Thanks for a great 2009!

The dust has settled and we at Litquake are almost fully recovered from an incredible nine days of literary celebration. Here are a few highlight’s from this year’s 10th anniversary festival:

Andrew Sean Greer in sequined tank top at Amy Tan's tribute, singing his original rock song, "Amy Tan Made Me a Gay Man"
Terry McMillan doing her first-ever reading from Getting to Happy, her just-completed novel that catches up with the four characters in Waiting to Exhale
Soaring opera, birthday cake, author masks and strong martinis at Litquake's first-ever Book Ball
Tears in the eyes of burly audience members at our first "Gay Menace" event at Joe's Barbershop in the Castro, as Aaron Shurin read his poignant, lyrical essay comparing the migration of gays to the migration of butterflies
Daniel Handler and Lisa Brown's hilarious slideshow at the Contemporary Jewish Museum's homage to Maurice Sendak
Hollywood starlet-turned-poet-turned-film producer Amber Tamblyn singing a racy song after her film's screening, while her Oscar-winning father Russ Tamblyn smiled in the audience
Our first-ever (and wildly successful) Teenquake night at the Main Library for bookish young people
Capacity crowds of rapt schoolchildren at our ever-expanding Kidquake
And of course the Lit Crawl, which continues to draw huge audiences. This year we featured venues for, among others, farmers, hookers, bloggers, beekeepers, carnivores, queer activists, and zombies! The Crawl also featured a rare appearance by award-winning poet Rae Armantrout, the same week she was nominated for a National Book Award; the legendary Daughters of Yam (Opal Palmer Adisa and devorah major) doing jazz and poetry for San Jose CLA; Blag Dahlia, founder of the punk band The Dwarves, reading with an ordained minister from Modesto; authors from around the country and the world, including Asian, South Asian, Filipino, Latino, and Arab voices; and the world's shortest poetry reading (haiku!) at San Francisco’s smallest cookie store (Anthony’s).

We do believe we've outdone ourselves! And we're not done yet. We plan to expand in 2010 and have events year-around, as described in the San Francisco Chronicle article, Burgeoning Litquake looks to grow even more.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making our tenth anniversary such a successful year, and for helping us get this far. We know we can count on you as we forge into the future. And have a great holiday season!

Jane Ganahl and Jack Boulware
On behalf of Litquake's Board of Directors and army of volunteers

Lit Crawl Updates!

With nearly 300 authors, of course there’s going to be a few changes. Check out our twitter feed @litcrawl for the most up-to-date schedules!
Phase 1: 6-7 pm
Change of Venue
Meat Paper is no longer at Bar Tartine; it's now at Mission Street Food! At Lung Shan Restaurant, 2234 Mission St.

Address Correction
Gorey Story Hour's venue, Paxton Gate Curiosities for Kids,  is located at 766 Valencia, not 824 Valencia as reported in the program.
Phase 2: 7:15 ­ 8:15 pm
Change of authors
East of Here: Stories from “Dangerous” Lands at Bollyhood Café, 3372 19th St. Authors from the Middle East, South Asia, and Afghanistan shed light on the clash of cultures, religions, and societies, both here and there. Due to a family emergency, Ru Freeman won't be able to attend. But we've added Rabih Alameddine and Manjula Menon!

Change of authors
Emerging and Established Latino Authors at Sub/Mission Gallery, will be missing  Octavio Solis and Daisy Zamora. In their place, we’ve added poet Lorna Dee Cervantes and playwright/poet Marisela Treviño Orta.
Street Food
Bike Basket Pies can’t make it, but plenty of other street food carts will be “around” (shhh!—and tweet!)

LitCrawl, Phase 1: Saturday, Oct. 17

Phase 1: 6-7 pm
Lit Crawl launches Phase 1 with readings from local lit orgs, reading series, and indie publishers; themes of food, transgressive lit, spirituality, and online writing; Bomb magazine’s BOMB-aoke!; and our annual Clarion Alley madness!

Access a printable Litquake 2009 Crawl Map.


Clarion Alley, Between 17th & 18th, Mission & Valencia
Dirty in the Alley: Literature from the Gutter Up
(Sign up for Phase 2 Open Mic in Phase 1!)

Amanda Coggin, Stefan De La Garza, Cynthia Gentry, D. R. Haney, Diane Karagienakos, Andre Perry, Jen Siraganian,  Tony DuShane
Four Barrel Coffee, 375 Valencia
Kearny Street Workshop: I Left My Heart In...?
Musings on east/west dichotomies, bi-coastal travels, and the meaning of place.
Samantha Chanse, Khoi Nguyen, Brynn Saito, Nina Sharma, Alice Wu
Artzone 461 Gallery, 461 Valencia
Three Rooms Press
Peter Carlaftes, Joie Cook, Kat Georges, Karen Hildebrand, Dominique Lowell, Jane Ormerod
The LAB, 2948 16th
SFist and SF Appeal Present: Collisions on the Information Superhighway
It's a two-way street. As opposed to writing for print, online writing is a medium of instant gratification- and immediate pillory. Join some of San Francisco's freshest online voices as they grapple with the joys and heartaches of being 'out there' in the interwebs without a net.

Brock Keeling, Eve Batey, Katie Ann, Matt Baume, Christine Borden, Phil Bronstein, Ramona Emerson, Tag Savage
Forest Books, 3080 16th
The Way to Happiness: Spirituality in Challenging Times
Byron Belitsos, Matthew Fox, Brenda Knight, Nina Lesowitz, Kamla K. Kapur
Ti Couz, 3108 16th
Cherry Bleeds
Cherry Bleeds Presents No F**king Regrets: A loving embrace of our DNA's inner reptile and transcendent transgression.

Melissa Hansen, Missy Church-Barrow, MK Chavez, Aimee De Long, William Taylor Jr., Daphne Gottlieb
Dalva (21+), 3121 16th
Instant City Magazine
Jamey Genna, Ana Maria Ventura, Gravity Goldberg, Sherilyn Connelly, Suzanne Kleid, Jim Nelson
Adobe Books, 3166 16th
Manic D Press
Thea Hillman, Jon Longhi, Tarin Towers, Jennifer Blowdryer, James Tracy, Eric Spitznagel, Jennifer Joseph
Double Dutch (21+), 3192 16th
Rebel Reading Series
Jason Myers, Karen Finlay, Dan Strachota, Stephanie Pullen
Elixir (21+), 3200 16th
Babylon Salon Spotlight Reading
Spotlighting readers from Babylon Salon, a quarterly reading series that brings together established authors, emerging writers, a featured literary journal and an author from its pages.

Jay C. Barmann, Kerry Donoghue, Nick Krieger, Anna Leahy, Ann K. Ryles
Creativity Explored, 3245 16th
Threepenny Review
Kathryn Crim, T. J. Clark, Louis B. Jones, Elizabeth Tallent, Tony Tulathimutte, Anne Wagner, Dean Young
Muddy Waters, 521 Valencia @ 16th
Mission Street Poets
Readings from a group of poets and performers who meet on the corner of 16th & Mission.

Charlie Getter, J. Brandon Løburg, m.g. martin, Jonathan Siegel, Amber Bouman, Guinevere Q, Peck The Town Crier (aka Chris Peck), Stellar Cassidy
Casanova (21+), 527 Valencia
San Francisco Writers' Grotto: Psycho Babble from The Grotto
Oddballs, whack jobs, and loony ideas. The San Francisco Writers' Grotto celebrates deviating from the norm.

Allison Hoover Bartlett, Elizabeth Bernstein, Po Bronson, Chris Colin, Janis Cooke Newman, Julia Scheeres, Ethan Watters
Mission Street Food, 2234 Mission St.  (Lung Shan Restaurant)
Note changed venue—no longer at Bar Tartine!
Meatpaper
Marissa Guggiana, Heather Smith, Chris Ying
Root Division, 3175 17th
Root Division: Quaking in the Roots
Root Division, an arts and arts education non-profit in the Mission that provides subsidized studio space to working artists, is proud to host a night of fiction, performance, and creative wizardry by four Bay Area writers.

Mateo Hoke, Miranda Mellis, Eric E. Olson, Christopher Lura, Christopher Cook
18 Reasons, 593 Guerrero
Edible San Francisco
Bruce Cole (emcee), Susan Coss (curator), Molly Watson, Novella Carpenter, Andy Griffin, Jeannette Ferrary
The Dark Room, 2263 Mission
Bomb Magazine Presents: BOMB-AOKE!
Re-enact BOMB's classic interviews (available at BOMBsite.com) in a karaoke-style format! Act out Jonathan Safran Foer interviewing Jeffrey Eugenides. Or pretend to be Willem Defoe interviewing Frances McDormand! Best performance wins a free vintage issue of BOMB worth lots of dough. Special surprise guests writers!

Judges: Brian McMullen, Laura Howard, Paul W. Morris
Paxton Gate Kids, 766 Valencia
Paxton Gate Kids Presents: Edward Gorey Story Hour
Surprise readers will share classic Edward Gorey stories, like The Blue Aspic or The Remembered Visit.

*Bring your kids!
on to Phase 2
skip to Phase 3

The Lit Crawl Is Coming!

The annual Lit Crawl just happens to take place on the 20th anniversary of Loma Prieta—Saturday, Oct. 17. Coincidence? We don’t think so.

Join us for

Phase 1 (6-7 pm)
Phase 2 (7:15-8:15 pm)
Phase 3 (8:30-9:30 pm)


Absolutely Free!
And watch this space for last minute updates—you don't really think that Lit Crawl events and authors stay still long enough to be pinned down completely on a printed schedule, do you?

Access a printable Litquake 2009 Crawl Map.
Tips for Surviving the Crawl

Arrive early for the best “seat” (more likely, standing room only!)
Take BART or ride your bike
Wear comfortable shoes — and walk damn fast (total route, end to end: 1.16 miles)
Venue packed? Follow us on Twitter @litcrawl to find one that’s open
Feed your mind and body! Find your favorite Street Eats at Lit Crawl:

Gobba Gobba Hey @gobbagobbahey
Creme Brulee Cart @cremebruleecart
Magic Curry Kart @magiccurrykart
Amuse Bouche Cart @AmuseBoucheSF
Bike Basket Pies @bikebasketpies
Sexy Soup Lady @sexysouplady
Adobo Hobo @adobohobo
Wholesome Bakery @wholesomebakery
Smitten Ice Cream @smittenicecream
Brazilian Bites @brazilianbites
Gumbo Cart @gumbocart
Toasty Melts @toastymelts
Cookie Wag SF @cookiewagsf
The Chai Cart @thechaicart
Sweet Cart @sweetcart
Lumpia Cart @lumpiacart
Sweet Constructions @ sfcookies
… and many more

Must-See LitCrawl Events

Crawl events you should definitely catch:
Phase 1:
Bomb Magazine presents BOMB-AOKE!
The Dark Room, 2263 Mission St.
Re-enact BOMB’s classic interviews (available at BOMBsite.com) in an interactive karaoke-style format! Best performance wins a free vintage issue of BOMB worth lots of dough. BOMB did a similar event at our New York Lit Crawl and it was a smash hit. Judges: Brian McMullen, Laura Howard, Paul W. Morris, plus special surprise guests!

Paxton Gate Kids presents Edward Gorey Story Hour
at the groovy new Paxton kids’ store, 766 Valencia St.

Perfect for children!  Surprise readers will share classic Edward Gorey stories, like The Blue Aspic or The Remembered Visit. And browse their special collection of giant bugs frozen in clear Lucite!
Phase 2: 7:15 ­ 8:15 pm
Get Lit with Scribd
Elbo Room, 647 Valencia St.

Debut authors chosen from the popular social publishing website will be doing featured readings. Our distinguished panel of publishing industry judges includes April Eberhardt, Bridget Kinsella, Kemble Scott, and Tammy Nam, with emcee Joe Quirk!

San Jose Center for Literary Arts presents Bay Area & Beyond
The Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission St.

Hear a great lineup of authors from around the Bay Area do readings inside a classic Mission watering hole/beauty parlor. With Pam Houston, Nick Tayler, Rebecca Black, Shawna Yang Ryan, Daughters of Yam (Opal Palmer Adisa and onetime SF Poet Laureate devorah major), and Andrew Foster Altschul.
Phase 3: 8:30­9:30 pm
The Believer Magazine and McSweeney’s
Latin American Club, 3286 22nd St.

A stellar lineup with poets Troy Jollimore and Joshua Clover, and National Book Award finalist Rae Armantrout.

Tin House Presents at the Lone Palm
3394 22nd St.

