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Audience: Berkeley clear filter
Friday, October 9
 

6:00pm PDT

"I took the lake between my legs": Women of a Certain Age Read Poems on Sex and Death
Friday October 9, 2026 6:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Vintage Berkeley Wine Shop
Buy Tickets/RSVP
$12 adv / $15 door

Co-presented with Left Margin Lit and Vintage Berkeley

Back by popular demand, with an all-new lineup! Sex and death are central human concerns, but older women poets often find themselves silenced or sidelined on the first of these subjects. Here, in an event curated by Rebecca Foust, five women aged 40 and better—Mahogany L. Browne, Prageeta Sharma, Jen Siraganian, Melissa Stein, and Barbara Jane Reyes—will share frankly erotic work that refuses to be muted or mooted and makes a bulwark of bodily sensuality against death, time, and our aging selves. Alongside the reading, emceed by poet Tracey Knapp, winemaker Emily Fernwood will be on site to introduce Osa Major wines, which will be available for purchase by the glass. This event will take place on Vintage Berkeley’s secret garden patio—dress accordingly! Doors at 5:30pm.
Moderators
avatar for Tracey Knapp

Tracey Knapp

Tracey Knapp's second collection, Swerve, was released from Pine Row Press in Spring 2026. Her first full-length collection of poems, Mouth, won the 42 Miles Press Poetry Award and was published in 2015. Tracey has received awards and scholarships from La Romita School of Art in... Read More →
Speakers
avatar for Emily Fernwood

Emily Fernwood

Osa Major Wines
Emily Fernwood is a Berkeley-based winemaker devoted to crafting classic, site-driven wines under Osa Major Wines. Working with organically farmed vineyards across California, her approach emphasizes native fermentations, gentle handling, and little to no added sulfur, allowing the grapes an... Read More →
avatar for Jen Siraganian

Jen Siraganian

Jen Siraganian is an Armenian-American writer and former Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, California. Her debut collection, Everything Has Been Moved, Even the Dead, which won the 2026 Perugia Press Prize, was a finalist for the Tupelo Press Dorset Prize and The Journal’s Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize, and a semi-finalist for the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize, Philip Levine Prize for Poetry, and Vassar Miller Prize. Her poems have won... Read More →
avatar for Melissa Stein

Melissa Stein

Melissa Stein is the author of the poetry collections Terrible blooms (Copper Canyon Press) and Rough Honey, winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Prize. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, New England Review, Best New Poets, and others, and she’s received awards and fellowships from the NEA, Pushcart Prize, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She is a freelance editor in the Bay Area... Read More →
avatar for Mahogany L. Browne

Mahogany L. Browne

Mahogany L. Browne is a writer, playwright, organizer, and educator is the inaugural poet in residence at Lincoln Center, a 2022 Kennedy Center Next 50 Fellow, the inaugural Distinguished Writer in Residence at Wesleyan University, a MacDowell Arts Advocacy Awardee, a NAACP Image Award nominess and... Read More →
avatar for Prageeta Sharma

Prageeta Sharma

Prageeta Sharma is the author of six collections of poetry; her most recent collection is Onement Won, out from Wave Books. She is the founder of the conference Thinking Its Presence: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Race, Creative Writing, and Artistic and Aesthetic Practices, a recent recipient of the 2025 NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, and is currently the Henry G. Lee... Read More →
avatar for Rebecca Foust

Rebecca Foust

Rebecca Foust’s books include You Are Leaving the American Sector: Love Poems (Blue Light Press 2026) and Only (Four Way Books 2022). Her poems appear widely in venues including The Slowdown, Iowa Review, Ploughshares, Poem-a-Day, POETRY, and Southern Review, winning the James Dickey, New Ohio Review, Pablo Neruda, James Hearst, and Poetry International prizes in recent years... Read More →
avatar for Barbara Jane Reyes

Barbara Jane Reyes

Barbara Jane Reyes is the author of Poeta en San Francisco, Diwata, Invocation to Daughters, Letters to a Young Brown Girl, and others. Her eighth book, Daughtersong Diaspore, is forthcoming in 2027.
Friday October 9, 2026 6:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Vintage Berkeley Wine Shop 2113 Vine St, Berkeley, CA 94709
  Poetry

7:00pm PDT

Olivie Blake: Dreamland
Friday October 9, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Gilman Brewing
Buy Tickets/RSVP
Pay-what-you-can for guaranteed seat; FREE to walk-ups (space depending)

Get in the spirit of scary season with the latest moody masterpiece from bestselling novelist Olivie Blake, author of Girl Dinner. Loosely inspired by the 1947 Black Dahlia murder, Dreamland is a dark Hollywood fable about fame, ambition, and the price some people are willing to pay to achieve both. Alix E. Harrow calls it nothing short of a “gory, gothic masterpiece.” In conversation with Kristina Ten, whose work Blake selected for the latest Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy anthology. Dress in your Hollywood finery (or come as you are) and bring your burning questions for Olivie Blake! Doors at 6:30pm.

