Schedule Of Events:

Thursday, October 5, 2023

10:15am - 12:15pm - Kidquake: Upper Elementary at Koret Auditorium

Our acclaimed Kidquake programs for children's books, authors, illustrators, poets, and bookmakers provide readings, discussions, and workshops designed to fuel kids' imagination.
This morning's two sessions, for kids in 3rd to 5th grades, begin at 10:15am and 11:15am. Featuring authors Jorge Cham, Angela Dalton, and Mae Respicio, with workshops (by lottery) from Bettina Pauly and Milani Pelley. Livestream via San Francisco Public Library YouTube channel.


7:00pm - 10:00pm - 24 Years and 11,000 Authors: Litquake's Opening Night Party at The University Club

Come celebrate 24 years of the West Coast's largest independent literary festival, at the elegant chandeliered University Club, atop Nob Hill overlooking the city and the Bay. Mingle with authors and other members of the literary scene, including writers Kim Addonizio, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Vanessa Hua, Amy Kurzweil, Dominic Lim, and sam sax. Seize the opportunity of the hosted wine bar and tasty catered menu. Listen to live jazz from the Marcus Shelby Quartet and poetry readings from Litquake Out Loud curators Jenny Qi and Matt Sedillo. Meet our new Executive Director Norah Piehl, and toast our outgoing co-founders Jane Ganahl and Jack Boulware. Stop by the Litquake merch booth for T-shirts, stickers and posters. And pick up a copy of our printed Festival Guide to plan your next 16 days. Dress attire encouraged! $40 adv / $45 door

Cost: $40

Friday October 6, 2023

10:15am - 12:15pm - Kidquake: Lower Elementary at Koret Auditorium

Our acclaimed Kidquake programs for children's books, authors, illustrators, poets, and bookmakers provide readings, discussions, and workshops designed to fuel kids' imagination. This morning's two sessions, for kids in K to 2nd grades, begin at 10:15am and 11:15am. Featuring authors Jilanne Hoffmann, Meera Sriram, and Seina Wedlick, and workshops (by lottery) from Charlotte Chang and Jamey Williams.

7:00pm - 8:30pm - Open Throat: Henry Hoke with Tony Bravo at Telegraph Hill Books

A queer and dangerously hungry mountain lion lives in the drought-devastated land under the Hollywood sign. Lonely and fascinated by humanity's foibles, the lion spends their days protecting a nearby homeless encampment, observing hikers complain about their trauma, and, in quiet moments, grappling with the complexities of their gender identity, memories of a vicious father, and the indignities of sentience. Henry Hoke's groundbreaking novel Open Throat takes us on a tour through the mountain lion's eyes, which spans the cruel inequalities of Los Angeles, the toll of climate grief, and the ultimate question: Do they want to eat a person, or become one? In conversation with San Francisco Chronicle arts writer Tony Bravo.

"Open Throat is what fiction should be." —The New York Times Book Review

7:00pm - 9:00pm - Sheena Patel Is A Fan at The American Bookbinders Museum

Sheena Patel's incandescent first novel I'm a Fan (just released in the U.S.) begins with the unnamed narrator describing her involvement in a seemingly unequal romantic relationship. With a clear and unforgiving eye, she dissects the behavior of all involved, herself included, and makes startling connections between the power struggles at the heart of human relationships and those of the wider world. I'm a Fan offers a devastating critique of class, social media, patriarchy's hold on us, and our cultural obsession with status and how that status is conveyed. Sheena Patel reads from and discusses her work with artist/writer JD Beltran.

Saturday, October 7, 2023

10:00am - Read For Filth: A 24-Hour Celebration Of Banned Books at Fabulosa Books

Fabulosa Books announces Read For Filth, a 24 hour celebration of queer literature in the Castro. At a moment when LGBTQIA+ books are under attack and anti-gay harassment is spiking, let's come together to celebrate stories that bring us together. Read For Filth will be a grand affirmation of queer joy and a resounding rejection of hate and censorship. With proceeds going towards Books Not Bans, a program that help send queer books to LGBT centers and groups in red states, this 24-hour event will include activities for all ages celebrating stories that help us be more Cost:: Free Free. The event coincides with Banned Book Week, an annual celebration created by the American Library Association (ALA) that celebrates the Cost:: Free Freedom to read, in opposition to book bans.

