Oakland Review of Books calendar of (not just) literary events, September 9 – September 16
Hurricanes of poets make landfall this weekend, in many languages (I counted Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, plus that other one people speak around here). There’s plays on again, and at least two funny ones, Seminar at Live Oak Theatre and Lesbo Solo, My Gay History Play at The Marsh. Oakland Pride just happened, where the intrepid polyamorous tabler popped up (has also been spotted at East Bay dog parks and far flung 4th of July parades—if you know him, we have questions about logistics, goals, and possible merch collabs): we hear the vibes were good. Nature is also queer, and especially at the zoo where all this week they’re being very un-zoolike and focusing on natives not exotics. Over in the West Bay, there’s some experimental art-meets-tech stuff happening at the Gray Area Festival. Meanwhile Oakland has not one but two film festivals happening now. The Oakland International Film Festival roves all over town starting this week and HUMP! is at The New Parkway—which is porn, but quickies and indie and you get to watch with a whole lot of other voyeurs. I know we say “see and be seen”: how far will you take it? The short films screening by the Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice are already sold out and Oakland’s enthusiasm for boats is unmatched so the Port of Oakland Community Connections Launch Cruise is sold out too. The Bay Area Book Festival has an auction going on through the 15th: support your local bookish institutions. Second to last weekend of the summer—get out there and read a book by the lake in the sunshine. -MS & AB
Tuesday, September 9
Book Launch: Unmaking Botany with Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez, 1pm, Institute of East Asian Studies (UC Berkeley). UCSC Prof Kathleen Cruz Gutierrez looks into the history of how vernacular knowledge of and relationships with plants in the Philippines expose the limits of American colonial botany and develops a history of science from multiple vantage points. Pairs well with Botany of Empire by Dr. Banu Subramaniam. [UCB]
[West Bay] Thea Matthews’s GRIME, 7pm, City Lights (North Beach). City Lights Books celebrates the publication of the local West Bay poet’s new collection. MCed by Garrett Caples, who edits the Spotlight poetry series in which this new book is published, and joined by West Bay poet Patrick James Dunagan and East Bay poet Maw Shein Win. Part elegy, part call to resistance, GRIME chronicles Matthews’ childhood growing up in the Tenderloin. [City Lights]
Grime City Premiere, 7pm, Grand Lake Theater (Grand Lake Theater area). Step and repeat first, the film starts at 8:30 sharp. Local extremely indie filmmaker Jude Ramirez has made a local and extremely indie film. Seems crimey, from the trailer. Send a friend to the West Bay grime event, you go to this one, and write us a collaborative vibe report. [eventbrite]
Also: Oakland Magic Circle’s 100th anniversary show and gala at the Scottish Rite Center (The Lake)
Wednesday, September 10
Call on City Council Members to Vote NO on Proposed Encampment Abatement Policy, 11 AM, Frank Ogawa Plaza (Downtown). Councilmember Ken Houston’s proposed policy removes the existing minimal protections in place that prevent our neighbors being criminalized simply for being homeless. Specifically, it authorizes citation and towing of inhabited vehicles. The commons belong to us all. (Also on Zoom: to be recognized to speak via Zoom, sign up 24 hours before the meeting). [Google Docs]
EXPLOSIVITY! 3:30 pm, 575 McCone Hall (UC Berkeley). Friend of ORB Javier Arbona-Homar will talk about his great new book about five big explosions in the Bay Area in the last century and a half. Explosivity is the new hotness all the kids are talking about, we like the sound ka-BOOM. [UCB]