The esteemed Portland literary magazine and book imprint (and valued Litquake sponsor!) brings to Lit Crawl four of its most steller Tin House authors, with a chance to win a $25 gift certificate! Featuring Lucy Corin, Katie Crouch, C.J. Evans, and D.A. Powell.

Litquake's Loyal-est

After ten years of celebrating literature, Litquake has many fans who go to events daily during the Festival—sometimes even multiple events in an evening. But we dare say that no one surpasses Evan Karp, aka the SF Literary Culture Examiner, who has been lending his exuberant presence to multiple events as well as writing at least one long, delightful, and insightful piece (with photos and video) each day on Examiner.com. We thank Evan for his contribution to the joyous madness that is Litquake.

The full list of Evan's Posts gives you a quick look at the breadth of Evan's (and Litquake's) interests, from noetic scientists to punk rock, from North Beach to the Mission.

A few of our favorite quotes:
My bike had to be gone. Day 3 of Litquake was so amazing something like my bike being stolen had to have happened. But my bike was right where I left it. It truly was that kind of day then.
Did you think I climbed Armistead Maupin's "golden mountain" to send out impersonal postcards? Am I to step away from the microphone because I'm scared to follow form? Hey mister, miss. What you want is not literature or culture but substance. It presents itself in infinite forms and eludes you whenever you name it. Call me whatever you will.
I saw Roger McGuinn beside Amy Tan tonight; I spoke with a room full of published people who know my name. I respect anyone with a published book (almost). Is everyone here published? That's only reason to love the place more; takes nothing away from books. Litquake grew up tonight right in front of our eyes. Sure, I've only seen a ten year old through the first half of her birthday party. But as the day goes on she's becoming more confident. Closer to ten now than nine. Maybe it's like this every year, I think. But then again, did the old girl just wink?
I wish I had a literary festival to help me with my problems. Who needs a shrink? Show me a festival!

Evan moved to San Francisco from Savannah, Georgia, this summer and and soon was hit by a severe case of culture shock, Litquake style.  By day two, he was describing the day's first event (Off the Richter Scale at the library), as "enough for an entire week (or back in my Georgia hometown a couple of decades). "

LitCrawl, Phase 2: Saturday, Oct. 17

Phase 2: 7:15-8:15 pm
Phase 2 features Clarion Alley antics, reading series and indie publishers; social publishing with Scribd; behind-bars writing from HarperOne; voices from the Middle East, South Asia, and Afghanistan; zombies, smut, Jewish and Latino lit, 826 Valencia, a beekeeping store, and much more!
Access a printable Litquake 2009 Crawl Map.

Clarion Alley between 17th & 18th, Mission & Valencia
 
Clarion Alley: An Even Dirtier Open Mic
Break out that story that's never been read. Disclose that secret your Grandma should never hear. To get your five minutes of fame, stop by Clarion Alley during Phase I and drop your name in the pickle jar. Just make sure to come back at Phase II to see if your name is called to do your best rendition of "Come on down!" (Extra time may be give to those sporting the strapless velour jumpsuit.)
Open Mic with emcee Tony DuShane.
Upstairs at the Elbo Room, 647 Valencia // 21 + over
Get Lit with Scribd
Hear debut authors chosen from the popular social publishing website read at Litquake!
Judges: April Eberhardt, Bridget Kinsella, Kemble Scott, Tammy Nam Emcee: Joe Quirk
Downstairs at the Elbo Room, 647 Valencia // 21 + over
Bang Out Reading Series
Bang Out Reading Series is a quarterly event that prompts writers to "bang out" poems, stories and essays, presenting work that is dangerously spontaneous.  Emceed by Amick Boone and Kevin Hobson. Readers include Toni Mirosevich,  Rosemary Griggs, Meg Day, Susanna Kittredge, and Joe Cervelin.
Sub/Mission Art Space, 2183 Mission
Emerging & Established Latino Writers
Some have been writing for decades and some for just a few years . . . but all have something to say! Join poets, playwrights, and short story writers at the Sub-Mission Gallery.
Lorna Dee Cervantes, Alejandro Murguía, Jose Vadi, John Olivares, Emily Wilson, Marisela Trevino Orta
The Corner, 2199 Mission
Zeek Magazine: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture
Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture (zeek.net) presents a brace of self-identified (and fabulously talented) Jewish poets and novelists who grapple with the question of identity in their work.
Joan Gelfand, Yosefa Raz, Harriet Rohmer, Dan Bellm, Daniel Y. Harris, Jo Ellen Green Kaiser
Self Edge, 714 Valencia
From the Fishouse
A showcase of poets featured on From the Fishouse, a free on-line audio archive that features emerging poets reading their own poems and translations.
Paul Welch, Charles Flowers, Xochiqueztal Candelaria, Lee Herrick, Helen Wickes
Women's Building, Audre Lorde Room, 3543 18th
Good Vibrations & The Center for Sex & Culture Smuttify Lit Crawl!
With good smut, that is... literate, diverse, interesting, hot, moving, erotic.
Blake C. Aarens, Jen Cross, Thomas S. Roche, Simon Sheppard, Carol Queen, Dusty Horn
Women's Building, Room A, 3543 18th
Counterpoint Press
Come join Counterpoint authors Susan Dunlap (Civil Twilight: A Darcy Lott Mystery) and Nancy Spiller (Entertaining Disasters: A Novel (with Recipes)) in the Women's Building.
Susan Dunlap, Nancy Spiller
The Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission // 21 + over
San Jose Center for Literary Arts: Bay Area & Beyond
A showcase for literary artists from around the region, The Center for Literary Arts hosts outreach and free readings by major authors and emerging writers.
Pam Houston, Nick Taylor, Rebecca Black, Shawna Yang Ryan, Daughters of Yam (Opal Palmer Adisa and devorah major), Andrew Foster Altschul (host)
Bollyhood Café, 3372 19th
East of Here:   Stories from "Dangerous" Lands
Authors from the Middle East, South Asia, and Afghanistan shed light on the clash of cultures, religions, and societies, both here and there.
Curator:  Soumeya Bendimerad Shilpa Agarwal, Elmaz Abinader, Tamim Ansary, Rabih Alameddine, Manjula Menon, Shanthi Sekaran
Bruno’s, 2389 Mission // 21 + over
HarperOne Presents: That Bird Has My Wings
HarperOne brings together an array of local writers, artists, and activists—including Don Lattin (former religion reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle)—to celebrate the publication of San Quentin death row inmate Jarvis Jay Masters’ That Bird Has My Wings. The powerful story of Masters’ childhood leading up to his conviction, and his subsequent spiritual transformation while behind bars, this memoir has been endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said: “His memoir is a plea for reform, for a common humanity, and I share his hope that this moving story will redouble our efforts to make sure that every child matters.” Drink tickets will be given away during the event and 10 copies of That Bird Has My Wings will be raffled.
826 Valencia
826 Valencia Presents… Young Voices
Come out to support local student authors from the renowned 826 Valencia Writing Center and 826 Quarterly.
City Arts Gallery, 828 Valencia
Eleven Eleven & Fourteen Hills Press
For Eleven Eleven: Jessica Breheny, Alison Doernberg, Steve Gilmartin For Fourteen Hills: Jenny Pritchett, D.W. Lichtenberg, Jill Tidman
Amnesia, 853 Valencia // 21 + over
Opium Live!
Opium Live is a literary and artistic interview series that features 10-question interviews with today’s most innovative and exciting authors and artists.
Jonathon Keats, Alan Black
Borderlands Books, 866 Valencia
Zombie-Fest! Tales of Urban Fantasy
Bring your morbid curiosity and check out tales of urban fantasy and zombies!
John Levitt, Seanan McGuire, Loren Rhoads
Modern Times, 888 Valencia
Hot Off the Presses: Fresh New Fiction
Some bright lights of new fiction will bend your ears with wicked prose!
Josh Bazell, Lee Konstantinou, Victor Martinez, Todd Shimoda, Holly Shumas, K.M. Soehnlein, Christina Sunley, Wendy Tokunaga
Dog Eared Books, 900 Valencia
Babble-On Reading Series
Babble-On, a reading series for the zany, quixotic, erratic, and sublime, takes place the last Thursday of every month at Dog Eared Books.
Jan Richman, Sarah Fran Wisby, Maria DeLorenzo, Justin Jones
Encantada Gallery, 904 Valencia
Cutting-Edge Latino Writers
Irete Lazo, Kathleen de Azevedo, Maria Espinosa, Ananda Esteva, Paul S. Flores, José Antonio Galloso
Mission Comics & Art, 3520 20th, Suite B
WritersCorps
WritersCorps hires published writers to teach creative writing to youth. Hear these writers read from the new City Lights anthology: Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds: The Teachers of WritersCorps in Poetry and Prose. Neelanjana Banerjee, Richard D'Elia, Aracely Gonzalez, Myron Michael Hardy, Cindy Je, Carrie Leilam Love, Milta Ortiz
Her Majesty's Secret Beekeeper, 3520 20th
East-Meets-West “Be”-In: Faculty & Friends of the Writing, Consciousness and Creative Inquiry MFA Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
Randall Babtkis, Ching-In Chen, Stephen Kessler, Genny Lim, Sarah Stone
back to Phase 1
on to Phase 3

Orta, Marisela Treviño

Marisela Treviño Orta is a San Franciscan poet and playwright. Her debut play Braided Sorrow won the 2009 PEN Center USA Literary Award in Drama.

LitCrawl, Phase 3: Saturday, Oct. 17

Phase 3: 8:30-9:30 pm
Phase 3 presents publication-curated readings from Ping-Pong, Re/SEARCH, Narrative, Canteen, Tin House, The Believer, & McSweeney’s, S.F. Chronicle, and Watchword Press/Farallon Review; themed fun with Heyday Books, The Rumpus, Philippine-American lit, travel authors, haiku and poetry; comedy group Kasper Hauser, and even more!

Access a printable Litquake 2009 Crawl Map.


Between 17th & 18th, Mission & Valencia
Clarion Alley: In the Dirty Crevices with Kasper Hauser
Kasper Hauser will transform Clarion Alley into a different kind of alley: an alley of ideas, of the mind, an alley of fast-paced live comedy and dynamic book readings, an alley of getting to know your body.
Gravel & Gold, 3266 21st
Ping-Pong!
Gravel & Gold and the Henry Miller Library invite you to a reading from the Ping-Pong journal of art and literature.

James Maughn, Dan Linehan, Kimberly Jean Smith, Charlie Anders, Maria Garcia Teutsch
Ritual Roasters, 1026 Valencia
Narrative Magazine Presents: The Seven Deadly Sins
Narrative Magazine joins Litquake with six great authors whose work has helped narrativemagazine.com become the gold standard of online literary magazines.

Tom Barbash, Carol Edgarian, Melanie Gideon, Charlie Haas, Kara Levy, Matthew Zapruder
The Marsh Mock Café, 1062 Valencia
Inside Storytime Hustlers
InsideStorytime HUSTLERS features sex-worker literati, some from Soft Skull's anthology Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money and Sex.

David Henry Sterry, R.J. Martin, Diana Morgaine, Juliet November, Juliana Piccillo
The Marsh Upstairs, 1062 Valencia
Small Press Distribution Presents New Lit Generation
Trade a poem for a free book at SPD's Poetry Trading Post! SPD makes literature by independent publishers widely available, and encourages young people to read and write with classes, events, and by putting books into their hands. Find books, New Lit poems, and much more at spdbooks.org.

Barbara Jane Reyes, Cedar Sigo, Kaya Oakes, Kiala Givehand, Alexandra Tremblay-McGaw, Ashley Redfield, Kaila Wilkey
Laszlo Bar, 2526 Mission // 21 + over
Re/SEARCH
James Charles Gatewood and V. Vale will present an audio-visual presentation encompassing the best-selling Modern Primitives book, with graphic illustrations. Charles will read a recent short story.
Doc’s Clock, 2575 Mission // 21 + over
SF Chronicle Presents...
Mark Morford, Joe Garofoli, Leah Garchik, Don Asmussen
The Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd // 21 + over
The Rumpus Presents...
John Wesley Harding, Vendela Vida, Bucky Sinister, Kevin Smokler,  Michelle Richmond,
Stephen Elliott (host)
Revolution Café, 3248 22nd
Canteen Presents...Overflowing with Inspiration
Canteen is the literature and arts magazine that reveals more about creativity. Experience  five of the contributors to our fourth issue—novelists and poets who let it spill into the night.