Cost: Free

11:00am - 12:00pm - The Right to Read at Koret Auditorium

The current fervor around book banning might feel like something that's happening elsewhere, but its stifling effects have hit writers right here at home. As part of Banned Books Week, a panel of children's and YA authors discuss what it's like to write as a creator whose work has been banned or censored. Authors include MariNaomi, Sarah Hoffman, Gayle Pitman, and Jasmine A. Stirling, in a discussion moderated by Ian Hoffman.

Cost: Free

5:00pm - 6:00pm - Death on Lake Zurich: Introducing Swiss Crime Novelist Seraina Kobler at Telegraph Hill Books

Lake Zurich is Officer Rosa Zumbrano's beat as the first female officer in Zurich's maritime police force and a former detective, Zumbrano enjoys the relative serenity of her new daily patrol. That is, until a body is recovered from the lake—and Zumbrano realizes she knows the man. Deep Dark Blue is the launch of Swiss author Seraina Kobler's new crime fiction series, already a bestseller in Switzerland and hot off the presses in English translation. Kobler will be interviewed by Randal Brandt, curator of the California Detective Fiction Collection at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library.

5:30pm - 7:00pm - Carmen Boullosa: The Book of Eve at Medicine for Nightmares

What if everything they've told us about the Garden of Eden was wrong? Faced with what appears to be an apocryphal manuscript containing ten books and 91 chapters, Eve decides to tell her version of the story of Genesis: she was not created from Adam's rib, nor is it correct that she was expelled for taking the apple from the serpent the story of Abel and Cain isn't true, neither are those of the Flood and the Tower of Babel. In brilliant prose, Mexican author Carmen Boullosa offers a twist on the Book of Genesis that dismantles patriarchy and rebuilds our understanding of the world—from the origin of gastronomy, to the domestication of animals, to the cultivation of land and pleasure all through the feminine gaze. She reads from and discusses her work with Nancy Garcia Maldonado.

7:00pm - 9:00pm - Foglifter Fall Issue Launch at Strut

Join San Francisco's Foglifter Press as they celebrate the new issue of Foglifter literary journal—a biannual compendium of the most dynamic, urgent queer and trans writing today, with an emphasis on transgressive, risky, challenging subject matter, innovative formal choices, and work that pushes the boundaries of what writing can do. With readings from contributors Diya Abbas, Cianga, Alana Francis-Crow, Kevin Madrigal Galindo, T.S. Leonard, and Eli Shaw.

Cost: Free

Sunday October 8, 2023

10:00am - Read For Filth: A 24-Hour Celebration Of Banned Books at Fabulosa Books

Fabulosa Books announces Read For Filth, a 24 hour celebration of queer literature in the Castro. At a moment when LGBTQIA+ books are under attack and anti-gay harassment is spiking, let's come together to celebrate stories that bring us together. Read For Filth will be a grand affirmation of queer joy and a resounding rejection of hate and censorship. With proceeds going towards Books Not Bans, a program that help send queer books to LGBT centers and groups in red states, this 24-hour event will include activities for all ages celebrating stories that help us be more Cost:: Free Free. The event coincides with Banned Book Week, an annual celebration created by the American Library Association (ALA) that celebrates the Cost:: Free Freedom to read, in opposition to book bans.

Cost: Free

1:00pm - 2:30pm - A World Outside the Window: Writing Nature in a Time of Crisis at San Francisco Botanical Garden

During the pandemic, essayist Medea Isphording Bern and poet Heather Bourbeau drew inspiration from rediscovering the hidden wonders in their gardens and backyard bird feeders and chronicling their observations in poems and letters exchanged with fellow writers. Out of adversity, new collaborations took flight: Bern's epistolary book with Jane Galer, What the Raven Said, and Bourbeau's poetry collection with Anne Casey, Some Days the Bird. Birdsongs and blossoms at the San Francisco Botanical Garden will form the perfect backdrop for a conversation, led by ECOPOESIS co-founder Leslie Carol Roberts, that elevates the mundane and celebrates artistic friendships.

Cost: Free

3:00pm - 4:30pm - Leaning Toward Light: A Reading of Poets Who Tend the Earth at San Francisco Botanical Garden

Let's gather in the serene environs of the San Francisco Botanical Garden to honor the spiritual solace that can be found in reading poetry—and in tending the earth. In her new anthology Leaning Toward Light, poet Tess Taylor brings together dozens of acclaimed contemporary poets who also share her love for gardening. During this uplifting reading, Alan Chazaro, Jane Hirshfield, Danusha Laméris, and Claudia Monpere will join Taylor to read poems that celebrate a joyful connection to the natural world.

