Written on the Dock of the Bay is your weekly guide to literary and bookish happenings in the pleasantly literary and bookish Bay Area.
BAY AREA BOOK WORLD BREAKING NEWS
Bringing Zumba to libraries and libraries to waiting rooms // This week, on a special Books! edition of Crosscurrents, KALW's Leila Day brought listeners the story of how Ariella Estrada brought Zumba classes to an Oakland library . Then I took listener's to the Alameda County Social Service Agency to sit down in a waiting room transformed into story time. Check it out.
Saving bookstores in 2013 // In a recent article, the New York Timesmentions the Indiegogo campaign that raised $60,000 and kept Adobe Books in business. Nowadays, the store front is located on 24th Street, called Adobe Books and Art Cooperative, and mostly ran by a book loving team of volunteers who couldn't bear to see the store go down. So the tale goes, this is a growing trend of bookstores -- to rely on web donors and die hard fans to stay afloat. Currently, Menlo Park's Kepler's is transitioning into a partially nonprofit model while campaigning to raise one million dollars by the end of the summer. Meanwhile, Modern Times Books in the Mission - a collective like Adobe -- is also attempting to raise money to avoid closure.
BAY AREA BOOK WORLD HAPPENINGS
Friday, August 16
Jazz in the bookshop // Throw in some jazz to that comforting book shop ambiance and the gentle sound of a page turning and you've got yourself a great show. Come to Bird & Beckett for some Brazilian Jazz this Friday. // DETAILS: Friday, August 16, 5:30 - 8pm. Bird & Beckett. 653 Chenery Street, San Francisco
Saturday, August 17
Archery and Bardic Poetry // The Shire of Cloondara invites you to attend the annual archery and bardic tournament at Golden Gate Park. If you don't know what the Shire of Cloondara is, then you've either been living under a rock or you've been living in 2013 instead of the Middle Ages. The Shire of Cloondara is dedicated to re-creating traditions of the Middle Ages, like Bardic poetry. Medieval garb is required, so consult your local merchant or seamstress or maybe an extremely, extremely old relative. // DETAILS: Saturday, August 17, 10am - 5pm. Golden Gate Park Archery Field. Avenue and Fulton Street, San Francisco
Sunday, August 18
Sundays with City Lights // If it seems like there's an event celebrating City Lights every week, that's because there is an event celebrating City Lights -- each and every Sunday. There would be one every five seconds, except then we'd probably start to get dizzy. In any case, Sundays at Kerouac Alley is back again with readings by Micah Ballard, Norma Cole, Andrew Joron, Cedar Sigo, and others. // DETAILS: Sunday, August 18, 2 - 4pm. 255 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco
Tuesday, August 20
Feast of Words // Words can be swallowed, spat out, devoured, chewed on, chewed over, and other metaphors that were invented while someone was speaking with their mouth full. Then there's food writing -- writing about the history of pasta, how to prepare the best omelet even your mother couldn't make, and way more. To celebrate the close relationship between food and words, the Feast of Words literary potluck brings together local chefs and writers every third Tuesday of the month -- like this one! Bring a dish, some paper, and a pen. // DETAILS: Tuesday, August 20, 7 - 9pm. SOMArts Cultural Center. 934 Brannan Street, San Franicsco