Helena Echlin, Keith Ekiss, Andrew Sean Greer, Heather Kirn, Peter Orner
Latin American Club, 3286 22nd // 21 + over
The Believer Magazine and McSweeney’s Present...
The Believer magazine and McSweeney's present poets Troy Jollimore, Joshua Clover,  and Rae Armantrout.
Fabric8 Gallery, 3318 22nd
PAWA & Arkipelago Bookstore Present: Of History & Myths — Writings from Philippine-American Authors
PAWA (Philippine American Writers and Artists) encourages the creation of literature and arts among its members. For information about their latest anthology, Field of Mirrors, and their Author Workshop and Reading series, log on to pawainc.com.

Emcee and curator Karen Llagas
Luis H. Francia, Aimee Suzara, Rona Fernandez, Jenesha “Jinky” de Rivera, Eileen Tabios, Benito M. Vergara, Jr.
Lone Palm, 3394 22nd // 21 + over
Tin House Presents…
An evening with four Tin House authors, with a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the Thai restaurant featured in Katie Crouch's story, "But First, Let Me Tell You What We Ate."

Lucy Corin, Katie Crouch, CJ Evans, D. A. Powell
The Liberties, 998 Guerrero // 21 + over
Glamorous in Retrospect
Travel writers share insights, adventures, and mishaps from around the world.

Pamela Alma Bass, Carl and Karl (aka Geoff Bolt and Michael O’Brien), Francesca De Stefano, Natalie Galli, Don George, Jeff Greenwald, Larry Habegger, Laurie McAndish King
Cafe QueTal, 1005 Guerrero
The International Poetry Library of San Francisco
The International Poetry Library of San Francisco, a non-profit library for working poets and poetry enthusiasts, provides online and on-site poetry resources to browse, rent, or purchase.

Bruce Smith, Karen Carissimo, Rebecca Foust, Leticia Hernández, Jules Gibbs, Tomás Riley
Artillery Gallery, 2751 Mission
As You Like It: Imaginations without Limit
Emily Mitchell, Joshua Mohr, mimi lok, Warren Hinckle, Scott Keneally
Cafe La Boheme, 3318 24th (across from BART)
Sounds Like Crazy
God and physics, ghosts in Russia, bar mitzvahs in Appalachia, five people living in a house inside a head— one crazy event moderated by a shrink.

Marty Castleberg, Yanina Gotsulsky, Paul R. Linde, M.D., Shana Mahaffey, Ransom Stephens, Ph.D., Barry Willdorf
Muddy Waters, 1304 Valencia @ 24th
Write to Fight: Heyday Books Presents California Rabble Rousers
Emcee: Kate Brumage, Patricia Wakida, Elaine Elinson, Stan Yogi, Nesta Rovina, Jeannine Gendar, Mike Miller
Mission Pie, 2901 Mission
Watchword Press & Farallon Review Present...
West Coast Litmags serve up literature, music, and theater.

Britta Austin, Chris Straffolino, Maw Shein Win, Lewis Buzbee, Laurie Doyle,
James Hass
Receiver Gallery, 1415 Valencia
Lit Up Writers!
Brittny Bottorff, Laurie Frater, Kelly Kelly, Jennifer Lou, Mike Shur
Anthony’s Cookies, 1417 Valencia
Haiku Poets of Northern California
The Bay Area figures prominently in the history of American haiku. The Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC) was formed in 1989 to further the writing, study, and appreciation of English-language haiku and related genres.

Susan Antolin, Fay Aoyagi, Garry Gay, David Grayson, Carolyn Hall, Ebba Story
back to Phase 1
back to Phase 2

Litquake's Tenth

Full schedule available now!
Litquake plans a real page-turner of a celebration to commemorate our ten-year anniversary! The West Coast's largest literary festival opens on Friday, October 9 with "Black, White and Read: Litquake's Book Ball," featuring performances from the worlds of opera, jazz, classical music and the circus!
The following eight days of programming will include a star-studded Amy Tan roast/tribute emceed; a Bay Area punk history collaboration with Porchlight Storytelling Series; an evening of original short fiction in conjunction with the Evolve 2009 celebration of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday; the notorious Literary Death Match; a night of poetry at Grace Cathedral; events devoted to genre fiction, food writing, women's lit, underground publishing, and the "Gay Menace."
Plus film screenings, staged theater readings, panel discussions, workshops for writers, events for teens and children, and closing night's Lit Crawl on October 17—a literary pub crawl through the Mission District, featuring over 50 venues in a single evening! Check this site in the coming weeks for more details and ticket information.

NY Times Covers Litquake

Litquake went bi-coastal this week as The New York Times began its coverage of the festival.  Read the lead to the inaugural post (and a link to the full piece) below. Keep watching The NYT online ArtsBeat—and you might want to give the dead-tree version a really close look this Sunday!

Litquake: Bookworms Come Out to Play
By Bruce Weber from The New York Times, ArtBeat, The Culture at Large
SAN FRANCISCO — Litquake, the warmly raucous festival that celebrates this city’s formidable book-loving scene, is 10 years old this year, and it was inaugurated Friday night at “Black, White and Read,” a masked ball upstairs at the Herbst Theater. Well, actually, it was only semi-masked. Some people went all out and dressed to recall Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball at the Plaza Hotel in New York in 1966. Others just pretended, carrying cardboard face masks of Allen Ginsberg, Gertrude Stein, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Amy Tan or other recognizable literary locals. It was funny and cute.

One City One Book: Doug Dorst Event October 13

In conjunction with the S.F. Public Library's One City One Book celebration, Litquake presents an evening with Alive in Necropolis author Doug Dorst and Adam Johnson at the Library's Koret Auditorium. Admission is free!

Dorst's new thriller, set in the city of San Francisco and the cemeteries of Colma, is one part crime novel, one part ghost story, tinged with humor and heart. Among many colorful characters, the book features a rookie Colma cop navigating a world of both the dead and alive, and a San Francisco teen, struggling with his own version of reality.
Like Dashiell Hammett, Dorst conveys a hard-bitten love of the physical San Francisco,
the fog-swallowed town, the sun after rain, the mineshaft drops in temperature....
The fiction seems to possess, and be possessed by, its beloved Bay.
— New York Times Book Review

SF Weekly Weighs in on Litquake 2009

Amy Tan’s characters are so formulaic, she makes Dan Brown look like William Burroughs. Pow! Tan better get used to it: She’s the guest of honor at Litquake’s Amy Tan Tribute/Roast, which means elite scribes like Andrew Sean Greer, Michael Krasny, and Ben Fong-Torres will pay homage to the beloved local author by firebombing her, her work, and hopefully her band, the Rock Bottom Remainders, which can’t keep a beat steady without a tincture of heroin and a naked rent boy intoning the Kabbalah. Double pow! The nine-day event is stocked with author readings (James Ellroy, Sarah Vowell, and Tracy Kidder, to name a paltry three out of dozens) but so is every week in the city. It’s the oddball stuff that makes Litquake so special, such as tonight’s Book Ball, which requests that attendees don masks, à la Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball, and mingle semi-anonymously. On Oct. 12, Porchlight focuses on Bay Area punk history; the lineup includes Litquake co-founder Jack Boulware and SF Weekly contributor Silke Tudor, whose book on that very topic hit stores last month (see our music editor’s take here). Ending the event is the ridiculous Lit Crawl (Oct. 17), in which organizers stuff countless authors (Loren Rhoads, David Henry Sterry, Vendela Vida, and Alan Black, to name a paltry four out of many dozens) into Mission bars and venues, waves the public over, and watches everybody try to make sense of it all. Forget about finding a seat, just stand in back and eat street food — this year, more than 20 local food vendors plan to attend, making it delicious as well as thrilling, maddening, intoxicating, claustrophobic, and, for the yet-to-be-published, quietly devastating.
By Michael Leaverton
reprinted from SF Weekly

Horn, Dusty

Dusty Horn is a queer porn performer, model, and sex educator whose writing has been published in McSweeney’s, The Believer, Maximum RnR, and Kitchen Sink.

Kittredge, Susanna

Susanna Kittredge's work has appeared or is forthcoming in 14 Hills, Sidebrow, Parthenon West Review, Shampoo, 580 Split, and the anthology Bay Poetics (Faux Press).

Cervelin, Joe

Joe Cervelin's work has appeared in 14 Hills, Bay Nature magazine, and elsewhere. He's currently working on his first story collection, Kissing the Bomb Dogs.

Day, Meg

Meg Day is a poet, spoken word artist & arts educator from San Diego but is currently earning her MFA at Mills College.

Griggs, Rosemary

Rosemary Griggs received her MFA from San Francisco State. Her book Sky Girl was published in 2003 by Fence Books.

Mirosevich, Toni

Toni Mirosevich is the author of the nonfiction collection Pink Harvest and three poetry collections and is a Professor of Creative Writing at SFSU.

Castleberg, Marty

Marty Castleberg is a recovering academic and organizational proctologist. He just finished a travel-memoir—Daveland—about hiding a life-long secret.

Brown, Lisa

San Franciscan Lisa Brown is the bestselling author/illustrator of Vampire Boy’s Good Night, The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming, and Baby Mix Me a Drink. She sporadically draws the SF Chronicle’s Three Panel Book Review.

Bañales, Meliza

Meliza Banales wrote Say It With Your Whole Mouth and 51 Poems About Nothing at All. Involved in spoken word, she recently toured with Sister Spit.

Nolan, Monica

Monica Nolan is the author of The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories (co-written with Alisa Surkis) and Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary. Her next book, Bobby Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher, will be out in 2010.

Hall, Justin

Justin Hall is an award-winning comic book creator best known for his series True Travel Tales, Hard To Swallow, and Glamazonia the Uncanny Super Tranny. His work has appeared in the Best American Comics and the S.F. Guardian, among others.

Shurin, Aaron

Aaron Shurin’s newest book is King of Shadows, a collection of personal essays from City Lights Books. He began publishing in the gay press in 1971, and is currently a professor in the MFA in Writing Program at USF.

Ewert, Marcus

Marcus Ewert wrote the groundbreaking children’s book 10,000 Dresses, gorgeously illustrated by Rex Ray. He is currently working on still more kids’ books, plus a memoir about his real-life affair with William Burroughs.

Unterberger, Richie

Richie Unterberger is the author of numerous rock history books, the most recent of which is White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day-By-Day. His book The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film won a 2007 Association for Record Sound Collections Award for Excellence in the “Best Research in Recorded Rock Music” category.

Sullivan, Denise

Denise Sullivan writes on rock, folk, and other things for print and web sources. She is the author of The White Stripes: Sweethearts of the Blues, R.E.M.: Talk About the Passion, Rip It Up! Rock ‘n’ Roll Rulebreakers, and her newest, Fight the Power: The Soundtrack to Revolution.

Sirius, RU

Counterculture/Technoculture writer and editor RU Sirius is currently editor-in-chief of h+, a science faction magazine that has much in common with his earlier effort, Mondo 2000. When not shilling for technotopians, he writes corrosive and sometimes enjoyably trashy books, like his latest: Everybody Must Get Stoned: Rock Stars on Drugs.

Robertson, Linda

Linda Robertson was born in Scotland but spent 23 years honing her English accent before moving to San Francisco. She was named “Ms. Accordion San Francisco” in 2004 and performs throughout the city with the Mini-Trifles. Her latest book is What Rhymes with Bastard?

Ginoli, Jon

Jon Ginoli. Born in Peoria, Illinois. Goes to college, comes out. Moves to San Francisco, forms unapologetic openly gay rock band Pansy Division early ‘90s. Big break: opening for Green Day on their breakthrough tour. Writes Deflowered, memoir of queer punk band experiences, released 2009. Band just put out new CD and still tours.

Comfort, David

David Comfort is the author of three popular titles from Simon & Schuster. His newest is The Rock and Roll Book of the Dead: The Fatal Journeys of Rock’s Seven Immortals (Citadel/Kensington). The exposé explores the tragic ends of Elvis, Lennon, Hendrix, Janis, Morrison, Garcia, and Cobain.

Vandenburgh, Jane

Jane Vandenburgh is author of A Pocket History of Sex in the Twentieth Century, Failure to Zigzag, and The Physics of Sunset.

Sycamore, Mattilda Bernstein

Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore wrote So Many Ways to Sleep Badly and edited Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity. Mattilda is currently at work on a devastating memoir, The End of San Francisco.

Nunberg, Geoffrey

Geoffrey Nunberg is a linguist at U.C. Berkeley. He does features on language for Fresh Air, the New York Times and many others. His books include The Years of Talking Dangerously, Talking Right, and Going Nucular.

Humes, Edward

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Edward Humes has written ten nonfiction books, including Eco Barons, Monkey Girl and No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court.

