Superbloom: A CWC-Berkeley Reading
THE California Writers Club was started by a group of civic-minded writing professionals in the early 1900s. They met informally until 1909—often in "The Hights." which is now Joaquin Miller Park— when the Club was incorporated, with Austin Lewis as its first president. The Berkeley Branch is the founding branch of the statewide Club, which now has 19 branches and around 2000 members throughout California. We are the third oldest writers’ club in the country. LEG 1: 4-5pm VENUE: Make Westing 1741 Telegraph ABOUT MAKE WESTING: www.makewesting.com What's with the name? The name "Make Westing" comes from a short story by Oakland native Jack London. While a bit grim and violent, the tale centers on the overwhelming need to make the westing wind back home to Oakland - to a place of warmth and family (and bocce courts?). Who are we? Make Westing is located in the thriving Uptown district of Oakland. Wood, iron, and slate make up the décor that resonates with the industrial heritage of our city. We are equipped with a full bar, a variety of gourmet bites, an outdoor patio, and two indoor bocce courts. The Fox theater is less than one block away, and the 19th st. BART stop is across the street. Why Bocce? While we are not bocce aficionados per se, we did play at some of our favorite bars in Brooklyn and the lanes fit the space perfectly, while serving as an entertaining companion to a cocktail. The courts are first come, first serve and are free. When there are others waiting, each group may play one game to seven and then give up the court to the next group in line. If you would like to rent the bocce courts, we do so at $50 per hour, per court. What else? Make Westing is more a bar than restaurant and as such (according to the alcohol beverage control rules) no one under 21 is allowed, infants included. For credit cards, we request a $10 minimum. As relates to credit cards - some banks will place a temporary double charge on certain cards only as a hold and will release the charge within 7-10 business days. We have no idea why they do this, but it happens often enough that we thought we should mention it. We have an ATM on site.
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BLACK FREIGHTER PRESS @ Beast Crawl Black Freighter Press publishes revolutionary books. We are committed to the exploration of liberation, using art to transform consciousness. A platform for Black and Brown writers to honor ancestry and propel radical imagination. Black Freighter Press is excited to be curating a Beast Crawl reading featuring a few of our favorite creative minds. Meilani Clay, Zouhair Mussa, Ladi Rev, and Darius Simpson. Hosted by Alie Jones & Tongo Eisen-Martin
Alie Jones is a self-care advocate, writer, artist, and Creole mermaid. She is Co-founder and Director of Black Freighter Press, a revolutionary press committed to the exploration of liberation, using art to transform consciousness. Alie graduated with her MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from Mills College. She is the host of the podcast called Chit Chat with Aliecat , a platform to explore self-care practices and journeys of self-love in community. Leg 3: 7-8p Venue: First Edition 1915 (patio)
CHAPTER 510 AND FRIENDS - MAGICAL PROFESSORS Step into the offices of the department of Make Believe and come see a reading featuring the enchanted teachers and staff (past and present) of Chapter 510. This reading will feature poets and prose writers and promises to be a unique experience reflected by the amazing and various magical educators who have taught our youth. We will journey across the different departments at the organization. Everything from our department of far off ideas, to our offices of powerful beginnings all the way to the department of fantastic futures. Duane Horton is a black queer fantasy writer who is from the Midwest but resides in the Bay Area. He believes in writing his intersection of identity into his fantasy pieces, to widen the cannon of literature and so that folks who share his intersection of identity can see themselves represented on the page more. He graduated with his MFA in creative writing from Mills college in 2019 and since then, has been published in numerous literary magazines including Green Mountains Review, Sapphire Hues Press and more. He uses his background in feminist studies to create stories that offer possible blue prints for the future, as he believes this is one of the many uses of the fantasy genre. Duane is a current