moondrop productionsMoonDrop Productions is the creation of Kelechi Ubozoh & Cassandra Dallett. We encourage writers to share their personal evolutions, revolutions, love and lust. Moondrop Productions - First Edition I Am a Woman; I Am a Backbone: Creators, Curators, & Comrades Join us for a powerful night of poetry, prose, and storytelling centering these passionate women, marvelous matriarchs, and legendary ladies. Featuring: Maw Shein Win, Katrina Croswell, Vielka Solano, Shizue Seigel, Lauren L. Wheeler, and Joyce Lee. Maw Shein Win's most recent poetry collection is Storage Unit for the Spirit House (Omnidawn). Win’s full-length collection Percussing the Thinking Jar (Omnidawn) is forthcoming in October 2024. mawsheinwin.com. Kat Croswell: Katrina “Kat” Antoinette Croswell, is a multifaceted artist and writer. Kat’s debut novella,Pieces of Eight: A Harper Family Mixtape is set to drop July 23, 2024. Vielka Solano: Poet, Doctor, Activist: Vielka Solano came to California, from the Dominican Republic, in 1989. She is the founder of Noche de Poesia and host of Grito de Mujer in Modesto. Shizue Seigel: Shizue Seigel is a Japanese American writer, visual artist, and organizer who founded Write Now! SF Bay to support writers/artists of color through workshops, events and publications. Lauren L. Wheeler is the author of the poetry collection In Between Places (Black Lawrence Press). Her work has appeared online and in print in such publications as PANK, The Nervous Breakdown, The Rumpus, and Black Nerd Problems. Joyce Lee is an international poet, storyteller, and creative non-fiction writer and writing coach from Oakland California. Lee is in the process of completing two books for Trio House Press. 5:30pm Leg 2 - First Edition
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the racket sf reading seriesThe Racket SF - Commune Oakland The Racket SF Presents: Lonesome Crowded West. Beth Winegarner is a journalist and author who has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many more. Her most recent book, “San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: A Buried History” maps the city’s current and former graveyards and uncovers how many are still secretly buried there. Rebecca Rubenstein is a writer and editor based in San Francisco, and a member of The Ruby, a Bay Area arts-and-letters space for femme and nonbinary creatives. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, X-R-A-Y, No Contact, and HAD, among others, and she is a Fiction Editor for The Offing. T.S. Leonard is a poet and the author of Emergency Meditations. Leonard’s work explores queerness, loss, and community at the intersection of disco music and time travel. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, he lives and teaches in San Francisco. Kar Johnson is a writer, performer, and bookseller living in Oakland, CA. Their work has appeared in or is forthcoming from L’Éphémère Review, Foglifter,The Northridge Review, and the Red Light Lit anthology Love is the Drug and Other Dark Poems. They serve as the events coordinator for Green Apple Books. Ariel Neidermeier is a writer and astrologer based in San Francisco, CA. Her work has appeared in Hella Pinay Magazine, Seismic Sisters, and the Write from the Gut reading series. A graduate of Emerson College's journalism program, Ariel is currently working on her first book of poetry. 5:30pm Leg 2 - Commune Oakland
the erotic - a literary eventThe Erotic - Feelmore Social Club Poetry Flash editor/director Joyce Jenkins’ collections are Portal and Joy Road. Poems in The Place That Inhabits Us, ZYZZYVA; honors include American Book Award, Berkeley Poetry Festival lifetime award, more. Rusty Morrison’s newest is Risk. She has five previous books, After Urgency, Tupelo’s Dorset Prize; the true keeps calm biding its story, James Laughlin Award, more. She’s editor of Omnidawn. Richard Silberg is Poetry Flash Associate Editor; his reviews appear in Poetryflash.org. Author of The Horses: New and Selected Poems and Deconstruction of the Blues, PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Literary Award-winner. Steven Rood’s books are Music from Behind a Stone Wall, Naming the Wind. Poems in Quarterly West, Southern Poetry Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, New Letters, Marlboro Review, Atlanta Review, elsewhere. 5:30pm Leg 2 - Feelmore Social Club
