Poetry Flash > calendar > Bruce Isaacson, James Norman, Andrew Romanelli, Jan Steckel

Daily Listings

Jan Steckel

Bruce Isaacson, James Norman, Andrew Romanelli, Jan Steckel

2 MAY 2024 — thursday

Poetry Flash presents a Zeitgeist Press reading by Zeitgeist publisher, poet and novelist Bruce Isaacson, Anthems of the Damned; poet James Norman, A Monk with No Religion; poet Andrew Romanelli, Rotgut; and poet and fiction writer Jan Steckel, Ghosts and Oceans, stories, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 7:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).

Thank you for continuing to support Poetry Flash and our reading series.
Featured books for this reading will be available for signing at the event. The video of this event will be posted on the Poetry Flash YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/channel/UClwdR-uPFNz7XxbBbLcnoEA.

MORE ABOUT THE READERS

Bruce Isaacson's new book of poems is Anthems of the Damned, in which the poet shows how it feels "to be human in an age of the ghosted soul." His most recent previous collection was Leningrad to Las Vegas. His new novel is Vegas Dirt, as he says, "These are human stories of the Great Recession—the salesman with two families, the mogul in misery, the erotic dancer who took the stage name America." Isaacson was the first Poet Laureate of Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas. He's also publisher of Zeitgeist Press. Recipient of degrees from Claremont McKenna, Dartmouth, and Brooklyn College, where he submitted a thesis to Allen Ginsberg, he has long been associated with the Café Babar readings, a San Francisco poetry and spoken word series that formed part of the '80s spoken word resurgence. Also known as a finalist in the inaugural Nuyorican Poetry Slam, he is a founder of Poetry Promise, Inc., a non-profit curator of poetry programs in Clark County, Nevada.

James Norman's new book of poems is How to Set Yourself on Fire and Call It Art, focusing on his relation to activism. His recent collections include A Monk with No Religion. Among his other previous titles are One Night the Buddha Drank Himself to Death and At the Point Where Gravity Finally Fails Us. Zeitgeist Press says, "James Norman assumes the open road would call his name. Musician, part-time lover—a heterodoxical historian of the forgotten, a half-assed Buddhist in his concrete monastery, a traveling freak show feeding LSD to a higher consciousness—Contradictions are the meat on the bones that construct him."

Andrew Romanelli's first book of poems is Rotgut. An IWW member and an activist for the disenfranchised, he's worked many jobs from busboy, debt collector, traveling salesman, deliverer of hair products, and much else. A teaching artist for the Alzheimer's Poetry Project, he's "the boy who cannot be pulled away from the beauty inherent in the discarded." His chapbook Supermarket Poems was published in 2023. Among his honors is a John Oliver Simon Award for a student poet of exceptional promise.

Jan Steckel's newest book is her debut short story collection, Ghosts and Oceans. Thaisa Frank says, "In Ghosts and Oceans, Jan Steckel has created her own magic realism, exploring fluid realms between rumor and myth. A woman becomes the color of a mango. An angel makes a hurried appearance at the hour of death. The sea is alternatively seductive and dangerous. The language is so musical; you can hear the book. Or—as one character says—'The words are one thing and the music another, but there comes a time in the imagination of the singer when the words are the music and the music the words.' Both the lush musicality and startling imagination invite the reader to travel in tilted and surprising worlds." Her latest poetry book is Like Flesh Covers Bone; her previous books include The Horizontal Poet, winner of the Lambda Literary Best Bisexual Book Award, her fiction chapbook Mixing Tracks, and her poetry chapbook The Underwater Hospital. She is a Harvard-Yale trained pediatrician, who worked in the Peace Corps and serviced poor communities. Nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize, she lives in Oakland, California.

