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.

Kaya Press 20th Anniversary Celebration City Lights Bookstore. 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, April 17, 2014, 7:00 p.m. with Sesshu Foster, Gene Oishi, Amarnath Ravva, and Shailja Patel		Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics 40th Anniversary Party City Lights Bookstore. 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Sunday, April 20, 2014, 5:00 p.m. join City Lights and JKS faculty and friends in an afternoon celebration

Sixteen Rivers Press @ City Lights City Lights Bookstore. 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 7:00 p.m. with poetry readings by Beverly Burch & Murray Silverstein		An evening with Tony Serra City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133 Thursday, April 24, 2014, 7:00 P.M. celebrating the release of Tony Serra: The Green, Yellow and Purple Years in the Life of a Radical Lawyer from Grizzly Peak Press

Poets in Resistance to Eviction and Removal International Hotel, Manilatown Center, 868 Kearny Street, San Francisco, 94133 Friday, April 25th, 2014, 6-9pm Local poets and activists in an evening of poetry and education with Poet Laureate Alejandro Murguia, Caroline Calderon, Jack Hirschman , Alan Kaufman, Jenny Lim, and others		Tess Taylor and DA Powell City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Monday, April 28, 2014, 7:00 p.m. City Lights in conjunction with Zyzzyva present an evening of poetry Hosted by Oscar Villalon, Managing Editor, Zyzzyva

An evening with Yanomami spokesperson and shaman Davi Kopenawa The Emerald Tablet, 80 Fresno St San Francisco, CA 94133 - Admission Free Wednesday, April 30, 2014, 7:00 P.M. celebrating the release of The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman from Harvard University Press		Kate Gale, Douglas Kearney, and Peggy Shumaker City Lights Bookstore. 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Monday, May 5, 2014, 7:00 p.m. Reading from new poetry books

Fridays @ Enrico's: A Tribute to Don Carpenter The Book Club of California, 312 Sutter Street, Suite 500 (cross street Grant) San Francisco, CA 94108 Tuesday, May 6, 2014, 7:00 P.M. Admission Free, RSVP required with Peter Coyote, Curt Gentry, Louis B. Jones, Anne Lamott, and Jane Vandenburgh Hosted by Peter Maravelis/City Lights		ZYZZYVA's 100th Issue Celebration California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street San Francisco CA 94105 Thursday, May 8, 2014, 6:30 P.M. ZYZZYVA is thrilled to invite you to join them and City Lights in celebrating their landmark 100th issue! with Michael Krasny, Daniel Handler, Po Bronson, Robert Hass and more.

Ken Knabb discussing the work of Guy Debord City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 94133 Tuesday, May 13, 2014, 7:00 P.M. celebrating Ken Knabb's new translation of Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord		Gabrielle Selz City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 94133 Thursday, May 15, 2014, 7:00 P.M. discussing the release of her new memoir Unstill Life: A Daughter's Memoir of Art and Love in the Age Of Abstraction from W W Norton

Howard Norman City Lights Bookstore. 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Tuesday, May 20, 2014, 7:00 p.m. reading from Next Life Might Be Kinder from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt		Chris Felver City Lights Bookstore. 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, May 22, 2014, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of American Jukebox from University of Indiana Press

Book Party for Eric Baus City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco Tuesday, June 10, 2014, 7:00 P.M. celebrating the release of Tranquilized Tongue the latest in the City Lights Spotlight Poetry series!		Eli Horowitz, Matthew Derby, and Kevin Moffett City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 94133 Tuesday, June 17, 2014, 7:00 P.M. discussing their new novel The Silent History from Farrar, Straus, & Giroux

Peter Orlovsky, a Life in Words: Intimate Chronicles of a Beat Writer City Lights Bookstore. 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco Wednesday, June 18, 2014, 7:00 p.m. with Bill Morgan, Joanne Kyger, and Michael McClure		Adam Wilson & Lucy Corin City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, 94133 Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 7:00 p.m. celebrating the release of Adam Wilson's new short story collection What's Important Is Feeling from Harper Perennial

An evening of ghost stories with William T Vollman Location: undisclosed, by invitation. Thursday, July 24, 2014, Doors 7:00 p.m., Reading 7:30 P.M. celebrating the release of Last Stories and Other Stories from Viking		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!

An evening with Scholastique Mukasonga City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, 261 Columbuis Avenue, San Francisco Thursday, September 18, 2014, 7:00 P.M. with opening statements by Jill Schoolman (Archipelago Press) celebrating the release of Our Lady of the Nile translated by Melanie Mauthner published by Archipelago Press		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.