teaching artist with Chapter 510 and his fantasy writing workshop just produced an anthology named 'Empowered Origins'. Jahan Khalighi, a spoken word poet, youth educator and community arts organizer, leads creative writing workshops for personal and collective transformation in a wide range of settings, from juvenile detention centers to classrooms, from community centers to boardrooms. He is currently Director of Programs at Chapter 510, a youth creative writing and publishing program in Oakland, CA. Jahan has performed widely, including at: TEDxSonoma, YBCA, Mission Cultural Center, Bioneers and Esalen; and some of his work has been published in Tarot In Pandemic & Revolution, Stay Amazed, and Whoa Nelly Press. Daniel B. Summerhill is a poet, essayist and scholar from Oakland, CA. His work has appeared in Columbia Journal, Obsidian, The Progressive, Academy of American Poets and elsewhere. he is the author of two collections of poems, Divine, Divine, Divine (Nomadic Press 2021) which was a semi-finalist for the Wheeler and Saturnalia Poetry Prizes respectively and Mausoleum of Flowers (Cavankerry Press 2022). Summerhill has earned fellowships from Baldwin for the Arts and The Watering Hole. He is Assistant Professor of Poetry at Santa Clara University and is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Monterey County. Tavia Stewart is a writer, mom, activist, teacher, and magical thinker living in Oakland. She has nearly 20 years of experience running literary and community nonprofits. Prior to joining Chapter 510 as a co-founder, she co-ran National Novel Writing Month where she spent nine years building the organization’s Young Writers Program. Previously Tavia interned; volunteered; and worked for 826 Valencia, McSweeney's Publishing, ZYZZYVA, and Watchword Press. She is a co-author of Ready, Set, Novel (Chronicle Books). She is a proud 2020 YBCA Fellow, and the lucky mom of one highly energetic (and dramatic) nine-year-old humanoid. Yodassa Williams is a Jamaican American author and performing storyteller who crafts from an Afro-Feminist Fantasy lense. Yodassa served as a mentor for Chapter 501's After Origins youth writing series in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. An alumna of the VONA/Voices Travel Writing program, and creator of the storytelling podcast ‘The Black Girl Magic Files', she has taught storytelling craft through Girls, Inc, and blogged for the 2020 Debutante Ball. Yodassa has performed her personal parables at events including: The Black Woman is God, The Moth (SF), StorySlam, the Berkeley Book Festival and The Monkey House. In October of 2019, Yodassa launched ‘Writers Emerging’ a four day wilderness writing retreat for women of color, held at Fly Ranch, NV. She is currently fundraising with aims to repeat the event and continue serving black femme creatives. Her debut novel, The Goddess Twins, was published by SparkPress in May 2020. This Young Adult fantasy details the adventure of seventeen year old Caribbean American twins discovering they are goddesses when their mother goes missing. It is the intended first book of a series. Leg: 2 (5:30 pm - 6:30 pm) Venue: Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make / Believe MISSION Chapter 510 is a made-in-Oakland youth writing, bookmaking & publishing center. Our teaching artists and volunteers work side by side with educators to provide a safe space and supportive community so Black, brown, and queer youth ages 8-19 can bravely write. VISION We want every young person in Oakland to write with confidence and joy. WHAT WE STAND FOR We believe that writing is an act of liberation. Young people transform themselves and their communities when they write and get published, succeeding in work, school, and life. INSPIRED BY Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make / Believe is and 826 National-inspired organization. Black Lawrence Press, located in New York, specializes in contemporary poetry and prose. Black Lawrence Press is welcoming nearly 100 Nomadic Press titles to their repertoire, and they look forward to participating in Beast Crawl for an official meeting and promoting of the many authors who are joining Black Lawrence. This will be the first BLP + Nomadic reading! Don't miss it! Luiza Flynn-Goodlett is the author of Borrowed Time (forthcoming from Northwestern University Press) and Look Alive (winner of the 2019 Cowles Poetry Book Prize from Southeast Missouri State University Press), along with seven chapbooks, most recently The Undead, winner