Sights & Sounds is your weekly guide to the Bay Area arts scene. Maw Shein Winis a teacher, performer, and El Cerrito's first poet laureate. Her newest book of poetry, Invisible Gifts, will be coming out in April 2018. She told KALW’s Jen Chien about three amazing arts events happening around the Bay this week.
- Cleave: Bay Area Women Writers’ December Reading— Octopus Literary Salon on 12/8
- Black Life: Tongo Eisen-Martin — BAMPFA on 12/9
- Da Do SF 5 — Specs Bar on 12/10
Cleave: Bay Area Women Writers’ holds monthly readings at the Octopus Literary Salon in Oakland. Organized and emceeced by Dr. Raina León, this month’s reading will feature work from Ingrid Keir, Sandra Garcia Rivera, Danusha Laméris, and Shelby Dale DeWeese. It starts at 7 p.m. and admission is free.
WIN: "It was a really wonderful experience to participate and this reading is going to be fantastic. I try to go to support Octopus, because Octopus Literary Salon is the series' home in Oakland."
Tongo Eisen-Martin will be reading as part of BAMPFA's Black Life series. Black Life is an ongoing series curated by Chika Okoye and David Brazil to showcase the vitality and range of cultural production in the African diaspora. For this Saturday’s installment, educator and poet Tongo Eisen-Martin will be reading. His newest book,Heaven Is All Goodbyes, has been called “resistance as sound.” Born in San Francisco, Eisen-Martin has organized against mass incarceration and extrajudicial killing of black people throughout the United States. Eisen-Martin's reading is on 12/9 at 6 p.m. and admission to the museum is required.
WIN: "I'm just blown away by his style and his words...if you haven't seen or heard Tongo, I highly recommend Tongo because he's just an incredible poet."
Three Rooms Press co-directors Peter Carlaftes & Kat Georges are presenting avant-garde Dada journal, Maintenant's annual reading, Da Do SF 5, at Specs Bar in San Francisco's North Beach. Maintenant showcases the most significant contemporary dada writing and art from around the world. Da Do SF 5 will feature the journal's 11th issue and some of the magazine’s Bay Area contributors – including Jack Hirschman, Suzi Kaplan Olmsted, and Lorene Zouzounis. It starts at 6 p.m. on 12/10, admission is free, and drinks are at the bar.
WIN: "Specs is just a legendary bar...here's to Specs! I hope Specs lives long!"
https://vimeo.com/10757552">Jack Hirschman "2010" (1 of 5) - 2006 Poet Laureate of San Francisco from https://vimeo.com/onenightmusic">One Night Music on Vimeo.