January 27th, 2012
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at Book Passage
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 2pm
51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera,CA 94925 (map)
Al Young introduces
“These poems,” she says, “press against our deepest held questions: What is an ‘I’? Where are my ‘borders’? What or how am I ‘with’? From whom—from what—do we hide?”
Zen practitioner and author Norman Fischer writes: “This little book of few words is immense in its silences, depths of ambiguity, range of feeling—dark, light, umber, copper, sienna—full of strange inward jottings (graphically adventurous) that echo and dance in a reader’s mind. ASCENSION’s quiet absences are fully, passionately, present—you can almost hear the music the title suggests, and the loss and wonder that goes with it.”
giovanni singleton — poet, teacher, and founding editor of nocturnes (re)view of the literary arts, a journal dedicated to the work of artists and writers of the African Diaspora and other contested spaces — received an MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics from The New College of California. A recipient of a New Langton Bay Area Award Show for Literature, she frequently presents on writing, editing, and graphic design at schools and conferences, including the American Literature Association and Spelman College. She has been a fellow at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Cave Canem, and the Napa Valley Writers Conference. Her work has appeared on the building of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and in Zen Monster, VOLT, Callaloo, Poet Lore, Angles of Ascent, a Norton anthology, What I Say: Innovative Poetry by Black Writers in America, Kindergarde: Avant-Garde Poems, Plays, & Stories for Children, and I’ll Drown My Book: A Collection of Conceptual Writing. singleton has taught at Saint Mary’s College (Moraga, CA), Naropa University, and in museums and schools throughout the San Francisco Bay area.
John & Alice Coltrane | Courtesy Photo
For further information, contact: Book Passage Marin | 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA 94925 | 415.927.0960 Store Hours: MON-SUN 9-9pm
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January 14th, 2012
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Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Marin Poetry Center
MARIN POETRY CENTER presents Indigo Moor, Wanda Phipps, and Al Young. Three nationally acclaimed black poets will read in honor of Martin Luther King for the Marin Poetry Center on Thursday, January 19, from 7:30-9:00 pm.
Doors open at 7:00 pm as part of MPC’s Third Thursday Series at the Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission & E Streets, San Rafael, CA. Admission is $5 for general public and $3 for members. Book sales and signing afterwards. Refreshments will be served.
Indigo Moor is a playwright, poet, and author. His second book of poetry, Through the Stonecutter’s Window, won Northwestern University Press’s Cave Canem prize. Moor won the 2005 Vesle Fenstermaker Prize for Emerging Writers and a 2008 Jack Kerouac Poetry Prize. Moor is a graduate member of the Artist’s Residency Institute for Teaching Artists, and his collaborative efforts include the Artists Embassy International Dancing Poetry Festival, the Livermore Ekphrastic Project, and the Davis Jazz Arts Festival. Website: www.IndigoMoor.com
Wanda Phipps is a writer/performer living in Brooklyn, NY. Her publications and recordings include Field of Wanting: Poems of Desire, Wake-Up Calls: 66 Morning Poems, and the CD-Rom Zither Mood. Her poetry has been translated into Ukrainian, Hungarian, Arabic, Galician and Bangla. She has received awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Theater Translation Fund, and others. As a founding member of Yara Arts Group she has collaborated on numerous theatrical productions presented in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Siberia, and at La MaMa, E.T.C. in NYC. She curated several reading series at the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church and has written about the arts for Time Out New York, Paper Magazine, and About.com. Her website: www.mindhoney.com
Former California poet laureate Al Young’s many books include poetry (Something About the Blues: An Unlikely Collection of Poetry; Coastal Nights and Inland Afternoons: Poems 2001-2006; The Sound of Dreams Remembered: Poems 1990-2000; Heaven: Collected Poems 1956-1990); fiction (Seduction By Light, Sitting Pretty, Who Is Angelina?); and musical memoirs (Mingus Mingus: Two Memoirs, Drowning in the Sea of Love, Kinds of Blue, Things Ain’t What They Used to Be, Bodies & Soul). From 2005 through 2008 he served as poet laureate of California. Other honors include NEA, Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, the 2009 PEN/Oakland Award, and the 2011 Thomas Wolfe Prize. Al Young is currently the Visiting Writer at California College of the Arts, San Francisco. His website: www.AlYoung.org
This event is supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant from The James Irvine Foundation
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November 14th, 2011
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FICTION: Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones (Bloomsbury USA)
NONFICTION: Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
(W. W. Norton & Company)
POETRY: Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split
(TriQuarterly, an imprint of Northwestern University Press)
YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE: Thanhha Lai, Inside Out & Back Again
(Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)
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October 20th, 2011
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
7:30pm
First Congregational Church
2345 Channing Way
Berkeley, CA 94704 | map
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Dr. Mona Scott, Al Young
pay tribute to a legend
Click cover to read the Kirkus Review
KPFA Radio 94.1FM presents
HARRY BELAFONTE in person
My Song
From a poverty-stricken childhood in Harlem and Jamaica, Harry Belafonte rose to become one of the world’s most popular singers, a film star, and a lifelong passionate social activist in the civil rights movement and numerous other humanitarian causes. Among his friends along the way were Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Robeson, Sidney Poitier, John F. Kennedy, Marlon Brando, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro, and Danny Glover.