Moderators
avatar for Kristina Ten

Kristina Ten

Kristina Ten is the author of Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine (2025, Stillhouse Press). Her stories appear in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction, The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, and elsewhere. She has won the McSwee... Read More →
Speakers
avatar for Olivie Blake

Olivie Blake

Olivie Blake is the New York Times bestselling author of sci-fi and fantasy for adults, including Dreamland, The Atlas Six trilogy, Alone with You in the Ether, Masters of Death, the short story collection Januaries, and her most recent novel, Girl Dinner. With Little Chmura, she... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Gilman Brewing 912 Gilman St, Berkeley
  Sci-fi / Fantasy / Horror, Pay What You Can
 
Tuesday, October 13
 

7:00pm PDT

Asale Angel-Ajani: Fugitive Archives Launch
Tuesday October 13, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Pegasus Books
Buy Tickets/RSVP
FREE, $10–15 suggested donation

Co-presented with Pegasus Books

Asale Angel-Ajani will discuss Fugitive Archives: An American Family and the Myth of Belonging—an incisive, lyrical exploration of one family's history that radically overturns American myths about race, violence, and belonging. In conversation with Carvell Wallace, who has called Fugitive Archives “courageous, impressive, and deeply powerful.”
Moderators
avatar for Carvell Wallace

Carvell Wallace

Carvell Wallace is the best-selling author of the memoir Another Word For Love — a Kirkus Prize finalist, and Whiting Award winner. As a podcaster he has been nominated for a Peabody and won a Kaleidoscope Award in Journalism. His essays have appeared in the New York Times Maga... Read More →
Speakers
avatar for Asale Angel-Ajani

Asale Angel-Ajani

Asale Angel-Ajani is the author of Fugitive Archives: An American Family and the Myth of Belonging, a compelling examination of racial terror and American innocence through her multiracial, working-class family. She also wrote the novel A County You Can Leave and the nonfiction b... Read More →
Tuesday October 13, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Pegasus Books 2349 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA 97404
  Nonfiction, FREE
 
Friday, October 16
 

4:30pm PDT

Peter King: The Game
Friday October 16, 2026 4:30pm - 6:00pm PDT
The Community Room, Sports Basement Berkeley
Buy Tickets/RSVP
Pay-what-you-can for guaranteed seat; $45 for guaranteed seat with discounted book; FREE to walk-ups (space depending)

Are you ready for some football? Kick off a weekend of big games—including Cal’s home matchup with Wake Forest and culminating with the 49ers on Monday Night Football—by joining fellow fans and scholars of the game for an afternoon with award-winning sports columnist Peter King. For 40+ years, King unpacked the NFL for countless readers and mentored dozens of sportswriters along the way. Now, in The Game, King combines an in-depth history of the league with his signature vivid storytelling, thorough reporting, and keen understanding of the sport. Troy Aikman points out, “Peter King has stories no one else can tell.” King will share many of them with us, in conversation with Carmen Policy, one of the architects of the Niners' glory days. Doors at 4:00pm.
Moderators
avatar for Carmen Policy

Carmen Policy

Carmen Policy’s first career was that of a trial lawyer providing an opportunity to help defend and promote the interests of his clients in a competitive and dramatic setting. He expanded his efforts into the NFL in 1979 while still maintaining a successful career in law.  Carmen then joined... Read More →
Speakers
avatar for Peter King

Peter King

Peter King wrote for Sports Illustrated from 1989 to 2018, including the weekly multiple-page column Monday Morning Quarterback. He is the author of five books, including Inside the Helmet and The Game. He has been named National Sportswriter of the Year three times. He lives in Brooklyn, New York... Read More →
Friday October 16, 2026 4:30pm - 6:00pm PDT
The Community Room, Sports Basement Berkeley 2727 Milvia St, Berkeley, CA 94703
  Nonfiction, Pay What You Can
 
Saturday, October 17
 

7:00pm PDT

Picturing the Past: Graphic Novelists on History and Memory
Saturday October 17, 2026 7:00pm - Sunday October 18, 2026 4:00pm PDT
Mrs. Dalloway's
Buy Tickets/RSVP
FREE, $10-$15 suggested donation

