📘 Coming up at Litquake: Day 10

FREEMAN'S: Best New Writings on Love
Saturday, October 17 • 5:00pm - 6:15pm
Co-presented by City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

In a time of contentiousness and flagrant abuse, it often feels as if our world is run on hate. Invective. Cruelty and sadism. But is it possible the greatest and most powerful force is love? Join us to launch the newest edition of FREEMAN'S, with editor John Freeman, Robin Coste Lewis, Tommy Orange, and Matt Summell. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation

The Cockettes: Acid Drag, Sexual Anarchy, and SF Craziness
Saturday, October 17 • 7:00pm - 8:15pm
Co-presented by Dog Eared Castro and Bay Area Reporter

“They were like hippie acid freak drag queens, which is always a good thing!!” — John Waters

Birthed in an LSD bathed commune in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district in the summer of 1969, The Cockettes were a fever dream of sexual freedom and expression. They granted themselves names and identities that reflected their inner wild selves, then put it all on the stage with elaborate costumes in anarchic musical productions. Gay, straight, bisexual, pansexual—The Cockettes were a vital art collective and essential to the history of high drag. To chronicle and catalog this history, Cockette member Fayette Hauser has authored this flamboyantly illustrated coffee-table book, The Cockettes: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy, collecting stories and rare photos from museums, magazines, and private collections. With fellow Cockettes members Scrumbly Koldewyn and Pam Tent. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation

Windows on the World: A Personal Tragedy of 9/11
Sunday, October 18 • 2:00pm - 3:15pm

Based on the screenplay of the award-winning 2019 film, the new illustrated graphic novel Windows on the World chronicles a son's search for his father, with empathy and nuance, and reflects on how the pains of our recent past have shaped the character of America. Screenwriter and author Robert Mailer Anderson discusses the project, including the process of adaptation from screen to graphic novel. Live music by Jay Walsh from The Douglas Fir, and readings from actress Jacqueline Obradors. Watch the film beforehand, and tune in with your questions! FREE, $5-10 suggested donation

Shakespeare and Lovecraft: Christopher Moore and Matt Ruff
Sunday, October 18 • 5:00pm - 6:15pm
With support from Craig Newmark Philanthropies

New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore celebrates the release of his newest novel, Shakespeare for Squirrels, a wildly entertaining murder mystery riffing on Dashiell Hammett and the Bard’s most performed play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. At the same time, Matt Ruff (author of Lovecraft Country) releases his latest novel 88 Names, a technothriller which begins as a whirlwind online adventure, and soon spills over into the real world with characters like North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, whose interest in VR gaming has more to do with power than entertainment. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation

Super 8: An Illustrated History
Sunday, October 18 • 7:00pm - 8:15pm
Co-presented by SF IndieFest

The new coffee-table art book Super 8: An Illustrated History explores the format's history, including the research and development required to create a brand-new genre of storytelling, and features stunning photography, vintage advertisements, and fresh interviews throughout. San Francisco author Danny Plotnick discusses his debut book with art-film legend Beth B and music video director Dave Markey. Moderated by Jesse Hawthorne Ficks. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation

The Root Slam: The Working People's Section
Monday, October 19 • 5:00pm - 6:15pm
Co-presented by Oakland Public Library

"The Working People’s Section” is a tradition amongst poetry venues where the event organizers get to share their work. There are only three rules to The Root Slam's Working People’s Section: 1) all the organizers share, 2) it has to be new, and 3) it better shake the room. Join the organizers of The Root Slam for a special Litquake Out Loud edition of The Working People’s Section, where your favorite local writers / farmers / dancers / healers / educators / activists / festival planners / and twerk influencers bring you that world premiere, that new and necessary work. Featuring Isabella Borgeson, Tianna Bratcher, Gabriel Cortez, Ciera-Jevae Gordon, Natasha Huey, Will Smith, and Sandy Vazquez. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation

Noir at the (Virtual) Bar: Mystery Writers of America
Monday, October 19 • 7:00pm - 8:15pm
Co-sponsored by Mystery Writers of America NorCal Chapter

Murder. Crime. Detectives. Clues. Suspects. Resolution—or not. In this era of COVID-19 and hellishly bad news around the planet, sometimes a great mystery is exactly what one needs to escape the insanity of everyday life. Fortunately, our good friends at Mystery Writers of America NorCal Chapter have gathered together a rogue's gallery of excellent bestselling authors for Litquake, to help us all sink into a good suspenseful story. Presenting their work will be Cara Black, Robin Burcell, Rae James, S.A. Lelchuk, Camille Minichino, Jason Ridler, Faye Snowdon, and Jacqueline Winspear. Moderated by Laurie R. King. FREE, $5-10 suggested donation

About Litquake
Litquake’s diverse live programs are created with the aim of inspiring critical engagement with the key issues of the day, bringing people together around the common humanity encapsulated in literature, and perpetuating a sense of literary community, as well as a vibrant forum for Bay Area writing. We believe in literature as a public good, so we work to produce events that are accessible to all. www.litquake.org

Litquake is grateful for the support of the following funders who help make our programming possible. Institutional Giving: Adobe Employee Community Fund, Bill Graham Memorial Foundation, California Arts Council, California College of the Arts, California Institute of Integral Studies, Center for the Art of Translation, California Humanities, Chronicle Books, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Fleishhacker Family Foundation, Grants for the Arts, HarperOne, Margaret and William R. Hearst III Foundation, Mary A. Crocker Trust, Miner Anderson Family Foundation, Mystery Writers of America, Northern California Chapter, National Endowment for the Arts, The Bernard Osher Foundation, The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Stanford Continuing Studies, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Zellerbach Foundation. Individual Giving: Frances Dinkelspiel and Gary Wayne, Margaret and Will Hearst, Scott James and Gerald Cain, Nion McEvoy, Craig Newmark, and Nicole Miner and Robert Mailer Anderson. Media Sponsors: San Francisco Chronicle, 7 X 7, KQED, Bay Area Reporter, Johnny Funcheap, and KALW 91.7

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