Readings at the Bookstore

City Lights has an ongoing series of readings and events, usually at least one or two each week. 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 Events 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

Check out our new podcast series, "Live From City Lights"-- broadcasting events, interviews, and reviews from City Lights Books & Publishers.

Vikram Chandra City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Thursday, September 4, 2014, 7:00 P.M. discussing Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, The Code of Beauty from Graywolf Press		Book Party for Thousand Times Broken City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Wednesday, September 10th, 2014, 7:00pm Celebrating the release of **Thousand Times Broken: Three Books** by Henri Michaux, translated from the French by Gilian Conoley.

Book Party for Lenelle Moïse City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 7:00 P.M. celebrating the release of Haiti Glass by Lenelle Moïse The latest poetry collection in the City Lights/Sister Spit series, edited by Michelle Tea!		Laila Lalami City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Wednesday, September 17, 2014, 7:00 P.M. reading from The Moor's Account from Pantheon Books

An evening with Scholastique Mukasonga City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, September 18, 2014, 7:00 P.M. with opening statements by Jill Schoolman (Archipelago Books) celebrating the release of Our Lady of the Nile translated by Melanie Mauthner published by Archipelago Books		Nayomi Munaweera City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Monday, September 22, 2014, 7:00 P.M. reading from Island of a Thousand Mirrors from St. Martin's Press

Les Claypool & Larry LaLonde celebrate the release of "Primus: Over the Electric Grapevine: Insight into Primus and the World of Les Claypool" Rickett's Lab, 124-140 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 94133 Tuesday, September 23, 2014, 7:00 P.M. presented by City Lights inconjunction with Akashic Books & Rickett's Lab		MariNaomi City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Wednesday, September 24, 2014, 7:00 P.M. celebrating the release of Dragon's Breath and Other True Stories' published jointly by 2D Cloud and Uncivilized Books

An evening with Roxane Gay City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Thursday, September 25, 2014, 7:00 P.M. discussing her new book The Bad Feminist from Harper Perennial		Wave Books Party! City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Tuesday, September 30, 2014, 7:00 P.M Hosted by Matthew Zapruder with Garrett Caples, Anthony McCann, Hoa Nguyen, Cedar Sigo, & Rachel Zucker

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Wednesday, October 1, 2014, 7:00 P.M. discussing her new book An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States from Beacon Press		Richard Kenvin on Surf Craft City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Tuesday, October 7, 2014, 7:00 P.M. celebrating the release of the new book Surf Craft: Design and the Culture of Board Riding from The MIT Press

Book Party for Mylene Fernández-Pintado City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Wednesday, October 8. 2014, 7:00 P.M. celebrating the release of A Corner of the World Translated by Dick Cluster Published by City Lights Publishers		Book Party for Thomas Page McBee City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco Thursday, October 9th, 2014, 7:00pm Celebrating the release of Man Alive by Thomas Page McBee The latest memoir in the City Lights/Sister Spit series, edited by Michelle Tea.

Subterranean SF/Harboiled Fiction with an Edge presents The Litanies of Noir: A Talk Show Undisclosed Location, by invitation only Tuesday, October 14, 2014, 7:30 p.m.cocktails, 8:00 p.m.event hosted by Peter Maravelis (editor of San Francisco Noir) with guests Eddie Muller, David Talbot, Ben Tarnoff Music by Mr. Lucky and the Cocktail Party		Here On The Edge: World War II, Conscientious Objectors on the Oregon Coast, and Seeds of the Sixties City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 7:00 P.M. City Lights in conjunction with LITQUAKE present a discussion with Steve McQuiddy, Vladimir Dupre, and Steve Dickison (of The Poetry Center at SFSU)

James Lenfestey City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Monday, October 20, 2014, 7:00 P.M. reading from Seeking the Cave A Pilgrimage To Cold Mountain from Milkweed Editions		Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Tuesday, October 21, 2014, 7:00P.M. Hosted by Jennifer De Leon with Yalitza Ferreras, Erika Martinez, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Blanca Torres

Baffler Party !!!!!!! City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco Wednesday, October 22, 2014, 7:00 P.M. with Tom Frank and John Summers celebrating the release of No Future For You: Salvos from The Baffler		Gerald Nicosia City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, October 28, 2014, 7:00 p.m. discussing his new book Night Train to Shanghai from Grizzly Peak Press

The esctatic writing of Qiu Miaojin: Ari Larissa Heinrich in conversation with Scott Esposito City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, October 29, 2014, 7:00 P.M. City Lights in conjunction with NYRB Books present an evening of discussion about an uncommon writer		Haunted Reflections: Walter Benjamin in San Francisco Various Locations, San Francisco Wednesday, November 5 through Sunday, November 9, 2014 A week-long celebration of the life and work of one of the twentieth centuries great thinkers

Subterranean SF Reading Series presents...Katie Gilmartin's "Blackmail, My Love" Thursday, November 13, 2014, 8:00 P.M., Location: Undisclosed (by invite only) An evening of storytelling delving into the darker side of San Francisco's 1950's Queer Underground		Freedom Voices Press Celebrates 25 Years City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 7:00 P.M. with Margot Pepper, Paul Boden, and J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

An evening with Ed Piskor City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, November 20, 2014, 7:00 P.M. celebrating the release of Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 1-2: 1975-1983 Gift Box Set from Fantagraphics