LIVE! From City Lights

City Lights presents Evan Kennedy in conversation with Sophie Dahlin. Evan Kennedy celebrates the publication of his book “Metamorphoses: City Lights Spotlight No. 22” published by City Lights Books. This event took place in the City Lights Poetry Room and was moderated by Garrett Caples. You can purchase copies of “Metamorphoses” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/metamorphoses-2/ Evan Kennedy is a poet and bicyclist. He is the author of “I Am, Am I, to Trust the Joy That Joy Is No More or Less There Now Than Before” (Roof Books), “Jerusalem Notebook” (O’clock Press), “The Sissies” (Futurepoem), “Terra Firmament” (Krupskaya), “Shoo-Ins to Ruin” (Gold Wake Press), and “Us Them Poems” (Book*hug). He runs the occasional press, Dirty Swan Projects, and was born in Beacon, New York, in 1983. He lives in San Francisco, California. Sophia Dahlin is a poet in Berkeley. She leads generative poetry workshops and teaches youth creative writing. With Jacob Kahn, she edits a small chapbook press called Eyelet. Her first book, “Natch,” was released in 2020 by City Lights Books. Garrett Caples is the poetry editor at City Lights and the curator of the Spotlight Poetry Series. He is also an acclaimed poet in his own right and has had numerous books published. Wave Books published his most recent book titled “Lovers of Today.” This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights presents Tim Z. Hernandez in conversation with Peter Maravelis, the City Lights events manager. Tim Z. Hernandez reads from his new collection “Some of the Light: New and Selected Poems,” published by Beacon Press/Raised Voices Series. This was a virtual event. You can purchase copies of “Some of the Light: New and Selected Poems” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/some-of-the-light-new-sel-poems/ Tim Z. Hernandez is an award-winning author, research scholar, and performer. His work includes poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. He is the recipient of numerous awards, most notably the American Book Award, the Colorado Book Award, and the International Latino Book Award. His work has been featured in the “Los Angeles Times,” “The New York Times,” “C-Span,” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” “Public Radio International” hailed his book, “Mañana Means Heaven,” as one of their 2013 Books of the Year. In 2011, he was named one of sixteen New American Poets by the Poetry Society of America, and most recently he was recognized for his research on locating the victims of the 1948 plane wreck at Los Gatos Canyon, the incident made famous by Woody Guthrie’s song of the same name, which is chronicled in his documentary novel, “All They Will Call You.” Hernandez holds a BA from Naropa University and an MFA from Bennington College, and is an associate professor with the University of Texas El Paso’s bilingual MFA in creative writing. He lives in El Paso, Texas, with his two children. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights presents Robert Lopez in conversation with Sarah Rose Etter. Robert Lopez discusses his new book “Dispatches from Puerto Nowhere: An American Story of Assimilation and Erasure”, published by Two Dollar Radio. This virtual event was hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of “Dispatches from Puerto Nowhere” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/dispatches-from-puerto-nowhere/ Robert Lopez is the author of the novels, “Part of the World” and “Kamby Bolongo Mean River,” named one of 25 important books of the decade by HTML Giant, and All Back Full; two story collections, “Asunder” and “Good People,” and a novel-in-stories titled “A Better Class of People.” His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry has appeared in dozens of publications, including “Bomb,” “The Threepenny Review,” “Vice Magazine,” “New England Review,” “The Sun,” and the “Norton Anthology of Sudden Fiction – Latino.” He teaches at Stony Brook University and has previously taught at Columbia University, The New School, Pratt Institute, and Syracuse University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Find out more about the author here: robertlopez.net Sarah Rose Etter is the author of “Tongue Party” (Caketrain Press). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in “The Cut,” “Electric Literature,” “VICE,” “Guernica,” “Philadelphia Weekly,” and more. She is the recipient of writing residencies at the Disquiet International Program in Portugal, and the Gullkistan Creative Program in Iceland. She earned her MFA from Rosemont College. She lives in San Francisco. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights presents Priya Guns in conversation with Sarah Thankam Mathews. Priya Guns discusses and reads from her new book “Your Driver is Waiting,” published by Doubleday. This virtual event was hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of “Your Driver is Waiting” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/your-driver-is-waiting/ Priya Guns is an actor and writer previously published in short story anthologies, "gal-dem", "Spring" magazine, and anonymously in "The Guardian". She is a Creative Writing graduate from Kingston University. “Your Driver Is Waiting” is her debut novel. Sarah Thankam Mathews is the author of “All This Could Be Different.” The novel, Mathews’ first, was named an NYT Editor’s Choice, highlighted on multiple Best of 2022 lists, and shortlisted for the National Book Award. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights in conjunction with Asian American Writers’ Workshop and University of California Press present a tribute to the life and work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. Moderated by Linda Norton with appearances by Brandon Shimoda, Min Sun Jeon, and Christina Yang celebrating the publication of two new books from University of California Press: "Dictee" and "Exilee and Temps Morts: Selected Works." This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "Dictee" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/general-fiction/dictee-2/ And "Exilee and Temps Morts: Selected Works" here:https://citylights.com/general-poetry/exilee-temps-morts-sel-works/ Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1982) was a poet, filmmaker, and artist who earned her BA and MA in comparative literature and her BA and MFA in art from the University of California, Berkeley. During her brief yet brilliant career, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha explored a variety of media, including handmade books, video, film, sculpture, performance, and sound. Her work is distinctive for its somber, unforgettable beauty, its innovative treatment of texts and images, and its ongoing, rigorous exploration of the phenomena of physical, cultural, and linguistic displacement. One element linking much of her work is an abiding concern with film and film theory. Cha’s aesthetic influences are to be found much less among contemporary artists than among the works of filmmakers such as Chris Marker, Yasujiro Ozu, Jean-Luc Goddard, Marguerite Duras, Michael Snow, and above all, Carl Th. Dreyer. She was especially influenced by their innovative treatments of narrative and their concern for problems of memory, communication, and consciousness. Cha was also influenced by her studies of French film theory, particularly the scholarship of Christian Metz, Jean-Louis Baudry, Thierry Kuntzel, and Bertrand Augst. From these theorists, Cha developed an awareness of the artwork as an extended “apparatus,” the meaning of which was inscribed between its psychological origin in the artist, its material and temporal existence, and its destination in the viewer’s consciousness. While Cha developed her response to these ideas particularly in her live performances, they can be seen to have considerably influenced her work in other media as well. Cha, who died tragically in New York City in 1982, received her MFA from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978, and was an employee of the University Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Special thanks to BAMPFA for the use of this biography). The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) is a national literary nonprofit dedicated to publishing and incubating work by Asian and Asian diasporic writers, poets, and artists. Since their founding in 1991, they have provided a countercultural literary arts space at the intersection of migration, race, and social justice. Find out more at aaww.org. To learn more about the speakers in this tribute, visit: https://citylights.com/events/dreaming-of-theresa-hak-kyung-cha-an-appreciation/ And if you would like to see any of the visuals shared during this event, you can check out the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBZ_-hEqC3c This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights presents Lakiesha Carr in conversation with Dawnie Walton. Lakiesha Carr discusses her new book “An Autobiography of Skin: A Novel”, published by Pantheon Books. This virtual event was hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of “An Autobiography of Skin” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/autobio-of-skin/ Lakiesha Carr graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and received her MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was awarded a Maytag Fellowship for Excellence in Fiction and a Jeff and Vicki Edwards Post-graduate Fellowship in Fiction. A journalist and writer from East Texas, she has held various editorial and production positions with CNN, The New York Times, and other media. Her writing has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, the DC Commission on Arts & Humanities for nonfiction writing, and the Kimbilio Fellowship for fiction writing. Dawnie Walton is the author of “The Final Revival of Opal & Nev”, winner of the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize, the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the Audie Award for Fiction. Her debut novel was also longlisted for the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction, and was named one of the best books of 2021 by “The Washington Post”, “NPR”, “Esquire”, and former U.S. President Barack Obama. She is the cofounder and editorial director of Ursa, an audio production company celebrating short fiction from underrepresented voices, and is the cohost of its accompanying podcast. Formerly an editor at “Essence” and “Entertainment Weekly”, she has received fellowships from MacDowell and Tin House, and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (where she has taught a fiction seminar). Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights presents Ayize Jama-Everett in conversation with Tân Khánh Cao. Ayize Jama-Everett discusses his new book “Heroes of an Unknown World”, published by Small Beer Press. This in-person event was hosted by Peter Maravelis and co-sponsored by Medicine for Nightmares. You can purchase copies of “Heroes of an Unknown World” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/sci-fi-fantasy/heroes-of-an-unknown-world/ Ayize Jama-Everett calls the Bay Area his home despite being born in New York City. He holds a Masters degrees in Divinity, Clinical Psychology, in Fine Arts, Creative Writing. He has worked as a bartender, a translator, a drug and alcohol counselor, a stand-up comedian, a script doctor, a ghostwriter, a high school dean, a college professor, and for a brief time, a distiller of spirits. Jama-Everett’s Liminal series began with “The Liminal People” and continued with “The Liminal War” and “The Entropy of Bones”. He has also written a graphic novel, “Box of Bones” with two-time Eisner Award winner John Jennings and has written for “The Believer” and the “LA Review of Books”, among others. Tân Khánh Cao is an artist who works in a variety of media. She is co-owner of Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore and Gallery. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights presents Belén Gopegui in conversation with Mark Schafer, moderated by Katherine Silver. Belén Gopegui discusses her new book “Stay This Day and Night with Me”, published by City Lights Books and translated by Mark Schafer. This virtual event was hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of “Stay This Day and Night with Me” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/stay-this-day-night-with-me/ Belén Gopegui burst onto the Spanish literary scene in 1993, bowling over critics with her debut, “La escala de los mapas” [“The Scale of Maps,” City Lights, 2011], which was hailed as a masterpiece. She has since published six more novels, stories, young people’s fiction, and screenplays, and several of her books have been adapted for cinema. Gopegui was born, and lives in, Madrid, Spain. Mark Schafer has translated poetry, fiction, and essays by authors from across the Spanish-speaking world into English, with a focus on contemporary Mexican poetry and fiction. He has led and co-led workshops on literary translation and has spoken on panels, locally, nationally, and internationally, about literary translation and in honor of various Latin American authors. His awards include a translation grant from the Spanish Ministry of Culture (2009, through City Lights Publishers,) two translation fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1993, 2005,) a translation grant from the Fund for Culture Mexico-USA (1993,) and the Robert Fitzgerald Prize for Translation (1995.) Katherine Silver’s most recent and forthcoming translations include works by María Sonia Cristoff, César Aira, Julio Cortázar, Juan Carlos Onetti, and Julio Ramón Ribeyro (winner of the Premio Valle-Inclán 2020). She is the former director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre (BILTC), and the author of “Echo Under Story.” She does volunteer interpreting for asylum seekers. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights in conjunction with Naropa University and Nightboat Books present Anne Waldman with Emma Gomis, joined by Alan Gilbert, Cedar Sigo, and Eleni Sikelianos, celebrating the publication of "New Weathers: Poetics from the Naropa Archive," edited by Anne Waldman with Emma Gomis and published by Nightboat Books. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "New Weathers: Poetics from the Naropa Archive" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/story-anthologies/new-weathers-poetics-from-the-naropa-a/ Anne Waldman is a poet, performer, professor, literary curator, cultural activist, has been a prolific and active poet and performer many years, creating radical hybrid forms for the long poem, both serial and narrative, as with "Marriage: A Sentence," "Structure of the World Compared to a Bubble," "Manatee/Humanity," and "Gossamurmur," all published by Penguin Poets. She is also the author of the magnum opus "The Lovis Trilogy: Colors in the Mechanism of Concealment" (Coffee House Press 2011), a feminist “cultural intervention” taking on war and patriarchy which won the PEN Center 2012 Award for Poetry. Recent books include: "Voice’s Daughter of a Heart Yet To Born" (Coffee House 2016) and "Trickster Feminism" (Penguin, 2018). She has been deemed a “counter-cultural giant” by Publishers Weekly for her ethos as a poetic investigator and cultural activist, and was awarded the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for Lifetime Achievement in 2015. She has also been a recipient of numerous honors for her work including The Shelley Award for Poetry (from the Poetry Society of America), a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Elizabeth Kray Award from Poets House, NYC in 2019. She was one of the founders of the Poetry Project at St Mark’s Church In-the-Bowery, and its Director a number of years and then went on to found The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University with Allen Ginsberg and Diana di Prima in1974 and went on to create its celebrated MFA Program. She has continued to work with the Kerouac School as a Distinguished Professor of Poetics and Artistic Director of its Summer Writing Program. During the global pandemic she and co-curator Jeffrey Pethybridge have created the online “Carrier Waves” iteration of the famed Summer Writing Program. She is the editor of "The Beat Book" and co-editor of "Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action," and "Beats at Naropa" and most recently, "Cross Worlds: Transcultural Poetics." She is a Chancellor Emeritus of the Academy of American Poets. Emma Gomis is a Catalan American poet, essayist, editor and researcher. She is the cofounder of Manifold Press. Her texts have been published in Denver Quarterly, The Berkeley Poetry Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Entropy, and Asymptote among others and her chapbook "Canxona" is forthcoming from b l u s h lit. She was selected by Patricia Spears Jones as The Poetry Project’s 2020 Brannan Poetry Prize winner. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Poetics from Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, where she was also the Anne Waldman fellowship recipient, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in criticism and culture at the University of Cambridge. To learn more about the other participants, visit: https://citylights.com/events/on-new-weathers-poetics-from-the-naropa-archive/ This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights presents Peter Turchi in conversation with Austin Kleon. Peter Turchi discusses his new book “(Don’t) Stop Me if You’ve Heard This Before (and Other Essays on Writing Fiction)”, published by Trinity University Press. This virtual event was hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of “(Don’t) Stop Me if You’ve Heard This Before (and Other Essays on Writing Fiction)” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/dont-stop-me-if-youve-heard-this-befor/ Peter Turchi has written and coedited several books on writing fiction, including “Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer”, “A Muse and a Maze: Writing as Puzzle, Mystery, and Magic”, “A Kite in the Wind: Fiction Writers on Their Craft”, and “(Don’t) Stop Me if You’ve Heard This Before (and Other Essays on Writing Fiction)”. His stories have appeared in “Ploughshares”, “Story”, the “Alaska Quarterly Review”, “Puerto del Sol”, and the “Colorado Review”, among other journals. He has received numerous accolades, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He is a professor of creative writing at the University of Houston. Austin Kleon is a New York Times bestselling author. His books include “Steal Like an Artist”; “Show Your Work!”; “Keep Going”; “Steal Like An Artist Journal”; and “Newspaper Blackout”. His works focus on creativity in today’s world. He has spoken at organizations such as Pixar, Google, and TEDx, and at conferences such as The Economist’s Human Potential Summit and SXSW. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation