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 iTunes to our podcast series, Live From City Lights–broadcasting events & interviews from City Lights.

Oliver Nachtwey in conversation with Adrian Daub City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of Oliver Nachtwey's new book Germany's Hidden Crisis from Verso Books copresented with the Goethe Institut		Damon Krukowski City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, April 18, 2019, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of his new book Ways of Hearing published by MIT Press

Darius James City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Sunday, April 21, 2019, 5:00 p.m. celebrating the eagerly awaited re-release of his seminal novel Negrophobia: An Urban Parable published by New York Review Books		Arcana: A Tribute to Stephen Jonas City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, April 23, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Garrett Caples, Derek Fenner, Brian Lucas, Sunnylyn Thibodeaux, Micah Ballard, and Sophia Dahlin celebrating the release of Arcana: A Stephen Jonas Reader published by City Lights Books

Ed Bok Lee City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 7:00 p.m. reading from Mitochondrial Night: Poems from Coffee House Press		Neda Atanasoski in conversation with Kalindi Vora City Light Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, April 25, 2019, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of their new book Surrogate Humanity: Race, Robots, and the Politics of Technological Futures published by Duke University Press

Grace Schulman City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Monday, April 29, 2019, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of her book Strange Paradise: Portrait of a Marriage published by Turtle Point Press		Foucault in California City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, April 30, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Heather Dundas in conversation with David Wade

Barry Gifford City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, May 2, 2019, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Southern Nights Trilogy: Night People, Arise and Walk, Baby Cat Face from Seven Stories Press		Chia-Chia Lin in conversation with D. Wystan Owen City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, May 7, 2019, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of her new novel The Unpassing published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Andrew Ross City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, May 8, 2019, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of his new book Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel published by Verso Books		ZYZZYVA's Art Issue Celebration City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, May 9, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Hosted by ZYZZYVA Managing Editor Oscar Villalon with Cate Lycurgus, Dean Rader, Jordan Kantor, Rusty Morrison, and Mira Rosenthal

Jo Lendle City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Sunday, May 12, 2019, 5:00 p.m. reading from and speaking about All the Land published by Seagull Books copresented by Goethe Institut San Francisco		Saskia Vogel City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, May 15, 2019, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of her new novel Permission published by Coach House Books

Namwali Serpell in conversation with Ismail Muhammad City Lights Bookseller, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, May 16, 2019, 7:00 p.m. reading from and discussing her new novel The Old Drift from Hogarth Books		Max Porter City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, May 21, 2019, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Lanny: a novel from Graywolf Press

Edmund Berrigan City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, May 22nd, 7:00PM reading from his new book poems More Gone Volume 18 in the City Lights Spotlight Series		Thursday, May 23rd, 7pm Independence, Kansas: William Inge Theatre

Finn Brunton City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, June 4, 2019, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of his new book Digital Cash: The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency from Princeton University Press		Allan Peterson City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, June 11, 2019, 7:00 p.m. reading poetry from This Luminous: New and Selected Poems from Panhandler Books

Erik Davis City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, June 13, 2019, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of his new book High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies from MIT Press		Punk Rock Is Cool for the End of the World: Poems and Notebooks of Ed Smith City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, June 19, 2019, 7:00 p.m. with David Trinidad, Amy Gerstler, D.A. Powell, Kevin Killian, Dodie Bellamy, Randall Mann, and Roberto Bedoya

Louise Aronson City Light Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, June 26, 2019, 7:00 p.m. discussing the subject of her new book Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life from Bloomsbury Books		David Rothenberg in conversation with Elliot Sharp City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, June 27, 2019, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Nightingales in Berlin:Searching for the Perfect Sound from University of Chicago Press IrRational Music from Terra Nova Books

Thursday, August 22nd, 7pm New York, NY: McNally Jackson Booksellers