Poets & Writers Theater
Every day we share a new clip of interest to creative writers—author readings, book trailers, publishing panels, craft talks, and more. So grab some popcorn, filter the theater tags by keyword or genre, and explore our sizable archive of literary videos.
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“It was still the last frontier when I arrived in 1951. It was a wide-open city.” In this 2015 video, Lawrence Ferlinghetti recalls his early days in San Francisco and speaks about the changing life of the city. Ferlinghetti died at the age of 101 on February 22, 2021. An interview with the legendary poet and founder of City Lights Booksellers and Publishers is featured in the March/April 2007 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | talk | San Francisco | Lawrence Ferlinghetti | City Lights Bookstore | in memoriam | March/April 2007 -
“‘In a dark cave, I saw’ ‘an apparition:’ ‘almost real, almost there—’...” In this video, Alice Notley reads from her feminist epic The Descent of Alette (Penguin Books, 1996) at the Lab in San Francisco. The two-night program included a reading of the entire book-length poem and was cosponsored by the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University.
Tags: Poetry | Alice Notley | reading | The Descent of Alette | Penguin Books | 1996 | 2016 | The Lab | Poetry Center at SFSU | San Francisco -
Joshua Mohr reads from his novel All This Life (Soft Skull Press, 2015) and talks about the need for artists and publishers to transgress against cultures of homogeneity. Mohr's debut memoir, Sirens (Two Dollar Radio, 2017), is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: 2015 | interview | memoir | reading | Page One | Two Dollar Radio | San Francisco | Soft Skull Press | 2017 | January/February 2017 | Joshua Mohr | Sirens | All This Life | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction -
"When I was little, I would always be inspired by books that my mom gave me and I always wanted to be a writer. And that dream has come true, at a really young age!" Students, volunteers, and cofounders Nínive Calegari and Dave Eggers of 826 Valencia talk about the opening of a second branch in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco. The center will offer free creative writing and tutoring programs for young writers.
Tags: San Francisco | nonprofit | Dave Eggers | 826 Valencia | Poetry | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction -
“To walk down the streets in the Bay Area is really to walk through a dystopia,” says San Francisco poet laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin about the rapid gentrification of his native city as he discusses how poetry serves as a tool for revolution in this installment of PBS NewsHour’s “Brief But Spectacular” series.
Tags: Poetry | Tongo Eisen-Martin | Brief But Spectacular | PBS NewsHour | 2020 | San Francisco | poet laureate -
The second year of Poets & Writers Live debuted with an event at the Brava Theater in San Francisco on January 10, 2015, featuring a "poetry keynote" by Pulitzer Prize–winner and former U.S. poet laureate Kay Ryan; conversations about inspiration and the writing life with dozens of authors, including Michelle Tea, David Shields, Wendy Lesser, and D. A. Powell; advice from agent Danielle Svetcov and other publishing professionals; a multigenre, multimedia “inspiration experiment” featuring dancer Sarah Fiske and musician Ben Arthur; and much more.
Tags: Poetry | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | Cross-Genre | 2015 | David Shields | San Francisco | Kay Ryan | D. A. Powell | #pwlive | San Francisco: Inspiration | Danielle Svetcov | Wendy Lesser | Michelle Tea | Ben Arthur | Sarah Fiske -
Acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates, singer-songwriter Ben Arthur, poet and filmmaker Nick Twemlow, award-winning illustrator Roman Muradov, and dancer Sarah Fiske will present an inspired series of linked performances, followed by a conversation, led by Kevin Larimer, about the creative process and the roots of inspiration.
Tags: Cross-Genre | 2015 | Joyce Carol Oates | illustration | San Francisco | Nick Twemlow | #pwlive | San Francisco: Inspiration | Ben Arthur | Roman Muradov | Sarah Fiske -
Melissa Faliveno, associate editor of Poets & Writers Magazine, leads a conversation with authors Wendy Lesser, Yiyun Li, Alejandro Murguia, D. A. Powell, and Michelle Tea about the personal, political, and professional reasons we choose to write while living in a culture, a family, or a community that doesn’t always value what we do.
