Probably one of the cooler things that happens in this city, Litquake is a week-long celebration of the written word. It happens in New York and Austin, Tx. as well, but SF has been my first real experience with it. There are hundreds upon hundreds of places in the city that do something for Litquake. I've had most of my professors read from their current books or books in progress at a few events and the greatest part is that it feels like the entire city turns out purely to hear people read.
It's one of the many reasons I dig this city. On any given weeknight there is a reading of some sort going on in the city. I've been to a few places (see:
bars) where the entire establishment full of a couple hundred people are completely silent for the readers on stage. At a bar. Where everyone has already been drinking for an hour or two. This would never happen back home - the bar would be loud and unruly and most patrons wouldn't care. But this city is steeped in literary history and the people that live here know that. There are placards of literary "did you know"s scattered throughout the metropolis like the one on the apartment building across the street from my work:
I was never much of a hard-boiled detective novel fan, but this is still a really fantastic way for a city to show its cultural heritage. EVERYONE knows about "The Maltese Falcon" even if they've never seen the movie or read the book. They're conscious of it...and Litquake keeps up the tradition of making sure we remain conscious of the new authors and poets coming out of the city year after year. It's an absolute guarantee that most of these events will be PACKED within minutes, which pleases the hell out of me. A list of events and times can be found below.
Friday, October 7
Saturday, October 8
Sunday, October 9
12:00 PM: Golden Gate and Beyond, Variety Preview Room
1:00 PM: Golden Gate and Beyond: Hour Two, Variety Preview Room
2:00 PM: The Word Extended: Voices from UC Berkeley Extension, UC Berkeley Extension Art & Design Center
2:00 PM: Thinking, Believing, Living: The Human as Being, Variety Preview Room
2:30 PM: Inside This Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women’s Prisons, Contemporary Jewish Museum
3:00 PM: Writing the Wild, Variety Preview Room
4:00 PM: “That’s My F*cking Stool!”—Writers at the Bar , Vesuvio
4:00 PM: “The Great Night” in Buena Vista Park, Buena Vista Park Summit
4:00 PM: The Secret Life of Metaphor, Z Space
4:30 PM: Voices of North Beach: A Literary Tour, The Beat Museum
5:00 PM: Pitchapalooza, Variety Preview Room
6:00 PM: These Mean Streets: Reality and Fiction Collide, Tosca Cafe
7:00 PM: Litquake Presents Jane Smiley In Conversation with Karen Joy Fowler, Variety Preview Room
7:00 PM: Adam Mansbach In Conversation with Lyrics Born, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, Kanbar Hall
7:00 PM: Being Human: Litquake Presents Brian Christian In Conversation with Thomas Goetz, Delancey Street Screening Room
8:00 PM: His Dark Places: Litquake Presents James Ellroy In Conversation with Janis Cooke Newman, Z Space
Monday, October 10
3:00 PM: New Writers Toolkit: “First-Time Authors Reveal All” and “Want That Book Published?”, Foundation Center
6:00 PM: The Best Novels You Haven’t Read, The Book Club of California
6:00 PM: Christopher Moore in Collision: Whales, Comedy, and The Impressionists, Z Space
6:30 PM: The Intersection of Medicine and Literature , Heart Wine Bar
7:00 PM: Litquake in the Bookstore: Micah Ballard and Alli Warren , Bird & Beckett Books and Records
7:00 PM: Teenquake: Not Your Mother’s Book Club, Books Inc. Opera Plaza
7:00 PM: Original Shorts: Failure to Commit, The Lone Palm
7:00 PM: San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers and Quiet Lightning Present: The Greenhouse Effect Summer Reading Series, V.3 , San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers
8:00 PM: Are We Good? An Evening of Stories about Apology, Redemption, and Outright Begging For Forgiveness, Verdi Club
8:00 PM: MFA Body Slam! The First-Ever Litquake and San Francisco Bay Area MFA Mixer , Swedish American Hall
