Bay Area Book World Breaking News!
The author and founder of the City of Poets movement in San Francisco, Annice Jacoby, is on a mission. She's not trying to end homelessness, necessarily, but she is hoping to make those who are homeless more comfortable while they are on the streets. In a project called Undercover, Jacoby joined forces to help create jackets, complete with pockets full of books and toiletries, to donate to the homeless. On the jacket are the words: "Poetry is the shortest distance between two humans." It's a quote from Jacoby's friend and City Light Books’ owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti. She’s hoping the blankets/jackets/bookshelf hybrids will bring attention towards homelessness.
MONDAY, 1/1 - SUNDAY 1/7
Monday, 1/1
Literary foolery brings in the clowns
Sara Moore is a clown. Like, a really good, seriously talented clown. In fact, she’s the newly appointed director of San Francisco’s Clown Conservatory. In the newest edition of Literary Foolery, Alley Cat Books is celebrating powerful women, and you can bet Moore will be there.
DETAILS: Alley Cat Books // 3036 24th St., SF // 7pm
Tuesday, 1/2
The God’s Eye view
Barry Eisler's The God's Eye View takes the surveillance state into pretty freakish territory. In the book, the NSA director wants to collect every phone call, email, and keystroke tapped on the Internet. There's an NSA program called God's Eye, and it might explain why so many journalists and whistleblowers have died. It's fictional, but some of this novel feels a little familiar. Come to Kepler’s Books to ask Barry Eisler why that may be.
DETAILS: Kepler’s Books // 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park // 7:30pm
Wednesday, 1/3
Does Joyce Carol Oates know where that guy’s shadow went?
Joyce Carol Oates is pretty much a legend. She writes beautiful, poignant things like this: “Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.” She’s got a new book out, called The Man Without a Shadow, that’s about a man who, indeed, has no shadow. He also has some serious memory issues. There’s a romance involved. You know how it goes. And lucky us, Oates is coming to Mrs. Dalloway’s to talk more about her new book and let us listen in awe.
DETAILS: Mrs. Dalloway’s // 2904 College Ave., Oakland // 7:30pm
Thursday, 1/4
Pride and Prejudice and not zombies, but something else
It’s time again for San Francisco’s favorite erotic literary reading series, Shipwreck.. This time, the folks at behind Shipwreck decided that since there’s a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies set to hit theaters soon, they might as well bring back their own remix of Pride and Prejudice. In their version, though, there’s likely to be less zombies and more eroticism (though, those two are not necessarily separate, as zombie scholars are all too aware).
DETAILS: The Booksmith // 1644 Haight Street, SF. // 7pm
Friday, 1/5
Naked truth: Love, hope, and courage edition
The Mill Valley Public Library will host the Naked Truth reading series this Friday. In this series, people will come to the stage and have a minute to tell their story. The themes? Love! Hope! And, courage! If you’re feeling bummed out about violence, terrorism, and other generally off-putting things like that, this is the kind of storytime that’ll give you something to look forward to.
DETAILS: Mill Valley Public Library // 375 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley // 9pm
Saturday, 1/6
Coming out like a porn star
There might not be a section dedicated to the topic at your local library, but there’s a lot of good books about porn out there. Coming out Like a Porn Star, a collection of essays on pornography, protection, and privacy, is one example. Then there’s pretty great books about sexual energy, like Woman on Fire: 9 Elements to Wake Up Your Erotic Energy, Personal Power, and Sexual Intelligence.Who even knew sexual intelligence was a thing? That's why the 2nd annual sex culture book fair is coming to the Adobe Books Collective: to bring the world of sexually sophisticated literature to the people.
DETAILS: Adobe Books Collective // 3130 24th St.., SF. //12 - 1opm
Sunday, 1/7
Queer Literary Mixtape
Quiet Lightning and RADARproductions, two epic reading series, are joining forces and coming to the Castro this Sunday for some literary magic, called the Queer Literary Mixtape. All writing performed will also be available in a book, handed out to the first 100 people to show up, so bring yourself and 99 of your favorite friends.
DETAILS: Eureka Valley Recreation Center // 100 Collingwood, SF. // 4:30pm
Got a literary event or some news you think we should share with the world? Email us at thelitographyproject@gmail.com!
