group of artists, poets, emcees, and musicians responsible for the genesis of the ongoing 16th & Mission street arts workshop that takes place every Thursday on the street corner at 16th & Mission in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Show up for this open mic on time at the spot on the map and Charlie will manage sign-ups! The location is a basketball court with sculptures on 12th street, behind 1111 Broadway and WeWork. Questions? Check with us at the Information Table.

Leg: 1 4:00PM Venue: "Sculpture Basketball Court"

Beast Crawl Literary Festival created the Reginald Lockett Memorial Open Mic to commemorate the life and contributions of poet Reginald Lockett. Reginald was a founding member of the Black Students Alliance at San Francisco State University. He would later return to teach creative writing there, as well as at City College of San Francisco, Laney College and College of Marin. He was a tenured instructor of Language Arts at San Jose City College for the last 20 years.

A dedicated teacher, Mr. Lockett was best known as a poet. He was also the owner and publisher of Juke Box Press, which published many other poets and raised thousands of dollars for Hurricane Katrina victims with the publication of "Words upon the Water."

Reginald was the author of "Where the Birds Sing Bass," which won a PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award in 1996, "Good Times & No Bread," "The Party Crashers of Paradise" and "Random History Lessons," published by Creative Arts Books in 2003. (Source)

Where the Birds Sing Bass
SF Gate

This year's host is Nazelah Jamison, a world-class poet and performer based in Oakland. She is a talented and energetic performance poet, actress and vocalist based in Oakland CA. Born in Bamberg, SC, Nazelah had a love of performance from a very early age, taking her first dance lessons at the age of 4.

Nazelah discovered Poetry Slam in 1999 and began to compete, subsequently going to the National Poetry Slam Competition 5 times on various Bay Area teams. She produced the Oakland Poetry Slam & has coached Team Oakland to Nationals. Since 2000, she has been hosting many Bay Area spoken word events as well. (Source.)

Poem: "Last Resort"
Book: Evolutionary Heart

Venue: District Oakland Leg: 2 5:30PM

RichOak Events is a spoken word and literary arts organization based in the SF Bay Area dedicated to providing equitable platforms for self expression to underserved and intentionally silenced communities both through virtual media and in person interactive engagements. Our top priority at RichOak Events is to facilitate a space to empower people of all genders, sexualities, ethnicities, abilities and ages to tell their own stories in ways that will produce positive change on a local, national, and global level. Learn more about us at richoakevents.org.

The Oakland Poetry Slam is one of the longest running poetry shows in the Bay Area. Founded in 1993, the Oakland Poetry Slam is now a part RichOak Events. Join us for an evening of poetic excellence, featuring the most prominent voices to have touched Oakland Poetry Slam, including Reggie and Collin Edmonds, Caleilia, Bambi, D'mani Thomas, Prophet, and Tino V.H. Jr.

The Wonder Twins

D'mani Thomas is a queer, Black visual theorist, horror enthusiast, and writer from Oakland, California (Ohlone territory). D’mani has received fellowships from The Watering hole, Foglifter literary journal, and Bakanal de Afrique via Afro Urban Society. His work has been published by The Auburn Avenue, The Ana, Youth Speaks, MARY: A Journal of New Writing, and shortlisted for the 2020 Penrose Poetry Prize. His current work obsesses over what it means to create intimacy under total surveillance. Look out for his new collection of poetry with Nomadic Press in 2023.

Caleilia is a 25 year old trans femme who attempts to pretend to be a poet. She has been writing down words to formulate thoughts since she had the ability to do so and she has pursued her art ever since. Caleilia was an organizer of The Berkeley Poetry Slam from 2015-2020 and was a member of the Oakland Slam team in 2017. Much of her writing has dark themes and intense emotions, so she hasn’t always put her well-being before her desire to create art. When the pandemic struck, she took a step back from her writing in order to focus on healing herself. Now she has returned! She tries her best to convince the scramble of a mind that possesses her to find the will to live and help others who struggle like she does. Each poem is a performance for the audience, but they are the schematics of Caleilia’s road to a healthy, happy, and helpful life.

Bambi is a black, queer writer from Atlanta, Georgia. They identify as a person who “sometimes can put words together well enough to win slams, write books and just generally talk their shit”. They double as the menace dancing by themselves at the club yelling “Get into iiiit” and the author of “Accidentally Ordered an Espresso”.

Prophet

Tino V. H. Jr. is a Mexican-American spoken word poet born and raised in Oakland, CA. He attended UC Santa Cruz, pursuing a degree in Literature. At UCSC he participated as a part of the school’s CUPSI team between the years of 2014-2015, and coached the 2017 team. He was also a part of the Legendary Collective in Santa Cruz in 2018, where they traveled to Southwest Shootout in Albuquerque, NM and won. His work explores im/migration, indigeneity, the hood, queerness, feminism, and decolonial frameworks. He currently organizers with RichOak Events in the East Bay (co-curating 4 shows: Alchemy Open Mic, Poetry Garden, the Oakland Poetry Slam and the Berkeley Poetry Slam) and is one of four members of FDK (Fuck Dem Kids!) with D’mani Thomas, Collin and Reggie Edmonds. In his spare time he constantly updates his “Best Tacos in East Oakland” list, plays too many video games and writes pre-colonial high fantasy. Check out his self published chapbook: The Deep East: And Other Places I’d Never Catch You In.

The Oakland Poetry Slam is part of RichOak Events. Join us at other affiliating shows, including Berkeley Slam, the Alchemy Open Mic, and the Poetry Garden. For more information, find us at richoakevents.org

Venue: Oakland Street Food Leg: Two 5:30PM

West Oakland to West Africa connects members of the African diaspora and Africa through the exchange of renshi poetry. Through sharing narratives of the diaspora, we create a safe place for transparent healing and growth. Our readings and books facilitate the Sankofa journey, a return to retrieve what has been forgotten or lost. This year's exchanges included Oakland, Hawaii, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. https://westoaklandtowestafrica.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/westoakland_westafrica/. Twitter: @WOakland2Africa. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WO2W

WO2WA (West Oakland to West Africa) is happy to represent both the East and West sides at the 2022 Beast Crawl. Reading selections from our upcoming book Black Rootedness: 54 Poets from Africa to America. This year WO2WA partnered with Patrice Lumumba Writing Collective, located at Eastside Arts Alliance, Cultural Intellectual Association in Lagos, Nigeria and Kistrech Poetry Festival in Kisii, Kenya. Poets exchanged writing on themes of identity, connections to the ancestors and experimented with forms such as narrative and renshi poetry.

Venue: The Damel Leg: Two 5:30PM