Cost: Free

7:00pm - 8:30pm - AI and the Future of Literature at Gray Area

The tech and literary worlds converge as ZYZZYVA Editor-in-Chief Oscar Villalon moderates a panel of Silicon Valley technologists and authors on how AI will change our writing process. Would literature and writers be automated, or will AI mainly be an assistive tool? What issues are present in both the training and use of AI in writing? With author Patrick House, Raiya Kind (Google), Jessica Powell (Audioshake), and James Yu (Sudowrite).

Cost: Free

Tuesday October 10, 2023

5:00pm - 7:00pm - So Many People, Mariana: A Happy Hour Reading with Magdalena Edwards at The Devil's Acre

Long discounted by a literary culture that actively rejected women's writing, Maria Judite de Carvalho's biting and bitterly funny work has since exploded across the world. Collecting the entirety of her short works written between 1959 and 1967, when the Salazar dictatorship and the rigid edicts of the Catholic church reigned, the stories in So Many People, Mariana might as well have been written today. These are tough, unflinching accounts of women trapped by a culture that values them as workers or wives but not as people. And if they do escape their circumstances, they are, more often than not, irrevocably punished by the world. Join Two Lines Press for happy hour cocktails (on them!) and be led into the sensuous dark of life under patriarchal capitalism as writer, actor, and translator Magdalena Edwards performs one of Carvalho's unsparing short stories, translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa.

Cost: Free

6:00pm - 7:30pm - Blackouts: Justin Torres and Jonathan Escoffery at City Lights Booksellers and Publishers

Out in the desert in a place called the Palace, a young man tends to a dying soul, someone he once knew briefly, but who has haunted the edges of his life. Juan Gay—playful raconteur, child lost and found and lost, guardian of the institutionalized—has a project to pass along to this new narrator. It is inspired by a true artifact of a book, Sex Variants: A Study in Homosexual Patterns, which contains stories collected in the early twentieth century from queer subjects. An extraordinary work of creative imagination, Justin Torres's Blackouts insists that we look long and steady at the world we have inherited and the world we have made—a world full of ghostly shadows and flashing moments of truth. In conversation with Jonathan Escoffery.

Cost: Free

7:00pm - 8:30pm - Tell the Rest: Lucy Jane Bledsoe with Julia Scheeres at Telegraph Hill Book

In this multilayered and explosive novel from award-winning author Lucy Jane Bledsoe, two teens meet at Celebration Camp, a church-supported conversion therapy program—the dubious, unscientific, Christian practice meant to change a person's sexuality. After witnessing a devastating tragedy, they escape in the night, and many years later, return to the site of their trauma, hoping the truth will set them Cost:: Free Free. Bledsoe will read from and discuss her work with author Julia Scheeres.

Cost: Free


Wednesday, October 11, 2023

6:00pm - 7:00pm - Hello Ireland! Readings from Irish Writers at Specs' Twelve Adler Museum Cafe

Litquake returns to its beginnings two dozen years ago—specifically, a bar in San Francisco—for this special showcase of voices from the Emerald Isle. We all know that Ireland has a deep and impressive history of great literature. Drop into Specs' in North Beach and hear some of the latest. With readings from Myles Dungan, Róisín Kelly, and Emer Martin. Come early to grab a seat and a pint.

Cost: Free

7:00pm - 9:00pm - Susanna Hoffs: This Bird has Flown at Verdi Club

From rockstar to novelist—'80s pop rock icon Susanna Hoffs made a bold and courageous career shift to give us her debut novel, This Bird Has Flown, a sexy, hilarious, and heartfelt story about a 33-year-old one-hit-wonder whose luck is about to change. Join us for an intimate conversation about the power of words and music with this versatile artist who found her Cost:: Free Freedom as a writer after playing the setlist that made her famous as the co-founder of The Bangles. Now in her third act, Susanna not only shows us how to reinvent ourselves but how to reinvigorate our creativity. This is going to be a spirited discussion about the creative process and how songwriting and building a novel are more similar than we think—Susanna will bring her guitar and offer insights into both. In conversation with novelist and writing coach Holly Payne, host and producer of the Page One Podcast. $40 adv/$45 door includes a pre-signed copy of the book; $15 adv/$20 door includes a ticket only. Susanna Hoffs will not sign books after the event.

