Litquake and Porchlight

Litquake and Porchlight Storytelling collaborate for a special one-night show of true stories from inside the world’s entertainment machine. Book options, screenplays, adaptations, celebrity, and just plain Hollywood weirdness, explained without notes or memorization! Featuring, left to right, top to bottom, Exene Cervenka, Michael Tolkin, Martin Cruz Smith, Kristen Tracy, Jack Boulware, Joyce Maynard, and Jill Soloway. Hosted by Porchlight’s Arline Klatte and Beth Lisick, with book sales and signing to follow.
Tickets are $12 in advance at City Box Office. $15 at the door.

Litquake Barbary Coast AwardLawrence Ferlinghetti & City Lights

SOLD OUT!
No one has done more for the Bay Area literary scene than Lawrence Ferlinghetti and his venerable publishing house and bookstore, City Lights. Litquake is pleased to bestow its annual Barbary Coast award for 2010 to the poet and artist Ferlinghetti, and to North Beach's famed purveyors of both books and revolution.
It will be an evening of tributes, poetry, music, and laughter as Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Booksellers receive Litquake’s Barbary Coast Award.  Singer, songwriter, composer and actor Tom Waits;  poet, author, and rock-n-roll high priestess Patti Smith takes the stage with guitarist Lenny Kaye to pay tribute along with Winona Ryder; Michael McClure; New Yorker cartoonist Eric Drooker;  Ishmael Reed; former San Francisco Poet Laureates Jack Hirschman and devorah major; Beth Lisick; Michelle Tea; and the Marcus Shelby Quartet.   Also Robert Mailer Anderson, Justin Chin,  Daphne Gottlieb, Juan Felipe Herrera, Steve Earle, Chinaka Hodge, Michael Horowitz, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, James Kass, Elaine Katzenberger, Robert Scheer,  Tiny a.k.a. Lisa Gray-Garcia, and Paul Yamazaki.

Night of the Living Read: Litquake’s Opening Night Cocktail Party

Join Litquake as we launch our 11th festival in high style at 111 Minna’s swank urban industrial space in downtown San Francisco.

Sip cocktails and mingle under the 16-foot ceiling with festival authors, sponsors, and organizers. Browse the gallery’s latest exhibit “Everyday,” showcasing new works by California tattoo artists. Enjoy music from Los Angeles “Diva Deluxe” Suzy Williams and Brad Kay as they perform songs based on works by well-known authors like Kurt Vonnegut and Raymond Chandler.

Be sure to peruse our program to plan out the next eight days of your largest San Francisco literary festival yet!

No Host Bar, 21 and over

Theise, M.D., Neil

Neil Theise, M.D., is a clinical diagnostic liver pathologist and professor of pathology and of medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center. His research in multi-organ adult stem cell plasticity has revised understandings of human liver microanatomy.

McCann, Richard

Richard McCann is the author of Mother of Sorrows and Ghost Letters. His poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in such magazines as The Atlantic, Ms., Esquire, Ploughshares, Tin House, and in numerous anthologies.

Roby, Steven

Steven Roby is a respected Jimi Hendrix historian/archivist and author of the bestseller Black Gold: The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife, Francine.

Schreiber, Brad

Brad Schreiber is a Los Angeles journalist and screenwriter, and author or co-author of several books, including Death in Paradise: An Illustrated History of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.

Herlihy, David V.

David V. Herlihy is the author of Bicycle: The History, winner of the 2004 Award for Excellence in the History of Science. His work has been featured on NPR and Voice of America and in The New York Times.

Zagaris, Michael

Michael Zagaris broke into the scene shooting rock and roll and fashion. He now concentrates on professional sports and photojournalism. He is currently the team photographer for the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco 49ers.

Turbow, Jason

Jason Turbow is the author of The Baseball Codes (Random House, March 2010), and has written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and SportsIllustrated.com, among many others.

Fost, Dan

Dan Fost is author of the baseball book, Giants Past and Present. A former staffer for the San Francisco Chronicle, his freelance credits include The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco magazine.

Epstein, Dan

Dan Epstein is the author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's). He lives in Los Angeles and does his best writing in his bathrobe.

Bryant, Howard

Howard Bryant is a senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine. He also serves as sports correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday. His newest book is The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron.

Black, Alan

Alan Black is the author of Kick the Balls and co-author, with David Henry Sterry, of The Glorious World Cup.

Ryan, Joan

Sports Illustrated named Joan Ryan's first book, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, one of the top 100 sports books ever. Her latest book is The Water Giver: The Story of a Mother, a Son and Their Second Chance.

Moses, Kate

Kate Moses is the author of Cakewalk, A Memoir and Wintering: A Novel of Sylvia Plath. A former editor/staff writer for Salon, she co-edited the anthologies Because I Said So and Mothers Who Think.

Maran, Meredith

Meredith Maran is an award-winning journalist, book critic, and the author of several bestselling nonfiction books, including Class Dismissed and What It’s Like to Live Now. Her new book is My Lie: A True Story of False Memory.

Lefkowitz, Frances

Frances Lefkowitz is an award-winning writer, a native San Franciscan, and the author of the new memoir To Have Not. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize and once for Best American Essays.

Fraser, Laura

Laura Fraser is a long-time San Franciscan, freelance writer, and the author of the travel memoirs All Over the Map and The New York Times bestseller An Italian Affair. She works and teaches at the SF Writers' Grotto and blogs at laurafraser.com.

Ellison, Katherine

Katherine Ellison is a Pulitzer Prize–winning former foreign correspondent and the author of four books, including Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention, about her son's ADD, and The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes You Smarter.

