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Mary Mackey

Mary Mackey and Judy Wells

11 JUNE 2023 — sunday

Poetry Flash presents a reading by Mary Mackey, Creativity: Where Poems Begin, and Judy Wells, Night at the Musée d'Orsay: Poems of Paris & Other Great European Cities, in person, 2727 California Street, a Cooperative Art Gallery, Berkeley, free, 3:00 pm PDT (www.2727.today).

Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series.
Featured books for this reading will be available at the event, and are also available at bookshop.org/shop/poetryflash.

MORE ABOUT THE READERS
Mary Mackey's new book is Creativity: Where Poems Begin. Mara Lynn Keller says, "In Creativity, Mary Mackey takes us on a journey to the mysterious place where creativity begins. Her quest makes this a book for anyone who wants to explore how ideas and bursts of insight come, not just to poets and novelists, but to us all." Mackey is the author of at least eight poetry books including The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams: New and Selected Poems, 1974 to 2018, winner of 2019 Eric Hoffer Award for Best Book Published by a Small Press, Sugar Zone, winner of a PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and Travelers With No Ticket Home. She is also the author of fourteen novels including The New York Times bestseller A Grand Passion, The Village of Bones: Sabalah's Tale, and Widow's War. Mackey is past president of PEN West, a Fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Professor Emerita of California State University, Sacramento. The Mary Mackey Papers are archived at Smith College, Massachusetts.
Judy Wells's new poetry book is Night at the Musée d'Orsay: Poems of Paris & Other Great European Cities. Kathleen Weaver says, "It's a treat to immerse yourself in Wells's poems in Night at the Musée d'Orsay, rich with life, color, and memory. She creates a wraparound mood of discovery, excitation, optimism, and the youthful joy of seeing for the first time those famous paintings, those foreign streets, a civilization freshly seen and intimately embraced." Judy Wells's previous books include Dear Phebe: The Dickinson Sisters Go West, I Dream of Circus Characters: A Berkeley Chronicle, and Everything Irish. Her writings have appeared in Berkeley Times, Marin Poetry Center Anthology, The Borzoi College Reader, Shackles: International Poetry on the Oppression and Empowerment of Women, California Quarterly, Traveler's Tale Ireland, Value: Essays, Stories, & Poems by Women of a Certain Age, and Not Dead Yet: Feminism, Passion, and Women's Liberation. She is also co-editor of the anthology, Berkeley Literary Women's Revolution: Essays from Marsha's Salon.




Daily Listings

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8 MAY 2025 — thursday

  • Nonfiction author Sarah Schulman reads from her book, The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity, in which Schulman challenges the traditional notion of solidarity as a simple union of equals, arguing that in today's world of globalized power structures, true solidarity requires the collaboration of bystanders and conflicted perpetrators with the excluded and oppressed, both onsite and online, see website for Zoom registration, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/sarah-schulman)

9 MAY 2025 — friday

  • The Tritone Poetry series features poets Melissa Mack, Dana Swensen, and Wren Farrell, Tamarack, 1501 Harrison Street, Oakland, 6:00-8:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: tamarackoakland.com)

10 MAY 2025 — saturday

  • Carol Moldaw, So Late, So Soon: New and Selected Poems, reads from her latest collection, Go Figure, with National Book Award-winning poet Arthur Sze, The White Orchard: Selected Interviews, Essays, and Poems reading from his newest collection, Into the Hush, Dance Palace, 503 B Street, Point Reyes Station, 4:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: ptreyesbooks.com/event/2025-05-10/arthur-sze-carol-moldaw)
  • Book launch and party for Miss Experience White, "an illustrated, surrealistic political poem cycle about destroying the demon of white supremacy and dealing with white privilege" by writer and multidisciplinary artist Milo Starr Johnson, with illustrator John Seabury; the celebration includes a reading by Milo Starr Johnson, and brief readings by Kim Shuck, San Francisco Poet Laureate Emerita, Pick a Garnet to Sleep In; Kimi Sugioka, Alameda Poet Laureate, Wile & Wing; poet Debby Segal, Fool's Apprentice; a Q&A with Milo Starr Johnson and John Seabury follows, hosted by Richard Loranger, free admission, books available for purchase, Clarion Performing Arts Center, 2 Waverly Place, San Francisco, 3:00 pm-5:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.theclarionsf.org)

11 MAY 2025 — sunday

  • Poetry reading by Stephen Ratcliffe, w i n d o w, author of more than twenty-five books of poetry, and Norman Fischer, poet, essayist, and Soto Zen Buddhist priest, at a private home in the north Berkeley hills, seating is limited, there is an admission, 5:00 pm PDT (For more information, including the location, email the event host at: Harry@fullplatemedia.com)