of Sixth Finch Books' 2020 Chapbook Contest, and Shadow Box, winner of the 2019 Madhouse Press Editor's Prize. Her poetry can be found in Fugue, Five Points, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. She serves as Managing Editor of the Whiting Award–winning LGBTQ+ literary journal and press Foglifter. Her critical work has appeared in Cleaver, Pleiades, The Adroit Journal, and other venues. Kelliane Parker' s debut chapbook is, "Down the Foggy Streets of my Mind." A queer, Latinx, performance artist and poet living with Dissociative Identity Disorder, (DID), her work explores a lived experience of navigating the world through multiple lenses. She is a frequent feature at poetry readings and has been published in numerous anthologies such as, "Light on the Walls of Life", a tribute anthology to Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Colossus series. When not reading poetry, she can be found speaking about de-pathologizing mental health. MK Chavez is an Afro-Latinx writer, educator, multi-disciplinary artist, and curator. Chavez is co-director of the Berkeley Poetry Festival and co-founder and curator of Lyrics & Dirges and teaches and supports writers at Ouroboros Writing Lab. Chavez's writing explores identity, social injustice, environmental degradation, horror cinema, magic, and ritual and has been recognized with a Pen Oakland Josephine Miles award, the San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Award. Chavez is a 2018 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award recipient and a 2023 YBCA 100 fellow. Chavez’s literary offerings include Dear Animal, Mothermorphosis, the lyric essay chapbook A Brief History of the Selfie, and Virgin Eyes. Chavez’s work can be found among the trees in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park through the Voices of the Trees Project. Cyrus Armajani teaches reading and creative writing to youth who are incarcerated. He is a Jefferson Award recipient for his literacy work in the juvenile justice system and a Pushcart nominee. His poems have appeared in Matter: A Journal of Political Poetry and Commentary, Poetry Magazine, RHINO 2018 and Sparkle and Blink, among other publications. Benefits of Doubt (Nomadic Press/Black Lawrence Press) is his first book. Cyrus is Iranian-American and lives in Oakland, California with his wife and two sons. Lauren L. Wheeler writes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and what happens when they rub up against each other. A recovering slam poet, she twice competed at the National Poetry Slam and has featured at Cornell University, where she studied English Literature, as well as in Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Lauren is the author of the poetry collection In Between Places (Nomadic Press, 2022). Her work has appeared online and in print in such publications as PANK, The Nervous Breakdown, The Rumpus, and the pop-culture website Black Nerd Problems. Lauren also has spent most of the last two decades working in the tech industry as a producer, program manager, product manager — all the jobs that start with a P. She’s worked on video games (notably The Sims and Star Wars: The Old Republic), consumer robots (Cozmo and Anki Overdrive), and recently, self-driving cars at Cruise. Lauren also has experience in marketing, political organizing and communications, and is a proud Arena Summit alum. Lauren lives with her kid, spouse, and two brown dogs in West Oakland, California, also known as xučyun (Huichin), the unceded ancestral territory of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people. She believes in paying her taxes. You can find her doomscrolling on Twitter as @fightingwords and posting ocular proof on Instagram at @fightingw0rds. Leg: 3 (7pm - 8pm) Venue: Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make / Believe MISSION Chapter 510 is a made-in-Oakland youth writing, bookmaking & publishing center. Our teaching artists and volunteers work side by side with educators to provide a safe space and supportive community so Black, brown, and queer youth ages 8-19 can bravely write. VISION We want every young person in Oakland to write with confidence and joy. WHAT WE STAND FOR We believe that writing is an act of liberation. Young people transform themselves and their communities when they write and get published, succeeding in work, school, and life. INSPIRED BY Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make / Believe is and 826 National-inspired organization. PAPER PRESS