Carter, Zoe FitzGerald

Zoe FitzGerald Carter is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and has written for numerous publications including The New York Observer and Salon. Imperfect Endings: A Daughter's Tale of Life and Death is her first memoir.

Williams, Katie

While studying English in college, Katie Williams figured out that she liked writing stories almost as much as she liked reading them. She currently teaches writing at the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

Henderson, Lauren

Lauren Henderson has made a name for herself among the tart noir novelists with the Sam Jones series and Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating. She lives in London with her husband and two fat cats.

Lethem, Jonathan

Jonathan Lethem is the MacArthur Award–winning author of eight books, including Motherless Brooklyn, The New York Times bestseller The Fortress of Solitude, and Chronic City. He lives in Brooklyn.

Billingsley, Sarah

Sarah Billingsley is a food writer and cookbook editor. She has written for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Edible Brooklyn, and worked on the 75th anniversary edition Joy of Cooking. She graduated from the Food Studies master’s program at New York University. She lives in San Francisco.

Li, Yiyun

Yiyun Li grew up in Beijing. Her books have won the Guardian First Book Award, California Book Award, and more. Her new story collection, Gold Boy, Emerald Girl, came out in September 2010. The week before Litquake, she was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation Genius Award.

Frank, Thaisa

Thaisa Frank’s fiction, according to The New York Times, “works by a tantalizing sense of indirection.” Her latest, Heidegger’s Glasses, is released this fall by Counterpoint Press.

Crawford, Marisa

Marisa Crawford is the author of The Haunted House from the feminist press Switchback Books. She holds an MFA from San Francisco State University, and recently moved to Brooklyn after five glorious years in San Francisco.

Batuman, Elif

Elif Batuman is the author of The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, and The New York Times Magazine.

Shapiro, Dani

Dani Shapiro’s books include Black & White, and Family History, Slow Motion and most recently, Devotion. Her writings have appeared in The New Yorker, Elle, and O: The Oprah Magazine among other publications. She lives in Connecticut.

Boorstein, Sylvia

Sylvia Boorstein, Ph.D., is a co-founding teacher (with Jack Kornfield) at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre. She is the bestselling author of five books, most recently Happiness Is an Inside Job.

Russell, Thaddeus

Thaddeus Russell is a Berkeley native, and teaches American history and cultural studies at Occidental College. He is also the author of Out of the Jungle: Jimmy Hoffa and the Re-Making of the American Working Class.

Treadwell, Amy

Amy Treadwell was born in Massachusetts and raised on a steady diet of whoopie pies and franks and beans on Saturday nights. A self-taught home cook and avid baker, Amy now lives in San Francisco, where she edits a wide variety of cookbooks.

Sando, Steve

Steve Sando, author of Heirloom Beans, is the founder of Rancho Gordo, a specialty food company that provides New World heirloom produce, seeds and beans to the world.

Edgar, Gordon

Gordon Edgar loves cheese and worker-owned co-ops, and has been combining both of these infatuations at Rainbow Grocery Cooperative since 1994. His cheese memoir Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge was published in early 2010.

Minor, Gwen

Gwen Minor (Scholastic’s Read Aloud Plays: The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid) teaches really cool old stories to teenagers. Her free podcast features all things ancient, from Euripides to original fiction.

Rees, Douglas

Douglas Rees has written nine books so far, and shows no signs of stopping. Some of them are Uncle Pirate, Uncle Pirate to the Rescue, Lightning Time, Vampire High, Grandy Thaxter's Helper, and Majix.

Holm, Jennifer L.

Jennifer L. Holm is a two-time Newbery Honor winner and a New York Times bestselling children’s author. Her books include Our Only May Amelia, Penny from Heaven, Turtle In Paradise and the Babymouse series.

Dougherty, Brandi

Brandi Dougherty is the author of three middle-grade novels, including Miss Fortune, and two picture books, including The New York Times bestseller The Littlest Pilgrim. When not writing, she’s relaxing with her adorable dog, Jerome.

Barnett, Mac

Mac Barnett is the author of the Edgar-nominated mystery series The Brixton Brothers and several picture books, including Oh No: Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World.

Schaal, Kristen

Kristen Schaal is an actress, writer, and comedienne, best-known for her appearances on The Daily Show and Flight of the Conchords. She is co-author, with Rich Blomquist, of The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex.

Fiore, Mark

Mark Fiore has received scads of awards for his political cartoons, including a 2010 Pulitzer Prize. The Wall Street Journal called him “the undisputed guru of the form.” He contributes to dozens of news websites.

Bell, W. Kamau

W. Kamau Bell is best known for his solo show The W. Kamau Bell Curve. Named Best Comedian by SF Weekly, SF Bay Guardian, and 7x7 Magazine.

Selvin, Joel

Joel Selvin has been covering rock music for the San Francisco Chronicle since shortly after the Civil War. People all over the world are still pissed off about pieces that appear in Smart Ass: The Music Journalism of Joel Selvin (Parthenon Books).

Kiernan, Kari

Kari Kiernan’s work has appeared in Skirt!, The Huffington Post, and The Morning News. She is also a repeat storyteller at Porchlight.

Bayani, Jason

Jason Bayani received his MFA from Saint Mary’s College. He writes poems and sometimes slams them, founded the Pilipino spoken-word collective Proletariat Bronze, teaches, works with homeless youth, loves his fiancée, thinks you’re cool.

