Events

All of our events and programs are supported and hosted by the City Lights Foundation, dedicated to sustaining a vibrant community of readers, writers, and independent thinkers. Click on the listings below to learn more about each event, and sign up here to receive our weekly calendar!

Calendar of Events

Joyce Carol Oates in conversation with Steve Wasserman

Monday, March 18, 2024, 6:00 pm PST (Event Passed)

Joyce Carol Oates in conversation with Steve Wasserman

City Lights and Akashic Books celebrate the publication of Joyce Carol Oates: Letters to a Biographer - Edited by Greg Johnson - Published by Akashic Books

Virtual
Event
Maurice Carlos Ruffin with Jamila Minnicks 

Tuesday, March 19, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

Maurice Carlos Ruffin with Jamila Minnicks 

Maurice Carlos Ruffin in conversation with Jamila Minnicks - City Lights and One World Books celebrate the publication of The American Daughters - by Maurice Carlos Ruffin Published by One World

Virtual
Event
Lucy Sante in conversation with Cintra Wilson

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

Lucy Sante in conversation with Cintra Wilson

Lucy Sante in conversation with Cintra Wilson - celebrating the publication of  I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition - Published by Penguin Press

Virtual
Event
Wayne Koestenbaum in conversation with Tausif Noor

Monday, March 25, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

Wayne Koestenbaum in conversation with Tausif Noor

Wayne Koestenbaum reads from Stubble Archipelago published by Semiotext(e)

Virtual
Event
Diane Seuss & Gail Wronsky

Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

Diane Seuss & Gail Wronsky

Diane Seuss & Gail Wronsky reading from new work - Pulitzer Prize winning poet Diane Seuss celebrates the launch of her new collection Modern Poetry: poems - published by Graywolf Press

Virtual
Event
Judith Butler

Thursday, March 28, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

Judith Butler

Judith Butler discusses their new book - Who's Afraid of Gender? - published by Farrar Straus Giroux

Virtual
Event
The Outspoken and the Incendiary: A Literary Celebration of the Life and Work of Terry Bisson

Saturday, March 30, 2024, 7:30 pm PST

The Outspoken and the Incendiary: A Literary Celebration of the Life and Work of Terry Bisson

City Lights, Locus Magazine, and PM Press celebrate the life and work of Terry Bisson - MC'd by Ramsey Kanaan and Peter Maravelis with Diana Block, Peter Coyote, Karen Joy Fowler, Jonathan Lethem, Nick Mamatas, Kim Stanley Robinson, Rudy Rucker, and Carter Scholz - Admission $15.00

Offsite
Event
(POSTPONED) Satsuki Ina in conversation with Brandon Shimoda

Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

(POSTPONED) Satsuki Ina in conversation with Brandon Shimoda

City Lights and Heyday Books celebrate the publication of The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Memoir of Love, Imprisonment, and Protest - By Satsuki Ina - Published by Heyday Books

Virtual
Event
Roberto Harrison

Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Roberto Harrison

City Lights celebrates No.23 in the Spotlight Poetry Series Isthmus to Abya Yala - By Roberto Harrison - Published by City Lights Books

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Event
Susannah Fox

Monday, April 8, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

Susannah Fox

City Lights and The MIT Press celebrate the publication of Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care - by Susannah Fox - Published by The MIT Press

Virtual
Event
Deborah Taffa

Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Deborah Taffa

Deborah Taffa in conversation with Dean Rader celebrating the publication of Whiskey Tender: A Memoir - By Deborah Taffa - published by Harper Collins

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Event
ALTA Issue 17 Party / Tayi Tibble with Forrest Gander, Sylvia Brownrigg, Rebecca Goldstein, and Rafael Musa

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

ALTA Issue 17 Party / Tayi Tibble with Forrest Gander, Sylvia Brownrigg, Rebecca Goldstein, and Rafael Musa

City Lights joins ALTA Journal to celebrate its 17th issue! Tayi Tibble reads from her new collection of poetry Rangikura: Poems, published by Alfred A Knopf - to be joined by Forrest Gnader, Sylvia Brownrigg, and ALTA Crossword constructors Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa

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Event
Amy Lyford with Jennifer L. Shaw

Saturday, April 13, 2024, 1:00 pm PST

Amy Lyford with Jennifer L. Shaw

City Lights in conjunction with the Gallery Wendi Norris and Reaktion Books present Amy Lyford in conversation with Jennifer L. Shaw discussing the life and work of Dorothea Tanning - celebrating the publication of Exquisite Dreams: The Art and Life of Dorothea Tanning - by Amy Lyford - published by Reaktion Books

Offsite
Event
Elwin Cotman

Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Elwin Cotman

Elwin Cotman reads from Weird Black Girls: Stories published by Scribner

Instore
Event
Ana Raquel Minian

Thursday, April 18, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Ana Raquel Minian

Ana Raquel Minian discusses her new book In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States - Published by Viking

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Event
CAConrad and Lisa Jarnot

Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 12:00 pm PST

CAConrad and Lisa Jarnot

City Lights and Wave Books present CAConrad and Lisa Jarnot reading from new work - CA Conrad celebrates the publication of Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return published by Wave Books - Lisa Jarnot celebrates the publication of Four Lectures also published by Wave Books

Virtual
Event
Greg Sarris in conversation with Blaise Zerega

Wednesday, April 24, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Greg Sarris in conversation with Blaise Zerega

City Lights, ALTA Journal, and Heyday Books celebrate the publication of The Forgetters: stories - by Greg Sarris - published by Heyday Books

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Event
Joel Gion / In the Jingle Jangle Jungle

Thursday, April 25, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Joel Gion / In the Jingle Jangle Jungle

City Lights in conjunction with Rare Bird Lit present Joel Gion celebrating the publication of In the Jingle Jangle Jungle: Keeping Time with the Brian Jonestown Massacre - published by Rare Bird Lit

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Event
Voluptuous Life: A Tribute to the Life and Work of Mel Gordon

Saturday, April 27, 2024, 11:00 am PST

Voluptuous Life: A Tribute to the Life and Work of Mel Gordon

City Lights, Morbid Curiosity, and Strange Attractor Press present an afternoon in appreciation of the life and work of Mel Gordon - Moderated by Joanna Ebenstein and Peter Maravelis with Maer Ben-Yisreal, Russell Blackwood,, Ati Citron, J. Hoberman, La Pustra, Mark Pilkington, Jill Tracy, Christina Ward, and others tba - In celebration of the posthumous publication of Cabarets of Death: Death, Dance and Dining in Early Twentieth-Century Paris - by Mel Gordon - Edited by Joanna Ebenstein - Published by Strange Attractor Press

Virtual
Event
Angela Garcia

Tuesday, April 30, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Angela Garcia

City Lights and Farrar, Straus, Giroux celebrate the launch of The Way That Leads Among the Lost: Life, Death, and Hope in Mexico City's Anexos - By Angela Garcia - Published by Farrar, Straus, Giroux

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Event
Paul Yamazaki in conversation with Oscar Villalon

Wednesday, May 1, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Paul Yamazaki in conversation with Oscar Villalon

City Lights and Ode Books celebrate the publication of Reading the Room: A Bookseller's Tale - By Paul Yamazaki, (Foreword by Rick Simonson) - Published by Ode Books

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Event
Jakuta Alikavazovic in conversation with Anna Wiener

Thursday, May 2, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Jakuta Alikavazovic in conversation with Anna Wiener

City Lights, Fern Books, Center for the Art of Translation, and Villa Albertine San Francisco celebrate the publication of Like a Sky Inside - by Jakuta Alikavazovic - translated from the French by Daniel Levin Becker - published by Fern Books

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Event
A Nostalgia for English: Rethinking Language, Refiguring the Discipline

Monday, May 6, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

A Nostalgia for English: Rethinking Language, Refiguring the Discipline

City Lights in conjunction with Department of English/University of San Francisco, Department of English/Dominican University of California, Fordham University Press, and Stanford University Press present A Nostalgia for English: Rethinking Language, Refiguring the Discipline - Amy R. Wong in conversation with Christopher Rovee, moderated by Omar F Miranda - Free to the Public