My Song is the inspiring autobiography of this unique artist and activist—the first singer in history to sell over one million records (Calypso), a winner of Broadway’s Tony Award, the first black producer in television (for which he won an Emmy, the first African-American to do so), and Oscar nominations for Carmen Jones. After being appointed by President John Kennedy cultural advisor to the Peace Corps, Belafonte served five years. He was also prominent in working for the release of his friend Nelson Mandela, and ending the apartheid government in South Africa. He was one of Martin Luther King’s closest confidantes and strongest supporters. In 1987 he accepted the appointment as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He has been honored by many diverse groups including the NAACP, the ACLU, the American Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. He received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for excellence in the performing arts, and in 1994 the National Medal of Arts from President Clinton. Now 84, he remains an outspoken, progressive critic of U.S. foreign policy.
• Congresswoman Barbara Lee is the Democratic Representative for CA District 9.
• Blanche Richardson is the proprietor of Marcus Books in Oakland.
• Dr. Raye Richardson is the co-founder & owner of Marcus Books, Oakland & S.F.
• Dr. Mona Scott is the owner of Black Repertory Theatre in Berkeley
• Al Young, poet and author, was recently California Poet Laureate
$15 advance tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/197066 :: 800-838-3006 or Marcus Books, Pegasus Books (3 locations), Mrs. Dalloway’s, Moe’s Books, Walden Pond, DIESEL a Bookstore, SF: Marcus Books, Modern Times Books,
($18 door) Benefits KPFA Radio 94.1FM
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October 11th, 2011
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The 2011 Thomas Wolfe Prize
Al Young, recipient of the 2011 Thomas Wolfe Prize, delivers the annual October Thomas Wolfe Lecture at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Read reporter Grace Harvey’s account
Al Young to deliver Thomas Wolfe Lecture October 4 | University of North Carolina College of Arts & Sciences
Hear and watch Al Young’s 2011 Thomas Wolfe Lecture at Historic Playmakers Theatre, Chapel Hill, NC
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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
7:30pm
© Terrence Byrnes
The Fighter & the Writer:
Litquake presents a tribute performance honoring
Ishmael Reed
Musician, poet, publisher, novelist and dramatist Ishmael Reed is one of the most prolific and thought-provoking authors at work in America today. From his first novel, The Free-Lance Pallbearers (1967) to his latest, Juice! (2011), and all his poetry, plays, essays and anthologies in between, the iconoclastic trailblazer has pointedly highlighted our nation’s political and cultural repression. Reed has been instrumental in exposing the work of new authors through his online literary magazine, Konch, and the Ishmael Reed Publishing Company. As a jazz pianist and lyricist he has worked alongside such talented musicians as Taj Mahal, Allen Toussaint, Cassandra Wilson and David Murray. This evening of music, poetry, tributes and drama honoring Reed and his many contributions to the Bay Area literary scene features emcee W. Kamau Bell, music from Broun Fellinis, and live dramatic performances directed by Carla Blank.
