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!
A thoughtful book on a controversial health issue
The dedication in ADHD: What Everyone Needs to Know reads like this, "”We dedicate [the book] to anyone who has ever wondered whether the occasional joy of spontaneity are worth the annual costs of replacing lost sunglasses, keys, and cell phones, and to everyone willing to make the effort to understand, appreciate, and occasionally forgive the blessings and challenges of neurodiversity.” It's poignant. The book is written by Stephen Hinshaw, professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley and UCSF, and a global expert on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Katherine Ellison. It's an authoritative book on a pretty controversial health issue -- one that affects an estimated 1 in 9 children and 10 million adults.
WEDNEDAY, 2/17 - SUNDAY 2/21
Wednesday, 2/17
Word stitchers, falling homes, and rad dads
InsideStorytime has been putting together a monthly reading series for ten years now. And so it factually and logistically makes sense their next reading series is called InsideStorytime DECADE. You'll be able to hear performances from Daphne Gottlieb (who “stitchers together the ivory tower and gutter just using her tongue”, Gary Turchin (a Bay Area performance poet and the man behind the poetry collection, Falling Home) and Tomas Moniz(the zinester and father figure legend behind Rad Dad, a zine about parenting) among others. If you’d like to meet Tomas Moniz virtually beforehand, here’s a Book Reportwe did with him.
DETAILS: El Amigo Bar // 3355 Mission St., SF // 7pm
Thursday, 2/18
Hello Beating Hearts!
What exactly is literary pollination? Well, pollination is defined as “a prerequisite for fertilization: the fusion of nuclei from the pollen grain with nuclei in the ovule.” The definition goes on to explain, “Fertilization allows the flower to develop seeds.” So perhaps literary pollination allows people to create words or word-like substances. Either way, it’s what’s happening this Thursday at the Cat Club when readers from all sorts of universities in the Bay Area (and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) come out to read.
DETAILS: Cat Club SF // 1190 Folsom St., SF // 6:30pm
Friday, 2/19
Celebrating Black History Month with poetry and jazz
Come to the Beat Museum to celebrate black history with poetry and jazz this Friday! Check out this lineup: jazz poet Charles Curtis Blackwell, poet and professor Wanda Sabir, poet Gail Mitchell, poet q.r. hand jr., sax and bass clarinet player Jaroba, poet and performer J.J Rush, and saxophonist Lucho. That's a lot of poetry, a lot of music, a lot of jazz. You can’t get much better than that on a Friday evening.
DETAILS: Beat Museum // 540 Broadway, SF // 7:30pm
Saturday, 2/20
Women with words to write and speak
Works in Progress is a creative space for women's art, and so when they throw an open mic, the women of Oakland come out. In the Works in Progress open mic this Saturday, that means Cassandra Dallett and MK Chavez, two epic Oakland-based writers, will share their work. Are you a woman? Perhaps? Without a doubt? Come down, come down!
DETAILS: Plymouth United Works of Christ // 424 Monte Vista Ave., Oakland //6:30
Sunday, 2/21
Nepotism night
Nepotism nightis here! I’m not sure what that means in the literary/performance context, but Nepotism is what’s headed to the Second Act Marketplace and event space anyway this Sunday. There will be film, comedy, music, and readings galore.
DETAILS: // 1727 Haight Street, San Francisco // 6:30pm
Got a literary event or some news you think we should share with the world? Email us at thelitographyproject@gmail.com!