Oakland Review of Books calendar of (not just) literary events, August 26 – August 31
It’s been Black August all month long, and now it’s the last week of BAMBD Fest, with the last performances of August Wilson's “fucking fantastic” Two Trains Runnings over the weekend and a closing ceremony on Sunday. Between whenever you read this and Saturday the 29th, sign up to steward your local watershed for Creek to Bay Day. Pegasus wants to clear their shelves, so 20% off all weekend on used books. There’s dahlias, lots and lots of them, around Lake Merritt. All week at BAMFA, you will NOT be able to see the films of Tsai Ming-liang, because every single showing of the “Tsai Ming-liang in Person” series is sold out. You will have seven opportunities this week to not see him. Over in the west bay, Crossroads 2025 is gonna be doing "chemical and environmental evocations of utopian and dystopian realities; ruminations on the impermanence inherent in existence; transnational, transgenerational and even trans-species relations and expressions of vulnerability, resilience and political resistance culled from the world’s rotting image bank" whatever the living fuck that is. Meanwhile, back on planet earth, or as close as the West Bay can get to it, people are handmaking zines and selling them to each other at the SF Zine Fest this weekend.
But mostly, right now, you can go to the best art show of the year: The Oakland history dioramas are on display at the Main Library and there are pythons and sideshows and we adore every one. Dorothy and Alexis can risk the wrath and ire of the dioramistas by naming winners in October: the rest of us will just love them all equally. - MS, AB & TC
Tuesday, August 26
Across Prison Walls: Lessons from Prison Journalism, 12:50pm, Room 132 South Addition, Berkeley Law (Cal). Prison publications are challenging dominant narratives about incarceration and driving change beyond prison walls. Panelists Amber Bray, Christopher Blackwell, Phillip Luna, and Jesse Vasquez talk with Chesa Boudin (possibly with several of the currently incarcerated reporters calling in?). Liberal California has the largest women’s prison in the world, where Bray is currently residing. You were supposed to RSVP by the 21st for lunch, so maybe BYOSandwich. [Google Doc RSVP form]
Swing Time, 1 pm, Orinda Theatre (The Hot Side of the Hills). No less an authority than Arlene Croce says it’s the best of the Fred & Ginger movies. Maybe so. Certainly the last big number, a swoony fantasia set on an art deco staircase leading to the heavens, or at least the RKO backlot, is worth the whole rest of the series put together. (Ginger Rogers does so much acting here with her shoulders that they deserved their own SAG card.) But a word must be said about Astaire’s hideous blackface number in the movie, which is very hard to watch. Liberal white critics like Croce haven’t helped anything with their blithe insistence that the number is in fact a tribute to Bill “Bojangles" Robinson, not a mockery or even an imitation, as if the distinction were relevant. Blackface was always a site of predatory homage, after all—love and theft, in Eric Lott’s useful phrase. Astaire’s number culminates in a little shadowplay in which he dances three silhouettes off the screen. It’s just him and his corked-up face now, twirling and tapping and grinning, quite literally embodying the expropriation of Black cultural idioms. You are hereby encouraged to boo this number. [Orinda Theatre]
Dry Mouth Writing Collective Workshop, 4 pm, somewhere (Oakland). Queer Brown and Black folks, this is your space, your time: write now. DM for location, or just sit down wherever you are and use pencil, chalk, your notes app (google docs for us Android folks -- I see you, friends). [instagram]
"Winter in America: Version: Six the Hard Way," 7 pm, BAM House, 1540 Broadway (Downtown). Oakland's indefatigable originating poet laureate, Ayodele "WordSlanger" Nzinga, hosts a night of poetry, featuring work from Tongo Eisen-Martin, Tyson Amir, Zouhair Mussa, Ellis Chhourn, and Myra Estrada. Presented by the Lower Bottom Playaz as part of the BAMBD Fest. [On the Stage]
Elizabeth Partridge on Imogen Cunningham, 7pm, Mrs Dalloway’s (College Ave). Learn about the life of the iconic 20th century Bay Area photographer through her granddaughter’s eyes in this discussion and launch of her children's book Imogen: The Life and Work of Imogen Cunningham. Fingers crossed, the slideshow will include Cunningham’s classic nude photos of her man Roi sauntering up the Dipsea over on Tam as well as her gorgeous, gorgeous botanicals, even if only the latter are likely gonna make it into a book for kids. [eventbrite]
Also: Fix Your Phone at Elmhurst Library (Deep East), Alyssa Battistoni on Free Gifts at the Ferry Building Book Passage (West Bay) / Blood and Popcorn Film Festival at The New Parkway (Uptown)
Wednesday, August 27
Earthquake Country Alliance Bay Area Summer 2025 Workshop, 9 AM, Hayward City Hall (The Hayward Fault). They built the first couple city halls on the fault and the new one is still pretty close. Shake it out, get under a table (don’t get to a doorway, that’s an earthquake myth) [ECA]
Lake Merritt Bird Walk, 9:30AM, Geodesic Dome (The Lake). There are so many birds at Lake Merritt they got their own book. I like to watch the egrets shake a leg. [Lake Merritt]