Cost: $15 – $40

Thursday October 12, 2023

7:00pm - 8:30pm - Nancy Jooyoun Kim: What We Kept to Ourselves at Telegraph Hill Books

The New York Times bestselling author of The Last Story of Mina Lee returns with a propulsive and suspenseful new novel about a family that unravels when a stranger—who may hold the key to their missing mother—is found dead in their backyard. Both a riveting page-turner and moving family story, What We Kept to Ourselves masterfully explores the consequences of secrets between parents and children, husbands and wives, the search for home when all seems lost, and what it means to dream in America. In conversation with Margaret Wilkerson Sexton.

Cost: Free

7:30pm - 9:30pm - Poetry World Series: Litquake Edition at Make-Out Room

Two teams of award-winning poets, including Kim Addonizio, Zeina Hashem Beck, Lee Herrick, Randall Mann, Christell Victoria Roach, and Dean Rader, take turns batting at topics pitched to them by the audience. Fastballs, curveballs, knuckleballs: these poets won't know what's coming next! Hilarity and stunning work guaranteed. Eminently qualified umpires will score each batter's reading, and the winning team takes the series title. Don't forget to bring a topic to stump the poets with! Emceed by Litquake's Jack Boulware. Book sales/signing follows the reading. Doors open at 7pm, show at 7:30pm. $10 adv / door

Cost: $10

8:00pm - 9:30pm - You're Going To Die: A Letter to My Grief at The Lost Church

Since the first pandemic, the series "You're Going to Die" has been holding writing workshops online and more recently, in person at The Center SF. The pieces written and shared within these groups have been some of the most impactful, vulnerable, moving, meaningful works of expression we have ever experienced. It's finally time to bring these deeply alchemical pieces to our broader community. Please join us for these community readings, as we dive into the intricacies of grief and the simple truths of our aliveness together. Doors at 7:30, show at 8pm. Hosted by Chelsea Coleman and Amanda Nagai. $15 advance, pre-registration required

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$15 Booster Ticket

$20 Supporter Ticket

$25 Patron Ticket

$50 Champion Ticket

$100 Superstar Ticket

Friday October 13, 2023

7:00pm - 8:30pm - You Can't Write That at Clio's, 353 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA 94610

Join us at the new Clio's book bar in Oakland for a discussion about the stories we're not supposed to tell—because either women of color aren't supposed to tell the stories of white men, or because we hold our family secrets dear, or because society tells us we are not supposed to feel what we are feeling. Featuring authors Minna Dubin, Sonora Jha, Savala Nolan, and Putsata Reang, and moderated by Janine Kovac.

Cost: Free

8:00pm - 9:30pm - Family Meal: Bryan Washington with Traci Thomas at The Lost Church

One of our most celebrated young fiction writers, Bryan Washington (author of the story collection Lot and the bestselling novel Memorial) returns with Family Meal, a tender, emotionally expansive novel about grief, friendship, intimacy, homecomings and food. Come hungry for Washington's memorable conversation with Traci Thomas, creator and host of The Stacks podcast about books and culture. Doors at 7:30, show at 8pm. $15, pre-registration required

Cost: $15

8:00pm - 10:00pm - Porchlight Storytelling: Tricks Up My Sleeve

The Bay Area's long-running Porchlight storytelling series returns to Litquake for this special edition, featuring tales on the theme of Tricks Up My Sleeve: Invisible Magic. With authors Derrick Brown, Dorothy Lazard, Dominic Lim, Ahmed Naji, Amy Schneider, and Dan Stuart. Co-hosted by Arline Klatte and Beth Lisick. Music by Marc Capelle. Doors at 7 pm, show at 8 pm. $25 adv / $30 door

Cost: $25

Saturday October 14, 2023

12:00pm - 1:15pm - Litquake Out Loud: Sistahs Taking Root Among the Stars at Yerba Buena Gardens

In Earthseed—a religion introduced in the Octavia E. Butler novel Parable of the Sower—the destiny of humanity is to take root among the stars. Inspired by Butler's words, AÏMA the DRMR and Angela Dalton will guide the audience on a journey to plant their first seeds using the tools of history, multimedia, music, and interactive dialogue. This lineup assembled by guest curator Sistah Scifi and its founder Isis Asare.

About Litquake Out Loud: Litquake Out Loud highlights the Bay Area's BIPOC & LGBTQ+ writers and thought leaders, and represents our continued investment in ensuring that all people are included in the creation of and access to the Bay Area's historic, thriving arts scene.