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Event
Rusty Morrison with Maw Shein Win

Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Rusty Morrison with Maw Shein Win

City Lights and Black Ocean Books present Rusty Morrison celebrating the launch of her new collection Risk - Published by Black Ocean

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Event
Jordan Elgrably

Thursday, May 9, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Jordan Elgrably

Jordan Elgrably in conversation with Sarah AlKahly-Mills - City Lights celebrates the publication of Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction - Edited by Jordan Elgrably - published by City Lights Books

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Event
Debbie Hines

Saturday, May 11, 2024, 12:00 pm PST

Debbie Hines

City Lights and The MIT Press celebrate the publication of Get Off My Neck: Black Lives, White Justice, and a Former Prosecutor's Quest for Reform - by Debbie Hines -Published by The MIT Press

Virtual
Event
Zyzzyva Issue 127 Launch Celebration

Tuesday, May 14, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Zyzzyva Issue 127 Launch Celebration

Join City Lights in celebrating another fine issue from San Francisco's premier journal of letters - Moderated by Oscar Villalon with appearances by James Cagney, Rose Himber Howse, and Hannah Kingsley-Ma

Offsite
Event
Robert Mailer Anderson

Thursday, May 16, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Robert Mailer Anderson

City Lights and Fantagraphics celebrate the launch of My Fairy Godfather - Text by Robert Mailer Anderson - Illustrations by Jon Sack - published by Fantagraphics

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Event
Neeli Cherkovski

Monday, May 20, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Neeli Cherkovski

Neeli Cherkovski reads from his new poetry collection -Selected Poems 1959-2022 - published by Lithic Press

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Event
K-Ming Chang

Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

K-Ming Chang

City Lights and Coffee House Press celebrate the publication of Cecilia - by K-Ming Chang - Published by Coffee House Press

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Event
Kit Schluter with Garrett Caples – Book Launch Party

Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Kit Schluter with Garrett Caples – Book Launch Party

Kit Schulter celebrates the publication of Cartoons published by City Lights - and - Garrett Caples celebrates the publication of Proses: Incomparable Parables! Fabulous Fables! Cruel Tales! published by Wave Books

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Event
Lindsey Dillon / Toxic City: Redevelopment and Environmental Justice in San Francisco

Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

Lindsey Dillon / Toxic City: Redevelopment and Environmental Justice in San Francisco

City Lights in conjunction with San Francisco Bay Chapter Physicians for Social Responsibility present Lindsey Dillon discussing her new book Toxic City: Redevelopment and Environmental Justice in San Francisco - published by University of California Press

Virtual
Event
Launch Party for Gil Cuadros’ MY BODY IS PAPER

Thursday, May 30, 2024, 7:00 pm PST

Launch Party for Gil Cuadros’ MY BODY IS PAPER

An evening with Kevin Martin, Rafael Pérez-Torres and Amy Scholder- City Lights celebrates the publication of My Body Is Paper: Stories and Poems - by Gil Cuadros (Edited by Pablo Alvarez, Kevin Martin, Rafael Pérez-Torres, and Terry Wolverton) - Foreword by Justin Torres - Published by City Lights Books

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Event
Trevor Paglen in conversation with Anthony Downey

Wednesday, July 10, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

Trevor Paglen in conversation with Anthony Downey

City Lights and Sternberg Press celebrate the publication of Trevor Paglen: Adversarially Evolved Hallucinations - by Trevor Paglen - Edited by Anthony Downey - Published by Sternberg Press/via The MIT Press

Virtual
Event
Erin McElroy / Silicon Valley Imperialism

Wednesday, July 17, 2024, 6:00 pm PST

Erin McElroy / Silicon Valley Imperialism

The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, City Lights, and Duke University Press present Erin McElroy in conversation with Chris Carlsson, Manissa M. Maharawal, Toshio Meronek, and Lisa Rofel celebrating the publication of Silicon Valley Imperialism: Techno Fantasies and Frictions in Postsocialist Times - By Erin McElroy - Published by Duke University Press

Virtual
Event

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