Walter, Jess

Jess Walter is the author of The Zero, a National Book Award finalist, and Citizen Vince, which won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Walter lives in Spokane, Washington, with his family.

Au, Wagner James

Wagner James Au is the author of The Making of Second Life (HarperCollins), a contributing editor for the GigaOM.com network, and writes about Second Life on his own blog, New World Notes. He lives in San Francisco’s Mission/Noe area.

Stanford Graphic Novel Project

The Stanford Graphic Novel Project works every year to bring to life an important, real-world story through the collaborative creation of a graphic novel. Adam Johnson and Tom Kealey, who founded the project, also serve as the books’ editors.

Hountalas, Mary Germain

Mary Germain Hountalas and her husband have been operating the Cliff House since 1973. Hountalas has become a serious historian of the Cliff House and a dedicated collector of associated artifacts. She resides in Sausalito.

Jacoby, Annice

Annice Jacoby has directed innovative public art projects incorporating visual arts, literature, theater, and media. Her work includes City of Poets, for the San Francisco Library, and the Fort Point Project for the Hague Appeal for Peace.

Madison, Ivory

Ivory Madison is CEO of redroom.com, the premier social network for authors. She’s been a New Orleans restaurateur, feminist politico, torch singer, and lawyer. Her graphic novel Huntress: Year One was published by DC Comics.

Shirley, John

John Shirley's newest novel is Bleak History from Simon and Schuster. He won the Bram Stoker Award for best story collection for Black Butterflies. He also authored Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas.

Murphy, David P.

David P. Murphy, author of Zombies for Zombies: Advice and Etiquette for the Living Dead, is also a songwriter/producer of two CDs, Shining in a Temporary Sun and Effortless. He currently shambles in Omaha, Nebraska.

Beagle, Peter S.

Peter S. Beagle was born in New York in 1939. He is the author of such modern classics as The Last Unicorn, A Fine and Private Place, and I See By My Outfit.

Browne, S.G.

S.G. Browne is the author of Breathers: A Zombie's Lament (Broadway, March 2009), a dark, romantic comedy about undeath through the eyes of an ordinary zombie. Scott lives and writes in San Francisco.

Teare, Brian

Brian Teare has authored three poetry books: The Room Where I Was Born, Sight Map, and the forthcoming Pleasure. He teaches at USF and runs a micropress, Albion Books, specializing in letterpressed and handmade books.

di Prima, Diane

Diane di Prima lives and works in San Francisco. She has written 43 books of poetry and prose. She received the 2008 Reginald Lockett Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN West and recently became San Francisco’s Poet Laureate.

Raday, Sophia

Sophia Raday wrote Love in Condition Yellow: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage (Beacon Press, 2009). She lives near Berkeley with her police officer/Army Reserve husband, their two children, a bipartisan dog, and assorted firearms.

Winn, Steven

Steven Winn, former arts and culture critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, writes fiction (Colorado Review) and poetry (Prairie Schooner) as well as nonfiction. His memoir, Come Back, Como, was published by Harper on October 1.

Sam, Canyon

Canyon Sam’s Sky Train: Tibetan Women on the Edge of History, searches the Himalayas for women from 20 years past. Blending memoir and oral history, it offers a 50-year Tibetan narrative from an unexplored perspective: its women’s lives.

Lentine, Genine

Genine Lentine’s chapbook Mr. Worthington’s Beautiful Experiments on Splashes will be published in 2010 by New Michigan Press. The Wild Braid, her collaboration with Stanley Kunitz and Marnie Crawford-Samuelson, was published by W.W.Norton in 2005.

Pomerantz, Gary M.

Gary M. Pomerantz is a nonfiction author, journalist, and visiting lecturer at Stanford. His latest book, The Devil’s Tickets (Crown) is a sensational narrative set in the Roaring ’20s. He lives in the Bay Area with his family.

Helvarg, David

David Helvarg is a long-time journalist and founder and president of Blue Frontier Campaign. His books include The War Against the Greens, Blue Frontier, 50 Ways to Save the Ocean and Rescue Warriors--The U.S. Coast Guard.

Saxton, Kirsten T.

Kirsten T. Saxton is an award-winning teacher and scholar whose research and publication interests include 18th-century fiction, literature and law, and gender/sexuality studies. She has published on 18th-century porn, scandalous writer Eliza Haywood, and women and homicide.

Dion, Dan

Dan Dion is a San Francisco portrait photographer who works for the Fillmore, Warfield, Punch Line, and Cobb’s Comedy Club. ¡Satiristas!, a collaboration with Aristocrats director Paul Provenza, will be published by HarperCollins this spring.

Snyder, Zilpha Keatley

Three-time Newbery Honor-winner Zilpha Keatley Snyder published her first book for children in 1964. Her 44th book for young people, William S. and the Great Escape, will be published in September 2009.

Partridge, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Partridge is an award-winning author of nonfiction books for teens. Her latest, Marching For Freedom, focuses on the courageous children who marched alongside King in the 1965 march to Montgomery for the vote.

Lichtman, Wendy

Wendy Lichtman (Secrets, Lies, & Algebra; Writing on the Wall) holds a degree in mathematics. When she decided to write about a teen who realizes that some questions have many right answers, algebra seemed a perfect metaphor.

Homzie, Hillary

Hillary Homzie is the author of the tween novel Things Are Gonna Get Ugly, as well as the chapter book series Alien Clones From Outer Space which is being made into an animated television show.

Petrocelli, Elaine

Elaine Petrocelli is the extremely well-read president of Book Passage, the fiercely independent bookstore and literary event center located in Corte Madera and at the Ferry Building.

Cohn, Diana

Diana Cohn is an award-winning children’s book author. Her books include Dream Carver, Si Se Puede! Yes We Can! Janitor Strike in LA, Mr. Goethe’s Garden, The Bee Tree, and the most recently published Namaste!

Argueta, Jorge Tetl

Jorge Tetl Argueta is a celebrated Salvadoran poet and writer whose bilingual children’s books have received numerous awards. His latest book is Sopa de Frijoles/Bean Soup, A Cooking Poem.

Zassenhaus, Eric

Eric Zassenhaus is co-editor of Instant City and is a contributing editor to Zeek Magazine. Once upon a time he was also Consignment Buyer for City Lights Books, and a contributing editor to Zine World.

Scalph, Tena

Tena Scalph is the creator of Bitter Pie Comix and Not Your Bitch productions since 1998. Her non-impartial self-published comix and musical collaborations have been featured in hundreds of underground venues and festivals worldwide.

Marr, John

John Marr published the zine Murder Can Be Fun from 1986 through 2007. After his final issue, he became the first zine publisher in history to refund his subscribers' money.

Lyle, Erick

Erick Lyle has been the editor of the punk rock/criminal magazine SCAM since 1991. His first book, On The Lower Frequencies: A Secret History of the City was released in 2008 on Soft Skull Press.

Gibbon, Layla

Layla Gibbon is the creator of Chimps, a zine focused on punk and skateboarding from a feminist perspective. She is also a reviewer, columnist, and content coordinator for Maximum RocknRoll.

Smiley, Jane

Jane Smiley is the author of 20 books. She is extra tall and has been married many times. She reads, breeds, rides, and writes, and also frequently refrains from telling her children what to do.

Sinclair, April

April Sinclair authored three novels, Ain't Gonna Be The Same Fool Twice, I Left My Back Door Open and Coffee Will Make You Black, which received the Carl Sandburg Award from the Friends of the Chicago Public Library.

McMillan, Terry

Terry McMillan is the bestselling author of seven novels, including the recently released Getting to Happy, which revisits the characters in her seminal novel, Waiting to Exhale. She is the recipient of an NAACP Image Award.

Merrill, Wendy

Wendy Merrill, author of Falling into Manholes: The Memoir of a Bad/Good Girl, is described by Anne Lamott as “…a wonderful new voice—smart, funny and wildly real.”

Keltner, Kim Wong

Kim Wong Keltner has written about life in San Francisco in The Dim Sum of All Things, Buddha Baby, and I Want Candy. Kim refuses to join Facebook and would rather talk to you face to face.

Ganahl, Jane

Jane Ganahl is co-founder and co-director of Litquake, a journalist for 25 years, editor of Single Woman of a Certain Age and author of Naked on the Page: the Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife.

Comaford, Christine

Christine Comaford is the New York Times bestselling author of the edgy business book Rules for Renegades. She helps entrepreneurs make millions while having fun and enjoying life.

Addonizio, Kim

Kim Addonizio’s Tell Me was a National Book Award Finalist in Poetry. Her latest are Lucifer at the Starlite and Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within. She teaches online at kimaddonizio.com and in Oakland.

Tamblyn, Amber

Actress and author Amber Tamblyn is co-founder of The Drums Inside Your Chest poetry series, and just released the new poetry/prose collection Bang Ditto (Manic D Press).

Madonna, Paul

Paul Madonna produces two weekly strips, All Over Coffee in the San Francisco Chronicle, and Small Potatoes on TheRumpus.net, where he is also comics editor. Paul exhibits in galleries and museums, and is published by City Lights Press.

Adams, Lynka

Lynka Adams is a rare book dealer who lives on Potrero Hill. She writes both long and short fiction.

Wiegand, David

David Wiegand is executive features editor at San Francisco Chronicle. He holds English and journalism degrees from the American University and is a 1996 winner of the O Henry Award for the story “Buffalo Safety.”

Dinkelspiel, Frances

Frances Dinkelspiel is the author of Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, co-founder of the news site berkeleyside.com, and contributor to The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and People.

Goldberg, Tod

Tod Goldberg has written seven books, including the novels Living Dead Girl and Fake Liar Cheat, and the story collection Simplify. His latest, Other Resort Cities, is his second collection of short fiction.

Plate, Peter

Peter Plate's latest novel is Elegy Written on a Crowded Street (2010).

Maravelis, Peter

Editor of San Francisco Noir Volumes 1 & 2, Peter Maravelis is the events programmer at City Lights Bookstore and has had a lifelong involvement with literature and the arts.

Herron, Don

Don Herron is a writer, storyteller, founder of the Dashiell Hammett Tour, co-founder of the Suicide Club, and author of The Literary World of San Francisco and The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook, as well as a biography of crime writer Charles Willeford. He appears frequently on PBS and BBC television.

Corbett, David

David Corbett has published four novels: The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime, Blood of Paradise, and Do They Know I’m Running? His story “Pretty Little Parasite” was selected for Best American Mystery Stories 2009.

Clevenger, Craig

Craig Clevenger is the acclaimed neo-noir author of The Contortionist's Handbook and Dermaphoria, both released by MacAdam/Cage, Clevenger is currently at work on a third novel titled Saint Heretic. His story “The Numbers Game” was included in the hardboiled anthology San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics.

Black, Cara

Bestselling author of the Paris-based Aimée Léduc mystery novels, Cara Black is included in the Great Women Mystery Writers by Elizabeth Lindsay. Two of her novels have been nominated for Anthony Awards.

Anderson, Robert Mailer

Robert Mailer Anderson is the author of Boonville, writer and producer of the film Pig Hunt, and writer of short stories, screenplays, and plays. He is also part-time fiction editor for the Anderson Valley Advertiser.

Breathed, Berkeley

Berkeley Breathed is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, children's book author/illustrator, director, and screenwriter, best known for Bloom County, the 1980s cartoon-comic strip featuring Bill the Cat and Opus the Penguin.

Ostlund, Lori

Lori Ostlund’s short story collection entitled The Bigness of the World won the 2008 Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and will be published by the University of Georgia Press in October 2009.

Nixon, Cornelia

Cornelia Nixon is author of Now You See It, Jarrettsville, and Angels Go Naked. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards.

Martin, Chelsea

Chelsea Martin is the author of Everything Was Fine Until Whatever, published by Future Tense Books. She is 23 and lives in Oakland. Her website is jerkethics.com.

Ma, Kathryn

Kathryn Ma is the winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award for her book All That Work and Still No Boys, published in September 2009. She won the 2008 Meyerson Prize for Fiction.

Hill, Russell

Russell Hill, author of The Lord God Bird, a suspense novel set in the deep South, has been a writer and teacher for more than 50 years. His novel Robbie’s Wife was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award.

Brownrigg, Sylvia

Sylvia Brownrigg is the author of five novels. Her latest, The Delivery Room, was winner of the 2009 Northern California Book Award in fiction. Her work has been on the New York Times list of notable fiction.

Kleven, Elisa

Elisa Kleven is the award-winning creator of almost 30 picture books. Her vibrant collage illustrations and stories celebrate creativity, nature and friendship. Her newest books are The Apple Doll and A Carousel Tale.

