LIVE! From City Lights

In conjunction with ALTA Journal, City Lights presents John Freeman with Forrest Gander reading from new poetry. John Freeman celebrates his new collection of poetry "Wind, Trees" published by Copper Canyon Press. This live event took place in Kerouac Alley, between City Lights and Vesuvio Cafe, and was hosted by Peter Maravelis with an opening statement by Blaise Zerega. You can purchase copies of "Wind, Trees" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/wind-trees/ John Freeman is the founder of the literary annual Freeman’s, and an executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf. His books include "How To Read a Novelist" and "Dictionary of the Undoing", as well as a trilogy of anthologies about inequality, including "Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation," and "Tales of Two Planets," which features dispatches from around the world, where the climate crisis has unfolded at crucially different rates. His poetry collections include "Maps" and "The Park." His work has been translated into more than twenty languages and appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Orion and Zyzzyva. He is a former editor of Granta and a Writer in Residence at New York University. Forrest Gander is a Pulitzer Prize Winning poet, author, translator, and essayist. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, fiction, and essays. "Twice Alive" is his latest collection of poetry. His translations include the work of Gozo Yoshimasu, Pablo Neruda, Alfonso D’Aquino, and Raúl Zurita. He has received numerous honors for his work, including the Pulitzer Prize for "Be With," and the Best Translated Book Award, as well as fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Guggenheim Foundation, and United States Artists. He makes his home in Northern California. Alta Journal is a quarterly publication for anyone seeking an insider’s take on this most forward-thinking region. From arts and culture, to technology and the environment, to food and fashion—what happens ​​​​​​in California and the West happens everywhere. Each large-format issue (the West demands a wide lens) demystifies the region with provocative essays, cultural commentary, deeply reported investigations, original fiction and poetry, sumptuous photos, topical cartoons, and more. Founded in 2017 by William R. Hearst III, Alta Journal provides an exciting—and much-needed—literary perspective on the West, sparking conversations that are as diverse and vibrant as the place itself. In this era of rapid change, the award-winning Alta Journal offers an immersive reading experience like no other. To learn more visit: https://www.altaonline.com/ This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Tayi Tibble in conversation with Tommy Orange, celebrating the publication of "Poukahangatus: Poems" by Tayi Tibble, published by Alfred Knopf. This live event took place in Kerouac Alley, between City Lights and Vesuvio Cafe, and was hosted by Peter Maravelis with an opening statement by John Freeman. You can purchase copies of "Poukahangatus: Poems" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/poukahangatus-poems/ Tayi Tibble (Te Whānau ā Apanui/Ngāti Porou) was born in 1995 and lives in Wellington, New Zealand. In 2017, she completed a master’s degree in creative writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington, where she was the recipient of the Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing. Her second book of poetry, Rangikura, will be published in the United States in 2023. Tommy Orange is the PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD WINNER and best selling author of the novel There,There. He is a graduate of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. An enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, he was born and raised in Oakland, California. John Freeman is the editor of Freeman’s, a literary annual of new writing, and executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf. His books include "How to Read a Novelist" and "Dictionary of the Undoing," as well as "Tales of Two Americas," an anthology about income inequality in America, and "Tales of Two Planets," an anthology of new writing about inequality and the climate crisis globally. He is also the author of two poetry collections, "Maps" and "The Park." His work is translated into more than twenty languages, and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The New York Times. The former editor of Granta, he teaches writing at New York University. He has a new collection of poetry, published by Copper Canyon Press, being released in the fall titled "Wind, Trees." This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights joins Ericka Huggins and Stephen Shames with Katherine Campbell and Judy Juanita Hart in celebrating the launch for the publication of "Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party" with photographs by Stephen Shames
, text by Ericka Huggins, and published by ACC Art Books. This live event took place in Kerouac Alley, between City Lights and Vesuvio Cafe, and was hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/art-hardcover/sister-comrade/ Ericka Huggins is an educator, Black Panther Party member, former political prisoner, human rights advocate, and poet. For 50 years, Ericka has used her life experiences in service to community. From 1973-1981, she was director of the Black Panther Party’s Oakland Community School. From 1990-2004 Ericka managed HIV/AIDS Volunteer and Education programs. She also supported innovative mindfulness programs for women and youth in schools, jails and prisons. Ericka was professor of Sociology and African American Studies from 2008 through 2015 in the Peralta Community College District. From 2003 to 2011 she was professor of Women and Gender Studies at California State Universities- East Bay and San Francisco. Ericka is a Racial Equity Learning