4 Great Faith-Adjacent Events in November!

I'm SUPER excited to be moderating an evening with Zinzi Clemmons, whose debut novel WHAT WE LOSE is burning up the charts! Not only will she be coming straight from the Aké Book Festival in Nigeria, but we have tons in common: She's a mixed-race Halfrican (South African + American) with an Ivy League + VONA/Voices education, experimenting with structure. Told in vignettes that draw from photography, SMS, blogs, newspapers, and encyclopedias, WHAT WE LOSE questions the legacy of apartheid and the nature of identity, grief and love through the eyes of a young woman who loses her mother to cancer. The $25 Ticket + Book option closes Monday, October 23. Thursday November 2, 8PM, Oshman Family JCC Palo Alto.

The next day my dear friend (who, uh, just happens to be US Poet Laureate + Pulitzer Prize winner) Tracy K. Smith (Ordinary Light, Life On Mars) is giving a reading at my school. Don'tcha love it when that happens? She's a-mazing! 'Nuff said. Friday November 3, 6:30-7:30 PM, CCA San Francisco.

The following week African Book Club returns! For our 21st installment, we're discussing BLACK MOSES, a rollicking new novel described as “Oliver Twist in 1970s Africa” from Congo's Alain Mabanckou, the world's most celebrated Francophone African writer. It was just longlisted for the International Man Booker Prize 2017. Tuesday November 7, 7-9 PM, Oakland Octopus Literary Salon.

Finally, that weekend I'm EXTRA-pumped to be judging Lucha Libro, the Bay Area's first Literary Wrestling Competition! What what?? Peru-inspired, LUCHA LIBRO will feature five QTPOC writers competing LIVE for the publication of their next chapbook plus a ton of other prizes! $10 NOTAFLOF, Saturday November 11, 3:30PM, The Park Gym, San Francisco