Cost: Free

12:00pm - 1:30pm - Picturing Lives: New Graphic Memoirs at Koret Auditorium

Tracing family heritage and immigration journeys, recounting recovery from addiction and the joy of traveling on two wheels—new memoirs from creators Julia Wertz (Impossible People), Amy Kurzweil (Artificial), Fred Noland (Steady Rollin'), and Thien Pham (Family Style) showcase the creativity and range of autobiographical comics. Immerse yourself in rich life stories, complete with artwork and insights from their creators, in this conversation moderated by Rina Ayuyang, author and artist of The Man in the McIntosh Suit.

Cost: Free

1:45pm - 3:00pm - Litquake Out Loud: Jenny Qi at Yerba Buena Gardens

Bay Area poetry stalwart Jenny Qi brings together an inspirational group of local writers, each deeply involved in using their literary prowess to cultivate the next generation of artists. Readers include Francesca Bell, James Cagney, Kimi Sugioka, D?shaun Washington, and Matthew Zapruder.

About Litquake Out Loud: Litquake Out Loud highlights the Bay Area's BIPOC & LGBTQ+ writers and thought leaders, and represents our continued investment in ensuring that all people are included in the creation of and access to the Bay Area's historic, thriving arts scene.

Cost: Free

3:30pm - 4:45pm - Litquake Out Loud: Madeleine Cravens

In their poems, novels, and short stories, Angie Sijun Lou, Khashayar Khabushani, sam sax, Hua Xi, and Rabia Saeed deftly merge lyric and narrative, a sense of playfulness with an intensity of subject matter. In their idiosyncratic styles, they craft worlds, scenes and images that feel compellingly new. Reading their work is a reminder that writing, at its best, is an act of enchanting a reader, of winning someone over through a voice is authentic and true.

Litquake Out Loud highlights the Bay Area's BIPOC & LGBTQ+ writers and thought leaders, and represents our continued investment in ensuring that all people are included in the creation of and access to the Bay Area's historic, thriving arts scene. This lineup is assembled by guest curator Madeleine Cravens.

Cost: Free

8:00pm - 9:30pm - Bay Area Pun-Off: Litquake Edition at Make-Out Room

San Francisco's legendary Bay Area Pun-Off comedy show returns to Litquake once again: holding together a diverse community of wordplayers and countless unfortunate bystanders (and sitters). Bolstered by groans, eye rolls, and the ever-sought-after double-handed facepalm, the Pun-Off enters its seventh year with equal parts ironic triumph and gleeful apology. You are proudly invited to celebrate the contagious power of the pun, the lowest form of comedy, the highest form of intellect; a prized tool of parents, kindergarten teachers, Facebook trolls, and Witzelsucht patients everywhere! Doors at 7, show at 8pm. $10 adv / door

Cost: $10

8:00pm - 9:30pm - Selected Shorts: Litquake Edition at Marines Memorial Theatre

Join Litquake and host Andrew Sean Greer for an unforgettable night of stories live onstage, with special guest readers Tate Donovan, Baron Vaughn, and Michaela Watkins reading stories by Michael Ian Black, Ian McEwan, Ben Philippe, and Simon Rich. Selected Shorts is a radio show and podcast broadcast on more than 150 stations around the country. The series began in 1985 and enjoys sold-out performances to this day. Selected Shorts was conceived with a simple premise: take great stories by well-known and emerging writers and have them performed by terrific actors of stage and screen. Featuring stories around a lively theme, the favorite works of a guest author, or a special collaboration, each Selected Shorts event is a unique night of literature in performance. $25 adv / $30 door

"Five Screenings of There Will Be Blood" by Michael Ian Black

Performed by Baron Vaughn

"My Purple Scented Novel" by Ian McEwan

Performed by Tate Donovan

"The Luck of Others" by Ben Philippe

Performed by Baron Vaughn

"Relapse" by Simon Rich

Performed by Michaela Watkins

Cost: $25

Sunday October 15, 2023

12:00pm - 1:15pm - Litquake Out Loud: Full Circle with Giovanna Lomanto at Yerba Buena Gardens

Full Circle is a celebration of authors who have found their way to who they are through community, care, and creativity. These poets will be reading pieces that reflect on their beginnings and find parallels with their present.

About Litquake Out Loud: Litquake Out Loud highlights the Bay Area's BIPOC & LGBTQ+ writers and thought leaders, and represents our continued investment in ensuring that all people are included in the creation of and access to the Bay Area's historic, thriving arts scene. This lineup is assembled by guest curator Giovanna Lomanto.