oakland slamOAKLAND SLAM BIOS: Shawn William is an Oakland / Bay Area icon. He's a Grammy-nominated spoken word artist, published author, storyteller & father hailing from Oakland, California. Over the past 20 years, his artistry has put him on tour with Jill Scott, performed at the Apollo Theatre, Radio City Music Hall, The Essence Festival, and featured on The Arsenio Hall Show and Verses and Flow, while also being one of 5 artists selected to have a residency at The Kennedy Center. Afro-Creek queer activist Ramona “Mona” Webb is a scholar-practitioner, teaching performance artist, and the Assistant Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Queer Cultural Center. She's also the nicest lady in poetry. Nice with the pen, on the mic, and as a human. Mona is a conservatory-trained artist who writes and performs in “docu-ritual-drama theater” and attended the dual Theater Performance Making MFA program at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and Chichester University in Chichester, England. Dre Johnson is a father / MC/actor/poet/producer born and raised in East Oakland. He's a graduate of Skyline High where he started competing with his poetry at 14. He's been on slam teams repping Berkeley, Oakland, SF, and Fairfield at regional and national competitions finishing as high as 4th in the nation. As his ais alter ego "Duke The Bossman" his band The High Decibels placed #3 on CMJ top 200 Hip-Hop Charts and had music placed in dozens of blockbuster films and television shows. Brianni “Bri” Blue is a UC Berkeley graduate and acclaimed author, poet, and speaker from Berkeley. She captivates audiences nationwide with her profound performances and literary works like “No Crystal Stair” and “Destination: Still Unknown... Pack Light.” With over 25,000 digital followers, she led the “Speak Easy” open mic series for 5 years and founded the ‘Unapologetically You’ Awareness Campaign while also earning recognitions along the way such as Best Female Spoken Word Artist and People’s Choice at the Bay Area Black Music Awards. As a Teaching Artist for Bay Area Creative, Bri continues to add to her list of accomplishments in the poetry community. Also sharing the stage: Jelal Huyler D'dra White Papi Grande Dahled Jeffries Oakland Slam - Kinfolx 5:30 Leg 2 - Kinfolx
milvia street journalMilvia Street Journal - The Night Heron Milvia Street produces a print and online journal showcasing the diverse voices and visions of Berkeley City College students. The journal is all student-made to help usher them into professional publishing. They are the next generation of literary movers and shakers in the East Bay and beyond! Come hear the work of six up-and-coming and super talented writers and poets!! This year's readers are Somiah Nettles, Hanna Mae Sturges, Lorena Giacoman, Loa Niumeitolu. Check out the recent issue of Milvia Street: www.milviastreet.com. Somiah Nettles is a poet and classical pianist from Alameda, who’s writing her first chapbook, One Girl, Holy Trinity. Somiah produces Victorian Voices, her Substack newsletter on poetry and classical music. She loves listening to Rachmaninoff, reading Sylvia Plath, and spending time with her lover. Hannah Mae Sturges is an actor who has performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Off-Broadway. Poetry has always provided a current of rhythmic processing. She enjoys hikes, tree-hugging, singing, and being a weird hippie tomboy Auntie. Recently published in viewlesswings.com // Spotify; Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast. Lorena Giacoman has lived in the Bay Area since migrated from El Salvador. She holds a professional degree in Architecture, Associate in Arts and a LEED AP Building Design + Construction Certification. She’s taking creative writing classes at BCC and working on her memoir. Loa Niumeitolu is a Tongan poet, community organizer, educator and farmer. She is working on her first film: E Le Malemo Se I'a, A Fish Does Not Drown: Pasifika Communities during Prop 8. Sharon Coleman's poetry classes at BCC propelled Loa to write after not writing poetry for five years. 5:30 Leg 2 - Night Heron
manic d pressManic D Press - The Legionnaire Saloon Alvin Orloff sells books by day (at Fabulosa, San Francisco’s queerest bookstore) and writes them by night. His novels include I Married an Earthling, Gutter Boys, Why Aren’t You Smiling? and Vulgarian Rhapsody, and his memoir Disasterama! was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Alvin's an East Bay native. Thea Hillman is an award-winning writer and activist. Called a “radical” in a special report by the Traditional Values Coalition, her groundbreaking memoir, Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), won a Lambda Award. She also won the Tag-Team Haiku Championship at the Albuquerque Poetry Festival. Thea lives in the East Bay and was once on the cover of the Oakland phone book. Jon Longhi is the author of four books of fiction, including The Rise and Fall of Third Leg, Flashbacks and Premonitions, and Wake Up and Smell the Beer. His writing can be found in indie lit journals including The Fabulist and Maintenant as well as NBCbayarea.com. Jennifer Joseph Is editor and publisher of Manic D Press books. Her writing has appeared in many publications, including the Los Angeles Times and the zine Lobster Tendencies, among other disparate entities. 5:30 Leg 2 - Legionnaire Saloon
reginald lockett memorial open micLeg 2 Open Mic (The Lockett Open) - Bookmark Books 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 5:30pm Leg 2 - Bookmark Bookstore