(Rumor has it that poet-vocalist Al Young may perform with the band.)
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PS: On Wed Oct 12, 2011, Litquake presented Ishmael Reed with its annual Barbary Coast Award in honor of his long-standing contributions to the Bay Area literary scene. Hosted by W. Kamau Bell, friends/performers included Clark Blaise, Tennessee Reed, Carla Blank, Ianthe Brautigan Swensen, Boadiba, Yuri Kageyama, Alejandro Murguía, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Genny Lim; with Seth Corr, Sherry Davis, and Boadiba performing Act II, Scene 6 of Reed’s play, Body Parts. Musical accompaniment by Broun Fellinis.
P.P.S. “Fantastic crowds at all the Wednesday and Thursday events. Reports from producers are still coming in but here are a few highlights…The Barbary Coast Award tribute to Ishmael Reed rocked the Z Space theater with amazing readings and music, and closed with California poet laureate Al Young singing the classic Billie Holiday/Frank Sinatra tune “We’ll Be Together Again,” accompanied by Ishmael on piano, backed by the Broun Fellinis.”
– More Litquake Wrap-Ups | 2011 Final Call: The Weekend Blast
Z Space
formerly Project Artaud Theatre
450 Florida St.
San Francisco, CA 94110 | map
Tickets @12
“While Ishmael Reed often gets slapped with the label of satirist, his stand-alone fiction, poetry, essays, articles, plays, songs, op-eds, reviews and drawings speak boldly for themselves. After all, the urge to take on fraudulence, pretension, hypocrisy, arrogance and injustice pulses at the heart of true satire. A tireless, world-class artist, teacher and arts activist of measureless passion and cares only begins to describes Ishmael Reed: a global treasure. When he tells us that ‘writing is fighting,’ he means it. Every syllable. Body and soul. Ishmael shines the laser light of his pen and wit into all manner of dark matter. Little in heaven or hell sails or crawls past him. A friend to the young, the up-and-coming, and the overlooked, he can’t help but inspire. Without his presence, savvy, strength and fierce output, the world wouldn’t work the same.”
— Al Young
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Sunday, October 16, 2011
4pm
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Hall
1606 Bonita Avenue at Cedar Street
dancer & artist
Patricia Bulitt
Patricia Bulitt is an interdisciplinary artist/dancer who has served for years as Project Director for “Our Neighbors Dance Their Dance: A Celebration of World Dance” in association with the cities of Daly City and Berkeley. She received her M.A. from UCLA. Her numerous awards and fellowships include a National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship, California Arts Council residencies, and the Outstanding Woman Artist Award from the City of Berkeley. Her work with improvisational dance and the making of site specific performances has been in association with Urban Creeks Council. Bulitt is a movement specialist at several schools and has been teaching creative dance/movement for over 20 years in California and throughout Alaska.
Celebration and Benefit honoring dancer & artist
PATRICIA BULITT
for her medical expenses
Sunday, October 16
4pm
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Hall
1606 Bonita Avenue. (at Cedar Street)
Berkeley, CA 94707 (map)
Poetry, dance and storytelling will include singer & songwriter MELANIE DeMORE • California poet laureate emeritus AL YOUNG • dancer & artist PATRICIA BULITT
Suggested contribution: $25. Any contributions welcome. Checks payable to Patricia Bulitt. For non-profit contributions, make checks payable to Berkeley Partners for Parks (7% deduction applied)
Additional information:
Patricia Bulitt: 510.841.6612, or
Berkeley Fellowship: 510.841.4824
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Part 2
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Photo: Al Young
Patricia Bulitt and poet Gary Snyder at Berkeley’s Hillside Club, 2008
4pm
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
1606 Bonita Avenue (at Cedar Street)
Berkeley, CA 94707,
Very special guests: storyteller GAY DUCEY • storyteller OLGA LOYA • body musician KEITH TERRY • dancer & singer MAHEALANI UCHIYAMA
Suggested contribution: $25. Any contributions welcome. Checks payable to Patricia Bulitt. For non-profit contributions, make checks payable to Berkeley Partners for Parks (7% deduction applied)
Additional information:
Patricia Bulitt: 510.841.6612, or
Berkeley Fellowship: 510.841.4824
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City Lights Books
261 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133 (map)
Wednesday, October 19, 7pm
© Lance Iversen | San Francisco Chronicle
Text and photographs by Kathy Sloane
Co-edited with Sascha Feinstein
Preface by Al Young
264 pages paperbound
Indiana University Press
Paperback: $40.00
ISBN: 978-0-253-35691-8
(includes an audio CD of Keystone Korner jazz artists)
November 3, 2011 — official date of publication
ADDITIONAL BOOK EVENTS
November 5, 2011, 7-9
Book reading and signing. Books Inc Alameda, 1344 Park Street, Alameda, CA 94501
November 30, 2011, 6-8 pm.