12 MAY 2025 — monday

  • Poet, translator, and teacher Arthur Sze celebrates two new books, Into the Hush and The White Orchard: Selected Interviews, Essays, and Poems, with lyric poet Carol Moldaw, Go Figure, both onsite and online, see website for Zoom registration, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/arthur-sze-with-carol-moldaw)

13 MAY 2025 — tuesday

14 MAY 2025 — wednesday

  • The Blue Whale Reading Series presents a poetry reading by Mary Kay Rummel, Little River of Amazements, former Poet Laureate of Ventura County, and poet and fiction writer Susan Chiavelli, open mic follows, second Wednesday of each month, Unity of Santa Barbara Chapel, 227 East Arrellaga Street, Santa Barbara, free, 5:30 pm PST (For more information, visit: www.facebook.com/groups/sbpoetrymonth)

15 MAY 2025 — thursday

  • San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck celebrates non-English poetry by inviting Clara Hsu, Preeti Vangani, Keana Aguila Labra and special guests to read at SFPL's monthly poetry reading, the Main Library's Poem Jam poetry reading series takes place on the second Thursday of each month. unless otherwise noted, San Francisco Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Room, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, free, 6:00 pm PDT (415/557-4400, on.sfpl.org/05-15-25)

16 MAY 2025 — friday

  • The Tritone Poetry Series features poets Juliana Spahr, Violet Spurlock, and Norma Cole, Tamarack, 1501 Harrison Street, Oakland, 6:00-8:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: tamarackoakland.com)

17 MAY 2025 — saturday

18 MAY 2025 — sunday

  • Poetry Flash presents a poetry reading featuring Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Frangible Operas, and Mary Mackey, In This Burning World: Poems of Love and Apocalypse, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).

19 MAY 2025 — monday

20 MAY 2025 — tuesday

  • Oakland Poetry Slam, monthly on the third Tuesday, Tamarack, 1501 Harrison Street, Oakland, 6:30-10:30 pm PDT (For more information, visit: tamarackoakland.com)
  • Shelby Van Pelt discussed her debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures, which traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus, with novelist and short story writer Karen Joy Fowler, We are all completely beside ourselves, Kepler's Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/shelby-van-pelt)

21 MAY 2025 — wednesday

  • Ron Chernow, whose novel Alexander Hamilton was adapted into the Broadway play Hamilton, will discuss his book, Mark Twain, in conversation with Jonathan Bass, Sydney Goldstein Theater, 275 Hayes Street, San Francisco, $80, 7:30 pm PDT (For more information, visit: www.cityarts.net/event/ron-chernow)
  • The ZYZZYVA Issue 129 Celebration and 40th Anniversary Kick-off, Issue 129 contributors reading include Katherine Franco, writer and futurist Dominica Phetteplace, fiction novelist Marian Palaia, and poet D.A. Powell, emceed by ZYZZYVA Editor Oscar Villalon, limited seating, Kerouac Alley, between City Lights Bookstore and Vesuvio Cafe, 257 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 6:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/zyzzyva-issue-129-celebration-40th-anniversary-kick-off)

22 MAY 2025 — thursday

23 MAY 2025 — friday

  • The Tritone Poetry Series features poets José Vadi, Chipped: Writing From a Skateboarder's Lens, Hector Son Of Hector, and Christine No, Whatever Love Means, Tamarack, 1501 Harrison Street, Oakland, 6:00-8:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: tamarackoakland.com)

24 MAY 2025 — saturday

25 MAY 2025 — sunday

  • Michelle Tea celebrates the release of Witch: Anthology, which she edited, with readings and rituals featuring Lily Burana, Kathe Izzo, Molly Larkey, Shelley Marlow, Brooke Palmieri, Mia Tsang, and Sarah Yanni, limited seating; Secret location will be emailed to you after registration, San Francisco, 6:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/michelle-tea-and-friends)

26 MAY 2025 — monday

27 MAY 2025 — tuesday

  • Director, actor, essayist, playwright and screenwriter Ralph Remington reads from his book, Penetrating Whiteness: What Racism Really Is and What We Can Do About It, both onsite and online, see website for Zoom registration, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/ralph-remington)

28 MAY 2025 — wednesday

  • Nonfiction author Sophie Lewis reads from her book, Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation, both onsite and online, see website for Zoom registration, City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 7:00 pm PDT (For more information, visit: citylights.com/events/sophie-lewis)

29 MAY 2025 — thursday

  • Poetry Flash presents a book launch for Dan Alter, who will read from his new collection Hills Full of Holes; he'll be joined in the celebration by Judy Halebsky, Spring and a Thousand Years (Unabridged), and Maw Shein Win, Percussing the Thinking Jar, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 7:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).

30 MAY 2025 — friday

31 MAY 2025 — saturday

  • Sixteen Rivers Press presents a poetry reading with Rosa Lane, Called Back, and Camille Norton, A Folio for the Dark: Poems, Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley, 3:00-5:00 pm PDT (sixteenrivers.org)

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