Sponsored by Berkeleyside

Through memoir, history, fiction, or a combination, these four talented creators use cartoons to give readers a vivid glimpse into the past. Frederick Noland shares the epic story of Major Taylor, the “world’s fastest man,” a global cycling sensation despite the incessant racism the Black athlete encountered. In Armaveni, Nadine Takvorian draws on her own family history to relate the heartbreaking history of the Armenian genocide. Emil Wilson’s The Nightingales blends fact and fiction in a personal story of the 1980s AIDS crisis. And Maria van Lieshout’s graphic novel Song of a Blackbird pairs the stories of two Dutch teens, one contemporary and one bearing witness to Nazi atrocities. Brief visual presentations will be followed by a conversation led by graphic memoirist Briana Loewinsohn. Doors at 6:30pm.
Moderators
avatar for Briana Loewinsohn

Briana Loewinsohn

Briana Loewinsohn is an American cartoonist. She is the author of the acclaimed graphic memoir Ephemera (Fantagraphics, 2023). It was listed as one of the ALA’s top graphic novels of 2023 and was awarded the 2023 Foreword Indies Editors Prize for non-fiction. Her new book, Rais... Read More →
Speakers
avatar for Nadine Takvorian

Nadine Takvorian

Nadine Takvorian is a first-generation Armenian-American author and illustrator of children’s books and graphic novels. From within the Armenian diaspora, Nadine’s family is “Bolsahye”  — from Istanbul, Turkey.

She is passionate about exploring Armenian identity and hi

... Read More →
avatar for Maria van Lieshout

Maria van Lieshout

Maria van Lieshout was born and raised in the Netherlands. She has written and illustrated fifteen picture books for kids. Her historical graphic novel Song of a Blackbird, about a female artist in the Amsterdam resistance during WWII, was inspired by events that affected her o... Read More →
avatar for Frederick Noland

Frederick Noland

Frederick Noland focuses on less-known Black Historical Figures. He created San Francisco Black History, a comics public-art series for the San Francisco Arts Commission; and Respect Black Women, a collection of biographies-in-brief. Noland's work has appeared in The New Yorker... Read More →
avatar for Emil Wilson

Emil Wilson

Emil Wilson is an artist living in San Fransisco, California. The Nightingales is his first graphic novel.
Saturday October 17, 2026 7:00pm - Sunday October 18, 2026 4:00pm PDT
Mrs. Dalloway's 2904 College Ave, Berkeley CA 94705
  Comics/Graphic Novels, FREE
 
Tuesday, October 20
 

7:00pm PDT

Pitchapalooza
Tuesday October 20, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Gilman Brewing
Buy Tickets/RSVP
Pay what you can ($15 suggested) for guaranteed seat; FREE to walk-ups (space depending)

Pitchapalooza is American Idol for books (only kinder and gentler). Twenty writers, selected at random, will pitch their book for one minute only! Judges (including The Book Doctors, Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry) will help you improve your pitch, not tell you how bad it is. Judges critique everything from idea to style to marketplace potential, and authors gain concrete advice as well as a greater understanding of the publishing industry. Whether potential authors pitch themselves, or simply listen to the critiques, Pitchapalooza is educational and entertaining for one and all. At evening’s end, the judges will pick a winner. Like the dozens of Pitchapalooza winners who have gone from talented amateurs to professionally published authors, this lucky participant will receive an introduction to an agent or publisher. Doors at 6:30pm.
Speakers
avatar for Arielle Eckstut

Arielle Eckstut

Arielle Eckstut started her career as an agent at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency where she represented dozens of authors for over thirty years. She then co-founded LittleMissMatched, an innovative, mission-driven company that sold socks that don’t match in packs of threes, opening stores... Read More →
avatar for David Henry Sterry

David Henry Sterry

David Henry Sterry is a performer, producer, and bestselling author of 18 books, translated into a dozen languages. His one-man show Chicken (based on his international bestseller) was named the #1 show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He invented Pitchapalooza, and toured it ev... Read More →
Tuesday October 20, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Gilman Brewing 912 Gilman St, Berkeley
  Nonfiction, Pay What You Can

7:00pm PDT

Memoirs: Writing Against Silence or Erasure
Tuesday October 20, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Mrs. Dalloway's
Buy Tickets/RSVP
FREE, $10–$15 suggested donation

Co-presented with Memoir Nation

These four memoirists are, in different ways, writing into spaces where their experience has been minimized, misread, or actively suppressed. Judy Juanita's California Fever Dream spans sixty years of writing focused on Black activism and feminism. In I Love You So Many, journalist Terria Smith shares lessons learned from a career sharing stories about the richness of Native people’s lives. Elena Dudum's They Told Me Back Home Would Be Beautiful is a call to action against institutional silencing and censorship. Finally, Caroline Paul has spent her career writing women into adventure narratives that historically excluded them, most recently in Why Fly. Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, co-founders of the Memoir Nation podcast and online community, will guide a compelling discussion on the power of this truth-telling form. Doors at 6:30pm.