PRESENTS: PRINCIPLES OF LIGHT Paper Press Books & Associates Publishing Company. This year at Beast Crawl Literary Festival, we present writers with whom we have worked in the past, whose work we cherish and value, yet have not published. These voices need to be heard. Purchase a Paper Press book today and see why writers and readers enjoy the time and energy we invest in every step of production. paperpressbooks.org Charisel Angelle Parla is a bilingual Cuban-American poet and educator. Her poetry explores the nuances and intersections of memory, grief, heritage, addiction, and identity. A native of Miami, FL, Charisel earned her MFA in Creative Writing from The University of San Francisco, and currently resides in Oakland, CA where she works with recently arrived immigrant youth at Oakland International High School. Thomas Dunn is a multi-media artist, poet, and experimental filmmaker from Midland, Michigan. A proud graduate of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Thomas is currently completing his MFA in Writing at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Antony Fangary is a writer and visual artist living in San Francisco. He was awarded the 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and is the author of HARAM (Etched Press 2019). His poetry has recently appeared in Gulf Coast, The Sycamore Review, West Branch, and elsewhere. His work has received support from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Center for Cultural Innovation. Colleen Shoshana McKee, aging Riot Grrl and singer, is the author of six collections of poetry, memoir, and fiction including The Kingdom of Roly-Polys (Pedestrian Press); and Routine Bloodwork (Headmistress Press). She teaches writing, and US Citizenship Test preparation. She’s also an editor. Oakland is her home. ColleenShoshanaMcKee.com A product of the hip-hop generation, Bleu’s storytelling first manifested itself in the form of rhythm and poetry as a rapper. He and his crew were local heroes, but sixteen bars limited his vision, so he changed up and took it to the next level. From seeking that next level and stepping out of his comfort zone, Bleu learned that inspiration cannot be stifled and that evolution is imminent. If you are looking for raw, honest expression from the underground, you’ve found it in LaMont Anthony Wright. Although Bleu’s family tree is peppered with a long line of story tellers, smack talkers and intellectuals, some of his early influences also came from works by Edgar Allen Poe, Orson Welles and Rod Sterling. www.gbleu.com Leg 3: 7pm-8pm Venue: Make Westing, 1741 Telegraph ABOUT MAKE WESTING: www.makewesting.com What's with the name? The name "Make Westing" comes from a short story by Oakland native Jack London. While a bit grim and violent, the tale centers on the overwhelming need to make the westing wind back home to Oakland - to a place of warmth and family (and bocce courts?). Who are we? Make Westing is located in the thriving Uptown district of Oakland. Wood, iron, and slate make up the décor that resonates with the industrial heritage of our city. We are equipped with a full bar, a variety of gourmet bites, an outdoor patio, and two indoor bocce courts. The Fox theater is less than one block away, and the 19th st. BART stop is across the street. Why Bocce? While we are not bocce aficionados per se, we did play at some of our favorite bars in Brooklyn and the lanes fit the space perfectly, while serving as an entertaining companion to a cocktail. The courts are first come, first serve and are free. When there are others waiting, each group may play one game to seven and then give up the court to the next group in line. If you would like to rent the bocce courts, we do so at $50 per hour, per court. What else? Make Westing is more a bar than restaurant and as such (according to the alcohol beverage control rules) no one under 21 is allowed, infants included. For credit cards, we request a $10 minimum. As relates to credit cards - some banks will place a temporary double charge on certain cards only as a hold and will release the charge within 7-10 business days. We have no idea why they do this, but it happens often enough that we thought we should mention it. We have an ATM on site. Poetry Flash builds community through literature, providing literary writing, access to literary activities, information and inspiration to writers and the public through publishing on Poetryflash.org and events such as the Poetry Flash Reading Series, Northern California Book