Readings at the Bookstore

City Lights has an ongoing series of readings and events, usually at least one or two each week during the Winter, Spring, and Fall. Our online calendar is updated regularly, but if you want to be sure not to miss out on anything, be sure to sign up for our Newsletter to receive weekly updates on what's happening at the bookstore.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public and take place at City Lights Bookstore | 261 Columbus Avenue | San Francisco, CA 94133
For more information, call us at 415-362-8193 | Map & Directions

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

Andre Perry in conversation with Colin Winnette City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, January 28, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating Andre Perry's new book Some of Us Are Very Hungry Now: a collection of essays published by Two Dollar Radio		Samuel C. Woolley City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, January 29, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing his new book The Reality Game: How the Next Wave of Technology Will Break the Truth published by Public Affairs

Carmen Maria Machado with Esmé Weijun Wang City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, January 30, 2020, 7:00 p.m. in conversation and celebrating the release of Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House: A Memoir published by Graywolf Press		Cutting Up The Century: A Burroughs Birthday Miscellany City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, February 5, 2020, 7:00 p.m. with Joan Hawkins, Alex Wermer-Colan, Peter Hale, and Jon Longhi

Elaine Kahn City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, February 6, 2020, 7:00 p.m. reading from her new book Romance or The End: poems published by Soft Skull Press		Marcelo Hernandez Castillo in conversation with Jose Antonio Vargas City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Monday, February 10, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating Marcelo Hernandez Castillo's new book Children of the Land published by HarperCollins

Arthur Kleinman UCSF Parnassus Campus, Lange Room, 530 Parnassus Avenue, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94143 Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 4:00 p.m. (Free to the Public) discussing the subject of his new book The Soul of Care: The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor Viking Books		Harlem of The West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era Mechanics' Institute Library, 57 Post Street, San Francisco (Admission $15, Members Free) Thursday, February 13, 2020, 6:30 p.m. with writer Elizabeth Pepin Silva and photographer Lewis Watts

Howard Eiland City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, February 13, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating two new books Origin of the German Trauerspiel, by Walter Benjamin, (Tr. Howard Eiland) and Notes on Literature, Film, and Jazz, by Howard Eiland, published by Spuyten Duyvil		Dennis Baron City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, February 18, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of his new book What's Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She Published by Liveright

William T. Vollmann City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, February 20, 2020, 7:00 p.m. reading from his new novel The Lucky Star: A Novel published by Viking/Penguin		John Sayles City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Monday, February 24, 2020, 7:00 p.m. reading from his new novel Yellow Earth from Haymarket Books

Megan Fernandes with Sam Sax, Jay Deshpande, and Kai Carlson-Wee City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, February 25, 2020, 7:00 p.m. Celebrating Megan Fernandes' new collection of poetry Good Boys published by Tin House Books		Dodie Bellamy and Anthony Huberman in conversation City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, February 27, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Dodie Bellamy Is on Our Mind Edited by Jeanne Gerrity and Anthony Huberman published by Semiotext(e) Books, distributed by The MIT Press

Javad Djavahery City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, March 4, 2020, 7:00 p.m. reading from his new novel *My Part of Her* translated by Emma Ramadan, published by Restless Books		Lloyd Kahn City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbua Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, March 5, 2020, 7:00 p.m. Slideshow/Talk celebrating the release of The Half Acre Homestead: 46 Years of Building and Gardening from Shelter Publications

Nomadic Press @ City Lights City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, March 10, 2020, 7:00 p.m. with Tureeda Mikell, Josiah Luis Alderete, Ayodele Nzinga, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Genny Lim, James Cagney, Dr. James P. (Jimmy) Garrett, music by Azuah		Shana Redmond City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday March 11, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of her new book Everything Man: The Form and Function of Paul Robeson from Duke University Press

William J. Drummond City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of his new book Prison Truth: The Story of the San Quentin News from University of California Press		Lisa Robertson City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, March 18, 2020, 7:00 p.m. reading from *The Baudelaire Fractal* published by Coach House Books

Chris Carlsson City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, March 19, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Hidden San Francisco: A Guide to Lost Landscapes, Unsung Heroes and Radical Histories from Pluto Press		Hilary Moore & James Tracy City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, March 24, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of No Fascist USA! The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and Lessons for Today's Movements published by City Lights Books

Alexandra Mattraw with Tiff Dressen and Maw Shein Win City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, March 25, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Alexandra Mattraw's new poetry collection We fell into Weather from Cultural Society		Robert Glück in conversation with Brandon Brown City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, March 26, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the new edition of Margery Kempe by Robert Glück, introduction by Colm Tóibín published by New York Review Books

Archive 48 Release Party: The Earthly Days of Jose Revueltas City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, March 31, 2020, 7:00 p.m. Binational publisher Archive 48, dedicated to Mexican and U.S. literature, launches its U.S. wing with the first-ever English translation of an important work by José Revueltas. Join us to celebrate its release.		Beth Lisick City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, April 1, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Edie On The Green Screen: A Novel published by 7.13 Books

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai in conversation with Isabelle Thuy Pelaud City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, April 2, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of The Mountains Sing from Workman Publishing Company		Fayette Hauser and Friends City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, April 7, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of THE COCKETTES published by Process Books/Feral House

Robert Williams City Lights Booksellers, 261 Colombus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, April 8, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating his new book Robert Williams: The Father of Exponential Imagination published by Fantagraphics		Melville House @ City Lights City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, April 9, 2020, 7:00 p.m. Malcolm Harris in conversation with Curtis White, moderated by Jenny Odell

Wendy Liu City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of her new book Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism from Repeater Books		Ilya Kaminsky and Tess Taylor City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, April 16, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of two new books from Tess Taylor Rift Zone:poems and Last West

Peniel E. Joseph in conversation with Dr. Waldo E. Martin Jr. City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Monday April 20, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing his new book The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. from Basic Books		Frank Wilderson III City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, April 21, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of his new book Afropessimism published by Liveright Books / W.W. Norton

Maurice Carlos Ruffin in conversation with Margaret Wilkerson Sexton City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Sunday, April 26, 2020, 7:00 p.m. Maurice Carlos Ruffin reading from We Cast A Shadow published by One World		Daniel Denvir City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Monday, April 27, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of his new book All-American Nativism: How the Bipartisan War on Immigrants Explains Politics as We Know It published by Verso Books

Alli Warren City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, April 28, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Little Hill published by City Lights Books		Robert Mailer Anderson City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, April 30, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating his new graphic novel Windows on the World published by Fantagraphics Books Co-authored with Zack Anderson and Jon Sack

Ainissa Ramirez City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Sunday, May 3, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of her new book The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another from The MIT Press		Alia Volz in conversation with Paul Yamazaki City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San francisco Tuesday May 5, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of Alia Volz's new book Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco

Karen Tei Yamashita City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, May 6, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of her new short fiction collection Sansei and Sensibility published by Coffee House Press		Margaret Randall in conversation with Garrett Caples City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, May 7, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of Margaret Randall's new book I Never Left Home: Poet, Feminist, Revolutionary from Duke University Press

Berkeley Noir with Jerry Thompson and Owen Hill City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, May 12, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of the the new crime fiction anthology Berkeley Noir published by Akashic Books		Jeremy Packer and Joshua Reeves City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, May 14, 2020, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of their new book Killer Apps: War, Media, Machine published by Duke University Press

Jennifer Worley City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, June 9, 2020, 7:00 p.m. Book Release Party for Neon Girls: A Stripper's Education in Protest and Power from Harper Collins		Uche Nduka City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, June 25, 2020, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Facing You (City Lights Spotlight Series No. 19 published by City Lights Books