Hurd, Thacher

Thacher Hurd is the author and illustrator of Art Dog, Mama Don't Allow, Mystery on the Docks, and Bad Frogs. His first novel for children, Bongo Fish, will be published next year. He lives in Berkeley.

Handler, Daniel

Daniel Handler is the author of the novels The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and Adverbs, and far too many books as Lemony Snicket, including the forthcoming 13 Words. He lives in San Francisco.

Queen, Carol

Carol Queen is the author of Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture and has also written or edited ten other books. She is the Founding Director of the Center for Sex & Culture and works as Staff Sexologist at Good Vibrations.

Knight, Geoff

Geoff Knight, author of the erotic novel The Riddle of the Sands, is a film writer who hails from Paddington, Australia, where he also works in cinema.

Bussel, Rachel Kramer

Rachel Kramer Bussel has edited over 25 anthologies, including Best Sex Writing 2009, Peep Show, Spanked and Bottoms Up. She hosts New York's In The Flesh Reading Series and is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations.

Blue, Violet

Violet Blue is a trained sex educator, podcaster, SFGate columnist, author of the bestselling The Ultimate Guide to Fellatio, and editor of the Best Women's Erotica series. Named Forbes.com “Web Celeb,” she blogs at tinynibbles.com

Los Train Wreck

Los Train Wreck is San Francisco's best show-up-and-jam band, playing the second Tuesday of every month at El Rio in San Francisco. Members include David Phillips (pedal steel guitar; musical director), Todd Swenson (lead guitar), Paul Olguin (bass), Peter Tucker (drums), Sam Barry (harmonica and keyboard), and Kathi Kamen Goldmark (rhythm guitar; head cheerleader).

Tan, Amy

Amy Tan is the author of six bestselling books and creator of the libretto for San Francisco Opera's production of The Bonesetter's Daughter. As dominatrix singer for the Rock Bottom Remainders, she has helped raise millions for literacy.

McGuinn, Roger

Roger McGuinn, a giant of the folk-rock scene since the ’60s, is founder of The Byrds. His solo career has featured collaborations with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello... and the Rock Bottom Remainders.

Maupin, Armistead

Armistead Maupin, last year’s Barbary Coast Award recipient, is the author of nine novels, including the six-volume “Tales of the City” series. He lives in SF with his husband, Christopher Turner.

Krasny, Michael

Michael Krasny, author of Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic’s Quest, is the award-winning host of NPR/KQED’s Forum, an English professor at San Francisco State University, and a widely published scholar and critic. He lives in Marin County.

Goldmark, Kathi Kamen

Kathi Kamen Goldmark is the author of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You; co-author/contributor to seven other books; founder of the Rock Bottom Remainders; producer of West Coast Live; and winner of the 2008 National Women’s Book Association award.

Fong-Torres, Ben

Ben Fong-Torres is a former Rolling Stone editor, author of eight books, including the Grateful Dead Scrapbook, the Chronicle's radio columnist, and Chinese New Year parade co-anchor on KTVU. He was portrayed in Almost Famous.

Cao, Zheng

Mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao is a regular guest of leading opera companies here and abroad. Last year she thrilled San Francisco Opera audiences by singing the lead role in their adaptation of Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter.

Barry, Sam

Sam Barry is the author of How to Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons. He is a member of two bands: Los Train Wreck and the Rock Bottom Remainders. Visit Sam online at redroom.com.

Joyce, James

James Joyce was to modern literature what Picasso was to modern art: he scrambled up the old formulas and set the table for the 20th century. His books include Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake, Dubliners, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Kessler, Merle

Merle Kessler contributes to Philosophy Talk (KALW 91.7 FM Sundays 10 a.m.), and writes for Great Libraries of the World, a documentary series. His new cabaret piece will explore the “real America.” He recently resigned as governor of Alaska.

Fialka, Gerry

Gerry Fialka is a Los Angeles-based media ecologist, film curator, writer and lecturer. The Los Angeles Times calls Fialka "the multi-media Renaissance man,” and the Independent Film & Video Monthly proclaimed Fialka an "exemplary devotee of cinema.”

Villalon, Oscar

Oscar Villalon is a San Francisco writer and critic. His work has appeared in VQR, Black Clock, The Believer, Los Angeles Times, and NPR.org. He is former book editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Silver, Katherine

Katherine Silver is an award-winning translator of Spanish and Latin American literature. Her translations of Horacio Castellanos Moya’s She-Devil in the Mirror, and César Aira’s The Literature Conference, will both appear in the fall of 2009.

Reese, Jennifer

Jennifer Reese is the former book critic for Entertainment Weekly and now writes literary reviews for npr.org, among others. She also writes The Tipsy Baker blog.

Lukas, Michael

Michael Lukas has lived in Cairo, Tunis, Ankara, Tel Aviv, Providence, College Park, and now Oakland. His writing has been published in VQR, Slate, National Geographic Traveler, and Georgia Review. He recently finished a novel about the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Esposito, Scott

Scott Esposito is the editor of The Quarterly Conversation, a web magazine of book reviews and essays, and his writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and elsewhere.

Johnson, Adam

Adam Johnson is a Senior Jones Lecturer in creative writing at Stanford University. His fiction has appeared in Esquire, Harper's, Tin House and Best American Short Stories. He is the author of Emporium and the novel Parasites Like Us.

Dorst, Doug

Doug Dorst's  story collection The Surf Guru was published in July by Riverhead. His first book, the novel Alive in Necropolis, was San Francisco’s 2009 One City/One Book pick. He currently lives in Austin, Texas.

Quirk, Joe

Joe Quirk is a bestselling novelist, science writer, and a popular public speaker. He’s the author of It’s Not You, It’s Biology: The Science of Love, Sex and Relationships, and the novel Exult.

Schlitz, Marilyn Mandala

Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, Ph.D., is president/CEO of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a clinical research scientist, medical anthropologist, prolific writer, transformational speaker and integral thought leader, whose books include Consciousness and Healing, and Living Deeply.

Noe, Alva

Alva Noe is a philosopher at U.C. Berkeley. He is the author of Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness.

Ekman, Paul

Paul Ekman, UCSF Professor Emeritus of Psychology, is the author of Emotional Awareness (co-authored with the Dalai Lama), Emotions Revealed, Telling Lies and scientific advisor to the FoxTV program Lie to Me, based on his research.

Burton, Robert

Robert Burton, former Chief of Neurology at Mt. Zion-UCSF Hospital, is the author of Doc-in-a-Box, Cellmates, and On Being Certain. His next book, The Involuntary Self, explores how our brain generates our sense of self.

Nachtrieb, Peter Sinn

Peter Sinn Nachtrieb is a San Francisco-based playwright whose works include boom, Hunter Gatherers, Colorado, T.I.C. (Trenchcoat In Common), and Multiplex. His work has been seen off-Broadway and across the country. He likes to promote himself online at peternachtrieb.com.

Reddy, Geetha

Geetha Reddy’s plays have been selected for The Best of PlayGround festival, the “In the Rough” reading series, and the 2008 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Her latest play Blastosphere, a collaboration with Aaron Loeb, above, opens October 24th .

Loeb, Aaron

Aaron Loeb is a two-time winner of the Bay Area Critics Circle award "Best Original Script" for First Person Shooter and Abraham Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party. His play Blastosphere, written in collaboration with Geetha Reddy, opens October 24th at CentralWorks.

Kaminsky, Ilya

Ilya Kaminsky is the author of Dancing In Odessa, which won the Whiting Writers Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award, Lannan Fellowship, and other honors. He is also the co-editor of the Ecco Anthology of International Poetry.

Young, C. Dale

C. Dale Young practices medicine full-time, serves as Poetry Editor of the New England Review, and teaches in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. He is the author of three books, most recently The Second Person (Four Way Books, 2007) and TORN (Four Way Books, forthcoming in 2012).

Calvocoressi, Gabrielle

Gabrielle Calvocoressi is the author of Apocalyptic Swing (Persea Books, 2009) and The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart (Persea Books, 2005), which was shortlisted for the Northern California Book Award.

Brown, Jericho

Jericho Brown is the recipient of a Bunting Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. New Issues published his first book PLEASE in 2008.

Constantine, Brendan

Brendan Constantine is the author of Letters to Guns (Red Hen Press, 2009). His work has appeared in Ploughshares, Ninth Letter, RUNES, and the anthology Bright Wings, edited by Billy Collins (forthcoming in November). He lives in Hollywood at Bela Lugosi’s last address.

Story, Ebba

Ebba Story is co-editor of Mariposa, the literary journal for HPNC. Ebba's prose and poetry appear in numerous haiku journals, the Christian Science Monitor, and on the BBC.

Hall, Carolyn

Carolyn Hall is editor of Acorn: a journal of contemporary haiku. Water Lines, her award-winning book of haiku, was published in 2006.

Grayson, David

David Grayson's haiku have appeared widely in journals and have won several awards. He is featured in New Resonance 6: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku.

Gay, Garry

Garry Gay is president of HPNC and has also served as President of the Haiku Society of America. He is the author of several books, and has won numerous awards.

Aoyagi, Fay

Fay Aoyagi is the author of two widely-acclaimed haiku books in English, Chrysanthemum Love and In Borrowed Shoes. She also writes haiku in Japanese.

Antolin, Susan

Susan Antolin’s poetry appears regularly in journals and has won several awards. Her first individual collection, Artichoke Season, was published in July.

Shur, Mike

Mike Shur was born in Leningrad, Russia and was almost killed in Rome. He is living large with his new wife Denise.

Lou, Jennifer

Jennifer Lou, a cofounder of Lit Up Writers, is currently working on a collection of humorous short stories about growing up ABC (American Born Chinese).

Kelly, Kelly

Kelly Kelly's first love was the airline industry. After 9/11, she retired her wings and opened Jet Girl Worldwide, a gallery of airline art and memorabilia.

Frater, Laurie

Laurie Frater’s well-meaning parents thought that naming their son “Laurie” was a good idea. He may have been the inspiration for a well-known Johnny Cash song.

Bottorff, Brittny

Brittny Bottorff has written funny essays, problematic short stories, and the first draft of a funny, but problematic, novel.

Hass, James

James Hass' fiction has been published in a variety of journals. He lives in San Francisco, and in general his work involves things that go bump in the night.

Doyle, Laurie

Laurie Doyle's fiction has appeared in Farallon Review, Stone’s Throw, and Dogwood Journal. Her story, “Voices,” was a finalist for the 2008 edition of Best New American Voices. She teaches at U.C. Berkeley.

Buzbee, Lewis

Lewis Buzbee is the author of the story collection After the Gold Rush, the memoir The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, and the novel Steinbeck’s Ghost. He teaches in the MFA Program at USF.

Shein Win, Maw

Maw Shein Win's poetry and prose has appeared in Watchword, Shampoo, 2River, No Tell Motel, Big Bridge, Babel Fruit, Moria and other print and online journals. She was an Artist In Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts and at Can Serrat in Spain.

Straffolino, Chris

Chris Straffolino is the author of three poetry books (Speculative Primitive, Stealer's Wheel, and Oops), five chapbooks (most recently Anti-Emeryvillification Manifesto), and is starting a radio station with an exclusively local playlist.

Austin, Britta

Britta Austin’s work has appeared in Transfer Magazine and Watchword. She’s been a member of the More Cowgirl Writers’ Collective, editor for Small Desk Press, and a children’s docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden.

Miller, Mike

Mike Miller is the author of A Community Organizer's Tale: People and Power in San Francisco and the founder of ORGANIZE! Training Center.

Gendar, Jeannine

Jeannine Gendar has been the editorial director at Heyday Books since 2000 and before that was the managing editor of News from Native California.

Rovina, Nesta

Nesta Rovina is the author of Tree Barking, a memoir about the struggles and joys of being a home health therapist in the Bay Area.

Yogi, Stan

Stan Yogi has managed development programs for the ACLU of Northern California since 1997. His book, Wherever There’s a Fight, tells the history of civil liberties in California.

Elinson, Elaine

Elaine Elinson is coauthor of Wherever There’s a Fight, which won a Gold Medal in the California Book Awards.  Still dreams of returning to Willow Cottage.

Wakida, Patricia

Patricia Wakida is a bibliophile and publisher. She co-edited Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience and is currently working on a biography of Shigeyoshi Murao.

Willdorf, Barry

Barry Willdorf has authored the novels Bring The War Home! and Dawn of Darkness. His short works have appeared The Jewish Magazine and Greenhaven Press.