Awards, and Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival. Poetryflash.org is what Lawrence Ferlinghetti called a “living newspaper.” We are committed to literary publishing that is rich in editorial content and provides access to literary experiences in the East Bay and across California. In 1972, our founding editors “flashed” on the idea of combining a poetry calendar with a literary review, so that poets could dialogue on their work and find each other. Publishing for over fifty years, Poetry Flash serves our vibrant literary scene, an independent voice on behalf of poets, poetry, and other genres of creative writing. This year, Poetry Flash is celebrating our 50th Anniversary, and in the spirit of our events and publishing, we present four Bay Area poets to show the amazing power and range of our collective poetry place. Joyce Jenkins will emcee this Beast Crawl reading! She is Director and Editor of Poetry Flash (poetryflash.org), and author of Portal and Joy Road, a chapbook Her poems have appeared in Ambush Review, Addison Street Anthology: Berkeley's Poetry Walk, ZYZZYVA, The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems of the San Francisco Watershed, and elsewhere. She received the American Book Award, PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Lifetime Achievement Award, National Poetry Association's Distinguished Service to Poets & Poetry Award, and the Berkeley Poetry Festival lifetime achievement award. Poetry Flash received the 2012 Barbary Coast Award from Litquake. Cynthia Parker-Ohene’s new book is Daughters of Harriet, a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prizes. Tongo Eisen Martin says, “With a messianic gift for image and history, Cynthia Parker-Ohene is a once-in-three-generations mind on the page. Virtuosic images and living histories bearing down on your pulse, expanding the potentials of your consciousness.” Her poems have appeared in Black Warrior Review, Kweli, Green Mountains Review, West Branch, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Her work is also included in the anthology Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature, among others. Ohene is a three-time Pushcart nominee and winner of the San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Poetry Prize. Richard Silberg is Associate Editor of Poetry Flash. He is author of six collections of poetry, most recently The Horses: New and Selected Poems and Deconstruction of the Blues, recipient of the PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Literary Award 2006. His books include Reading the Sphere: A Geography of Contemporary American Poetry, reviews that were originally published in Poetry Flash. He co-translated, with Clare You, The Three Way Tavern, by Ko Un, with a foreword by Gary Snyder, which received the 2007 Northern California Book Award in Translation. Also with Clare You, he co-translated Flowers Long For Stars, poems by Oh Sae-Young, This Side of Time, by Ko Un, and I Must Be the Wind, by Moon Chung-Hee. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Denver Quarterly, Volt, Parthenon West Review, ZYZZYVA, Eleven Eleven, and New American Writing, among many other journals. “Dynamic, kaleidoscopic, shot through with a thousand faces and voices too real to be characters, Richard Silberg’s work is a Chaucerian pilgrimage to strange and uncannily familiar places. The Horses is a journey that dazzles wherever it goes as Silberg, ‘an ecstatic balding older man / in a striped tee shirt,’ slips into words and finds a way to make them accelerate, plummet, and soar. The goal is a new self, a way to ride out the old isms towards a possible future. The Horses is a deeply serious, wild, and powerful contribution to American letters.” —D. Nurkse Jason Bayani’s most recent book is Locus, a finalist for the Northern California Book Awards 2020. Truong Tran says, “In the profundity of Locus, Jason Bayani weaves the personal and the historical into a perfect storm of words, breath, poetry, consciousness and a literature of this time.” Bayani’s previous book is Amulet. His poetry has appeared in World Literature Today, BOAAT Journal, Muzzle Magazine, Lantern Review, and elsewhere. He’s a Kundiman fellow and artistic director of the Kearny Street Workshop. Bayani performs regularly around the country and debuted his solo theater show “Locus of Control” in 2016 with theatrical runs in San Francisco, New York, and Austin. Caroline Goodwin served from 2014-2016 the first Poet Laureate of San Mateo County. An