Cost: Free

12:00pm - 1:30pm - Beyond Combat Narratives: The New Wave of Military Writing at Koret Auditorium

More than two decades after 9/11, the myriad effects of sustained warfare are only beginning to come to light. Predominant narratives persist in reducing stories to simplistic binaries of Hero or Victim, Us or Them, but a new wave of military writing seeks to expand the conversation. Writers Abby Murray, Andria Williams, Lauren Kay Johnson, Liam Corley, M.C. Armstrong, and Steven Moore have spoken out on issues like toxin exposure, misinformation, moral injury, generational trauma, and toxic masculinity. These writers will discuss the issues they seek to illuminate, emerging trends in the military genre, and the challenges and importance of writing against masculine traditions and combat-driven narratives.

Cost: Free

1:45pm - 3:00pm - Litquake Out Loud: Black Freighter Press at Yerba Buena Gardens

Black Freighter Press is committed to the exploration of liberation by using art to transform consciousness and acting as a platform for Black and Brown writers to honor ancestry and propel radical imagination. Black Freighter Press aims to create a world where the collective determines cultural reality.

3:00pm - 4:30pm - Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions with Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi at Museum of the African Diaspora

Join Nigerian author Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi as she discusses her dazzling novel Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions, which explores her homeland's past, present, and possible future through the interconnected stories of four students at an all-girls boarding school, who grapple with the unexpected possibilities—and limitations—of adulthood and the uncertainties of the world within and outside of Nigeria. Revolving around loss, belonging, family, friendship, alienation, and silence, Jollof Rice is a moving, multifaceted portrait of lives shaped by hope and sorrow—of women who must contend with the ever-present and unsettling notion that moving forward in time isn't necessarily progress. Presented as part of MoAD's African Book Club, dedicated to reading and promoting 21st century literature by and about Africans. In conversation with author/professor Faith Adiele.

Cost: Free

3:30pm - 4:45pm - Litquake Out Loud: El Martillo Press at Yerba Buena Gardens

Litquake Out Loud highlights the Bay Area's BIPOC & LGBTQ+ writers and thought leaders, and represents our continued investment in ensuring that all people are included in the creation of and access to the Bay Area's historic, thriving arts scene. This lineup features Ceasar K. Avelar, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Linda Ravenswood, and Vanessa Torres, and is assembled by guest curator El Martillo Press, and its co-founders Matt Sedillo and David Romero.

Cost: Free

7:00pm - 8:30pm - Make 'Em Laugh: The Art of Writing Literary Humor at Make-Out Room

Get ready for a rollicking conversation that will ignite your imagination and tickle your funny bone. Novelists Stephen Buoro (The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa), Beth Lisick (Edie on the Green Screen), and Elizabeth McKenzie (The Dog of the North) will share humorous passages from their latest work and discuss techniques for eliciting readers' laughter. Leading their conversation (and maybe taking some notes for his own novel-in-progress) is journalist and fiction writer Doug Sovern. $5 adv / $10 door

Cost: $5

7:00pm - 9:00pm - Queens Read Celebrity Autobiographies at OASIS

Join us at Oasis, San Francisco's internationally acclaimed drag show nightclub/cabaret, as we celebrate the most scandalous, most outrageous, and most ludicrous books ever to be penned by celebrities! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wonder how these books ever got published. Some of the best Bay Area queens will be putting on their reading glasses to roast and honor these absurd literary masterworks. From A-list film icons to D-list reality stars, no celebrity is safe! Co-hosted by James J. Siegel and Elsa Touche. The event is decidedly for the grown-ups, but proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Litquake's Kidquake programming. Purchase of a runway ticket includes a raffle ticket to win fabulous prizes. Raffle ticket sales will benefit local queer organizations. Doors at 6pm, show at 7pm. General admission $25, premium runway seating $30

Cost: $25 – $30

Monday October 16, 2023

7:00pm - 8:30pm - We love SF: Stories About Why We Still Love San Francisco at Page street writers

Fifteen talented writers from Page Street Co-working read no-more-than-three-minute pieces on why (in spite of it all) we can't stop loving San Francisco. Paul Madonna's iconic SF cityscapes will adorn the walls, and we'll be pouring SF's own Fort Point beer and serving sourdough pretzels. Hosted by Lit Camp founder Janis Cooke Newman.