Stephens, Ransom

Ransom Stephens raised his atheist daughter in the Bible belt. In his novel, The God Patent, a laid-off engineer and a death-obsessed, teenage math prodigy are caught in a battle between science and religion.

Mahaffey, Shana

Shana Mahaffey is the author of the debut novel, Sounds Like Crazy (NAL/Penguin). Her work has appeared in SoMa Literary Review and Sunset Magazine.

Morris, Paul W.

Paul W. Morris is an editor of KillingTheBuddha.com and currently the Managing Director of Digital Media for BOMB Magazine.

Howard, Laura

Laura Howard is the Associate Publisher of The Believer, and the Director of Circulation for BOMB and Tin House.

McMullen, Brian

Brian McMullen is a writer and artist who works for McSweeney's as an editor and designer.

Ferrary, Jeannette

Jeannette Ferrary, author of Out of the Kitchen: Adventures of a Food Writer, is a regular contributor to the New York Times, SFChron, Gastronomica, Gourmet and many publications. She teaches food writing at Stanford and UCB.

Griffin, Andy

Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farms cultivates 32 acres of vegetables near Hollister and provides produce for many of Northern California's best restaurants. He writes the Ladybug Letter at ladybugletter.com.

Carpenter, Novella

Novella Carpenter is the author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. Her writing has also appeared on Salon.com, Saveur.com, sfgate.com, and in Mother Jones.

Watson, Molly

Molly Watson is a writer and recipe developer. Her writing has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle.

Cole, Bruce

Bruce Cole publishes Edible San Francisco, the Bay Area's smartest food magazine.

Coss, Susan

Curator Susan Coss is a sustainable food marketing consultant and co-organizer of the Eat Real Festival. She is an avid reader and eater and loves being able to combine her two passions.

Cook, Christopher

Christopher Cook is a journalist and author of Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis. His writing has appeared in the LA Times, Harper's, The Economist, Mother Jones, and many others.

Lura, Christopher

Christopher Lura’s writing has appeared in numerous small magazines and journals. He is the editor of Paul Revere’s Horse, a San Francisco based literary journal.

Olson, Eric E.

Eric E. Olson is the author of The Procession of Mollusks (2009, Astrophil Press). He teaches creative writing and literature at California College of the Arts.

Mellis, Miranda

Miranda Mellis is author of The Revisionist, Materialisms, and None of This Is Real.

Hoke, Mateo

Mateo Hoke is a wild animal living in San Francisco. He writes text tattoos and is often caught looking in stranger’s eyes. He is not a natural truth-teller.

Ying, Chris

Chris Ying is an editor at McSweeney’s and Meatpaper. He cooked in Bay Area restaurants for some time, and currently moonlights at Mission Street Food. He also maintains a surrealist food blog.

Smith, Heather

Heather Smith lives in San Francisco. Occasionally, she wonders about what being a vegetarian who eats hot dogs for journalism says about her character. Rarely, though.

Guggiana, Marissa

Marissa Guggiana is President of Sonoma Direct Sustainable Meats. She is also a Co-Founder of Secret Eating Society and a leader in Slow Food. She is currently working on a book about American butchers.

Watters, Ethan

Ethan Watters is the author of Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche (out in December), and a founder of The Grotto.

Scheeres, Julia

Julia Scheeres is the author of the best-selling memoir Jesus Land and is presently at work on a book about the Jonestown mass murder-suicides.

Newman, Janis Cooke

Janis Cooke Newman is the author of the memoir, The Russian Word for Snow, about her son’s adoption from a Moscow orphanage, and the historical novel, Mary.  She’s a member of the SF Writers Grotto, where she teaches classes and is working on a novel.

Colin, Chris

Chris Colin is author of What Really Happened to the Class of ‘93 and a frequent New York Times contributor.

Bronson, Po

Po Bronson is the author NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children and five other books. He is a founder of The Grotto.

Bartlett, Allison Hoover

Allison Hoover Bartlett is the author of The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession.

Cassidy, Stellar

Stellar Cassidy is a new performer to the street corner in her first year at 16th & Mission.

Peck, Chris

Peck The Town Crier (aka Chris Peck) studied Jazz and Composition at NYU. He fronts the band The Crymuscles.

Q, Guinevere

Guinevere Q writes her bios as if she copies encyclopedia entries of Sylvia Plath. She leads tours around San Francisco atop a double-decker bus.

Bouman, Amber

Amber Bouman spent four years writing the consumer advocacy column for PC World. Her poems have appeared in 16th & Mission Review.

Siegel, Jonathan

Jonathan Siegel is behind the Poetry Mission Reading Series at Dalva, and is also a contributing member of 16th & Mission’s Collaborative Arts Insurgency.

Martin, M. G.

M.G. Martin is author of One for None (Ink Press) and co-producer of the Literary Death Match SF.

Løburg, J. Brandon

J. Brandon Løburg is a design student at San Francisco State University and writes street elegies soaked with the tragedy of location.

Getter, Charlie

Charlie Getter is a performance poet and playwright and holds an MFA in Poetics from the New College of California.

Ortiz, Mitla

Milta Ortiz is a poet, playwright, performer and revolutionary arts educator. She performs a one-woman hybrid theater piece: Scatter My Red Underwear.

Love, Carrie Leilam

Carrie Leilam Love is a writer and proud Oakland native. She rides a magenta bike most places and has an MFA in creative writing from San Francisco State University.

Je, Cindy

Cindy Je was born in Korea and raised in the U.S. She has an MFA in writing from the University of Oregon and is the recipient of the Ina Coolbrith Memorial Prize.

Hardy, Myron Michael

Myron Michael Hardy is a poet and recording artist. A Cave Canem fellow, he was a finalist for the Blue Light Poetry Prize Chapbook Competition.

Gonzalez, Aracely

Aracely Gonzalez is co-founder of Fish Soup, an all-women cross genre writing workshop. Her writing has appeared in Suspect Thoughts: A Journal of Subversive Writing.

D'Elia, Richard

Richard D’Elia is a poet and educator completing his MFA in creative writing at San Francisco State University.

Young, Dean

Dean Young, a frequent Threepenny Review poet, holds the Livingston Chair in Poetry at UT Austin and is the author of numerous books of poems.

Wagner, Anne

Anne Wagner teaches art history at UC Berkeley and has written for Threepenny on a variety of subjects, including pianos, plot, photography, and public sculpture.

Tulathimutte, Tony

Tony Tulathimutte's first published story, “Scenes from the Life of the Only Girl in Water Shield, Alaska," appeared in Threepenny and won an O. Henry prize.

Tallent, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Tallent, who has been writing for The Threepenny Review since its third issue, teaches creative writing at Stanford University.

Jones, Louis B.

Louis B. Jones is the author of Ordinary Money, Particles and Luck, and California's Over. His Threepenny story "The Epicurean" won a Pushcart Prize.

Clark, T.J.

T. J. Clark's recent books are Farewell to an Idea and The Sight of Death. His Threepenny poem, "Landscape with a Calm," appeared in Best American Poetry 2004.

Ryles, Ann K.

Ann K. Ryles has an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco. In ?2009, she was a finalist for the Crazyhorse Fiction Prize.

Leahy, Anna

Anna Leahy’s Constituents of Matter (Kent State UP) won the Wick Poetry Prize. She teaches at Chapman University. More info can be found at amleahy.com.

Krieger, Nick

Nick Krieger is a neurotic New Yorker, dotcom poser, accidental activist, gender satyr, and queer dude. His memoir Nina Here Nor There is forthcoming from Beacon.

Donoghue, Kerry

Kerry Donoghue's fiction has appeared in Southern Gothic Shorts, Furnace Review and Fiction Circus, where her story, "The Hungry," was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Barmann, Jay C.

Jay C. Barmann is a fiction writer and blogger who writes for SFist.com and New York Magazine. His first novel, Disaster Readiness, is due out soon(ish).

Pullen, Stephanie

Stephanie Pullen is Co-founder of SF Weekly's Best New Reading Series. She is working on her first epistolary novel about a teenage pornographer and a Rebel Reading Series anthology.

Strachota, Dan

Dan Strachota writes for SF Weekly, San Francisco Magazine, Nerve.com, and Afar. He's finishing a YA novel about a nerdy girl who accidentally becomes famous as a raunchy Romanian rapper.

Finlay, Karen

Karen Finlay is an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church of Modesto, CA. Karen Finlay writes about sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

Myers, Jason

Jason Myers' first novel, exit here, was released in 2007, by Simon & Schuster. His new novel, The Mission, comes out on January 5th, 2010.

Dahlia, Blag

Blag Dahlia is the author of two novels: Nina and Armed to the Teeth with Lipstick. The founder of seminal punk band the Dwarves lives in San Francisco. thedwarves.com

Joseph, Jennifer

Jennifer Joseph is your charming hostess and beleaguered independent publisher.

Spitznagel, Eric

Eric Spitznagel is a glossy magazine writer and author of Fast Forward: Confessions of a Porn Screenwriter.

Tracy, James

James Tracy is a social justice organizer/poet and author of The Civil Disobedience Handbook and Molotov Mouths: Explosive New Writing.

Blowdryer, Jennifer

Jennifer Blowdryer is a raconteur extraordinaire and editor of Good Advice for Young Trendy People of All Ages.

Towers, Tarin

Tarin Towers is the Pushcart Prize-winning poet and author of Sorry, We're Close.

Longhi, Jon

Jon Longhi is a staff absurdist and author of Wake Up and Smell the Beer and The Rise and Fall of Third Leg.

Hillman, Thea

Thea Hillman is a queer activist and author of the Lamba Award-winning memoir Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word) and Depending on the Light.

Kidder, Tracy

Tracy Kidder the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and many other literary prizes. He lives in Massachusetts and Maine.

Ellroy, James

James Ellroy's novels The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz, were international bestsellers. His novel American Tabloid was Time magazine's Best Book (fiction) of 1995; his memoir, My Dark Places, was a Time Best Book of the Year.

Vowell, Sarah

Sarah Vowell is the author of several bestselling books, and is a regular contributor to NPR’s “This American Life.” She provided the voice of Violet in the Pixar movie The Incredibles.

Gordon, Linda

Linda Gordon is the Florence Kelley Professor of History at New York University. She is the author of numerous books and won the Bancroft Prize for The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction.

Kent, Kathleen

Kathleen Kent is a tenth-generation descendant of Martha Carrier, one of the victims of the Salem witch trials. She's the winner of the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction.

Besh, John

John Besh is an award-winning chef from New Orleans. He was most recently featured on Bravo TV's Top Chef Masters.

Carhart, Thad

Thad Carhart is the author of the international bestseller The Piano Shop on the Left Bank. He lives in Paris with his wife, the photographer Simo Neri.

Siriano, Christian

Christian Siriano is best known as a fashion designer, and the winner of Bravo TV’s Project Runway Season 4.

Savage, Roz

Roz Savage is a British ocean rower, amateur runner, environmental advocate, writer and motivational speaker.

Tudor, Silke

San Francisco native Silke Tudor was a columnist and nightlife editor at SF Weekly for ten years. She currently lives in an anarchist service community on New York's Lower East Side, where she slings soup for the poor.

Boulware, Jack

Jack Boulware is co-author of the recent Bay Area punk oral history Gimme Something Better, and tromped the city throughout the ‘90s scribbling for SF Weekly and The Nose magazine. He is co-founder of Litquake.

Houston, Penelope

Penelope Houston balances her dark folk rock solo career with fronting the reformed Avengers and glorious library day job.

Sinister, Bucky

Bucky Sinister has released one CD and written four books, the latest of which is Get Up, a recovery book for the punk crowd.

Rezabeck, Rozz

Rozz Rezabek was front man of Negative Trend and Theater of Sheep. Continues to write LoverLegendLiar, his yet unpublished memoir of scandalous seminal obscurity and 15 minutes that lasted way too long.

John, Chicken

Chicken John is a contrarian, game show host, politician, ringmaster, chaos maker, riverboat mechanic, and all-purpose hatcher of unrealistic balderdash.

McKnight, Kareim

Onetime Cloyne Court denizen Kareim McKnight was clinic defender for the Women's Choice movement, and co-founder of Direct Action Against Racism, Roots Against War, and Not in Our Name. She lives in Oakland.

Luscious, Jesse

Jesse Luscious aka Jesse Townley is a 924 Gilman and KALX volunteer. Alternative Tentacles employee. Band member of Blatz, Gr'ups, Criminals, and Frisk. Green Party politician and elected Berkeley official. All-around rabble-rouser.

Breedlove, Lynn

Lynn Breedlove is known for his work as front-thang for homocore band Tribe 8, his bike messenger-stripper romance novel and short film Godspeed, and his traveling trans-up comedy one-freak shows. His new book is Lynnee Breedlove's One Freak Show. lynnbreedlove.com

Rosenbaum, Fred

Fred Rosenbaum is a local historian who has written six books on modern Jewish history, including Visions of Reform, a full-length study of San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El.

Springer, Anna Joy

Anna Joy Springer was a member of the bands Blatz, Cypher in the Snow, and the Gr'ups. She is now an ex-punk Buddhist dyke writer of cross-genre works about the complicated intersections of love and grief, and teaches writing at UC San Diego.

Geek, John

A former pseudo-revolutionary suburban East Bay acid-punk dirtbag kid, John Geek founded Geekfest. He fronts the Fleshies, Triclops! and the Street Eaters, and is an overeducated Berkeley wingnut doing archaeology and cultural heritage preservation.

Canfield, Oran

By the time Oran Canfield was ten, he had lived in nearly 15 different situations, including two years as a circus juggler and a stint at San Francisco's legendary outlaw commune The Farm. He is the author of the memoir Long Past Stopping.

Rank, Hank

Hank Rank aka Henry Rosenthal is drummer for Crime, and his son and daughter are in the band Lou Lou & the Guitarfish.

Strike, Johnny

Johnny Strike is a founding member of the protopunk band Crime, and the author of Ports of Hell and A Loud Humming Sound Came From Above.

Pursell, Peg Alford

Peg Alford Pursell earned an MFA from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. Her fiction and poetry both have been honored. Her story collection was a finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Fiction Award.

Moore, Shana McLean

Shana McLean Moore, a print columnist and speaker who specializes in community building, writes her “Confessions from the Carpool” essays and shares her come-together message with live audiences to entertain, validate and inspire.

McLaughlin, Robert

Robert McLaughlin received his MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. His fiction has appeared in Facets, Velvet Mafia, and The Cimarron Review. He is currently at work on his first novel.

Burke, Katie

Katie Burke is an attorney and writer. She has been published with HarperCollins and various literary journals, including SoMa Literary Review and Culture-Voice. She is writing her first memoir, about transformation through community.

Boone, Amick

Amick Boone formerly ran a local non-profit supporting emerging writers and now co-curates BANG OUT.  She holds an MFA in poetry.

Hobson, Kevin

Kevin Hobson writes fiction, essays, songs, and industrial copy about chocolate. He lives in San Francisco where he co-curates BANG OUT Reading Series.

Nelson, Jim

Jim Nelson's work has been published in Switchback, SmokeLong Quarterly, Watchword, and other fine literary venues. He fell off a cable car and lived to tell about it.

Portman, Frank

Frank Portman, a.k.a Dr. Frank, is the singer/songwriter/guitarist of the punk band Mr. T Experience and author of the best-selling King Dork. His newest is Andromeda Klein, a portrait of a teenage occultist.

Franco, Tom

Tom Franco is a founder of the Firehouse Collective arts community, a dancer, a meditation teacher, a founder of 23 Monkey Tree green smoothie initiative, and illustrated Metamorphosis (in collaboration with mom Betsy).

Franco, Betsy

Betsy Franco has written over eighty books, including the novel Metamorphosis, illustrated by her son Tom and read as an audiobook by her actor sons, James and Dave. She also compiled Falling Hard, 100 love poems by teenagers.

Dolby, Tom

Tom Dolby has written The Sixth Form, The Trouble Boy, and The Secret Society, his first for young adults. Born in London, raised in San Francisco, Tom now divides his time between Manhattan and Wainscott, New York.

Compestine, Ying Chang

Ying Chang Compestine is the author of 18 books including Revolution is Not a Dinner Party. Ying enjoys sharing with students how life in China inspires her writing and the challenges of writing in her second language.

Beaudoin, Sean

Sean Beaudoin is the author of Going Nowhere Faster, Fade To Blue, and the forthcoming You Killed Wesley Payne. He’s written for numerous publications including The Onion, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Narrative Magazine.

Morse, Scott

California native Scott Morse has worked as a character designer, storyboard artist, and art director for studios including Disney, Universal, and Cartoon Network. He also creates the Magic Pickle chapter book and graphic novel series.

Klise, M. Sarah

Illustrator M. Sarah Klise collaborates with writer sister Kate (43 Old Cemetery Road series, Little Rabbit picturebooks). She also teaches kids in Chinatown to draw and paint every Saturday (or really, they teach her!).

Keane, Dave

Dave Keane is the author and illustrator of the Joe Sherlock: Kid Detective chapter books. He also writes picturebooks: Bobby Bramble Loses His Brain and Sloppy Joe. He lives in northern California.

Chin-Lee, Cynthia

Cynthia Chin-Lee asks, “Does inclusion matter?” She thinks it does. She writes multicultural children's books and speaks from the heart. She's written several books, including Amelia to Zora: 26 Women Who Changed the World.

Rodriguez, Rachel

Rachel Rodríguez’ family tree sprouted in Castilla, Spain and she is honored to have written Building on Nature: the Life of Antoni Gaudí. Her first kids’ book, about artist Georgia O’Keeffe, is Through Georgia’s Eyes.

Rennert, Laura Joy

Laura Joy Rennert is the author of a picturebook, Buying, Training, and Caring For Your Dinosaur, illustrated by Marc Brown, and has two highly illustrated books for young readers, Emma, The Extra-Ordinary Princess, forthcoming in 2011.

Hurd, Thacher

Thacher Hurd is the author/illustrator of Art Dog, Mama Don't Allow, Mystery on the Docks, and Bad Frogs. His first novel for children, Bongo Fish, will be published next year. He lives in Berkeley.

Cohn, Diana

Diana Cohn is an award-winning children’s book author. Her books include Dream Carver, Si Se Puede! Yes We Can! Janitor Strike in LA, Mr. Goethe’s Garden, The Bee Tree, and the most recently published Namaste!

Kleid, Suzanne

Suzanne Kleid lives in San Francisco.

Connelly, Sherilyn

Sherilyn Connelly writes. Her work can be found in books by Manic D and Seal Press, and periodicals including Morbid Curiosity and Instant City.

Goldberg, Gravity

Gravity Goldberg enjoys kneading bread dough with her boyfriend and feline companion in their Mission District flat.

Ventura, Ana Maria

Ana Maria Ventura’s work has appeared in Instant City and Boston Literary Magazine. She is currently finishing a novel called Extranjera and teaches English literature to support her writing habit.

Gottlieb, Daphne

Daphne Gottlieb is the award-winning author of four books of poetry (most recently Kissing Dead Girls) and a graphic novel, and the editor of two anthologies.

Taylor Jr., William

William Taylor Jr. is often seen drifting about the edges of the Tenderloin like a sad ghost. His latest book is The Hunger Season.

De Long, Aimee

Aimee De Long lives in Brooklyn. She is the winner of 2008 Famas Poetry Prize. For more info visit her website at aimeedelong.com.

Chavez, MK

MK Chavez is the author of several chapbooks, including Virgin Eyes (Zeitgeist Press, 2008) and Pinnacle (Kendra Steiner Press) due out in September 2009.

Church-Barrow, Missy

Missy Church-Barrow is a mid-west transplant. She is the author of nine self-published chapbooks and a gestating memoir. She enjoys cheese and fucking regrets.

Hansen, Melissa

Melissa Hansen is the author of little beasts, a collection of poetry, and her machine, a fiction collection. You can contact Melissa at melissahansen.net.

Genna, Jamey

Jamey Genna teaches writing in the bay area. Her short fiction has been published in many literary magazines, including Georgetown Review, Iowa Review, and Storyglossia.

Kapur, Kamala

Kamla K. Kapur is Indo-American poet and writer who lives in a remote village in the Himalayas and in California. Her latest works include  Ganesha Goes to Lunch and Rumi’s Tales from the Silk Road.

Lesowitz, Nina

Nina Lesowitz, founder of Spinergy Group, is author of The Courage Companion: Living Life with True Power, and the bestseller Living Life as a Thank You.

Fox, Matthew

Matthew Fox is a scholar in residence with the Academy for the Love of Learning and the author of 28 books including The Hidden Spirituality of Men.

Belitsos, Byron

Byron Belitsos most recently coauthored A Return to Healing and is author of the forthcoming work, Radical Wisdom. He is also the publisher and founder of Origin Press.

Savage, Tag

Tag Savage hosts a little blog called "The Sex Pigeon." In addition to captioning photos, he designs books and letterforms and things.

Emerson, Ramona

Ramona Emerson lives and writes and also does not write, but always lives in San Francisco.

Bronstein, Phil

Phil Bronstein is a former television reporter, war correspondent, investigative journalist, Pulitzer Prize–finalist, former executive editor of the SF Examiner, former vice president and editor of the SF Chronicle, author, and weekly syndicated columnist.

Border, Christine

Christine Borden is the events editor for SF Appeal. You can add that label to columnist, blogger, poet, critic, and short-story writer.

Baume, Matt

Matt Baume writes about justifiably marginalized weirdos, incomprehensible culture, and his mortification for websites. He is only interested in things that are funny.

Ann, Katie

Katie Ann specializes in not having anything that defines her except she is pretty certain that she is "the one."

Miller, Noah and Logan

Armed with 17 credit cards, Logan and Noah Miller wrote, produced, and directed the feature film Touching Home, starring Ed Harris. Their incredible story is detailed in the bestselling memoir Either You’re In Or You’re In the Way.

Batey, Eve

Eve Batey is the editor of the SF Appeal. She likes to drink, eat candy, and fuck around on the Internet.

Keeling, Brock

Brock Keeling writes and edits SFist. He watches a lot of TV and wishes he lived on the other side of Market Street.

Ormerod, Jane

Jane Ormerod's books include 11 Films and Recreational Vehicles on Fire, plus the spoken-word CD, Nashville Invades Manhattan (Uphook Press).

Lowell, Dominique

Dominique Lowell's recent publications include Sit Yr Ass Down Or You Ain't Gettin' No Burger King by Three Rooms Press and the upcoming Blistering BGirls Anthology.

Hildebrand, Karen

Karen Hildebrand left SF for NYC in 2003. Her poetry now appears in literary journals and she has a big job in publishing. She misses SF.

Georges, Kat

Kat Georges is the founder/editor of Three Rooms Press. Her poems have appeared in Punk Rock Journal and Slow Dance at 120 Beats a Minute.

Cook, Joie

Joie Cook is a San Francisco poet, painter and musician associated with Zeitgeist & Three Rooms Press and the now-defunct Café Babar.

Carlaftes, Peter

Peter Carlaftes authored a bar poems series: Progressive Shots, Sheer Bardom, The Bar Essentials, and Nightclub Confidential. Most recent books include Drunkyard Dog and My Year on Facebook.

Zimmerman, Keith and Kent

Bestselling authors Keith and Kent Zimmerman have co-written 16 books, collaborating with pop culture icons like Alice Cooper and country singer Trace Adkins. Their new book about the Chicago Outfit is due next year. Their works have been adapted for both television and film.

Wu, Alice

Alice Wu is a screenwriter and director, best known for her film Saving Face, which premiered at Sundance in 2004 and won the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) screenwriting award.

Sharma, Nina

Nina Sharma is the Programs Coordinator at The Asian American Writers' Workshop. Her work has been published in Big Apple Parent, Ginosko Literary Journal and Riffin.com.

Villalon, Oscar

Oscar Villalon is the publisher at McSweeney’s. The former book editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, Oscar has written for the Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, and NPR.org, and was the book critic on KQED.

Saito, Brynn

Brynn Saito's poetry has appeared in From Totems to Hip-Hop and Helen Vendler's Poems, Poets, Poetry. She was a 2008 Kundiman Asian-American Poetry Fellow.

Nguyen, Khoi

Khoi Nguyen is the editor and founder of Gender on Our Minds and co-editor of Woman in Mind, a predecessor graduate journal dedicated to women’s and feminist’s voices.

Chanse, Samantha

Samantha Chanse is a writer, performer, arts organizer, and teacher. Her work has been presented with the NY International Fringe, KSW, The Marsh, and others. samanthachanse.com

Jenkins, Nicholas

Nicholas Jenkins is an Associate Professor of English at Stanford, where he teaches modern poetry and culture. His essays and reviews have appeared in the New Yorker, TLS, New Republic, and London Review of Books.

DuShane, Tony

Tony DuShane is the author of Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk (Soft Skull, February 2010) and hosts the radio show Drinks with Tony.

Siraganian, Jen

Jen Siraganian has been nominated for a Ruth Lilly Fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. Currently, she teaches high school British literature and creative writing.

