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PROGRAMS
Gerald Fleming and Julia B. Levine
Bruce Isaacson
Bruce Isaacson, Jan Steckel, Deborah Fruchey on Rudy Jon Tanner
19 SEPTEMBER 2021 — sunday
Poetry Flash presents a virtual Zeitgeist Press poetry reading by Bruce Isaacson, Leningrad to Las Vegas, and Jan Steckel, Like Flesh Covers Bone; poet and editor Deborah Fruchey presents the late Rudy Jon Tanner's If Thirst is Proof of Water, online via Zoom, free, 3:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: please click here; you will receive an email with a link to join the reading)
Please join us for a Poetry Flash virtual reading on Sunday, September 19 at 3:00 pm PDT! We are excited to bring you this Zeitgeist Press event via Zoom. To register for this reading, please click on the link in the calendar listing above. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series during these unprecedented times.
The featured books are available at www.zeitgeist-press.com.
MORE ABOUT THE READERS
Deborah L. Fruchey's recent Zeitgest poetry collection is Three Kinds of Dark. Connie Post says, "A great new book from the well-known author of books, romances, and poems with emotional punch. The poems in this collection have verve, have a kick, and will leave your senses wanting more.…" Deborah Fruchey is also the author of Armadillo (poetry), two comedy romance novels, one self-help manual for the mentally ill, and Priestess of Secrets, a recent flash fiction collection. Her debut novel was chosen as a "Best Book" by the American Booksellers Association. A part of the Above Paradise and Café Babar scenes, her work appeared in the Babarian anthology, Poets from Hell. She edited If Thirst is Proof of Water, by the late Rudy Jon Tanner, and Our Lady of Telegraph Avenue, a tribute to the late poet Julia Vinograd.
Rudy Jon Tanner passed away in August 2021. If Thirst is Proof of Water, edited by Deborah Fruchey, is his first full-length collection, and was published in 2021 by Zeitgeist Press. Audio of him reading his own poetry will be presented at this event. Previously, he published two chapbooks, Picasso's Monkey, and The Accidental Beacons of Things Worn Away. Tanner studied piano and twentieth century composing at Oklahoma City University, where he also began writing poetry, while he continued to compose. He moved to California in 1980. He attended the Old Spaghetti Factory readings in North Beach, where he became friends with Julia Vinograd, along with her many friends who just happened to have a very natural talent for stunning poetry.
Jan Steckel's most recent book, Like Flesh Covers Bone, published by Zeitgeist Press, won the 2019 Rainbow Awards for LGBT Poetry and Best Bisexual Book. James Cagney says, "These poems have come for blood. Jan Steckel writes often humorous, always electrified poetry of great depth and courage. Take this journey!" Her poetry collection, The Horizontal Poet, won a 2012 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Nonfiction. Her fiction chapbook, Mixing Tracks, and poetry chapbook The Underwater Hospital have also won awards. She lives in Oakland, California.
Bruce Isaacson's new book of poems is Leningrad to Las Vegas; Jack Hirschman says, "…a brilliantly composed novel in poems…very beautifully evoked…you will learn more about Russia soon after the end of the Soviet Union via Isaacson's terrific perceptions than you'll read anywhere." He is known here in the Bay Area both as a poet and the publisher of Zeitgeist Press, and is often associated with the Café Babar series, part of the SF spoken word revival of the 1980s. A graduate student with Allen Ginsberg at Brooklyn College, he was a finalist in the inaugural season of the Nuyorican Poetry Slam. The first Poet Laureate of Clark County, Nevada whose two million population includes Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Strip, he is the founder of Poetry Promise, Inc., a non-profit whose mission is the advancement of the knowledge and practice of poetry. Isaacson is the author of several previous collections, including Ghosts Among the Neon and The Last Lie.
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26 SEPTEMBER 2021 — sunday
- The Claremont Library presents a reading with poet Andrea Carter Brown, September 12, and poet and playwright Beverly Lafontaine, part of the Fourth Sundays reading series, Louise Roberts Room, Claremont United Church of Christ, 233 W Harrison Avenue, Claremont, free, 2:00 pm PDT (For more information: www.facebook.com/events/3736094436495622)
- The Claremont Library's Fourth Sundays Reading Series presents a poetry reading featuring Andrea Carter Brown, The Disheveled Bed, Brook & Rainbow, and Beverly Lafontaine, published in Blue Satellite, Waves, and elsewhere, Claremont United Church of Christ, 233 Harrison Avenue, Claremont, free, 2:00-4:00 pm PDT (More information here: www.facebook.com/events/3736094436495622)
- The San Francisco Public Library presents writer and artist Jaime Cortez, Sexile, discussing his debut collection of short stories, Gordo, a queer, coming-of-age story set in a 1970s migrant workers camp near Watsonville, California, in conversation with poet Yosimar Reyes, For Colored Boys Who Speak Softly…), online, free, 2:00-3:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: sfpl.org/events/2021/09/26/author-jaime-cortez-conversation-yosimar-reyes)
- Sixteen Rivers Press presents a reading featuring poets Denise Low, Shadow Light, Wing, and Kim Shuck, Exile Heart, Deer Trails, in-person in the Sacred Hoop Garden, Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley, free, 3:00 pm PDT