Tuesday, October 11
12:00 PM: Lit & Lunch, 111 Minna Gallery
12:30 PM: Words & Voices at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Yerba Buena Gardens Esplanade
5:30 PM: Litquake presents Karen Russell in Conversation with Carolyn Cooke, Z Space
6:00 PM: Lit in the Hills: Scaling The East Bay’s Literary Heights, Monaghan’s on the Hill
6:00 PM: 10 Years Later: A Granta Conversation, The Book Club of California
6:00 PM: Got Soul? Science and the Quest for the Ephemeral, Mechanics' Institute Library
6:00 PM: Re Write: An Evening of Prose from Writers in Recovery, Delancey Street Screening Room
7:00 PM: New Directions Publishing 75th Anniversary: A Gala Celebration of a Quintessential American Publisher, City Lights
7:00 PM: An Evening with Melanie Rae Thon: A Litquake South Bay Event , Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Rm. 225
7:00 PM: Litquake in the Bookstore: Donia Bijan at Kepler’s , Kepler's Books
7:30 PM: Litquake Presents Julia Glass in Conversation with Katie Crouch, Z Space
7:30 PM: Litquake in the Bookstore: Chuck Klosterman at The Booksmith, The Booksmith
8:00 PM: Young Ireland: Emissaries from a New Literary Renaissance, Swedish American Hall
9:00 PM: Barbershop Reading: A Little Off the Top and Over the Top, Joe's Barbershop
Wednesday, October 12
9:40 AM: Kidquake: K-2, Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library
7:00 PM: Litquake in the Bookstore : Daniel Woodrell at Books Inc. in the Marina, Books, Inc. in the Marina
7:00 PM: Litquake in the Bookstore: Anne Enright at Book Passage, Book Passage, Corte Madera
7:00 PM: RADAR at the Luggage Store, Luggage Store
7:30 PM: War of the Worldviews: A Debate with Deepak Chopra and Leonard Mlodinow, First Congregational Church of Berkeley
7:30 PM: Litquake in the Bookstore: Mary Roach at The Booksmith, The Booksmith
7:30 PM: The Fighter and The Writer: Litquake presents The Barbary Coast Award to Ishmael Reed, Z Space
Thursday, October 13
9:40 AM: Kidquake: Grades 3-5, Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library
4:00 PM: Religious Renegades, Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library
5:15 PM: Writing Human Rights: Literature as a Window Into Iran, Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library
6:00 PM: Serving It Forth: A Feast of Food Writing, Chronicle Books
6:30 PM: This Just In…Local News Makes Headlines, Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library
6:30 PM: VIP Reception with Chelsea Handler—SOLD OUT!!, undisclosed location
7:00 PM: Flight of Poets, Hotel Rex
7:00 PM: Stories on Stage: Family, Delancey Street Screening Room
7:00 PM: Bird & Beckett Books And Records presents David Meltzer, Neeli Cherkovski, Latif Harris, Julie Rogers, Jerry Ferraz and Walker Brents at Kaleidoscope , Kaleidoscope
7:30 PM: Lit Flicks: Screening of Doc, Oddball Film+Video
8:00 PM: Subterranean SF Reading Series: The Litanies of Noir, undisclosed location
8:00 PM: Literary Death Match: Litquake Rumble, Beatbox
8:00 PM: Are You There, Litquake? It’s Me, Chelsea!, Z Space
Friday, October 14
1:00 PM: When Pictures Speak Louder Than Words, Z Space
5:30 PM: Murders, Mayhem and Moxie: Litquake’s Women’s Night 2011 , Bubble Lounge Champagne Bar
5:30 PM: Tonga at Tosca: The Launch of Tonga Books, Tosca Cafe
6:00 PM: Numina Femenina: The Voice of the Feminine in Mexican Literature, Tres
6:30 PM: Teenquake: Word for Word “Off the Page” Staged Reading of Selections from The Sky Is Everywhere, Z Space
7:00 PM: Jeffrey Eugenides at Books Inc. Opera Plaza, Books Inc. Opera Plaza
7:00 PM: Kafkaesque: SF in SF, Variety Preview Room
7:00 PM: Rock Out with Your Book Out: Music Writers and Musicians Who Write, Make-Out Room
7:00 PM: Figure Four Caps Lock: Pro Wrestling Memoirs from Classy Freddie Blassie to The Fabulous Moolah, Hemlock Tavern
8:00 PM: Teenquake and Figment.com present Teen Writing Awards, Z Space
8:00 PM: Nordic Noir: A Dark and Stormy Night of Scandinavian Crime Fiction, Swedish American Hall
Saturday, October 15
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