Oakland International Film Festival, 4 pm, Grand Lake Theatre (Grand Ave). So many movies. Some long, some short. None you’ve ever heard of or seen before. But if you don’t go, you’ll miss the cool five minutes that launches the whole thing: “The Bear Carver of Manzanita” which is “The surprising story of how Steph Curry funded a new basketball court in Oakland, California, and how a small catastrophe inspired a chainsaw-wielding worker to add his own artistic touch.” BEARS! [OIFF]
Peter Sussman's Decca: The Letters Of Jessica Mitford, 6 pm, Mrs Dalloway's (College Ave). The communist Mitford Sister, known as "The Queen of the Muckrakers” and a Berkeley-Oakland border local. In addition to good politics and good writing, like all the Mitfords, a celebrated wit and a prolific and passionate writer of letters. Peter Sussman, also a neighborhood local, edited the letters, after a long career editing at the SF Chronicle. The London Sunday Times called it “the funniest, most enthralling and gloriously honest collections of contemporary letters I have yet read.” [eventbrite]
[West Bay Bonus Event] Elaine Castillo in conversation with Jenny Odell, 6pm, SFPL Main (Larkin St). Castillo’s new novel Moderation follows Girlie-from-Milpitas whose family landed in Vegas after losing her childhood home to the mortgage crisis where she watches and judges the shittiest things humans do online. Labor, capital, class, way too much information about weight lifting, a dashing British romantic interest, and Castillo’s sharp cultural eye all fit into the novel: two remarkable Bay Area Filipina authors in conversation make this worth including in ORB even if it is on the cold side of the Bay. And also buy/borrow Castillo’s How To Read Now, which is so bracing and so damn good. [SFPL]
Also: Berkeley Poetry Slam at The Starry Plough (Berkeley) / Henri Cole launches new poetry collection with D.A. Powell at Green Apple Books (West Bay) / Fix it Clinic at Oakland Library (Temescal) / Robert Campbell on “Narratologies of Care” in Japan and Ukraine at The Faculty Club (UC Berkeley) / Friend Cult + SF Mutual Aid Fundraiser at the Alice Collective (Downtown) / Clueless with Elisa Donovan at the Balboa Theatre (West Bay) / Thriving in Times of Uncertainty: Finding Strength in Not Knowing at Book Society (College Ave)
Thursday, September 11
Supporting West Oakland’s Urban Forest, 5:30pm, West Oakland Farm Park (West Oakland). Meet the people who keep West Oakland green. Chat with tree care experts, mingle with your neighbors, and learn how you can contribute to a thriving urban forest in West Oakland for years to come. Shade is political. [eventbrite]
[West Bay Bonus Event] Fall Literary Salon, 6 pm, Commonwealth Club (West Bay).
Bay Area legend Maxine Hong Kingston, alongside bestselling and award-winning authors Aimee Liu and Pete Hsu, in a conversation moderated by Lily Hoang about the impact of the corruption of our federal government by racism and fascism on marginalized writers, readers, and independent presses. Without NEA and NIH funding, what is the fate of literary diversity in America? When the state abandons its responsibilities to citizens and our shared culture, we turn to each other. [Commonwealth Club]
Also: Oakland International Film Festival filmmakers share their stories at RBA Creative (Laurel) / Kõmij Mour Ijin / Our Life Is Here: An Evening with Artists and Climate Leaders from the Marshall Islands at Bakar BioEnginuity Hub (UC Berkeley)
Friday, September 12
Poetry! 6:30pm, Tamarack (Downtown). Tritone translators’ edition: erasmo pantoja (publisher of biblioteca popular bruce lee [bpbl]) from Colombia, and Naseem Alavi and Joe Rupprecht from Oakland. [instagram]
If Every Poster Was a Stone, 7pm Eastside Arts Alliance (San Antonio). Closing reception celebrating this exhibition of political posters, curated by the Palestinian Youth Movement and Thad Higa. [instagram]
Also: Inside Out 2 at Cordonices Park (Berkeley) / The History of Art in 15 Minutes at Saint Joseph’s Art Society (West Bay)
Saturday, September 13