Tags: Poetry | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | 2015 | panel | San Francisco | D. A. Powell | #pwlive | San Francisco: Inspiration | Wendy Lesser | Yiyun Li | Alejandro Murguia | Michelle Tea -
David Shields and Caleb Powell, authors of I Think You're Totally Wrong: A Quarrel (Knopf, 2015), reignite the age-old debate about the lives of artists as they attempt to disturb preconceived divisions between reality and fiction, life and art.
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Kevin Larimer, editor in chief of Poets & Writers Magazine, moderates as editors Jordan Bass of McSweeney's Publishing and Ethan Nosowsky of Graywolf Press join literary agent Danielle Svetcov and publicist Megan Fishmann of Counterpoint Press for a conversation about how authors can make a good impression—in cover letters, book proposals, and even at social gatherings.
Tags: Poetry | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | 2015 | panel | McSweeney's | Graywolf Press | San Francisco | Counterpoint Press | #pwlive | San Francisco: Inspiration | Jordan Bass | Ethan Nosowsky | Danielle Svetcov | Megan Fishmann -
Publishing veteran Debra Englander gives an overview of the self-publishing process, followed by a conversation with self-published author Keith Devlin, literary agent Ted Weinstein, and publicist Amy Packard about the opportunities available to independent authors as well as the challenges they face.
Tags: Poetry | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | 2015 | panel | San Francisco | self-publishing | #pwlive | San Francisco: Inspiration | Debra Englander | Keith Devlin | Ted Weinstein | Amy Packard -
Jamie FitzGerald, director of Poets & Writers’ Readings & Workshops (West), leads a discussion about resources available to writers in San Francisco, the importance of community, and how various literary communities can support one another. Panelists include Stacey Lewis of City Lights Books, Laura Moriarty of Small Press Distribution, Joyce Jenkins of Poetry Flash, Janis Cooke Newman of the Grotto, and Jason Bayani of Kearny Street Workshop.
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Former United States poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize–winner Kay Ryan reads a selection of her work during her poetry keynote address in San Francisco at Poets & Writers Live on January 10, 2015.
Tags: Poetry | 2015 | Pulitzer Prize | United States Poet Laureate | San Francisco | Kay Ryan | #pwlive | San Francisco: Inspiration -
David Shields and Caleb Powell, coauthors of I Think You're Totally Wrong: A Quarrel (Knopf, 2015), enjoy a colorful discussion while riding a ferris wheel in a video from the Los Angeles Review of Books. For more on Shields and Powell, watch their appearance at the Poets & Writers Live event in San Francisco.
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Neil Gaiman shares his memories of Sir Terry Pratchett, who passed away this month, in a conversation with Michael Chabon at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco.
Tags: Not Genre-Specific | talk | Neil Gaiman | Sir Terry Pratchett | Michael Chabon | San Francisco | JCCSF -
This short film by Nick Twemlow was inspired by the poem "Too Young to Marry but Not Too Young to Die" by Joyce Carol Oates. The piece premiered at Poets & Writers Live in San Francisco on January 10, as part of the multigenre, multimedia “Inspiration Experiment” featuring Oates, singer-songwriter Ben Arthur, visual artist Roman Muradov, and dancer Sarah Fiske.
Tags: Joyce Carol Oates | Poets & Writers Live | San Francisco | Nick Twemlow | Poetry -
"If I didn't have poetry, I would not have access to the most interesting part of my mind." Pulitzer Prize–winner and former U.S. poet laureate Kay Ryan speaks with the Aspen Institute and offers advice to young poets. Ryan will deliver the "poetry keynote" on January 10 at the Poets & Writers Live event in San Francisco.
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San Francisco's first Latino poet laureate, whose new collection, Stray Poems, was recently published by City Lights Press, reads at City Lights Bookstore and talks about poetry, language, and the changing landscape in what has been called "the city of poets."
Tags: San Francisco | Stray Poems | City Lights Bookstore | Poetry