Readings at the Bookstore

City Lights regularly hosts events with authors from across the publishing world. Since we can't accommodate a lot of folks in the bookstore, we've launched the City Lights LIVE! Virtual Events Series. Click on the listings below to learn more, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for regular updates.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher to our podcast series, LIVE! From City Lights–broadcasting events & archives from City Lights.

Our virtual events series is being uploaded to our Youtube page. Subscribe to our channel to watch events you missed!

Marie Mutsuki Mockett in conversation with Garnette Cadogan This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Wednesday, April 21, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET discussing Marie Mutsuki Mockett's new book American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland published by Graywolf Press		Mira Sethi in conversation with Miranda Popkey This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Thursday, April 22, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET reading from her new fiction collection Are You Enjoying? published by Alfred Knopf

Sesshu Foster & Arturo Ernesto Romo in conversation with Carribean Fragoza Tuesday, April 27, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET celebrating the book launch of *ELADATL: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines* published by City Lights Books		Carribean Fragoza in conversation with Héctor Tobar Wed, April 28th 6:00pm PT / 9:00pm ET celebrating the launch of her new book *Eat the Mouth That Feeds You* published by City Lights Books

Kate Crawford in conversation with Trevor Paglen This is a virtual event being hosted by Gray Area in San Francisco. See event link for more info. Friday, April 30, 2021, 6:00 p.m. Pacific / 9:00 p.m. Eastern celebrating the launch of Kate Crawford's new book ATLAS of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence published by Yale University Press		Mary Beth Meehan with Fred Turner This is a virtual event that will be hosted by City Lights on the Zoom platform. Monday, May 3, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 ET launch party for the new book Seeing Silicon Valley: Life Inside a Fraying America published by University of Chicago Press

Erica Hunt and Michael Palmer This is a virtual event that will be hosted by City Lights on the Zoom platform. Tuesday, May 4, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET reading from new works *Jump The Clock* by Erica Hunt *Little Elegies for Sister Satan* by Michael Palmer		Kate Durbin and Alex Dimitrov This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Thursday, May 6, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET Kate Durbin reading from HOARDERS published by Wave Books Alex Dimitrov reading from Love & Other Poems published by Copper Canyon Press

Mule Kick Blues Book Release with Anne Waldman, Eileen Myles, and Garrett Caples Event will be held on Zoom. Click the link in the event description for info. Saturday, May 8th, 3:00 p.m. PT / 6:00 p.m. ET Book Launch for Mule Kick Blues: And Last Poems The last book by Michael McClure with Anne Waldman, Eileen Myles, and Garrett Caples Michael McClure Memorial Tribute Event will be held on Zoom. Click the link in the event description for info. Sunday, May 9th, 3:00 p.m. PT / 6:00 p.m. ET A memorial tribute to Michael McClure with readings and remembrances with many special guests!		Francisco Goldman in conversation with Valeria Luiselli This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Tuesday, May 11, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET discussing his new book Monkey Boy: a novel published by Grove Atlantic Press

Aminatta Forna in conversation with Eula Biss This is a virtual event that will be hosted by City Lights on the Zoom platform. Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET Aminatta Forna discusses her new book The Window Seat: Notes From a Life In Motion published by Grove Press		Sarah Schulman in conversation with Marc Stein This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Monday, May 24, 2021, 6:00 p.m. Pacific / 9:00 p.m. Eastern discussing Let The Record Show: A Political History of Act Up New York, 1987-1993 presented by City Lights in conjunction with the GLBT Historical Society and Farrar Straus Giroux

Cynthia Kaufman in conversation with Francesca Caparas This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET discussing Cynthia Kaufman's new book The Sea Is Rising and So Are We: A Climate Justice Handbook published by PM Press		Nathaniel Mackey This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Wednesday, May 26, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET celebrating the launch of his new poetry collection DOUBLE TRIO published by New Directions

Joel Harrison with Henry Kaiser and Nels Cline This is a virtual event that City Lights will host on a platform to be announced. Saturday, May 29, 2021, 3:00 p.m. Pacific / 6:00 p.m. Eastern celebrating the book launch for Guitar Talk: Conversations with Visionary Players from Terra Nova Press/The MIT Press		New Directions @ 85: The Anniversary Celebration This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Thursday, June 3, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET with Forrest Gander as MC and special guests Barbara Epler, Declan Spring, and other surprise guests

Chet'la Sebree This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Saturday, June 5, 2021, 3pm Pacific / 6pm Eastern reading from and discussing FIELD STUDY published by FSG Originals		David Talbot and Margaret Talbot This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Tuesday, June 8, 2021, 6:00 p.m. Pacific / 9:00 p.m. Eastern celebrating the launch of their new book By The Light Of Burning Dreams: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Second American Revolution published by Harper Collins

Carol Anderson in conversation with Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz This is a virtual event that will be hosted by City Lights on the Zoom platform. Wednesday, June 9, 2021, 5pm PT / 8pm ET discussing The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America published by Bloomsbury Books		Laura Raicovich in conversation with Malkia Devich-Cyril This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Thursday, June 17, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET discussing her new book CULTURE STRIKE: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest published by Verso Books

Black Ocean @ City Lights This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Saturday, June 20, 2021, 3:00 p.m. PT / 6:00 p.m. ET with Carrie Olivia Adams, Zachary Schomburg, Hedgie Choi, and Nathan Hoks		Benjamin Hedin This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Tuesday, June 22, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET reading from his new novel Under The Spell published by Northwestern University Press

Doug Henderson in conversation with K.M. Soehnlein This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Thursday, June 24, 2021, 6:00 p.m. Pacific / 9:00 p.m. Eastern discussing The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club published by University of Iowa Press		The Nature of Drugs: The Pioneering Legacy of Alexander Shulgin This is a virtual symposium which will be held on Zoom. Click the link in the event description for info. Saturday June 26 and Sunday June 27, 2021 Presented by City Lights in conjunction with Transform Press and Synergetic Press

Kate Zambreno in conversation with T Fleischmann This is a virtual event that will be hosted by City Lights on the Zoom platform. Wednesday, June 30, 2021, 6:00 pm PST / 9:00 p.m. EDT discussing To Write as if Already Dead published by Columbia University Press		Dana Spiotta This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Thursday, July 8, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET reading from her new novel Wayward published by Alfred Knopf

Omar El Akkad This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Tuesday, July 27, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET reading from his new novel What Strange Paradise published by Alfred Knopf		Matthew Specktor in conversation with Adam Pfahler This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Wednesday, July 28, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 ET discussing Always Crashing in the Same Car: On Art, Crisis, and Los Angeles, California published by Tin House

Rupa Marya and Raj Patel This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Tuesday, August 3, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET celebrating the launch of their new book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice published by Farrar Strauss Giroux		Brian Evenson This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Wednesday, August 4, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET reading from The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell published by Coffee House Press

Marc Ribot in conversation with Elliott Sharp This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Saturday August 7, 2021, 12:00 p.m. Pacific , 3:00 p.m. Eastern celebrating the launch of Mark Ribot's new book Unstrung: Rants and Stories of a Noise Guitarist published by Akashic Books		Jaime Cortez in conversation with Rebecca Solnit This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Tuesday, August 17, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET celebrating Jaime Cortez's debut short fiction collection Gordo published by Grove Atlantic

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz in conversation with Alejandro Murguía This is a virtual event which will be held on the Zoom platform. Click the link in the event description for info. Tuesday, August 24, 2021, 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET discussing Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Not A Nation of Immigrants: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion published by Beacon Press