Capitalism and the politics of nature, with Alyssa Battistoni, 4 pm, 820 Social Sciences Building (UC Berkeley). Sold out at last check, but we're including it anyway in case you missed the West Bay event yesterday and because Alyssa Battistoni is swell and her new book, Free Gifts, looks great. Also, this is UCB, what are they gonna do, throw you out?Or come get beers with her later in the week. [Eventbrite]
Book & Wine Trivia Night, 6 pm, Book Society (College Ave). Oooh, a free event at Book Society! First time for everything. Pull up for an evening of literary and wine-themed trivia. No tickets required—just bring your best book and wine knowledge and hope the undefeated team of former Pegasus folks who trounced everyone at the Litquake Trivia Night haven’t heard about this one (hey Eve, hi ill, pay no attention to this calendar entry). [Book Society]
August Book Club: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, 6:30 pm, Womb House Books (Temescal Alley). The first novel by the Nobel prize winning novelist is up for discussion and damn but her editorial career wasn’t half-bad either -- she edited Angela Davis’s first and second books, and Angela stayed with her during edits so they could work on it every day. This woman was committed to the culture. [eventbrite]
Sultry Sessions open mic, 7:30 pm, Zanzi (Uptown). Get explicit in all kinds of forms: story telling, poetry, music or burlesque! Putting the humanity of sex and sexual intimacy back into the mix! Hosted by two women, Black and Filipina, passionate about creating space for authentic sexual expression. ORB tasted and appreciated. [eventbrite]
Lyrics & Dirges: A Monthly Poetry Series, 7pm, Pegasus Books Downtown (Berkeley). Hosted and curated by East Bay poets MK Chavez and Sharon Coleman. Featuring poets from around the Bay: this week Melissa Charles, Jennifer Hasegawa, Adrienne Danyelle Oliver, Persis M. Karim, Monica Korde share the mic. [facebook]
[West Bay Bonus Event] Screening of Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dalí’s ‘Un Chien Andalou’, and Marcel Dzama ‘To Live on the Moon (For Lorca),’ 8pm, at CCA (Design District). Outdoor artsy movies in the West Bay in August -- do it for Lorca. Layer up, and look forward to complimentary tea, coffee, and snacks to warm your body while surrealism heats up your brain. [instagram]
Also: Ask the Night for a Dream: Palestinian Writing from the Diaspora at Books on the Park (Inner Sunset)
Thursday, August 28
"In Praise of Roving Bandits: State Failure as an Achievement in Central Africa," a lecture by Peer Schouten, 4 pm, 340 Stephens Hall (Cal). Schouten wrote a book about the origins of violence in Central Africa, and now he’s giving a talk arguing that rebel groups and roving bandits in the region are conducting political experiments in non-statehood. Expect some quibbling with James C. Scott. [UC Berkeley]
Worst Film Festival, 6 pm, Mama Dog Studios (West Oakland). The worst films made, unintentionally, by professional indie filmmakers. All failures welcome. W Kamau Bell MCs! ORB is ever-grateful to Pendarvis Harshaw, who writes about the best things happening around town. [eventbrite]
Ocean Hoptimism: Making Sure Every Day’s a Good Day for the Bay, 7PM, Faction Brewing (Alameda). Sejal Choksi-Chugh, Executive Director of San Francisco Baykeeper on the daily battle the Bay’s defenders wage against toxic dumping, sewage spills, and policies that put polluters over people. This isn’t a story of despair. It’s a story of wins. From blocking Big Oil pollution to saving 1,300 acres of wetlands (aka front line protection from sea level rise) from development, SF Baykeeper’s record proves that legal action and local advocacy work. [instagram]
Free Gifts with Alyssa Battistoni at the GND Happy Hour, 6pm, Two Pitchers Brewing Company (Downtown). Beer is a gift from yeast who poop alcohol. Hang with local enviro lefties and celebrate a comrade’s new book, Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature. [evite]
Idea Generation: A Writer's Workshop, 6:15pm, Oakstop (Uptown). The Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice, as part of the Black Film: Unscreened & Unstreamed series, offers a dynamic 2.5-hour writing workshop. All writers welcome! [eventbrite]
[West Bay Bonus Event] SF Review of Whatever, Issue 2 Release Party, 6:30, Et al (The Mission). There will be readings with an element of chance. There will be pizzas and bevs. There will be lots of writers from Oakland because you couldn't have a magazine without us now could you. [instagram]
Rachel Richardson in the Book of Light Poetry Series, 7pm, Books Inc (Alameda). East Bay poet Richardson will read from her new book of poems, Smother, on living with smoke, living with children, and befriending the people and world we’re all living with. [eventbrite]
Also: The East Bay Community Law Center's Eviction Moratorium Report Launch at the EBCLC (Berkeley) / Artist Reception with Nimisha Doongarwal at OACC (Chinatown)
Friday, August 29
Organic Matter Opening Reception, 6 pm, 3319 Marché (Lakeshore). Group exhibition featuring Ebony Osun that explores the intersections of identity and environment, with lots of tension between opposing concepts and adjectives. Some mighty nice vintage clothes for sale here too. [instagram]
ORB Happy Hour, 4:30-6:30, Mad Oak Bar ‘N’ Yard (Chinatown-ish). Come have a drink with us, all are welcome. It's just us, at a bar, and you if you come. Look for the group doing public-minded community based criticism, that's how you'll know us.
Poetry! 6:30 pm, Tamarack (Downtown). A bilingual reading featuring Josiah Luis Alderete (welcome to the other side of the bay!), María Esquinca (“This poem refuses to be understood. By you.”), Saúl Hernandez, Hector Son of Hector (made me cry at Golden Sardine earlier this year), y Soledad Con Carne. Guest hosted by Connie Mae Oliver -- gonna be a hell of a night, hope the mic is tuned up right! [Tamarack]
Ohlone Skies, 7 pm, Chabot Space and Science Center (The Hills). Join Bay Nature and Ohlone Tribal leaders Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino for an exclusive Q&A discussion and planetarium viewing of mur taaraxtak. [Bay Nature]
Words & Wines: Poetry Open Mic, 7pm, KARIBU Lounge (Alameda). Tae hosts “a poetic neo-soul atmosphere that fosters solidarity.” Listen in or sing out. [eventbrite]
Also: LEGACIES – DVAN Quarterly reading series at Books on the Park (West Bay) / Laraaji plays Brian Eno at The Freight (Berkeley)
Saturday, August 30
Birding Hike with Clay Anderson, 8 AM Garin Regional Park (Hayward). Clay’s articles on birds in Bay Nature are great reads, and say your children/cat/local mockingbirds don’t let you sleep past dawn whatever day of the week it is, just roll out of bed and start walking. [bay nature]
Community Engagement Tour with Councilmember Rowena Brown, 10 AM, Courtland Creek Park (Deep East). Coffee and chat with neighbors at the newly restored creekside park. [Melrose Neighborhood Council]
Xicana Power Block Party, 12 noon, EastSide Cultural Center (San Antonio). A community celebration honoring the legacy and 55th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium! Speakers, poets, tacos, cumbia, y mas. 55 years ago on August 29, 1970, over 20,000 Chicanxs marched in East LA for a mass protest against the Vietnam war and to call attention that chicanos where dying in highest numbers on the front lines. The police attacked peaceful protestors, taking the lives of Ruben Salazar, Angel Gilberto Diaz, and Lyn Ward. Celebrate 55 years of commitment to saying NO to WAR, NO to Imperialism, NO to Militarization and NO to genocide! [Eastside Arts Alliance]
Free Screening of Jenin-Jenin, 1:45 pm, East Bay Community Space (North Oakland). Support Jerusalem Coffee House, see a documentary about how massacres of Palestinians keep happening, keep being denied. [instagram]
10th Annual Comparte: The Emiliano Zapata Community Festival, 2 pm, Peralta Hacienda Historical Park (Fruitvale). Join for an afternoon of son jarocho, social justice music, poetry from all walks of struggles, and community vendors offering jewelry, arts, and other fine work. Featured poets include: Ayodele Nzinga, Josiah Luis Alderete (hey, he’s still over here!), Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo, Sara Borjas (!!), and Mo Sati. Jaraneros de la Bahía will play music son jarocho, lots of tamales etc served (skip the booze, please). [Chiapas Support]
Also: Vintage Market at Prescott Market (West Oakland) / Support Gaza Students Jewelry Sale Fundraiser at Jaffa Coffee Roasters (Berkeley) / We at the Beach Family Reunion at Crown Beach (Alameda) / Black August at The Farm (North Richmond) / La Patrona photography exhibit at café con cariño (Old Oakland) / Exploring Maps opening with Fully Tactile Art SF at Jettison Creative (West Bay)
Sunday, Aug 31
Oakland is at all the Labor Day BBQs, I guess? Probably catch you down at the lake.
[West Bay Bonus Evnet] Jerry Kuns and Joshua Miele give mini lectures on maps, 3 PM, Jettison Creative (SOMA). Exploring maps with fingers, toes, and other bodily parts that aren't eyes and are allowed to touch things in public. How Fully Tactile can an art talk get? [Fully Tactile Art]
