View this email in your browser
As T.S. Eliot famously opined, "April is the [most bookish] month." Hell yeah, brother! Cheers! 

Join us this Saturday at Grace Cathedral for our annual National Poetry Month celebration! Earlier in the day, up in the north country, Lit Crawl Sebastopol runs all afternoon with 21 events. And in a few weeks, we're taking to the streets on two wheels for our Bikes & Books Indie Bookstore Day group bike ride and challenge.

We're also knee deep in Litquake Festival 2024 planning—while our main festival submission period has ended, we've extended our Lit Crawl SF submission deadline until 4/22. If you're part of a local writing group, publisher, arts org, or simply like to get wacky with words...do not hesitate! 


PS. Check out our just announced May events near the bottom!
Upcoming Events
Grace Notes: Poetry at Grace Cathedral
Saturday Apr. 13 · 7pm
Grace Cathedral
1100 California Street San Francisco, CA 94108


Celebrate National Poetry Month with Litquake, the largest independent literary festival on the West Coast. Returning for our 9th year to this gloriously Gothic space, enjoy a special evening of exalted verse with poetry in the pews from a distinguished roster of poets. Curated and hosted by D.A. Powell and Preeti Vangani, four celebrated poets will share their work: Brenda Hillman, Cathy Park Hong, Dong Li, and Brian Tierney. A book sale and signing will follow the readings. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation
RSVP
Black Fire This Time Vol. 2
Wednesday Apr. 24 · 6:30pm
The Museum of African Diaspora
685 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105

co-presented by the Museum of African Diaspora


Join MoAD and Litquake for a live poetry reading and celebration of the publication Black Fire This Time Vol. 2 with featured poetsJudy Juanita, Tureeda Mikell, Karla Brundage, Thurman Watts, Sheila Smith McCoy, and Katherine Takara. In this follow-up volume in the Black Fire This Time series, over 75 poets and writers come together on the ongoing theme of "Black is Beautiful, Black is Powerful, Black is Home." FREE
 
RSVP
Bikes & Books: Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day
Saturday Apr. 27 · 10am-6pm
Multiple Locations

co-presented by Books Not Bans and SF Bicycle Coalition


It’s the most bookish day of the year! Saturday, April 27 is Independent Bookstore Day, and to celebrate our vibrant city, we’re partnering with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Books Not Bans to challenge you to visit as many bookstores as you can – by bike! FREE

It’s a perfect weekend adventure, seeing the city and refreshing your TBR stack at the same time. At each stop, take a selfie and tag #sfbikestobookstores on Instagram or Twitter, and get a raffle ticket for each bookstore you visit, plus an extra five raffle tickets if you're a member of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition! We’re raffling off prizes from many of the participating bookstores, and the first person to make it to every single participating store will get a $50 gift card from Fabulosa Books. 
More Info
Sign up for Group Ride
View Route
Oakland Arts & Lectures: Dr. Darcie Little Badger w/ Tommy Orange
Sunday May 5 · 3pm 
Oakstop · 1723 Broadway Street, Oakland, CA 94612

co-presented by Oakland Arts and Lectures & Sistah Scifi

Join us for Dr. Darcie Little Badger in conversation with Tommy Orange, discussing their newest novels, Sheine Lende and Wandering Stars, respectively. Little Badger is a Lipan Apache writer whose critically acclaimed fantasy writing has received the Newbery Honor, was a LA Times Book Prize Finalist, and was longlisted for the National Book Award. An enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, Tommy Orange was born and raised in Oakland, California. His first book, There There, was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and received the 2019 American Book Award.


You will have the opportunity to win signed copies of Sheine Lende signed by Dr. Darcie Little Badger or Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange thanks to the support of the City of Oakland. Attendees must be present to win. FREE
 
RSVP
Launch Party Celebrating R.O. Kwon's Exhibit
Monday May 20 · 7pm 
Verdi Club · 2424 Mariposa St, San Francisco, CA 94110

co-presented by Green Apple Books

Join us for the launch party celebrating R.O. Kwon's highly-anticipated second novel, EXHIBIT! Kwon will be joined in-conversation by Ingrid Rojas Contreras. Meet us at the historic Verdi Club for a night of literary splendor. VIP tickets available for meet-and-greet preparty with Kwon plus a copy of the book, a drink ticket, and more. FREE for students, $5-$50
Buy Tickets
SongWriter Live with Susan Orlean and Diana Gameros
Thursday June 13 · 7pm 
The Commons · 2601 Mariposa St San Francisco, CA 94110

co-presented by KQED

Litquake and KQED Live present a night with SongWriter, a podcast that turns stories into songs (featured guests include Questlove, Joyce Carol Oates, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Roxane Gay, and Craig Finn of The Hold Steady).

In this special live recording event, bestselling author Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief, The Library Book) will share a story from her recent collection On Animals, and local songwriter Diana Gameros will play a brand new song written in response. SongWriter’s creator Ben Arthur will host, and engage the artists in a conversation with UC Berkeley researcher Laura Simone Lewis on animal intelligence. $29
Buy Tickets
Donate to Litquake

About Litquake
Litquake seeks to foster interest in literature, perpetuate a sense of literary community, and provide a vibrant forum for Bay Area writing as a complement to the city's music, film, and cultural festivals. 2023 Dates: Oct. 5-21. www.litquake.org

Litquake is grateful for the support of the following funders who help make our programming possible. Institutional Giving: Bernard Osher Foundation, California Arts Council, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Fleishhacker Foundation, Grants for the Arts, HarperOne, Joseph & Vera Long Foundation, Hawthornden Foundation, Margaret and William R. Hearst III Foundation, Literary Arts Emergency Fund, Miner Anderson Family Foundation, Mystery Writers of America, Northern California Chapter, National Endowment for the Arts, Center for the Art of Translation, Sam Mazza Foundation, San Francisco Office of Economic & Workforce Development; Individual Giving: Jared Bhatti, Lisa Brown and Daniel Handler, Evette Davis, Frances Dinkelspiel and Gary Wayne, Karyn DiGiorgio and Steve Sattler, Scott James and Gerald Cain, Nion McEvoy, Swinerton Family Fund, and Ellen Ullman Media Sponsors: San Francisco Chronicle, 7x7, KQED, SF Arts Monthly, Bay Area Reporter, Johnny Funcheap.

Copyright © 2023 Litquake, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you may have opted to receive communication from us.

Our mailing address is:
Litquake
268 Bush St #4226
San Francisco, CA 94104

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.