Lab facilitator for WORLD TRUST Educational Services. She curates conversations focused on the individual and collective work of becoming equitable in all areas of our daily lives. Additionally, she facilitates workshops on the benefit of self care in sustaining social change. Stephen Shames has authored over 10 monographs, and his images are in the permanent collections of 40 museums and foundations. His work is dedicated to promoting social change, and sharing the stories of those who are frequently overlooked by society. His previous monographs include "Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers" coauthored with Bobby Seale (Abrams, 2016) and "The Black Panthers" (Aperture, 2006). With the complete trust of the Black Panther Party, Shames took intimate, behind-the-scenes photographs that fully portrayed Party members’ lives. This marks his third photo book about the Black Panthers and includes many never before published images. Katherine Campbell was born in Sacramento, California, and grew up with a strong foundation of Christianity and a belief in serving the people. She joined the Black Panther Party because it had the same commitment to serve the people. She started by working in the Free Breakfast Program and, later, with the BPP newspaper and other programs. Campbell served as a nutritionist at the Oakland Community School and she still serves the people through community leadership building as a community specialist and through creating breakfast for schoolchildren programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Judy Juanita is a novelist, poet, and essayist. Her poetry collection, "Manhattan my ass, you’re in Oakland," won the American Book Award in 2021. Her semi-autobiographical novel, "Virgin Soul," was published by Viking (2013;) its protagonist joins the Black Panther Party in the sixties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her collection of short stories, "The High Price of Freeways," won the 2021 Tartt Fiction Award is published in 2022. Her poem “Bling” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2012. Her essay, “The Gun as Performance Poem,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2014. She teaches writing at University of California, Berkeley. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Dr. Clarence Lusane in conversation with Justin Desmangles, celebrating the publication of "Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy" by Clarence Lusane with a foreword by: Kali Holloway, published by City Lights Books. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy" directly from City Lights at a 30% discount here: https://citylights.com/20-dollars-change-harriet-tubman-vs/ Dr. Clarence Lusane is an author, activist, scholar, and journalist. He is a Professor and former Chairman of Howard University’s Department of Political Science. Lusane earned his B.A. in Communications from Wayne State University and both his Masters and Ph.D. from Howard University in Political Science. He’s been a political consultant to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and a former Commissioner for the DC Commission on African American Affairs. He frequently appears on MSNBC and CSPAN, and was invited by the Obama’s to speak at the White House. Author of many books, including "The Black History of the White House," published by City Lights Books. Dr. Lusane lives and works in the Washington, DC area. Justin Desmangles is chairman of the Before Columbus Foundation, administrator of the American Book Award, and host of the radio broadcast New Day Jazz. A member of the board of directors of the Oakland Book Festival, Mr. Desmangles is also a program producer at the African-American Center of the San Francisco Public Library. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights and the California Film Institute present Joyce Chopra in conversation with Elizabeth Weitzman, celebrating the publication of "Lady Director: Adventures in Hollywood, Television and Beyond" by Joyce Chopra, published by City Lights Books. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "Lady Director: Adventures in Hollywood, Television and Beyond" directly from City Lights at a 30% discount here: https://citylights.com/lady-director/ Joyce Chopra has produced and directed a wide range of award-winning films, ranging from "Smooth Talk," winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature at the Sundance Film Festival, to the A&E thriller "The Lady in Question" with Gene Wilder. She has received American Film Festival Blue Ribbon and Cine Golden Eagle Awards for her numerous documentaries, including "That Our Children Will Not Die," about primary health care in Nigeria, and the autobiographical Joyce at 34, which is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. She lives in Charlottesville, VA. Elizabeth Weitzman is the author of "Renegade Women in Film & TV," which chronicles the remarkable hidden history of Hollywood pioneers onscreen and behind the scenes. She was a film critic for the New York Daily News from 2000-2015, has contributed to several books on film, and currently covers movies for The Wrap. She has interviewed hundreds of actors and filmmakers, and written about entertainment for publications like the New York Times, Interview, Marie Claire, and Harper’s Bazaar. She speaks regularly on women’s issues at academic, cultural, and professional organizations around the world. To learn more about the California Film Institute visit: https://www.cafilm.org/ This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Jonathan Escoffery in conversation with Yohanca Delgado, celebrating the publication of "If I Survive You" by Jonathan Escoffery, published by Farrar Straus Giroux. This live event took place in Kerouac Alley, between City Lights and Vesuvio Cafe, and was hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "If I Survive You" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/if-i-survive-you/ Jonathan Escoffery is the recipient of the 2020 Plimpton Prize for Fiction, a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and the 2020 ASME Award for Fiction. His fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, American Short Fiction, Prairie Schooner, AGNI, Passages North, Zyzzyva, and Electric Literature, and has been anthologized in The Best American Magazine Writing. He received his MFA from the University of Minnesota, is a PhD fellow in the University of Southern California’s PhD in Creative Writing and Literature Program, and in 2021 was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in the Creative Writing Program at Stanford University. "If I Survive You" is his debut book. Yohanca Delgado is a 2021-2023 Wallace Stegner fellow at Stanford University and a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts recipient. Her fiction appears in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2022, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021, The Paris Review, One Story, A Public Space, Story, and elsewhere. Her essays appear in TIME, The Believer, and New York Times Magazine. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from American University and is a graduate of the 2019 Clarion workshop. She is an assistant fiction editor at Barrelhouse, a 2021 Emerging Critic at the National Book Critics Circle, and a member of the inaugural Periplus Collective mentorship program. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Julian Aguon in conversation with Rebecca Solnit, celebrating the publication of "No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies: A Lyric Essay" by Julian Aguon, published by Astra Publishing. This live event took place in Kerouac Alley, between City Lights and Vesuvio Cafe, and was hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies: A Lyric Essay" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/no-country-for-8-spot-butterflies/ Julian Aguon is a Chamorro human rights lawyer and defender from Guam. He is the founder of Blue Ocean Law, a progressive firm that works at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmental justice; and serves on the council of Progressive International—a global collective with the mission of mobilizing progressive forces around the world behind a shared vision of social justice. He lives in the village of Yona. Visit julianaguon.com Rebecca Solnit is a writer, historian, and activist. She is the author of more than twenty books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster, including "Whose Story Is This?, Call Them By Their True Names" (Winner of the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction), "Cinderella Liberator," "Men Explain Things to Me," "The Mother of All Questions," and "Hope in the Dark," and co-creator of the "City of Women" map, all published by Haymarket Books; a trilogy of atlases of American cities, "The Faraway Nearby," "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster," "A Field Guide to Getting Lost," "Wanderlust: A History of Walking," and "River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West" (for which she received a Guggenheim, the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism, and the Lannan Literary Award). Her memoir, "Recollections of My Nonexistence," was released in March, 2020. A product of the California public education system from kindergarten to graduate school, she is a columnist at the Guardian and a regular contributor to Literary Hub. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights celebrates the publication of "Get the Money!: Collected Prose (1961-1983)" by Ted Berrigan, published by City Lights Books. With Edmund Berrigan, Anselm Berrigan, Erica Kaufman, Hoa Nguyen, and Nick Sturm. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis and moderated by Garrett Caples. You can purchase copies of "Get the Money!: Collected Prose (1961-1983)" directly from City Lights at a 30% discount here: https://citylights.com/get-the-money/ “Get the Money!” was Ted Berrigan’s mantra for the paid writing gigs he took on in support of his career as a poet. This long-awaited collection of his essential prose draws upon the many essays, reviews, introductions, and other texts he produced for hire, as well as material from his journals, travelogues, and assorted, unclassifiable creative texts. "Get the Money!" documents Berrigan’s innovative poetics and techniques, as well as the creative milieu of poets–centered around New York’s Poetry Project–for whom he served as both nurturer and catalyst. Highlights include his journals from the ’60s, depicting his early poetic discoveries and bohemian activities in New York; the previously unpublished “Some Notes About ‘C, ‘” an account of his mimeo magazine that serves as a de facto memoir of the early days of the second-generation New York School; a moving and prescient obituary, “Frank O’Hara Dead at 40”; book “reviews” consisting of poems entirely collaged from lines in the book; art reviews of friends and collaborators like Joe Brainard, George Schneeman, and Jane Freilicher; and his notorious “Interviews” with John Cage and John Ashbery, both of which were completely fabricated. "Get the Money!" provides a view into the development of Berrigan’s aesthetics in real time, as he captures the heady excitement of the era and champions the poets and artists he loves. Among the most significant American poets of the later 20th century, Ted Berrigan (1934–1983) was a leading force behind the second-generation New York School. Born in Providence, RI, Berrigan attended various local schools, then enlisted in the Army and was stationed in Korea in the aftermath of the Korean War. In the late ’50s on the G.I. Bill, he enrolled in the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, where he earned a B.A. and M.A. During this period he met his younger poetic and artistic comrades Ron Padgett, Dick Gallup, and Joe Brainard, all four of whom moved to New York City. In the early ’60s, he was married to the poet Sandy Berrigan, with whom he had two children, David and Kate. He later married the poet Alice Notley and, after periods in Buffalo, Chicago, New York, Bolinas, London, and Essex, settled with her and their sons, Anselm and Edmund, in New York City, where they eventually all became fixtures of the scene around St. Mark’s Poetry Project. Berrigan published a magazine, C, in the 60s, and individual volumes by poets under the imprint C Press. His books of poetry include "The Sonnets (1964, 1967, 1982, 2000)", now published by Penguin, "Collected Poems (2007)" and "Selected Poems (2011)," both published by the University of California. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

