Oakland Review of Books calendar of (not just) literary events, June 17 – 22
Hope you’ve all recovered from your Bloomsday reenactments because Thursday is Juneteenth, Friday is Summer Solstice, and all week long, W. Kamau Bell—recently seen at an anti-ICE protest in Fruitvale—is doing a series of shows at the Berkeley rep to raise money for Bay Area arts orgs that had their NEA funding DOGE-ed. And after the weekend, write all about it at Kinfolx. Plus, on both sides of the Bay, Frameline49 will showcase 11 days of screenings of queer cinema, starting June 18th. The East Bay is rolling into summer at full speed.... -MS
Tuesday, June 17
The Oakland Poetry Slam: Battle of the Bay!!!, 7pm, Tamarack (Downtown). Hosted by Jaz Sufi, Writing Workshop led by Tino V.H. Jr. Five all-ages teams from across the Bay Area compete for the title of Best Poetry Slam Team of the Bay Area. Will this slam deserve all three exclamation marks it’s claimed??? [eventbrite]
Borderland: The Line Within, 7pm, La Peña (South Berkeley). Part of La Peña’s Immigrant Voices Film Series (every third Tuesday), directed by Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís, on the human cost of the border industrial complex, connecting the roots of mass migration from Central America in the impact of US foreign policy. [La Peña]
Picket at ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, probably all week, honestly, 478 Tehama (West Bay). If picketers are there, the office stays closed, and people can’t come to their appointments and get scooped up by ICE, is the sort of general idea. [Indivisible SF]
Also: C U Next Tuesday-- trans drag night at Mother Tongue (Oakland) / Kiss & Tell Salon with Allison Saft at Books Inc (Alameda)
Wednesday, June 18
Courtland Creek Restoration Project Completion Celebration, 12pm, near the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Courtland Avenue (East Oakland). Courtland Creek is part of the Peralta Creek watershed (though before being diverted so the Coliseum could be built, it was a tributary of Lion Creek farther south!). Come celebrate the creek restoration and community access to nature! [City of Oakland]
Patchwork Lab, 4pm, Blue Willow Tea (Berkeley). This is explicitly for huge holes. The hosts specify: two inches and wider. In your garments! (Fix your mind, and your pants.) [instagram]
“Are We Alone?” 6pm, Faction Brewery (Alameda, amidst the ruins of the old navy base). Steve Croft from UCB’s SETI Research Center reveals, first and finally, if there’s aliens. Also you can drink beer there, which might be a good option, depending on what the answer is. [Profs and Pints]
The Last Fire Season, in paperback 6:30pm, Womb House Books (Temescal Alley). One of the great literary fire books of our moment, kindled in 2020 and still burning now that it’s in paperback (paper burns hot). [eventbrite]
Story Slam, 7pm, Far Leaves Tea (San Pablo Corridor). Share true stories, or sit back and enjoy the show. Theme this month is siblings, of all kinds. Come sip the tea and spill it. [instagram]
[West Bay Bonus Event] Poets Keith Ekiss, Rachel Richardson, and Matthew Zapruder, 7pm, Green Apple Books on the Park. Poems for the West Bay, poems for the smoke, poems for the dreams of the unsleeping. Tune in online if you don’t want to Bart and N-Judah your way over, but it’d be worth the fare. [Green Apple]
Also: Poets LeeAnn Pickrell and Cathryn Shea at Mrs. Dalloway’s (Berkeley) / Futureproof Dinner: A Culinary & Art Experience at OMCA (The Lake)
Thursday, June 19
Storyland: Family Story Hour, 10 AM, Kinfolx (Downtown). Robert Liu-Trujillo, beloved local children’s book author, illustrator, and community builder, leads a morning of live storytelling and art-making rooted in Black brilliance, with Marcus Books. Sold out already (love it!) but maybe your small child can still squeeze in. [eventbrite]
Hella Juneteenth Festival, 12-5pm, OMCA (The Lake). We are all invited to the cookout: along with music, wine tasting, spades and dominoes tournaments, and facepainting, the main attraction is a plate in which each entree, side and dessert is cooked by a talented Black Bay Area chef. [OMCA]
Vermiglio, 7pm, BAMPFA (Berkeley). It’s "hooting and hollering when I see the Janus logo" hours for this “alps, romance, and nazis” (but the hills aren’t alive with the sound of music) film that won awards in 2024 and basically just looks gorgeous. The Italians are cooking. [BAMPFA]
Also: Zine & Comics Making Workshop at BPL (Berkeley)
Friday, June 20
The Solstice, all day, which is incredibly long (Northern Hemisphere). Charge your solar devices (such as plants), touch grass, touch water, make circles and spirals, and wear sunscreen. [Stonehenge]
California Solstice Revels, 1pm, Live Oak Park (Berkeley). Learn to do English folk dances with Alex Cumming, who will lead revelers in Solstice songs. Listen to Jethro Tull to prepare. [California Revels]
[Bonus West Bay Event] Flor y Canto literary festival, 4:45 pm, Balmy Alley (The Mission). Starts Friday evening with invocations and poets, then the homegrown gathering to honor the Mission’s arte y cultura keeps going all weekend. [Schedule]
Oakland Annual Solstice Concert is sold out, dammit. 5pm, Garden of Memory, Piedmont Avenue (Oakland) [Chapel of the Chimes]
Ivan’s Childhood, 7pm (Berkeley): Tarkovsky got up to some shit when he was young in the sixties. [BAMPFA]
Embrace Your Mind, 7 pm, Poems & Paper ArtSpace (Temescal). Art show opening and poetry performance hosted by Beauty of Neurodivergence Art, featuring spoken word performers Reggie Edmonds-Vazquez, Papi Grande, Kayatta, and Meg. Saw it on a pole, so it goes in the calendar. ORB rules. [Partiful]
Kelly Ramsey’s memoir Wildfire Days, 7pm, Mrs. Dalloway’s (Berkeley). The author, a former wildlands firefighter based in Redding, is in conversation with Miriam Bird Greenberg. The first of two memoirs coming out this year by non-men who take us behind the fireline in California. Read both! [Eventbrite]
Tritone Poetry Series, 6pm, Tamarack (Downtown). Instead of a Friday night reading, it’s a Friday night writing. Show up to learn alongside each other with Noor and Kevin. Starts on time: solstice occurs at 7:41pm precisely and the sun is very prompt. If you’d like, bring something to share — food, someone’s poem printed out, a megaphone, etc. [instagram]
Saturday, June 21
Vigil for Black Lives, 10:30am, Fruitvale & MacArthur in Dimond (Oakland). Neighbors for Racial Justice has held a weekly Vigil for Black Lives for the past decade. This Saturday too. [Indivisible]
Happy Birthday Womb House Books, 12pm, Womb House (Temescal Alley). Here feminist means (as bookstore founder, writer, critic, and bookmonger in chief Jessica Ferri said recently), “We don’t hate anybody.” If only the misogynists running our society would return the favor. Buy a book, buy a hat, keep showing up for women who write. [eventbrite]
Many Nations One Land, 12 pm, La Escuelita (Oakland). Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is hosting a gathering in collaboration with The American Indian Child Resource Center. Featuring cultural offerings, Indigenous arts & crafts & music & talent. [Instagram]
Bay Area Current Release Party, 6 pm, Tamarack. We hear tell that good people are starting up some newspaperish and magazine-y endeavors around town. Find your media comrades online, in print, and here. [Tamarack]
Also: Surviving Long Covid: I'm. Still. Here. (Old Oakland) / California Writers’ Club Author Showcase at Clio’s (The Lake) / Lakefest (The Lake) / Richmond Juneteenth parade and festival (Greater Oakland)
Sunday, June 22
Writing for Us: A Workshop, 10 AM, Long Haul (Berkeley). Writing in collaboration and across differences to assert the importance of both your own voice and that which we collectively build. Build up what ChatGPT is actively destroying. Hosted by DB & Andi Rose. [Long Haul]
Freedom to Flow, 1 pm, Black Panther Party Museum. A creative writing workshop for poets, lyricists, and songwriters who want to deepen their relationship to rhythm, voice, and vision. Led by JST Honest and Rianna Samone, and honoring Black expressive forms. [eventbrite]
All This Safety is Killing Us Panel Discussion, 6pm, Moments Co-op (Downtown Oakland). Editors Ronica Mukerjee and Carlos Martinez in conversation with contributors Aminah Elster, Jennifer Esteen, Naomi Schoenfeld, Sophia Simon-Ortiz, moderated by Jake Sonnenberg from Healthcare Workers for Abolition. The things we are told will keep us safe (SUVs, prisons, Ring doorbell cameras) actually cause broad social harm. [instagram]
Also The Steamroller and the Violin at BAMPFA (Berkeley) / The SF Bay Area Nature Journal Club at Albany Bulb (The Bulb) / How They Did It: Queer Summer Reads Author Discussion at Page Street (West Bay) / Make a Journal out of Junk at Rock Paper Scissors (Uptown)