Morgan

Morgan has performed at the Punch Line Comedy Club in San Francisco and the Gotham Comedy Club in NYC. She studied solo performance at The Marsh, and is currently developing a one-woman show. More? See morgansfunny.com

Kukura, Joe

Joe Kukura is a sportswriter for NBC Bay Area who excels at the homoerotic double-entendre. He is training to run a full marathon completely drunk and high, and blogging the effects of this at ExercisingWhileIntoxicated.com.

Klocek, Joe

Joe Klocek’s mother wanted him to be a priest, his father was an accountant and Joe ended up being a comic trying to figure out the two most confusing things to him—Math and Love.

Funcheap, Johnny

Addicted to finding fun and unusual free things to do in San Francisco, Johnny Funcheap is a local cult hero whose blog, FuncheapSF.com, was named “Best Local Website” for 2010 by the SF Bay Guardian.

Barsky, Tim

Tim Barsky is a beatboxer-instrumentalist, playwright-performer, and urban-circus-artist. A former guest artist at the Royal College of Art, Stanford, and Oberlin, he is artistic director of City Circus and co-founder of Vowel Movement Beatboxers.

Katchadourian, Stina

Stina Katchadourian grew up in Finland as part of its Swedish-speaking minority and moved to the United States in 1966. She is the author of Efronia, An Armenian Love Story and Great Need Over the Water.

Stein, Lorin

Lorin Stein was named editor of The Paris Review this April. Previously an editor at FSG, he has worked with such authors as Jonathan Franzen, Denis Johnson, and Richard Price.

Kunstler, James Howard

James Howard Kunstler is the author of several works of fiction and nonfiction, and is a regular contributor to The New York Times Sunday Magazine and Op-Ed page, where he has written on environmental and economic issues.

Seeley, Dr. Thomas D.

Dr. Thomas D. Seeley is a professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, where he teaches animal behavior and researches honeybee colonies. He is the author of three books, most recently Honeybee Democracy.

Moffett, Mark W.

Mark W. Moffett, research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, is the award-winning author of The High Frontier and Face to Face with Frogs. His newest book is Adventures Among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions.

Pickens, Beth

Beth Pickens books tours for Sister Spit and manages the annual National Queer Arts Festival, and is also the founder of San Francisco Food Adventure Club. She lives in the Mission with her poet girlfriend.

Marcus, Sara

Sara Marcus is a writer and musician living in Brooklyn. Her prose and poetry have appeared in Slate, Time Out New York, The Advocate, Philadelphia Inquirer, EOAGH, Tantalum, The Art of Touring, and Heeb.

McCloy, Kristin

Kristin McCloy spent her childhood in Spain, India, and Japan. She is the author of the novels Velocity, Some Girls and most recently, Hollywood Savage. Although she spent most of her deformative years in NYC (age 22-32+), she currently lives in Oakland.

Moss, Lisa Braver

Lisa Braver Moss, author of Celebrating Family, has written for Tikkun, Parents, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and she resides in Piedmont. The Measure of His Grief is her first novel. Her column, “I’m Not Impressed,” is published at lisabravermoss.wordpress.com.

Luckett, Jacqueline

Jacqueline Luckett is a native Californian currently residing in Oakland. Her debut novel, Searching for Tina Turner, is the story of a woman who conquers her fear of divorce and goes to France to thank Tina Turner for her inspiration.

Abrams, Melanie

Melanie Abrams teaches writing at UC Berkeley. She's married to the novelist Vikram Chandra and they live with their daughter in Oakland. Her novel Playing has been acquired in Italy, France, Germany, India, and Israel.

Rhodes, Richard

Richard Rhodes won a Pulitzer Prize for his narrative history The Making of the Atomic Bomb. He is the author or editor of 23 books, most recently The Twilight of the Bombs.

Miller, D. Scot

D. Scott Miller has worked with California Poets in the Schools since 1994. Writer, visual artist, teacher, and curator, he contributes regularly to local magazines and newspapers. He has recently published a manifesto titled AfroSurreal.

Students, Creative Writing, Ruth Asawa SOTA

Three students from the Creative Writing Department at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (SOTA) will read their poetry at Kidquake. SOTA is a rigorous, accelerated discipline for highly motivated students who want to study the art and craft of writing.

Voelkel, Pamela Craik

Pamela Craik Voelkel graduated from Leeds University in English Language and Literature, and became an advertising copywriter. As creative director of Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel, she helped the agency win hundreds of creative awards.

Voelkel, Jon

Jon Voelkel grew up in Peru, Costa Rica, and Colombia. After business school, he worked in advertising, ultimately starting his own agency with four other partners, one of whom would be his future wife.

Senzai, N. H.

N. H. Senzai is a Bay Area author and intellectual property consultant. Her debut novel, Shooting Kabul, is based in part on her husband's experience fleeing Soviet controlled Afghanistan in the 1970s.

Tolkin, Michael

Michael Tolkin is an American filmmaker and novelist. He has written numerous screenplays, including The Player, which he adapted from his book by the same name, and for which he received the Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.

Smith, Martin Cruz

Martin Cruz Smith is the author of many novels including Stalin's Ghost, Rose, December 6, Polar Star, and his newest, Three Stations. His book Gorky Park was adapted into a film with William Hurt and Lee Marvin.

Maynard, Joyce

Joyce Maynard is the author of several books, including At Home in the World and her latest, The Good Daughters. She appeared in the film adaptation of her novel To Die For, as Nicole Kidman’s attorney.

Cervenka, Exene

Exene Cervenka is a singer, artist, and poet, best known for her work as singer for the legendary Los Angeles punk band X, as well as The Knitters and The Original Sinners.