- San Francisco Center for the Book presents the 18th Annual Roadworks Steamroller Printing Festival; this year's classic print artists are Katherine Case, Danguole Kuolas, Rik Olson, Erik Rewitzer, Michelle Wilson, SFCB, 375 Rhode Island Street, San Francisco, between 16th and 17th, San Francisco, free, 11:00 am-4:00 pm (Visit: sfcb.org/Roadworks2021)
27 SEPTEMBER 2021 — monday
- Green Apple Books presents Keith Boykin, CNN political commentator and best-selling author of Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America, discussing his new book, Race Against Time: The Politics of a Darkening America, a call to fight racism, xenophobia, sexism, and homophobia, free, online via Zoom and in person, Green Apple Books, 1231 9th Avenue, San Francisco, 6:00 pm PDT (Register for the Zoom link here: www.greenapplebooks.com/event/9th-ave-keith-boykin)
- San Jose State University presents a SJSU Craft Talk by poet Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric, online via Zoom, free, 3:30 pm-4:30 pm PDT (Enter the talk with this Zoom link: sjsu.zoom.us/j/84103691348?pwd=OE85NGplZC82YXY3bXZVSmZwK051QT09)
- The Center for Literary Arts of San José is pleased to present Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen: An American Lyric, a reflection on racial inequalities through personal, professional and artistic lenses, in a reading and conversation with Jalylah Burrell, Assistant Professor of African American Studies at San José University, online via Crowdcast, free, 5:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.crowdcast.io/e/cla-presents-claudia/register)
- City Lights Books presents Steven Reigns, first Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, Inheritance, reading from and discussing his new book, A Quilt for David, which uncovers the hidden history of the life and death of Dr. David Acer, a gay man accused of infecting his patients with HIV, and the media hysteria and scapegoating that overshadowed his life, free, online via Zoom, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.citylights.com/bookstore/?fa=books_events)
28 SEPTEMBER 2021 — tuesday
- Cobalt Poets presents a reading featuring poet Chen Chen, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, winner of an A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, open mic to follow, free, online via Zoom, 7:30 pm PDT (Zoom link here: www.poetrysuperhighway.com/cobalt/calendar.html)
- Two Lines Press presents Carl de Souza discussing his novel, Kaya Days, newly translated from French into English, in conversation with Jeffrey Zuckerman, translator of the book, and poet and essayist Kei Miller, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, online via Zoom, free, 4:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: catranslation.org/event/kaya-days-carl-de-souza-and-jeffrey-zuckerman-in-conversation-with-kei-miller)
29 SEPTEMBER 2021 — wednesday
- City Lights Books presents a reading of Project 1521, a collection of Southern California poets, artists, and scholars, featuring poets Gloria Enedina Alvarez, Yago S. Cura, Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, Arminé Ikandossian, Darren J. de Leon, Diana Magaloni, Linda Ravenswood de Montaño, and visual artist Sandy Rodriguez, hosted by Josiah Luis Alderete, poet and host of the reading series "Speaking Axolotl", reading from their new collection, You Will Not Be Forgotten, the debut volume of poetry from the group, free, online via Zoom, 6:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: citylights.com/events)
- Bookshop Santa Cruz presents novelist and filmmaker Ruth Ozeki, My Year of Meats, All Over Creation, discussing and reading from her new novel, The Book of Form and Emptiness, online, $34, ticket includes a copy of the book, 6:00 pm PDT (Purchase tickets here: www.bookshopsantacruz.com/ruth-ozeki)
30 SEPTEMBER 2021 — thursday
- San Francisco Public Library presents poet Brian Komei Dempster, Topaz, reading from his new collection of poetry, Seize, winner of the Julie Suk Award and finalist for both the Eric Hoffer Book Award and the National Indie Excellence Award in Poetry, free, online, 6:00-7:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: sfpl.org/events/2021/09/30/author-brian-komei-dempster-seize)
- The Poetry Center presents a reading of Coronavirus Haikus, a selection of poems written by frontline workers during the Covid 19 pandemic, featuring poet and essayist Mark Nowak, Coal Mountain Elementary, and the Worker Writers School, a school founded by Nowak that represents New York City's least-heard population, low-wage workers, including Thomas Barzey, Kerl Brooks, Estabon Chimilio, Nimfa Despabiladeras, Lorraine Garnett, Davidson Garrett, Seth Goldman, Christine Lewis, Doreen McGill, Alando McIntyre, Kelebohile Nkhereanye, Alfreda Small, and Paloma Zapata, emceed by Tanya Hollis, online, free, 7:00 pm PDT (Register to attend: poetry.sfsu.edu/events/29200-mark-nowak-and-worker-writers-school-coronavirus-haiku-reading-and-conversation)
- Diesel Bookstore presents best-selling science writer Mary Roach, Stiff, Gulp, discussing her new book, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, in conversation with L.A. Times columnist Patt Morrison, online, free, 5:30 pm PDT (Register to attend: www.dieselbookstore.com/event/virtual-event-thursday-september-30-530pm-mary-roach-joins-la-times-ideas-exchange-discuss)
- Come join this German-English Translation Slam, an event where translators Didem Uca and Jon Cho-Polizzi independently translate a German poem by poet Keça Filankes into English, read their translations, and discuss their choices as well as the cultural and linguistic impact of the original poem, followed by an audience Q&A, moderated by David Gramling, online, free, 10:00-11:00 am PDT (Register to attend: www.pw.org/literary_events/germanenglish_translation_slam_one_text_two_translators_and_no_wrong_answers)
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