Moderators
avatar for Grant Faulkner

Grant Faulkner

Grant Faulkner is the co-founder of Memoir Nation (and also the co-host of the Memoir Nation podcast), the co-founder of the Flash Fiction Institute, the co-founder of 100 Word Story, and an executive producer on America’s Next Great Author. He has published All the Comfort Si... Read More →
avatar for Brooke Warner

Brooke Warner

Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press, an imprint of The Stable Book Group. She is a memoir coach and author of Write On, Sisters!, Green-light Your Book, What's Your Book?, and three books on memoir. She’s also a TEDx speaker (“Green-light Revolution”), weekly podcaster (of “Memoir Nation” with co-host Grant Faulkner), and publishes a weekly newsletter, Writerly Things, on Substack at brookewarner.substack.com... Read More →
Speakers
avatar for Elena Dudum

Elena Dudum

Elena Dudum is a Palestinian-American writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, TIME, Cosmopolitan, and Bon Appétit, among others. She was awarded a Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grant in 2025 for They Told Me Back Home Would Be Beautiful, as well as the 2024 LANDO Grant from The de Groot Foundation. Born in San Francisco, she now lives between New York and London... Read More →
avatar for Judy Juanita

Judy Juanita

Judy Juanita's latest books are a memoir, California Fever Dream (Willow) and a pro-choice look at abortion, Abortion (or Woman as Threefold Murderess). Her poetry collection Gawdzilla (EquiDistance, 2022) conflates the destructive, prehistoric sea monster Godzilla with U.S. impe... Read More →
avatar for Caroline Paul

Caroline Paul

Caroline Paul is the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including THE GUTSY GIRL, which teaches bravery and confidence in middle grade girls, and TOUGH BROAD, From BASE jumping to Birdwatching, How Outdoor Adventure Improves our Lives as We Age. Her most recent book is WHY FLY, Seeking Awe, Healing... Read More →
avatar for Terria Smith

Terria Smith

Terria Smith is a tribal member of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and a proud original Californian. She is the editor of News from Native California magazine and director of the Berkeley Roundhouse, Heyday’s California Indian publishing program. Smith is also the e... Read More →
Tuesday October 20, 2026 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Mrs. Dalloway's 2904 College Ave, Berkeley CA 94705
  Storytelling/Memoir, FREE
 
Thursday, October 22
 

6:00pm PDT

Fire, Earth, Air & Water: Nik Sharma on the Science of Better Cooking
Thursday October 22, 2026 6:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Book Society
Buy Tickets/RSVP
$30 Book Society Members / $45 General Public

Sponsored by Chronicle Books
Media sponsorship by Berkeleyside
Co-presented with Book Society

With books like Season and The Flavor Equation, award-winning cookbook author and America's Test Kitchen Editor in Residence Nik Sharma has earned a reputation for blending storytelling and science with recipes that are seasonal, reliable, and delicious. In his fourth cookbook, Fundamentals of Flavor: 100 Recipes for the Science of Better Cooking, this former molecular biologist shows home cooks how four elements—fire, earth, air, and water—shape the way we cook and taste. In conversation with food writer Soleil Ho, Sharma will lead an interactive evening in the spirit of a test kitchen: an intimate conversation with tastings of recipes from the book. Doors at 6:00pm. Ticket includes tastings and wine or a non-alcoholic beverage. $10 of each ticket supports Litquake.


Moderators
avatar for Soleil Ho

Soleil Ho

Soleil is an award-winning food and culture writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2025, they co-founded the COYOTE Media Collective, a worker-owned news outlet for the Bay Area.


Speakers
avatar for Nik Sharma

Nik Sharma

Nik is the bestselling author of cookbooks celebrated for blending culinary science with deeply personal storytelling: Season, The Flavour Equation, and Veg-Table. A former molecular biologist, Sharma brings a unique lens to the kitchen, where flavour is both a feeling and a formula... Read More →
Thursday October 22, 2026 6:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Book Society 2945 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705
  Food
 

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