Bilton, Nick

Nick Bilton is the lead technology writer/reporter for The New York Times’ Bits blog, and is also an adjunct professor at New York University’s interactive telecommunication program.

Strauss, Darin

Darin Strauss is the bestselling author of Chang & Eng, The Real McCoy, and More Than It Hurts You. The recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction writing, he is a clinical associate professor of writing at New York University.

Orner, Peter

Peter Orner is the author of The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo and Esther Stories. He is also the editor of Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives published by McSweeney's/Voice of Witness. He lives in San Francisco.

Levin, Adam

Adam Levin is the winner of the 2003 Tin House/Summer Literary Fiction Contest and the 2004 Joyce Carol Oates Fiction Prize. He lives in Chicago, where he teaches writing at Columbia College and the School of the Art Institute.

Als, Hilton

Hilton Als is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His work has also appeared in the New York Review of Books and The Believer.

Vonnegut, Mark

Mark Vonnegut’s memoir Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So is a searingly amusing, iconoclastic account of growing up with Kurt Vonnegut, coping with mental illness, and finding a calling as a pediatrician.

Vermeule, Blakey

Blakey Vermeule teaches at Stanford and is writing a book about how accurately the maps we carry in our heads—especially the stories we make up—describe the road under our feet.

Siegel, Matthew

Matthew Siegel is a poet and essayist from New York. He is a 2009-2011 Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. His work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Lo-Ball, Ninth Letter, and Washington Square.

Sawyer, Christopher

Bay Area native Christopher Sawyer is an internationally renowned sommelier, wine consultant, critic, public speaker, and elite wine competition judge, and has been personal sommelier for an array of luminaries, from the Getty family to the Gorbachevs.

Mason, Zachary

Zachary Mason is the Vivian Darkbloom Professor of Pure and Applied Lepidoptery at the Barro Colorado research station in Costa Rica. His first book, The Lost Books of the Odyssey, was published this year by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Limón, Ada

Ada Limón is originally from Sonoma, California. She is the author of three collections of poems. Her most recent book, Sharks in the Rivers, is out this fall from Milkweed Editions.

Hoover, Paul

Paul Hoover's poetry books include Sonnet 56, Edge and Fold, and Poems in Spanish. He edited New American Writing and the anthology Postmodern American Poetry. A new book, Desolation: Souvenir, is forthcoming from Omnidawn.

Ekiss, Robin

Robin Ekiss is the author of The Mansion of Happiness, winner of the 2010 Shenandoah/ Glasgow Poetry Prize, and finalist for both the 2010 Northern California and California Book Awards. She has a preference for Pinot.

Chang, Lan Samantha

Lan Samantha Chang is the author of the novels All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost and Inheritance, as well as the short story collection Hunger. She is the director of the Iowa Writers Workshop.

Underwood, Deborah

Deborah Underwood is the author of The Quiet Book, A Balloon for Isabel, and Granny Gomez & Jigsaw. She has written numerous nonfiction books for kids, and co-writes the Sugar Plum Ballerina chapter book series with Whoopi Goldberg.

Tran, Truong

Truong Tran is a Vietnamese-American poet, visual artist, and teacher. In addition to his children’s book, Going Home, Coming Home, he has written several critically acclaimed books of poetry. He currently lives in San Francisco.

Krilanovich, Nadia

Nadia Krilanovich has worked as an artist, dance instructor, and vocalist. For Moon Child, her first book for children, Nadia felt inspired by the idea that the moon seems to watch over all of us.

Bardhan-Quallen, Sudipta

Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen believes that talking pigs or platypi make a story better. She lives outside Philadelphia with her children and Penny, an imaginary pony.

Knopf, Dawn Marie

Dawn Marie Knopf is a writer-in-residence with California Poets in the Schools. Her poems have appeared in the Boston Review, Bomb, Black Warrior Review, and Verse.

Lilenthal, Peter

Peter Lilenthal is the illustrator of the recent board book Look at Baby’s House! and previously taught children’s art. He leads an adult class on teaching bookmaking at the San Francisco Center for the Book.

Regan, Laura

Peninsula artist Laura Regan is recognized nationally for her wildlife paintings. She has received awards for many of her 13 nature-themed children's books, including Welcome to the Green House and Pierre the Penguin.

Agee, Jon

Jon Agee is the author/illustrator of many books for children, including Terrific, Milo's Hat Trick, and The Retired Kid, along with a series of wordplay books, among them, Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!

Lin, Tao

Tao Lin has a B.A. in Journalism from NYU and is the author of six books of fiction and poetry, including Shoplifting from American Apparel, Eeeee Eee Eeee, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.

Warner, James

James Warner's stories have appeared in Ninth Letter, Agni Online, Narrative, and more. His novel All Her Father's Guns will soon be released by Numina Press.

Serpell, Namwali

Namwali Serpell teaches at Berkeley. Her first published story, “Muzungu,” was included in The Best American Short Stories 2009 and shortlisted for the Caine Prize.

Finger, Anne

Oakland writer Anne Finger's most recent book is a short story collection, Call Me Ahab. A writer of fiction and non-fiction, she loves the short story form.

Braff, Joshua

Joshua Braff’s most recent novel is Peep Show. His debut novel The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green was a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, a 2004 Barnes & Noble New Writer’s Choice, a Booklist Top 10 novel, and nominated for a Quill Award.

Bernstein, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Bernstein edits The Big Ugly Review, an online literary journal. A short story writer and book editor, she works out of the SF Writer's Grotto.

Bellamy, Dodie

Dodie Bellamy writes novels, poems, essays, and memoirs. Her chapbook, Barf Manifesto, was named best book of 2009 under 30 pages by Time Out New York.

Zadov, Irina

Irina Zadov is the director of experience and programs at Zeum: San Francisco Children’s Museum. She is a practicing artist with a passion for bringing people together through food, stories, and romps through the imagination.

Leifheit, Lex

Lex Leifheit is the executive director of SOMArts Cultural Center. She co-founded the High Street Writers Collective in Connecticut, and has organized readings online, on street corners, and in storefronts as well as hallowed institutions.

de Leon, Darren J.

Darren J. de Leon is an award-winning poet, playwright, radio producer, street DJ, high school teacher, and community activist. He has published poetry in various publications including New Chicano/Chicana Writings (University of Arizona Press), Cipactli, and Fourteen Hills.

Warshaw, Matt

Matt Warshaw is the former editor of Surfer magazine. A lifelong surfer, he is the author of numerous books on surfing, his most recent being The History of Surfing, published by Chronicle Books.

Moore, Michael Scott

Michael Scott Moore is the author of Sweetness and Blood: How Surfing Spread from Hawaii and California to the Rest of the World, With Some Unexpected Results, and the surf-themed novel Too Much of Nothing.

Massara, Mark

Emcee Mark Massara is an environmental lawyer, an Ocean Beach surfer and a leading expert on coastal conservation, having worked for both the Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation. He writes for surfing and environmental publications.

Kotler, Steven

Steven Kotler is the author of West of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the Origin of Belief; A Small, Furry Prayer; and the novel The Angle Quickest For Flight. He lives in New Mexico with his wife and too many dogs.

Farber, Thomas

Thomas Farber is the recipient of Guggenheim, National Endowment, Rockefeller, and Fulbright fellowships for fiction, and author of water-works including The Face of the Deep and essays for marine photographer Wayne Levin. He teaches at UC Berkeley.

Duane, Daniel

Daniel Duane is a journalist and author or co-author of seven books, including the acclaimed Caught Inside: A Surfer's Year on the California Coast. Esquire has called Dan “Henry David Thoreau on a fiberglass board.”

Comer, Krista and Elizabeth Pepin

Krista Comer and Elizabeth Pepin collaborated on Surfer Girls in the New World Order. Comer is associate professor of English at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She is completing a memoir, 766 Valencia Street, and is also author of Landscapes of the New West. Pepin is a photographer, writer, filmmaker, and surfer whose images have appeared in numerous museums, galleries, and magazines, and in five books on women's surfing.

Rennert, Amy

Literary agent Amy Rennert specializes in books that matter. She represents quality fiction and nonfiction writers—many of them award-winners and New York Times bestsellers.

Nosowsky, Ethan

Ethan Nosowsky is Editor-at-Large for Graywolf Press. He has been a fiction judge for the National Magazine Awards and has written for Bookforum, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Threepenny Review.

Hartman, Jay A.

Jay A. Hartman created the e-book publishing house Untreed Reads in February 2010 with partner K.D. Sullivan. For ten years Jay covered the e-book industry and was content editor for KnowBetter.com.

Gittins, Eileen

Eileen Gittins loves to leverage technology to do old things in new ways. Having been CEO of two venture-backed San Francisco companies, Personify and Verb, Eileen is now democratizing publishing as the founder and CEO of Blurb.

Sledge, Michael

Michael Sledge is the author of the novel The More I Owe You, about Elizabeth Bishop's years in Brazil, and a memoir, Mother and Son.

Sankaran, Vanitha

Vanitha Sankaran holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and an MFA in Creative Writing. Her debut novel, Watermark: A Novel of the Middle Ages, was just released by HarperCollins.

Rakoff, Joanna Smith

Joanna Smith Rakoff's first novel, A Fortunate Age, won the Goldberg Prize for Fiction and was an Elle and Booklist best book of 2009.

Headley, Jason

Jason Headley comes from a long line of storytellers, yarn spinners, and bullshitters. He was bred to respect the power of the story. It can teach, it can entertain. It can do anything. It just better be good.

Soloway, Jill

Jill Soloway is author of the bestselling Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants, and has written and/or produced many television shows including The United States of Tara and Six Feet Under.

Williams, Suzy

Suzy Williams has played Carnegie Hall with Stormin' Norman Zamcheck, performed with Moses Pendleton's Pilobolus dance troupe, and has worked with Van Dyke Parks, Buster Poindexter, Marc Shaiman, and Nicholas Ray, among many others.

Kay, Brad

Brad Kay, composer, pianist and historian, has led bands in Los Angeles since 1965. He has collaborated with the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Gerald Wilson, Tim Burton, and writer Harlan Ellison.

Zilberbourg, Olga

Olga Zilberbourg was born in Russia and lives in San Francisco. She edits, writes fiction, translates poetry, and blogs in two languages. Her work has appeared in Narrative Magazine, J Journal, and Thema.

Volz, Alia

Alia Volz. Soul food. Suck face. Sharp fangs. ZYZZYVA. Sugar freak. Sleazy friends. Instant City. Science fiction. Storm front. Sticky fingers. aliavolz.com. Stage fright. Smelly farts. Sensational figure. Literary Death Match. Secret fraternity. San Francisco.

Tuttle, Ian

Ian Tuttle was born in San Francisco. He likes bicycles and writing. His short stories have been called moody, haunting, and the real thing. A novel is forthcoming. His website is wordsofeverytype.com.

Spinrad, Paul

Paul Spinrad is a freelancer and enthusiast who works as projects editor for Make Magazine, and lives in San Francisco with his wife and their two tots. He uses his parents’ money to pay for childcare.

Hatch, Jeremy

Jeremy Hatch is film editor of TheRumpus.net, and a writer of diverse interests. He blogs daily at JeremyHatch.com.

Bassist, Elissa

Elissa Bassist edits TheRumpus.net column “Funny Women.” Her essay “A Baker’s Dozen of My Feelings about Infinite Jest” appears in Best of the Web 2010. Peruse elissabassist.com for literary, feminist, and personal criticism.

Stanford Graphic Novel Project

The annual Stanford Graphic Novel Project involves 20 student writers, illustrators, and designers, taught by Adam Johnson, Tom Kealey, and Dan Archer. This year, Pika Don narrates the true story of Hiroshima/Nagasaki survivor Tsutomo Yamaguchi.

Bledsoe, Lucy Jane

Lucy Jane Bledsoe has written five novels, including her newest, The Big Bang Symphony: a novel of Antarctica. She won the 2009 Sherwood Anderson Prize for Fiction and the 2009 Arts & Culture Fiction Prize.

Leal, Susan

Harvard Senior Fellow Susan Leal just completed a book, Running Out of Water. Previously, she ran San Francisco’s regional water and power utility, forming the first organization of large water utilities to grapple with climate change.

Goldstein, David B.

David B. Goldstein is co-director of the Natural Resources Defense Council energy program, a MacArthur Fellow, and author of the new book Invisible Energy (Bay Tree Publishing), which has a foreword from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Elgin, Duane

Duane Elgin is a speaker and author working for sustainable prosperity. His books include Voluntary Simplicity, Promise Ahead, and Awakening Earth. He is the co-founder of three non-partisan organizations working for media accountability and citizen empowerment.

Creasy, Rosalind

Rosalind Creasy is a landscape designer, garden writer, and photographer, and leading authority on edible landscaping. She is the author of 18 books, including the groundbreaking original edition of Edible Landscaping, a Garden Writers Association award winner.

Roach, Mary

Mary Roach is the author of the new book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, as well as The New York Times bestsellers Bonk, Spook, and Stiff.

Hong Kingston, Maxine

Maxine Hong Kingston is the author of memoirs and fiction including The Fifth Book of Peace, The Woman Warrior, and Tripmaster Monkey. Her honors include the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN West Award, and a National Humanities Medal.

Alarcón, Daniel

Daniel Alarcón is associate editor of Etiqueta Negra, an award-winning magazine published in his native Lima, Peru, and visiting scholar at U.C. Berkeley. He is author of War by Candlelight (2006 PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist) and Lost City Radio.

Weiner, Jody

Jody Weiner wrote the novel Prisoners of Truth, co-authored Kinship With Animals, and co-edited Resistance: A Radical Social and Political History of the Lower East Side. Heck No is his new comedy screenplay.

Sussman, Ellen

Ellen Sussman’s new novel, French Lessons, will be published by Ballantine in May 2011. She has authored and edited On a Night Like This, Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex, and Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave.

Kaufman, Alan

Alan Kaufman's books include the memoir Jew Boy (Fromm/FSG/Foxrock), the novel Matches (Little, Brown), The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, and The Outlaw Bible of American Literature (Basic Books).

Durst, Will

Will Durst hits them where it hurts the funniest. Durst is a former radio talk show host and is generally recognized as America’s premier political satirist; he’s the author of The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing and Where the Rogue Things Go, coming in January.

Selland, Eric

Eric Selland’s translations of Modernist and contemporary Japanese poets have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies. He is the author of The Condition of Music (Sink Press, 2000), and Inventions (Seeing Eye Books, 2007).

Kronfeld, Chana

Chana Kronfeld is the author of On the Margins of Modernism (1995). She is the co-translator (with Chana Bloch) of Yehuda Amichai's Open Closed Open (2002) and The Collected Poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch (W.W. Norton, 2009).

Abu-Zeid, Kareem James

Kareem James Abu-Zeid’s translation of Sudanese author Tarek Eltayeb’s Cities without Palms, was published by the American University in Cairo Press in 2009, and his translation of Eltayeb’s The Palm House is forthcoming in 2011.

Zellerbach, Merla

Community activist Merla Zellerbach has been a panelist on ABC-TV’s Oh My Word, featured columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle (23 years), and Nob Hill Gazette editor (12 years). She’s written 13 books and numerous articles.

Burton, Gabrielle

Gabrielle Burton's new novel is Impatient with Desire: The Lost Journal of Tamsen Donner. She's also the author of the memoir Searching for Tamsen Donner, the novel Heartbreak Hotel, and the screenplay Manna From Heaven.

Gouw, Lian

Lian Gouw, author of Only A Girl, a novel, was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her work has appeared in several literary magazines and the 2006 anthology of the SF Writers Conference.

Stewart, Matt

Matt Stewart's debut novel, The French Revolution, has been called “wildly imaginative,” “brilliant,” and “an excellent achievement.”  He’s mildly infamous for releasing the novel on Twitter first. Grab his free FrenchRev iPhone app on matt-stewart.com.

Lupoff, Richard and Pat

Richard A. Lupoff has written many novels, short stories, and nonfiction works. His most recent book is The Emerald Cat Killer, the eighth and final volume in the saga of Hobart Lindsey and Marvia Plum.

Pat Lupoff loves being surrounded by her animals and her husband. A bookseller by trade, she is prevented from reading as fast as she would like because her cats and dogs love to be read to out loud.

Tiede, Gregory

Gregory Tiede is in his tenth year as Winsor McCay in The Great Nickelodeon show onstage from California to Italy and has decades of experience in live radio drama as well as backstage craft.

Gieleghem, Lori Leigh

Lori Leigh Gieleghem has appeared on stages throughout the country and in Italy, as part of The Great Nickelodeon Show. An unregenerate enthusiast of all things extinct (and founding member of SF's 42nd Street Moon).

Acosta, Marta

Marta Acosta is the author of the award-winning Casa Dracula books, including just released Haunted Honeymoon; Nancy's Theory of Style (as Grace Coopersmith); and The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove, to be published in 2012. martaacosta.com

Fitzgerald, Kathleen

Kathleen Fitzgerald is Senior Marketing Manager at Scribd. She is responsible for content promotions, trends, and author relations. Prior to joining Scribd, Kathleen worked at Google handling communications for YouTube TV, film, and music partnerships.

Beale, Elaine

Elaine Beale’s latest novel, Another Life Altogether, received praise from The Boston Globe, Publishers Weekly, Lambda Literary, Curve Magazine, and Oprah Magazine. She won the 2007 Poets & Writers California Exchange Award in fiction.

Molander, Hyla

Writer, photographer, mother of four, widow, and wife, Hyla Molander is currently working on her forthcoming memoir, Drop Dead Life: A Pregnant Widow’s Heartfelt and Often Comic Journey through Death, Birth, and Rebirth.

Tea, Michelle

Michelle Tea is a writer who founded RADAR Productions, a literary nonprofit that runs the RADAR Reading Series at the Public Library, the international Sister Spit performance tours, and the annual RADAR LAB writers’ retreat in Akumal, Mexico.

Yamazaki, Paul

Paul Yamazaki has been on the staff of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers since 1970.

Tiny a.k.a. Lisa Gray-Garcia

Tiny a.k.a. Lisa Gray-Garcia is a poverty scholar, revolutionary journalist, poet, teacher, author of Criminal of Poverty: Growing up Homeless in America, co-founder of POOR Magazine/PoorNewsNetwork, Taino/Boricua mama of Tiburcio, and daughter of Dee.

Smith, Patti

Patti Smith has been called “The Godmother of Punk”; she is also a poet, author, and visual artist. In her seminal 1975 album, Horses, she integrated Beat-like poetry with three-chord music. In 2007 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Shelby, Marcus

Marcus Shelby is currently artistic director and leader of The Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, The Marcus Shelby Septet, and The Marcus Shelby Trio. Marcus has won innumerable awards, grants, and private commissions, including the 1991 Charles Mingus Scholarship.

Scheer, Robert

Truthdig editor-in-chief Robert Scheer has won awards for his journalism in Ramparts, the Los Angeles Times, Playboy, and more. He has written eight books, most recently The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America.

Ryder, Winona

Winona Ryder is a Golden Globe–winning and Oscar-nominated actress who grew up in the North Bay in the bosom of the Ferlinghetti and City Lights family. Her many movies include The Age of Innocence, Little Women, and Reality Bites.

Reed, Ishmael

Ishmael Reed is an author of poetry, novels, plays, essays, and songs. His 10th novel, entitled Blood Sugar, will be published in the spring. His most recent award was “Blues Song Writer of the Year,” from the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame.

McClure, Michael

Michael McClure sees that Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a great mammal spirit. McClure walked into City Lights in 1954. He read at the Six Gallery in 1955. UC Press will publish his Of Indigo and Saffron: Selected Poems, in January.

major, devorah

devorah major is a poet, novelist, and internationally touring performer, and served as San Francisco’s Poet Laureate from 2002 to 2006. Her books include Street Smarts, Where River Meets Ocean, An Open Weave, and Brown Glass Windows.

Lisick, Beth

Beth Lisick is the author of four books, including Everyone Into the Pool, the co-founder of the Porchlight storytelling series, and an occasional stage and screen performer. She is working on her first novel.

Kaye, Lenny

Lenny Kaye is a guitarist, composer, producer, and author, best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group. He played lead guitar on all of Smith’s albums, produced albums for Suzanne Vega and Kristin Hersh, and co-authored Waylon Jennings’ memoir.

Katzenberger, Elaine

Elaine Katzenberger is the executive director of City Lights Booksellers and Publishers; program director for the City Lights Foundation; editor of books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; and advisor to the National Endowment for the Arts.

Kass, James

James Kass is the founder and executive director of Youth Speaks, Inc. He is also creator and co-executive producer of the HBO series Brave New Voices and artistic director of the PBS series Poetic License.

Joseph, Marc Bamuthi

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is an arts activist, a poet, a playwright, a dancer, a teacher, and artistic director of The Living Word Project. He was featured performer on HBO’s Russell Simmons' Def Poetry and was a national Poetry Slam winner.

Horowitz, Michael

Michael Horowitz co-founded the Ludlow Library, situated in North Beach, during the 1970s. He has edited works by Aldous Huxley and Timothy Leary, and appeared in The Darwin Awards with Winona Ryder and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Hodge, Chinaka

Chinaka Hodge is an Oakland-born poet and playwright. The East Bay Express named her Best Poet of 2008 and she was the inaugural recipient of the 826 Valencia Young Author’s Scholarship. Her 2006 book, For Girls With Hips, is in its third publication.

Hirschmann, Jack

Jack Hirschman is a fellow poet, translator, and painter, no doubt influenced by the example of the Old Boy, of whom he has been a friend for half a hundred years.