Cost: Free

Tuesday October 17,2023

5:30pm - 7:00pm - Cleve Jones: When We Rise: My Life in the Movement at Koret Auditorium

A not-to-miss evening with Cleve Jones reading from his book When We Rise: My Life in the Movement, followed by a discussion between Jones and Dr. Tyler TerMeer, Chief Executive Officer, San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Cost: Free

7:00pm - 8:30pm - Moby Dyke: Krista Burton with Beth Lisick at Wild Side West

Lesbian bars have always been treasured safe spaces for their customers, providing not only a good time but a shelter from societal alienation and outright persecution. In 1987, there were 206 of them in America. Today, only a couple dozen remain. How and why did this happen? What has been lost—or possibly gained—by such a decline? What transpires when marginalized communities become more accepted and mainstream? In Krista Burton's insightful and hilarious travelogue Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America, she attempts to answer these questions firsthand, venturing on an epic cross-country pilgrimage and in the process, examining her own personal journey. In conversation with writer/performer Beth Lisick, and held at Wild Side West, which is featured in the book's opening chapter.

Cost: Free

7:00pm - 9:00pm - Conclusions: Cost:: Free Freeman's Final Issue at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

Over the course of ten years, Freeman's has introduced the English-speaking world to countless writers of international import and acclaim, from Olga Tokarczuk to Valeria Luiselli, while also spotlighting brilliant writers working in English, from Tommy Orange to Tess Gunty. Now, in its last issue, this unique literary project ponders all the ways of reaching a fitting conclusion. With contributions from Sayaka Murata, Julia Alvarez, Chinelo Okparanta, Dave Eggers, Sandra Cisneros and many others, Freeman's: Conclusions is a testament to the startling power of literature to conclude in a state of beauty, fear, and promise. Featuring editor/founder John Freeman, with Elaine Castillo, Jaime Cortez, and Oscar Villalon.

Cost: Free

8:00pm - 9:30pm - California's Environmental Future at The Lost Church

In this forward-looking panel, an artist, a historian, and a journalist walk into a bar to share their insights about our state's ecological future, including its greatest imminent threats and its best possibilities for regeneration. Together, these thinkers will extrapolate what this future may look like—and what it could look like were we to dispel our apathy and embrace our collective ability for change. Featuring artist-adventurer Obi Kaufmann (The Deserts of California), environmental historian Peter Alagona (The Accidental Ecosystem), and reporter Rosanna Xia (California Against the Sea), moderated by KQED's Ezra David Romero. Doors at 7:30, show at 8pm. $15 adv / door

Cost: $15

Wednesday October 18, 2023

5:30pm - 7:00pm - We Are the Land: William J. Bauer Jr. and Native California History at Book Club of California

Beginning with the ethnogenesis of California Indians, We Are the Land recounts the centrality of the Native presence from before European colonization through statehood—paying particularly close attention to the persistence and activism of California Indians in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The book deftly contextualizes the first encounters with Europeans, Spanish missions, Mexican secularization, the devastation of the Gold Rush and statehood, genocide, efforts to reclaim land, and the organization and activism for sovereignty that built today's casino economy. We Are the Land is the first and most comprehensive text of its kind, centering the long history of California around the lives and legacies of the Indigenous people who shaped it. Co-author William J. Bauer Jr. will read from the book and discuss his work with Terria Smith, editor of News from Native California and the recent anthology Know We Are Here: Voices of Native California Resistance.

Cost: Free

7:00pm - 8:30pm - The World According to Joan Didion at Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, 2904 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

Author Evelyn McDonnell comes to Mrs. Dalloway's to read from, discuss, and sign copies of her new book The World According to Joan Didion. McDonnell's book is an intimate exploration of the life, craft, and legacy of one of the most revered and influential writers, an artist who continues to inspire fans and creatives to cultivate practices of deep attention, rigorous interrogation and beautiful style. McDonnell will be in conversation with sculptor Lisa Reinertson.

Cost: Free

7:30pm - 9:00pm - A Noir Soirée with Jonathan Lethem at City Lights Bookstore

On the streets of 1970s Brooklyn, a daily ritual goes down: the dance. Money is exchanged, belongings surrendered, power asserted. The promise of violence lies everywhere, a currency itself. For these children, Black, brown, and white, the street is a stage in shadow. And in the wings hide the other players: parents; cops; renovators; landlords; those who write the headlines, the histories, and the laws; those who award this neighborhood its name. Written with kaleidoscopic verve and delirious wit, Jonathan Lethem's Brooklyn Crime Novel is a breathtaking tour de force by a writer at the top of his powers. In conversation, with book sales & signing to follow. Doors open at 7:00pm for cocktails, show at 7:30pm.