happy endingsHappy Endings - Bocanova Elwin Cotman is a storyteller from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author of five books: the poetry collection The Wizard’s Homecoming, and the short story collections The Jack Daniels Sessions EP, Hard Times Blues, Dance on Saturday, and Weird Black Girls. His debut novel The Age of Ignorance will be published by Scribner in 2025. He was a participant in the 2012 Low Lives Performance Festival. In 2009, Cotman was a core member of the Cyberpunk Apocalypse Writers Cooperative, a DIY writers space in Pittsburgh. Three years ago, June Martin declared herself the world's greatest writer and, since then, no one has attempted to challenge her for the title. She lives in Oakland and her short fiction has appeared in X-R-AY, Bull, New Session, and other publications. Her debut novel, LOVE/AGGRESSION, came out this year with tRaum Books. LeeAnn Pickrell is a poet, editor, and managing editor of Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche. Her work has been published in many journals, most recently in One Art, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Loud Coffee Press, and Atlanta Review. Punctuated, a chapbook of poems inspired by punctuation, has just been released by Bottlecap Press. Her book Gathering the Pieces of Days is forthcoming from Unsolicited Press in 2025. Roberto F. Santiago was awarded the Alfred C. Carey Prize and has received fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, CantoMundo, Community of Writers, Sarah Lawrence College, and the Lambda Literary Foundation. His debut collection, Angel Park (2015), appeared on the LA Times list of 23 Essential New Books by Latino Poets and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. Roberto lives in San Francisco, where he works as a social worker and Editor-in-Chief of Sancocho Press, a queer and trans AfroLatinx imprint with Kórima Press. 5:30pm Leg 2 - Bocanova
COLOSSUS PRESSColossus Press - Summer Lounge Colossus began as a writing salon, as a creative way to express our fury at the current administration’s callous immigration policy. Since then, it has evolved into a performance project, chapbook, and fundraiser for Bay Area nonprofits. Our intention is to create a space where we can gather in the spirit of resistance to call out cruelty and support concrete change through fundraising. Colossus Press Oakland born poet James Cagney is the author of two books of poetry, including MARTIAN: The Saint of Loneliness, winner of 2021 James Laughlin Award from Academy of American Poets. His work has appeared in Alta and Zyzzyva. Please Visit JamesCagneyPoet.com Susana Praver-Pérez is a Pushcart-nominated poet, editor, and visual artist. A former Associate Medical Director at La Clínica de la Raza in Oakland, she currently edits with Poets Reading the News. Her first full-length book of poetry Hurricanes, Love Affairs, and Other Disasters is a PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature (2022). Her second full-length collection Return Against the Flow, (Black Lawrence Press, 2024), was chosen by both Ms. Magazine and NYU’s Latinx Project as one of their top 30+ poetry picks for the year. website: susanapraverperez.com Taneesh Kaur is a US-born Punjabi teaching artist based in San Francisco. Her debut full-length collection, Thawing: A Poetic Memoir, was released in 2024 from Collapse Press. More of her work in English and Spanish can be found at www.TaneeshCantos.com Elaine Cynthia Brown aka Poet E Spoken Author of Cried Out Laughing and soon to be released Phonemic Awareness is. The 2nd Great Granddaughter of Joshua Halsey, History Teacher and Free Style Artist. “I did not come to Kumbayah with you. 5:30 Leg 2 - Summer Lounge
collapse pressCollapse Press - The Good Hop Collapse Press is a small literary publisher based out of both Oakland CA and Easton PA specializing in poetry and prose by authors, established and new, whose work addresses the current social atmosphere of a society in turmoil and on the verge of transformation. Elynn Alexander is a poet, artist, and zine/book maker. She cohosts The Friday Collapse and the Lehigh Valley Poetry Virtual Salon and Open Mic. Her first book, The Shouldspeak Disease was published by Naked Bulb Press, exploring themes of shame language. Her second chap collection Find Me In the Iris is Collapse Press’ best selling book. Han Raschka is the award winning author of the books Splinters (Collapse Press, 2022) and the chapbook Enamel (Bottlecap Press, 2023) and this will be their first live reading in California! Bear Wolf is a Shawnee Gypsy Jew social justice humanist who lost count of his tattoos somewhere around 20. Heather Flescher is a writer, poet, actor, spoken word performer and transgender activist. She grew up in Massachusetts and has lived on the central coast of California for the past 25 years. Her forthcoming book is due out this year from Bottlecap Press. LaMar Mitchell recently published his first poetry chapbook by Queer Healing Arts Center, titled “Psychedelic Existentialism” which was just released in May 2024. Is a student of cinema and an avid geek 5:30pm Leg 2 - The Good Hop - 2421 Telegraph Ave, Ste 102, Oakland, CA 94612
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