Book reading and signing. University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720
December 3, 2011, 2-4 pm.
Lecture and slide show. Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD), 685 Mission Street at Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4126 • “Photographer Kathy Sloane will show images from her extensive jazz archive and read from her new book, Keystone Korner: Portrait of a Jazz Club. Referencing MOAD’s new exhibition, Collected, Sloane will talk generally about cultural preservation and specifically about how and why she pursued her passion documenting the African American art form known as jazz.”
December 8, 2011, 7-9 pm.
Book reading and signing at Books Inc., San Francisco Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94102
Feature articles on Keystone Korner: Portrait of a Jazz Club —
San Francisco Chronicle
Jazziz, Fall 2011 (pp. 72-79)
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Book launch for
A QUEEN’S JOURNEY
An unfinished novel
by James D. Houston
Sunday, October 23, 2011
2:30pm
Cabrillo College Music Recital Hall
6500 Soquel Drive
Aptos, CA 95003 map
There are few more intriguing and captivating characters in the history of Hawaii than its last queen, Liliuokalani—the island monarch who could just as easily read Shakespeare as “sit barefooted on a woven mat.” Told with mesmerizing detail by master storyteller James D. Houston, A Queen’s Journey captures the deep ambiguities of Liliuokalani’s magnetic personality and the tumultuous times in which she lived. Houston (1933-2009) was perhaps the only writer with the literary talent, courage, and deep knowledge of Hawaiian culture and history needed to tell this story, and although he died before finishing the novel that was to be his masterwork, we are lucky to have this first part, which stands alone as a fully realized and moving portrait of the queen and her time.
Order directly from Heyday
Short readings by Wallace Baine, Alan Cheuse, Rory Criss, Geoffrey Dunn, Karen Joy Fowler, Stephen Kessler, Maxine Hong Kingston, Forrest Robinson, Karen Tei Yamashita, and Al Young. Remarks by Jeanne Houston and Malcolm Margolin. Music by Braddah Timmy.
Photo courtesy Paul Kitagaki/Sacramento Bee
James D. Houston was born in San Francisco and received his master’s degree in American literature from Stanford, where he studied under Wallace Stegner, Irving Howe, and Frank O’Connor. Among his many fiction and nonfiction books are Bird of Another Heaven, Snow Mountain Passage, Where the Light Takes Its Color from the Sea, Surfing: A History of the Ancient Hawaiian Sport, Californians: Searching for the Golden State, Hawaiian Son: The Life and Music of Eddie Kamae, and Farewell to Manzanar, the last of which he co-authored with his wife, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. Over the course of his prolific career, Houston won many awards and honors and taught creative writing at a number of universities and workshops. With Jeanne, he divided his time between Hawai’i and an old Victorian home in Santa Cruz, California. Visit his website at www.jamesdhouston.com.
FREE advance tickets are recommended and are available at Cabrillo Bookstore, below, or online until Oct 22 at 4:00 p.m. There will be a limited number of tickets available at the door, so come early if you don’t have a ticket! For more information call 510. 549.3564 — X
316.
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poetry
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
7-9pm
Nancy Keane’s 3300 Club
3300 Mission Street
SF
GERI DIGIORNO
MARVIN HIEMSTRA
AL YOUNG
Keane’s 3300 Club
3300 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.826.6886
info@3300club.com
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