Alaska native, her recent poetry book is Old Snow, White Sun. Aileen Cassinetto said “It traverses various terrains with grace and a commitment to astonishment.” Her other recent collections include Madrigals (Big Yes Press) and Matanuska (Aquifer Press, Wales, UK). Her previous books include Trapline, Peregrine, The Paper Tree, and Custody of the Eyes. Among many other Bay Area readings, she has twice been a featured reader at the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival in Berkeley. Leg 1 (4pm -5pm) Venue: Annapurna Restaurant and Bar Annapurna is known for its Nepalese comfort food, especially, their momos in three flavors (chicken, lamb, vegetarian). Ultimate mixture of spices in our cup. Come take a sip of some authentic chai, and enjoy the vibes. Synchronized chaos magazine presents - whose body"WHOSE BODY?" This provocative question from Dorothy Sayers' 1923 mystery novel introduces a reading from various Northern California and East Bay poets and prose writers. Many of us grapple with themes related to our physical bodies: disability, health and illness, and bodily autonomy. Others have crafted "bodies" of work dealing with topics that seem more cerebral but are still ultimately grounded in physical experience: identity, history, and language. This reading invites us to consider who we are, at our core, and the different ways we inhabit our world. Leticia Escalera has worked with the Center for Independent Living and served two board terms on a California disability advocacy organization and the Oakland Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities. She’s written a memoir about life with cognitive/neurological disabilities. Christopher Bernard has published novels (including A Spy in the Ruins and Voyage to a Phantom City), collections of poetry and short fiction, and much cultural journalism. He is also a playwright, photographer, and co-editor of the semiannual webzine Caveat Lector, and writes regularly for Synchronized Chaos Magazine. Recent books are the novel Meditations on Love and Catastrophe at The Liars' Cafe and The Socialist's Garden of Verses, which won a PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award in 2021 and was named one of the “Top 100 Indie Books of 2021” by Kirkus Reviews. His children’s books Otherwise . . .: If You Ride a Crooked Trolley and Otherwise . . . : The Judgment of Biestia will be published later in 2023. Jan Steckel was a Harvard- and Yale-trained pediatrician who took care of Spanish-speaking children until chronic pain persuaded her to change professions to writer, poet and medical editor. She is an activist for bisexual and disability rights who lives in Oakland, California. Her poetry book The Horizontal Poet (Zeitgeist Press, 2011) won a 2012 Lambda Literary Award. Her fiction chapbook Mixing Tracks (Gertrude Press, 2009) and poetry chapbook The Underwater Hospital (Zeitgeist Press, 2006) also won awards. Her creative writing has appeared in Scholastic Magazine, Yale Medicine, Bellevue Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her work won the Goodreads Newsletter Poetry Contest, a Zeiser Grant for Women Artists, the Jewel by the Bay Poetry Competition, Triplopia’s Best of the Best competition, and three Pushcart nominations. Brad Buchanan is the author of four published books of poetry, the most recent being THE SCARS, ALIGNED: A CANCER NARRATIVE (2019), and CHIMERA (2022). Emeritus Professor of English at Sacramento State University, he has also published three scholarly books, and a medical memoir entitled LIVING WITH GRAFT-VERSUS-HOST DISEASE. Fred Dodsworth has published works by Alan Ginsberg, June Jordon, Kim Addonizio, Amy Wallace, Garrison Keillor, Corby Kummer, Ginu Kamani, Karla Brundage, Allison Francis, Meliza Bañales, and many others. His work history includes lifestyle magazines, literary magazines, lesbian sports magazines, news-weeklies, and daily newspapers. Working with Dolan Eargle he researched, wrote, edited and produced three books on California’s Native Peoples: California Indian Country: The Land and the People; Native California Guide 2000, Weaving Past and Present; and Native California: An Introductory Guide to the Original Peoples from Earliest to Modern Times. Last year he launched Dodsworth Books with three books in print, Mulatta—Not So Tragic, A Life In Service, Root for the Underdog, and three more in process. Terry Tierney is the author of a poetry collection, The Poet’s Garage, and the novel Lucky Ride. His new novel, The Bridge on Beer