Cost: $10

Thursday October 19, 2023

7:00pm - 8:30pm - That's My Word: Bay Area Rappers Write Their Life Stories at The Commons at KQED

Join two of the Bay Area's legendary rap artists, Black C and Mac Mall, as they discuss gripping stories from their recently published memoirs. In vivid, unflinching detail, Black C's A Part of Survival and Mac Mall's My Opinion shed light on the Bay Area's street life, drug trade, and pimp culture of the 1980s and 1990s—and reveal how the resourceful artists turned their setbacks into widespread success during hip-hop's Golden Age. Conversation moderated by KQED Arts & Culture senior editor Gabe Meline. $15 adv / door

Cost: $15

7:00pm - 9:00pm - Vulgarian Rhapsody: Alvin Orloff and Friends at Fabulosa Books

Join us for an evening with Alvin Orloff as he launches his newest novel Vulgarian Rhapsody, a wild romp through San Francisco's fabled queer bohemia in the waning days of the 20th century, as the city's budget bon vivants, alarmingly ambitious drag queens, and shiftless, annoying barflies work to save their lifestyles in the face of gentrification. After reading, Orloff will be in conversation with Brontez Purnell, author of 100 Boyfriends. Also appearing: musical guest star Jennifer Blowdryer, and drag legend Birdie Bob Watt.

Cost: Free

Friday October 20, 2023

3:00pm - 4:00pm - Listen to Your Elders: Litquake's Elder Project Showcase at Online

Join us for a featured reading by participants in Litquake's Elder Project. Now in its sixth year, the Elder Project brings creative writing and storytelling workshops to retirement communities across San Francisco and Oakland. Seniors participate in reading, storytelling, discussion, hands-on creative writing, and in-class sharing sessions to explore their own stories, the stories of their communities, and stories about the world from prompts and discussion, while using the techniques of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction that they've learned in classes. Share in the beauty of their words, hear their stories, listen to your elders.

Cost: Free

7:00pm - 9:30pm - An Evening with McSweeney's and special guest Tim Heidecker at Verdi Club

As part of their 25th Anniversary Year, Bay Area institution McSweeney's hosts a special evening highlighting McSweeney's first two and half decades. Come have drinks and food beforehand, enjoy riveting readings, and stay afterward to continue the celebration. Doors at 6pm, show at 7pm.

Cost: $20

7:30pm - 9:00pm - Grace Notes: Poetry at Grace Cathedral

Litquake returns for our eighth year to the fabulously gothic Grace Cathedral atop Nob Hill, for this special evening of exalted verse, celebrating the sacred and profane, domestic and divine, with poetry in the pews from a distinguished roster of poets. Curated and hosted by D.A. Powell and Preeti Vangani, the lineup features readings from Gillian Conoley, Jane Hirshfield, Vandana Khanna, J. Michael Martinez, and sam sax.

Cost: Free

Saturday October 21, 2023

5:00pm - 9:00pm - Lit Crawl

Lit Crawl 2023 is the finale of all festival finales, the best literary party you've ever been to, something between a bar crawl and an invite-only reading on a rooftop, an introduction to the nooks and crannies of the Mission District, a presentation of the best new writers around, a peek into the future, and a celebration of the Bay Area's artistic foundation.

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Date: October 5-21, 2023

Location:

Koret Auditorium - SF Public Library - 100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94101

The University Club - 800 Powell Street San Francisco, CA 94108

American Bookbinders Museum - 355 Clementina Street San Francisco, CA 94103

Telegraph Hill Books, 1501 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133

Fabulosa Books, 489 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114

Medicine for Nightmares, 3036 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

San Francisco Botanical Garden, 1199 9th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94122

Gray Area, 2665 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110

City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133

Specs' Twelve Adler Museum Cafe, 12 Saroyan Pl, San Francisco, CA 94133

Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St, San Francisco, CA 94110

The Lost Church, 988 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133

Clio's, 353 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA 94610

Yerba Buena Gardens, on Mission St. between 3rd & 4th Streets, 761 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter St 2nd floor, San Francisco, CA 94102

Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105

Oasis, 298 11th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Page Street Co-working, 279 Page St, San Francisco, CA 94102

Wild Side West, 424 Cortland Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110

Book Club of California, 312 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94108

Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, 2904 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St, San Francisco, CA 94108

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