Black Spaces Walkthrough, 12 pm, OMCA (The Lake). Join Associate Curator of History, Dania Talley, for a walkthrough of Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain. Visit the histories of Russell City (which was in Hayward before the neighborhood was razed -- the exhibition could really use a map and more geographic context) and West Oakland, and envision the futures of Black East Bay communities. [OMCA]
[West Bay] Black Gold: Stories Untold, 12 pm, Fort Point. Meet the artists featured in the site-specific exhibition at the actual Golden Gate. Performances, workshops, poetry and a harp on free community day in collaboration with the Museum of African Diaspora [For Site]
[North Bay Bonus Event] Quiet Lightning’s Poetry in the Park, 12 pm, China Camp Village (San Pablo Bay). Readings by the Marin County Youth Poet Laureate followed by a literary mixtape curated by Decentered Arts' Rhea Joseph and Liz Cahill, and a Better Ancestors showcase featuring Marisa Lin, Monique McCoy, Cael Dueñas-Lara, Michael Gallagher, shannon garth-rhodes & special host Kato Bisase. Oakland poets are in the mix, of course. [Quiet Lightning]
in xochitl in cuicatl tzontetl | flor Y canto festival de la poesía rebelde | rebel flower & song poetry festival, 2pm, EastSide Cultural Center (San Antonio). The second Flor y Canto poetry festival brings together an array of poets to share their words, dreams and struggles in the midst of a deepening rightwing fascist regime in the U.S. Poets include Josiah Luis Alderete, Esperanza Cabrales, arnoldo colibrí, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Lourdes Figueroa, Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo, Nida Liftawiya, Lili of the Valley, Monica Mody, Lubna Morrar, Amanda Saeed, Yaccaira Salvatierra, Lorene Zarou-Zouzounis.
Valerie Witte and Sarah Rosenthal launch One Thing Follows Another, 7 pm, Lone Glen (Berkeley). Witte and Rosenthal’s collaborative poetic essays in One Thing Follows Another take experimental form to take on experiments in mid-century dance. Joined by Jennifer Hasegawa and Faith Adiele on their new books, too. [Lone Glen]
Also: Oakland Chinatown Night Market / Hike and Sip: A Night of Redwoods and Stars at Chabot Space and Science Museum (The Hills) / Music in The Park - Bluegrass Fest at the Berkeley Waterfront / Babylon Salon at the Sycamore (The Mission) / Uncorking the Future of Child Care at OMCA (The Lake) / Save the Bay Latinos in Conservation Week at StB’s Oakland Nursery (MLK Jr Regional Shoreline) / Berkeley Waterfront Boatride (Berkeley Marina) / Altered Book Workshop at The Drawing Room SF (WEst Bay) / Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival at Marston Campbell Park (West Oakland)
Sunday, September 14
Chill with Liam, 11am, New Village Oakland (East of the Lake). Enjoy a lazy Sunday surrounded by native plants, chill music on vinyl, and good vibes, courtesy of DJ East Bay Yesterday. Bring a book, relax in the sun, meet new friends. [eventbrite]
Word Games with Apus Magazine, 3 pm, East Bay (RSVP for location). The bilingual English/Chinese independent literary magazine and writers’ community is in collaboration with Yūva Art Lounge for a one-of-a-kind event where language meets image. Special guest RC, Chief Designer, will share her insights on cover design, inspiration, and artistic process. Then it’s your turn to make words into art. [instagram]
ICE out of the Bay, 3-6pm, Dimond Park (Dimond). Second local community defense assembly, food, interpretation, and facilitation provided.
The Wheat Fields Still Whisper, 6:30pm, Womb House Books (Temescal Alley). Join the conversation between the book’s author and UC Berkeley Law prof Mallika Kaur and activist Navkiran Kaur Khalra, whose family’s story is shared in the book, about faith, gender, and activism in the Punjab Conflict. [eventbrite]
Also: Solano Avenue Stroll 49 on Solano Ave (Albany) / Indie Pop-Up Music Show at the Morcom Rose Garden (Grand Lake) / Picnic for Pages in Golden Gate Park (West Bay) / Terra Oliveira and Wendy M. Thompson at Book Passage (Corte Madera)