River, will be published in July 2023 by Unsolicited Press. Amember of the SF Writers Grotto, he lives in Oakland with his wife, a Librarian from the University of California, their two Persian cats, and their enthusiastic Golden Retriever. Website: https://terrytierney.com Leg 2 (5:30pm - 6:30pm) Venue: Feelmore Social Club, 1542 Broadway Downtown Oakland has a new hangout that's a little bit wild and sexy: Feelmore Social. "Feelmore is a sex forward bar," Nenna Joiner, owner of the popular adult shop and gallery, Feelmore Adult Gallery said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. "We want to create a space where sexual weirdos can come." The lounge isn't only for sexually forward and sex-positive people, Joiner, 48, a Black queer nonbinary person, clarified. The bar is also for the less sexually adventurous to be in a relaxed and open atmosphere sipping good cocktails. If they feel like talking about sex they can do so openly. "They can feel open to ask any question and not feel shame," they said. The sexy cocktail lounge is the newest evolution of the Feelmore brand. Joiner opened Feelmore Adult in 2010. Right before COVID-19 hit they opened the Berkeley location in February 2020. They also launched Feelmore Home in 2018. The adult shop is around the corner from the new Oakland bar. It's in the heart of downtown Oakland on Broadway close to the 12th Street BART Station. All gender reading groupHear brand new and stunning classic work from the best Bay Area Trans and Gender Non-Conforming writers.
Jasper Jay has been writing poetically since he was a little past knee high in Appalachia. As a Queer, Disabled, Trans, long-time Bay-Area transplant, he relishes work that lets him engage in intersectional social change. Thankfully, preparing to revisit Beastcrawl has encouraged him to dive back into his love for twisting words. Cal Calamia (they/he) is a bilingual queer trans educator, activist, and poet. His performative work has been featured at many spoken word series across The Bay, and his first book, San Franshitshow, was published by Nomadic Press last year. They are a secondary Spanish and Health educator in the city and are currently pursuing their MFA at the University of San Francisco. Saoirse Grace is a transsexual mechanic and groundskeeper who lives in Berkeley, California. She is a filmmaker, a writer, a calligrapher, an actor, a musician, an hedonist, a visual artist, a post-Hegelian nihilist, and a good lay. She loves pluots and the sound of broken bank windows and used to love cocaine too much. Driving motorcycles really really fast or getting punched in the face are the only ways she’s been able to meditate. As a baby she literally ran before she could walk, and thinks everything else you need to know about her can be found in her art. Avren Keating is a poet and artist living in Oakland, CA. The've published in Queen Mob's Teahouse, Omnivores, and THEM: A Trans* Lit Journal. Avren also hosts Waves Breaking, a podcast for trans and gender-variant poetry. LEG 3: 7pm-8pm VENUE: Feelmore Social Club 1524 Broadway ABOUT FEELMORE SOCIAL CLUB: Feelmore Social Club Feelmore is the keeper of secrets such as: insecurities, infidelities, and sexual expression. Our ground-floor location represents a twilight zone for unlikely encounters and friendships to crystallize and collisions to occur. We make it part of our business model to hire Oakland residents referred by friends or family, as we want patrons and visitors in downtown to feel at home. The sale of each item is a story in waiting, a teachable moment to all parties involved. Oakland is the City of Grit! Conceived and raised in the stomping grounds of Oakland, Feelmore is redefining the retail experience for the city, small business owners, and community residents. Feelmore is extremely excited to launch new products, workshops, and talent in 2018. Keeping with our tradition, we aim to preserve and build upon the hometown feel Oakland is known for. .At Feelmore, it’s about more than just sex — it’s personal! The SF Creative Writing Institute is a small center that focuses on teaching the art and craft of creative writing to people from all walks of life. Some of our clients are professional writers. Others are absolute beginners and just want to try their hand at something new. We believe that we all face the blank page the same way. We are a hands-on learning environment where our clients workshop their pieces alongside each other, and give and provide feedback. We are a culturally diverse group of teaching artists who are award-winning published writers, have advanced teaching skills, Master’s Degrees in creative writing, fine art or a related field, and professional editing experience. Write from the Gut!SF Creative Writing Institute is back at it again with a great lineup of featured readers and guests. Join us and hear writers of all experience levels read from their very best works in progress. We help foster creative writing and community and turn fledgeling writers into bestselling authors! Anyone can be a writer. All they need is a little support, a community, and a clean and well lighted place. We teach writing to all levels of writer at our location at the Harvey Milk Center in Duboce Park, San Francisco, conveniently located off the n-line. https://sfwriting.institute/events Nick Mamatas is the author of ten novels, over one hundred short stories, and dozens of essays and articles. His books include the novels I Am Providence and The Second Shooter, the short fiction collections The People's Republic of Everything, The Nickronomicon and The Spook School, and the how-to guide for writing short fiction and non-fiction, Starve Better. Nick’s short fiction has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories, Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, New Haven Review, and many other anthologies and journals. He has written about writing for The Writer, Fine Books & Collections, and Wonderbook. His anthologies include the award-winning Haunted Legends (co-edited with Ellen Datlow) and The Future Is Japanese (co-edited with Masumi Washington), and the hybrid cocktail recipe/flash fiction title Mixed Up (co-edited with Molly Tanzer). Cassandra Rockwood Ghanem holds a BA from California Institute of Integral Studies and an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts. Her award-winning poems and creative nonfiction have been published locally and internationally. In 2022, Nomadic Press published Cassandra’s first poetry collection, Hot Thicket, and she is currently in the final stages of editing a book-length lyrics essay. Also the illustrator of Basho’s Haiku Journeys, a haiku picture book, Cassandra derives her versatility through prolific creative experimentation and cross-pollination between artistic disciplines and literary forms. Cassandra upholds values of diversity and inclusion, and has taught workshops and classes at community centers, high schools, colleges, and universities in Alaska, Hawaii, and California. In 2019, Cassandra led a year-long literary reading series for women and non-binary writers at The Beat Museum in San Francisco. Leg 2 (5:30pm - 6:30pm) Venue: Annapurna Restaurant & Bar Annapurna is known for its Nepalese comfort food, especially, their momos in three flavors (chicken, lamb, vegetarian). Ultimate mixture of spices in our cup. Come take a sip of some authentic chai, and enjoy the vibes. chapter 510 & beast crawl special event SPECIAL TIME: 2pm-5pm. Book Launch for "Fresh Juice/ Jugo Fresco" by Rob Liu-Trujillo @ Chapter 510. Robert Liu-Trujillo is father, husband, artist and an author based in Oakland California. He's the author and illustrator of Furqan's First Flat Top and has illustrated several other picture books. Reach out at www.robdontstop.com Get the book at https://www.leeandlow.com/books/fresh-juice Book launch pre-arranged from 2-5pm. A Chapter 510 event. "Fresh Juice/ Jugo Fresco" written and illustrated by Robert Liu-Trujillo, published by Lee & Low Books. The event will feature freshly made juice by "Super Juiced" and appearances by two local authors, as well as a book signing. Hi, I'm an individual author illustrator who works in kids books. I'm doing a book launch with Chapter 510-an Oakland born literacy based organization located near Swan's market. My new book is called "Fresh Juice/ Jugo Fresco" and I'll be doing the book launch and a reading at Chapter 510 on July 22nd from 2-5pm. Chapter 510's bio: Chapter 510 is a made-in-Oakland youth writing, bookmaking & publishing center. Our teaching artists and volunteers work side by side with educators to provide a safe space and supportive community so Black, brown, and queer youth ages 8-19 can bravely write. My bio: Robert Liu-Trujillo is father, husband, artist and an author based in Oakland California. He's the author and illustrator of Furqan's First Flat Top and has illustrated several other picture books. LEG 1: 2pm-5pm. VENUE: CHAPTER 510 & THE DEPT OF MAKE/ BELIEVE
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