Daily Listings

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2 MARCH 2026 — monday
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3 MARCH 2026 — tuesday
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4 MARCH 2026 — wednesday
Beyond Baroque hosts a presentation of the binational collection Speaking in Tongues/Hablando en Lenguas: Posesía Mexa=Chicanx, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, free for members, $7.29 students/seniors, $11.49 general admission, and livestream on YouTube, 7:30 pm PST (/www.youtube.com/c/BeyondBaroque/videos; Tickets can be purchased at: www.eventbrite.com/e/speaking-in-tongues-hablando-en-lenguas-conversacion-y-lectura-de-poesia-tickets-1982923835571?aff=oddtdtcreator)
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Sandip Roy reads from Chapal Rani, the Last Queen of Bengal: The Life and Times of a Female Impersonator, in conversation with journalist Jeanne Carstensen, on Zoom and in person, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, for the Zoom, registration is required, free, 7:00 pm PST (www.eventbrite.com/e/sandip-roy-in-conversation-with-jeanne-carstensen-tickets-1979767252145?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com)
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5 MARCH 2026 — thursday
Rae Alexandra and Adrienne Simms present their new book, Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area, in-store and on Zoom, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free registration required for the Zoom, 7:00 pm PST (www.eventbrite.com/e/launch-party-for-unsung-heroines-35-women-who-changed-the-bay-area-tickets-1980084425820?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com)
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UC Berkeley Library and the Lunch Poems series present poet and translator Cindy Juyoung Ok, Ward Toward, Yale Series of Younger Poets, in a reading, Morrison Library (inside Doe Library), 101 Library Ct., University of California Berkeley campus, free, 12:10 pm (www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/lunch-poems)
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6 MARCH 2026 — friday
The Center of Literary Arts of San José presents novelist Lauren Groff, in a reading from her latest novel, The Vaster Wilds, Hammer Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antionio, San Jose, free, 6:30 pm (www.clasanjose.org)
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7 MARCH 2026 — saturday
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8 MARCH 2026 — sunday
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9 MARCH 2026 — monday
City Lights with Beyond Plastics, and SF Bay Chapter Physicians for Social Responsibility present Judith Enck in conversation with Adam Mahoney discussing their new book The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It's Too Late, Zoom, free, registration required, 6:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/judith-enck-with-adam-mahoney-tickets-1979780846807?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/judith-enck-with-adam-mahoney-the-problem-with-plastic)
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10 MARCH 2026 — tuesday
Cindy Cohn presents her new book, Privacy's Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance, both in-store and on Zoom, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, registration required for Zoom, 7:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/cindy-cohn-privacys-defender-tickets-1979869193053?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/cindy-cohn-launch-party-for-privacys-defender)
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11 MARCH 2026 — wednesday
The Hugh C. Hyde Living Writers' Series at SDSU presents San Diego Poet Laureate Paola Capó-García in a reading from her most recent work, including Clap For Me That's Not Me, in-person, San Diego State University Library, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, in the Leon Williams Room, LL430, Love Library, Fourth Floor, free, 7:00 pm (library.sdsu.edu/events#event-details/6337cfc7-8539-417c-811a-ea823b24ce48)
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Dan Simon reads from his new novel, Ashland , in conversation with fiction writer, poet, and playwright Barry Gifford, both in-store and on Zoom, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, registration required for Zoom, 7:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/dan-simon-in-conversation-with-barry-gifford-tickets-1979870663451?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/dan-simon-in-conversation-with-barry-gifford
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12 MARCH 2026 — thursday
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13 MARCH 2026 — friday
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14 MARCH 2026 — saturday
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15 MARCH 2026 — sunday
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16 MARCH 2026 — monday
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17 MARCH 2026 — tuesday
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18 MARCH 2026 — wednesday
The Hugh C. Hyde Living Writers' Series at SDSU presents Amaranth Borsuk, scholar, poet, and book artist working at the intersection of print and digital media, in a reading from her recent work including W/\SH, a collaboration with Terri Witek, in-person, San Diego State University Library, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, in the Leon Williams Room, LL430, Love Library, Fourth Floor, free, 7:00 pm (library.sdsu.edu/events#event-details/61031f05-e592-445c-b1cb-1fd19e1bc8ec)
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Marc Francis in conversation with Jesse Ataide, writer and creator of QUEER MODERNISMS website, to celebrate Marc Francis's Curating Deviance: Programming the Queer Film Canon, on Zoom, free, registration required, 6:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/marc-franciscurating-deviance-programming-the-queer-film-canon-tickets-1982314955394?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/marc-francis-curating-deviance-programming-the-queer-film-canon)
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19 MARCH 2026 — thursday
City Lights and the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University celebrate the publication of America, A Love Story, new poems on love, family, and art, with a reading by the poet and author, Camille T. Dungy, in conversation with poet Tonya M. Foster, on Zoom, free, registration required, 6:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/camille-t-dungy-in-conversation-with-tonya-m-foster-tickets-1982617001823?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/camille-t-dungy-in-conversation-with-tonya-m-foster)
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20 MARCH 2026 — friday
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21 MARCH 2026 — saturday
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22 MARCH 2026 — sunday
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23 MARCH 2026 — monday
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24 MARCH 2026 — tuesday
City Lights and Litquake co-present Hannah Lillith Assadi reading from and celebrating the publication of her new book, Paradiso 17: A Novel, in conversation with memoirist and novelist Ingrid Rojas Contreras, in-store, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, 7:00 pm (citylights.com/events/hannah-lillith-assadi)
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25 MARCH 2026 — wednesday
Crystal Simone Smith celebratesthe publication of her new book, Common Sense (1776) Addressed to Today's Citizens of America: An Erasure, in conversation with poet Tongo Eisen-Martin, former San Francisco Poet Laureatem, in-store and on Zoom, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, registration required for Zoom, 7:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/crystal-simone-smith-in-conversation-with-tongo-eisen-martin-tickets-1979876751661?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/crystal-simone-smith)
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A poetry reading from new books by acclaimed poets Dean Rader, Notes, with Matthew Zapruder reading from How To Continue, both in-store and on Zoom, City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, free, registration required for Zoom, 7:00 pm PDT (www.eventbrite.com/e/dean-rader-with-matthew-zapruder-tickets-1979890798676?aff=oddtdtcreator, and citylights.com/events/dean-rader-with-matthew-zapruder)
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26 MARCH 2026 — thursday
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27 MARCH 2026 — friday
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28 MARCH 2026 — saturday
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29 MARCH 2026 — sunday
Poetry Flash presents a Sixteen Rivers Press Book Launch poetry reading by Dane Cervine, Children of Obscura: This Mysterious Human, Carolyn Miller, Random Universe, and Lenore Myers, Afterimages, Art House Gallery & Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, two blocks north of Ashby BART, refreshments, free, 3:00 pm PDT (poetryflash.org).
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30 MARCH 2026 — monday
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31 MARCH 2026 — tuesday
University of San Francisco's MFA Writing Program Reading Series hosts poet Derrick Austin, reading from This Elegance, his forthcoming collection, he is a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and a Cave Canem Fellow, USFCA's McLaren Complex 252, 2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, free, 7:45 pm (www.usfca.edu/event/mfa-writing-program-reading-series-derrick-austin/13057164)
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