tales from the town

tales from the town

Tales From the Town - Binny’s


These diverse readers and community leaders from the Oakland, CA metro area challenge the problematic "doom loop" rhetoric and show how writers and cultural workers can play vital roles in chronicling and supporting equitable social transformation.


Nayomi Munaweera's debut novel, Island of a Thousand Mirrors, won the 2013 Commonwealth Prize for Asia. The New York Times called it "incandescent." Her second novel What Lies Between Us drew comparisons to the voices of Michael Ondaatje and Jhumpa Lahiri.


Norma Smith is a writer, community organizer, social researcher, editor, writing coach, and event and conference organizer who has called the East Bay home since 1969. She lived on Ivy Hill in East Oakland for a quarter century.


Aimee Suzara is a Filipino-American poet, playwright, performing artist and educator based in Oakland, CA. Her accomplishments include a Willa-Award Finalist book of poems, SOUVENIR, a YBCAway award and AROHO Spirited Woman Award. She teaches writing at colleges throughout the Bay Area.


Nazelah Jamison is a Bay Area-based performance poet, author, comedian, vocalist, and emcee. Her first book of poetry, Evolutionary Heart, was reprinted and re-released by Black Lawrence Press in Fall 2023. She hosts Thee Virtual Open Mic every 1st & 3rd Friday on Zoom.


Thaddeus Howze is an award-winning genre author, climate podcaster, and transmedia essayist out of Hayward, California. Thaddeus' speculative fiction and fantasy have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals. He has published two books: Hayward's Reach (2011) and Broken Glass (2013).

---

7pm Leg 3 - Binny’s