Lunsford, Andrea

English professor Andrea Lunsford is Director of the Stanford Program in Writing and Rhetoric. Her research interests include literacy and its relation to culture and literature, and the politics of language.

Perry, Andre

Andre Perry is writing a memoir about his misadventures in the San Francisco indie rock scene in the early 2000s, called Thinking of a Dream I Had. He lives in Iowa City.

Karagienakos, Diane

Diane Karagienakos is a blogger, copywriter, playwright (It Is What It Is), and creator of “The Adventures of Vulva Fervor.” Word.

Edelstein, Dan

Dan Edelstein is an assistant professor of French at Stanford, whose research focuses on the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. His essay, “Iphigenia and the iPhone: On the Humanities and the American University” recently appeared in Inside Higher Ed.

Haney, D. R.

D. R. Haney is the author of Banned for Life, a novel about punk rock published in May 2009 by And/Or Press (Vancouver). He has contributed to numerous journals, both in the U.S. and Europe, and blogs at thenervousbreakdown.com.

Gentry, Cynthia

Cynthia Gentry is the author of Secret Seductions, Mind-Blowing Orgasms Every Day, What Men Really Want in Bed, and What Women Really Want in Bed.

Harrison, Robert

Stanford Italian literature professor Robert Harrison has written four books on topics ranging from mythology and poetry to man’s relationship with the environment. Harrison also hosts the KZSU FM 90.1 weekly radio talk show, “Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature).”

De La Garza, Stefan

Stefan De La Garza's poetry and fiction have recently appeared in the Connecticut Review and Columbia. He'll definitely finish his novel by 2015. Maybe. Probably.

Coggin, Amanda

Amanda Coggin's agent awaits her second manuscript about the surprises and gifts that emerge from grief.  Monday through Friday she meditates and contemplates so that on Saturday she can write the book.

Abrams, Douglas Carlton

Bestselling author Douglas Carlton Abrams’ new novel is the fact-based eco-thriller Eye of the Whale, in which a marine biologist must risk everything to decode the mysterious song of a trapped whale and discover its implications for human survival.

Freinkel, Susan

Science writer Susan Freinkel’s first book, American Chestnut: The Life, Death and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree, told the story of the near-extinction of one of America’s most beloved forest trees. She is now writing a book about plastic.

Laufer, Peter

When he’s not chasing butterflies, the beats of journalist Peter Laufer, Ph.D., include migration, identity, and diaspora. He’s the author of several books, including Wetback Nation, Mission Rejected, and Exodus to Berlin.

Duncan, David Ewing

Bestselling author of seven books, including the recently released Experimental Man, David Ewing Duncan is Chief Correspondent of public radio’s BioTech Nation, and Director of the Center of Life Science Policy at UC Berkeley.

Phillips, Christi

Christi Phillips is the author of the historical novels The Devlin Diary and The Rossetti Letter. Her research combines a few of her favorite things: old books, libraries, and travel. She lives with her husband in the Bay Area.

King, Laurie R.

Laurie R. King is a third-generation Californian with a background in theology, house building, and child rearing. Her novels range from police procedurals and stand-alones to a historical series with Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (beginning with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice).

Inclan, Jessica Barksdale

Bay Area fiction writer and poet Jessica Barksdale Inclan has published several romance novels and trilogies, the latest of which, The Beautiful Being (Kensington Books), appears this October. She also teaches at Diablo Valley College and UCLA extension.

Feinsilber, Pamela

Pamela Feinsilber has interviewed and written about people from Tom Waits and Delroy Lindo to Bonnie Raitt and Tobias Wolff. Longtime arts and literary editor of San Francisco magazine, she is a writing consultant and book editor.

Linde, M.D., Paul R.

Paul R. Linde, M.D., a UCSF Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, is author of Danger to Self: On the Front Line with an ER Psychiatrist.

Gotsulsky, Yanina

Yanina Gotsulsky, author of the forthcoming novels Ergo Sum and The Speed of Life, is now weaving a frolicsome tale about Ivan the Terrible.

Keneally, Scott

Scott Keneally is a humorist who doesn’t mind if people are laughing with him or at him… so long as they’re laughing.

Hinckle, Warren

Warren Hinckle, former editor of Ramparts and Scanlan's magazines, longtime columnist for the Chronicle and Examiner, is editor of Who Killed Hunter S. Thompson? (November, Last Gasp)

Lok, Mimi

Mimi Lok's work has appeared in Hyphen, Time Out, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. Based in San Francisco, she directs the McSweeney's Voice of Witness book series, which chronicles human rights issues through oral history.

Mohr, Joshua

Joshua Mohr is the author of the novels Some Things that Meant the World to Me and the forthcoming, Termite Parade, in stores June 2010.

Mitchell, Emily

Emily Mitchell's first novel, The Last Summer of the World, was a finalist for the 2008 NYPL Young Lion's Award. She teaches at West Virginia University.

Riley, Tomás

Tomás Riley is a veteran of the Chicano spoken word collective The Taco Shop Poets. His first book Mahcic is available from Calaca Press.

Gibbs, Jules

Jules Gibbs is a poet and teacher of poetry in Syracuse, NY. She is the recipient of a UCross Residency and is working on a first manuscript.

Hernández, Leticia

Educator and writer, Leticia Hernández, has been performing and publishing her work for over ten years. She is working on a book entitled, Mucha Muchacha, Too Much Girl.

Foust, Rebecca

Rebecca Foust’s book, all that gorgeous, pitiless song won the 2008 Many Mountains Moving Book Award, and two chapbooks won the 2007 and 2008 Robert Phillips Prizes.

Carissimo, Karen

Karen Carissimo has published poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in North American Review, Western Humanities Review, Green Mountains Review, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Smith, Bruce

Bruce Smith is the author of five books of poems, including The Other Lover, which was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

King, Laurie McAndish

Laurie McAndish King’s travel essays have appeared in many anthologies, and aired on KUSF radio. She publishes Travel Writers News, and co-edited the Left Coast Writers Hot Flashes anthologies.

Habegger, Larry

Larry Habegger is a founding editor of Travelers’ Tales. He has been writing about travel since the late 1970s for major magazines and newspapers, and teaches workshops and writers conferences.

Greenwald, Jeff

Jeff Greenwald’s most recent travels included an encounter with Devils in Tasmania, and a trip to Kiribati with a group of obsessed eclipse chasers. His one-man show, Strange Travel Suggestions, features tales taken from his five travel books.

George, Don

Don George’s books include The Kindness of Strangers, By the Seat of My Pants and Tales from Nowhere. Formerly travel editor for The Chronicle, Salon.com, and Lonely Planet, he now creates Don’s Place and Recce.

Galli, Natalie

Natalie Galli's contributions have appeared in The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2007, 2008 and 2009, as well as in Italy: A Love Story and Travelers’ Tales Italy.

De Stefano, Francesca

Francesca De Stefano has been published in several books including 30 Days in Italy and the Best Women’s Travel Writing anthologies.

Carl and Karl

Carl and Karl (aka Geoff Bolt and Michael O’Brien) appear frequently on the syndicated radio program West Coast Live, as co-hosts of “Tips on Travel.” They have compiled over 4,387 tips on travel, and over 50 useful ones.

Bass, Pamela Alma

Pamela Alma Bass has been published in the anthologies Best Women’s Travel Writing 2009, Hot Flashes: Sexy Little Stories & Poems, and I Should Have Gone Home.

Powell, D.A.

D. A. Powell is the author of four collections of poems, most recently Chronic (Graywolf, 2009). He is recipient of awards from the Poetry Society of America and the Academy of American poets.

Evans, CJ

CJ Evans' The Category of Outcast was selected by Terrance Hayes for the Poetry Society of America’s Chapbook Fellowship, and he is the co-editor of Satellite Convulsions: Poems from Tin House.

Crouch, Katie

Katie Crouch is the author of The New York Times bestseller Girls in Trucks, and her latest, Men and Dogs, was called “breathtaking” by People magazine. Her next book, The Magnolia League, will be published next April.

Corin, Lucy

Lucy Corin is the author of two books of fiction: the short story collection The Entire Predicament (Tin House Books, 2007) and the novel Everyday Psychokillers: A History for Girls (FC2, 2004).

Vergara, Jr., Benito M.

Benito M. Vergara, Jr. is the writer of Displaying Filipinos: Photography and Colonialism in Early 20th-Century Philippines (UP Press, 1995) and Pinoy Capital: The Filipino Nation in Daly City (Temple University Press, 2009).

Tabios, Eileen

Eileen Tabios just released her 16th poetry book, Footnotes to Algebra. In 2010, Marsh Hawk will publish her The Thorn Rosary: Selected Prose Poems.

de Rivera, Jenesha "Jinky"

Jenesha “Jinky” de Rivera is co-editor of the anthology Homelands: Women’s Journeys Across Race Place and Time, published by Seal Press in 2007.

Fernandez, Rona

Rona Fernandez is a Bay Area writer, activist and fundraiser. Her work has been published in Greater Good Magazine, the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, and in the anthology Father Poems (Anvil Press, Philippines).

Suzara, Aimee

Poet/performer Aimee Suzara’s collection the space between was published in 2008. A Mills College M.F.A. graduate, she teaches writing in the Bay Area and is collaborating with Deep Waters Dance Theater.

Francia, Luis H.

Among Luis H. Francia's books are Eye of the Fish (nonfiction) and Museum of Absences (poetry). He has just written a history of the Philippines.

Llagas, Karen

Karen Llagas’ poems appear in Crab Orchard Review, Broadsided Press, and in the anthologies Field of Mirrors (PAWA, 2008) and Poems of the San Francisco Bay Area Watershed (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2010).

Clover, Joshua

Joshua Clover will destroy you and everything you hold dear.

Jollimore, Troy

Troy Jollimore won a National Book Critics Circle Award for Tom Thomson in Purgatory. Recent poems have appeared in McSweeney’s and The New Yorker.

Armantrout, Rae

Rae Armantrout’s recent book of poems, Versed, has been named a finalist for this year’s National Book Award. Armantrout received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry in 2008. She teaches at UC San Diego.

Orner, Peter

Peter Orner is the author of The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, a Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and Winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, and editor of Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives, just released in Spanish from McSweeney's/Voice of Witness.

Kirn, Heather

Heather Kirn's essays and poems have appeared or are forthcoming in more than two dozen publications, among them the Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, Alaska Quarterly Review, and Barrelhouse Magazine.

Greer, Andrew Sean

Andrew Sean Greer is the author of a collection of short stories and three novels, including the bestsellers The Confessions of Max Tivoli and The Story of a Marriage.

Ekiss, Keith

Keith Ekiss is a former Wallace Stegner fellow and a lecturer at Stanford University. His first book of poems, Pima Road Notebook, is forthcoming from New Issues Poetry & Prose in 2010.

Echlin, Helena

Helena Echlin is the author of the novel Gone. She is CHOW's etiquette expert and the author of the Table Manners column, which appears on CHOW.com every Wednesday.

Elliott, Stephen

Author and activist Stephen Elliott is the author of seven books including The Adderall Diaries which has been described as "genius" by both the San Francisco Chronicle and Vanity Fair. He is the editor of The Rumpus.

Richmond, Michelle

Michelle Richmond is the author of The Year of Fog, No One You Know, Dream of the Blue Room, and The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress. Visit her at michellerichmond.com.

Sinister, Bucky

Bucky Sinister has published three books of poetry and recorded the comedy CD What Happens In Narnia Stays In Narnia. In 2007 he wrote the sobriety guide for punks, Get Up.

Vida, Vendela

Vendela Vida is the author of three books, including the novels And Now You Can Go and Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name, both of which were New York Times Notable Books of the Year. She is a founding co-editor of The Believer magazine.

Harding, John Wesley

John Wesley Harding's most recent album is Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead. He is the author of the novels Misfortune and By George.

Asmussen, Don

Award-losing cartoonist Don Asmussen is creator of the political comic strip Bad Reporter, which runs in the The Chronicle on Wednesday and Fridays and is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. Don is right-handed.

Garchik, Leah

On her first day of work at The Chronicle 37 years ago, Leah Garchik learned that brass spittoons had been removed from the newsroom the week before. She is still disappointed.

Garofoli, Joe

As a sign of either his versatility, ineptitude or short attention span, Joe Garofoli has covered two Olympic games, presidential campaigns, Seventh Avenue fashion shows, the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings, and his own vasectomy.

Morford, Mark

Mark Morford is a columnist, yoga teacher, blogger, author of the mega-compendium The Daring Spectacle, admirer of trees, neo-pagan orgasmican mystic destroyer of worlds, and humble servant.