Herrera, Juan Felipe

Juan Felipe Herrera is the author of 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border (City Lights) and is a National Book Critics Circle winner and 2010 Guggenheim Fellow. He performs with Margarita Robles and works on the Free Antonio Balta Campaign.

Bisson, Terry

Hugo- and Nebula-winning science fiction writer Terry Bisson authored "Bears Discover Fire," "They're Made out of Meat," Fire on the Mountain, and The Left Left Behind. He hosts the SF in SF monthly reading series.

Hirsch, Reece

Reece Hirsch's debut legal thriller The Insider touches upon government domestic surveillance in the wake of 9/11. Reece drew on his background as a partner in the San Francisco office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

Eisler, Barry

Barry Eisler’s bestselling thrillers draw on his experience in a covert position in the CIA and on his time as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan.

Bowen, Rhys

Rhys Bowen's books have won nine mystery awards, including both Agatha and Anthony awards. She currently writes the dark New York Molly Murphy books and the lighter Royal Spyness books about a penniless minor royal in the 1930s.

Yang, Belle

Belle Yang is the author of illustrated books for both adults and children. Forget Sorrow, published by W. W. Norton and Company, is her first graphic memoir.

Drooker, Eric

Eric Drooker designed the animation for the film Howl and collaborated with Ginsberg on their book Illuminated Poems. He most recently completed Howl: A Graphic Novel. His paintings appear on covers of The New Yorker.

Adiele, Faith

Faith Adiele’s work includes the PEN-award-winning memoir, Meeting Faith; the PBS documentary, My Journey Home; and the multicultural anthology, Coming Of Age Around The World. She is currently Distinguished Visiting Writer at Mills College.

Wanzer, Lyzette

Lyzette Wanzer is a native New Yorker now in San Francisco. She’s written for Potomac Review, Illumen, Specs, Pleiades, and Gender on Our Minds. She’s had writing residencies at Blue Mountain Center and Kimmel Harding Center for the Arts.

Stein, Melissa

Melissa Stein’s poetry collection Rough Honey won the 2010 APR/Honickman First Book Prize. Her work has appeared in Southern Review, Best New Poets 2009, New England Review, Harvard Review, and many other journals and anthologies.

Greenberg, Miriam Bird

Miriam Bird Greenberg grew up on an organic farm in rural Texas. She earned an MFA in Poetry from the Michener Center for Writers, is a Wallace Stegner fellow at Stanford University, and received a 2010 Ruth Lilly Fellowship.

Duncan, Aja Couchois

Aja Couchois Duncan is of Ojibwe, French and Scottish descent; a fictional writer of non-fiction; and an MFA (Creative Writing, San Francisco State University). Her most recent chapbook is Nomenclature, Miigaadiwin, a Forked Tongue (CC Marimbo Press).

Dumesnil, Cheryl

Cheryl Dumesnil is the author of In Praise of Falling, editor of Hitched! Wedding Stories from San Francisco City Hall, and co-editor, with Kim Addonizio, of Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos.

Lit Crawl NYC: 9/11/2010

Visit Lit Crawl NYC’s Dedicated Website!



Litquake’s annual New York version of the Lit Crawl was first created in 2008 by writers/Litquake committee members Todd Zuniga and Suzanne Russo, and quickly attracted a rabid audience of lit fans in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. (“Bukowski would be so proud” — Flavorpill)

Litquake’s Pitchapalooza, Sept. 28

On September 28th, book authors Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry team up with fellow authors Sam Barry and Kathi Kamen Goldmark for Litquake’s first-ever Pitchapalooza!
It works like this: Anyone with an idea for a book has the chance to pitch it to a panel of judges. But they get only one minute. Judges will critique everything from idea to style to potential in the marketplace.
All attendees come away with concrete advice on how to improve their pitch, as well as a greater understanding of the ins and outs of the publishing industry. The winner will receive a free half-hour consultation with Eckstut and Sterry. Past Pitchapalooza participants now have book deals!
Proceeds to benefit the Litquake Literary Festival 2010. Tickets available at Brown Paper Tickets

Arielle Eckstut is an agent-at-large at the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency, as well as author of seven books, including The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It…Successfully.
David Henry Sterry is the bestselling author of 12 books on a wide variety of subjects, and co-author, with his wife Arielle Eckstut, of The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published. His first memoir has been optioned by Showtime.
Sam Barry works for HarperCollins and is co-author with his wife, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, of Write That Book Already! The Tough Love You Need to Get Published Now about writing and publishing. Kathi and Sam also write a monthly advice column for BookPage, “The Author Enablers.”
Kathi Kamen Goldmark is co-author of Write That Book Already! The Tough Love You Need to Get Published Now, and is also a musician and founder of the all-author garage band, the Rock Bottom Remainders.

Kurland, Michael

Michael Kurland is the author of more than 30 novels. He has been published in a dozen or so languages and was nominated for two Edgars and the American Book Award. More can be learned at his website.

Wheeler, Amy

Amy Wheeler (moderator) is Executive Director of Hedgebrook retreat, a non-profit that nurtures women writers’ work. A nationally produced playwright; Hedgebrook alumna; and recipient of awards including an Artist Trust, Amy holds an MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.

De Robertis, Carolina

Carolina De Robertis is the author of the critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling novel The Invisible Mountain, which has been a finalist for numerous awards.

Littlefield, Sophie

Sophie Littlefield’s first novel, A Bad Day for Sorry, appeared on the San Francisco Chronicle and IMBA bestseller lists. Her young adult novel, Banished, will be released October 2010. Sophie lives in Northern California with her family.