City Lights and Deep Vellum Books present Ali Kinsella and Zenia Tompkins celebrating the publication of "Love in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories," edited by Ali Kinsella, Zenia Tompkins, and Ross Ufberg, published by Deep Vellum. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "Love in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/story-anthologies/love-in-defiance-of-pain-ukrainian-sto/ Proceeds from the sale of this collection will be donated to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. "Love in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories" aims to bring the riches of contemporary Ukrainian literature—and of contemporary Ukraine, too—to the world. While Ukraine is under sustained attack, many in the West have marveled at the nation’s strength in the face of a barbaric invasion. Who are these people, what is this nation, which has captivated the world with their courage? By showcasing some of the finest Ukrainian writers working today, this book aims to help answer that question. Authors include: Sophia Andrukhovych, Yuri Andrukhovych, Stanislav Aseyev, Kateryna Babkina, Artem Chapeye, Liubko Deresh, Kateryna Kalytko, Oksana Lutsyshyna, Vasyl Makhno, Tanja Maljartschuk, Taras Prokhasko, Oleg Sentsov, Natalka Sniadanko, Olena Stiazhkina, Sashko Ushkalov, Oksana Zabuzhko, and Serhiy Zhadan Ali Kinsella has been translating from Ukrainian for ten years. Her published works include essays, poetry, monographs, and subtitles to various films. She won the 2019 Kovaliv Fund Prize for her translation of Taras Prokhasko’s Anna’s Other Days. She received a 2021 Peterson Literary Fund grant to translate Vasyl Makhno’s Eternal Calendar. She holds an MA in Slavic studies from Columbia University, where she focused on Eastern European history and literature. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Ali lived in both western and central Ukraine for nearly five years. Her co-translations with Dzvinia Orlowsky from the Ukrainian of Natalka Bilotserkivets’s poems, "Eccentric Days of Hope and Sorrow" (Lost Horse Press, 2021) was a finalist for the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize. It has been shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry and longlisted for the 2022 National Translation Award in Poetry. Her next volume with Orlowsky, a collection of Halyna Kruk’s poetry, will be out in 2024. Zenia Topkins, an American of Ukrainian descent, began translating Ukrainian literature in 2015, after fifteen years’ experience in education, academia, and the private sector. She holds graduate degrees in Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures from Columbia University and Islamic Studies from the University of Virginia. A past recipient of fellowships from the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others, Zenia has varying levels of proficiency in nine languages. Her translations have been supported by grants from the Ukrainian Book Institute, the House of Europe, and the Peterson Literary Fund, among others, and include Tanja Maljartschuk’s "A Biography of a Chance Miracle," Olesya Yaremchuk’s "Our Others: Stories of Ukrainian Diversity," Vakhtang Kipiani’s "WWII, Uncontrived and Unredacted: Testimonies from Ukraine," and Oleksandr Shatokin’s "The Happiest Lion Cub" (forthcoming). She lives in exurban Virginia with her husband and three kiddos. Zenia is currently translating books by Stanislav Aseyev, Oleksandr Mykhed, and Tanja Maljartschuk, scheduled for publication in late 2022 and early 2023. She has served as the lead English translator for The Old Lion Publishing House, Ukraine’s premier literary press, since 2019. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Elif Batuman in conversation with Lucy Corin, celebrating the publication of "Either/Or: a novel" by Elif Batuman, published by Penguin Press. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "Either/Or: a novel" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/new-fiction-in-hardcover/either-or/ Elif Batuman’s first novel, "The Idiot," was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in the UK. She is also the author of "The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them," which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. She has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2010 and holds a PhD in comparative literature from Stanford University. Lucy Corin is the author of the novel "The Swank Hotel," as well as the story collections "One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses" and "The Entire Predicament," and the novel "Everyday Psychokillers: A History for Girls." Her work has appeared in American Short Fiction, Conjunctions, Harper’s Magazine, Ploughshares, Bomb, Tin House Magazine, and the New American Stories anthology from Vintage Contemporaries. She is the recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Rome Prize and a literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches at the University of California at Davis and lives in Berkeley. This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation