Welcome to the Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives

Upcoming Events

Forugh Farrokhzad

Legacy of Forugh Farrokhzad: with Sholeh Wolpé, Jasmin Darznik, and Shabnam Piryaei—poetry, fiction, film, and conversation

Thursday, December 3 - 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Remote access event

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Erica Hunt at home, seated at her desk in Brooklyn, NY

The George Oppen Memorial Lecture: Erica Hunt

Saturday, December 12 - 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Remote access event

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Recent Events

"A Border, like race, is a cruel fiction." Mazza Writer in Residence Wendy Trevino, with Zaina Alsous, reading and in conversation

“I am deliberate / and afraid / of nothing”—Poetry and Protest: In honor of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker, and in support of The Women's Building: with Judy Grahn, Jewelle Gomez, Avotcja, Arisa White, Leila Weefur, Angela Hume

Bob Kaufman’s Collected Poems: A celebration AFTER his 95th birthday—poetry and jazz

In Common Writers Series: John Yau and Claudia La Rocco, reading and in conversation

In Common Writers Series: John Yau and Andrew Joron, reading and in conversation

In Common Writers Series: Prageeta Sharma and Dodie Bellamy, reading and in conversation

Poetry Center Book Award Reading: Ashley Toliver and Jason Bayani, reading and in conversation

Audre Lorde Award Reading: Elizabeth Rosas, Samantha Cosentino, and Lillian Giles, reading and in conversation

Celebration of DVAN, the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network: Viet Thanh Nguyen, Thi Bui, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, She Who Has No Master(s), and Danny Thanh Nguyen

VIDEO + AUDIO Suzanne Stein and Anne Lesley Selcer, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Denise Leto and Jennifer Bartlett, at The Green Arcade

In Common Writers Series: Jennifer Bartlett and Denise Leto, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Josiah Luis Alderete and James Cagney, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Kelsey St. Press 45th Anniversary Celebration: Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Ching-In Chen, Andrea Abi-Karam, at McRoskey Mattress Co.

VIDEO + AUDIO The George Oppen Memorial Lecture: Tyrone Williams, at Unitarian Center

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Raquel Salas Rivera and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, reading at Moe's Books

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Vanessa Angélica Villarreal and Raquel Salas Rivera, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO The Poetry Center Book Award: Bao Phi with Sarah Menefee, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Tripwire Cross-Cultural Poetics Series: Cardboard House Press/Cartonera Collective: Giancarlo Huapaya, Omar Pimienta, José Antonio Villarán and Friends, at The Green Arcade

NO VIDEO Tripwire Cross-Cultural Poetics Series: Cartonera Collective in San Francisco, a bookmaking workshop

VIDEO + AUDIO Tripwire Cross-Cultural Poetics Series: Cardboard House Press: Giancarlo Huapaya, Omar Pimienta, José Antonio Villarán, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Mazza Writer in Residence Peter Nachtrieb, a playwriting workshop and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Mazza Writer in Residence Peter Nachtrieb + Guests, reading of a new play-in-progress at Z Space

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Amy Berkowitz and Caren Beilin, at E.M. Wolfman Books

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Caren Beilin and Amy Berkowitz, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Fay Victor and Myra Melford, in performance at Center for New Music

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Fay Victor and Myra Melford, workshop performance and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Trisha Low and Syd Staiti, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Neeli Cherkovski and Jim Dunn, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Tim Z. Hernandez, Marguerite Muñoz, and René Juarez-Vazquez, reading at Voz Sin Tinta

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Tim Z. Hernandez, reading and in conversation with Marguerite Muñoz and René Juarez-Vazquez

VIDEO + AUDIO Mazza Writer in Residence Juliana Delgado Lopera with Joseph Cassara, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Mazza Writer in Residence Juliana Delgado Lopera with Monique Jenkinson, aka Fauxnique, an afternoon of literary drag, at The Bindery

AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Darius James, solo reading from Negrophobia at City Lights Books

VIDEO + AUDIO West Coast Premier: Darius James and Val Jeanty, in performance at The Lab

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Darius James and Val Jeanty, workshop performance and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Feliz Lucia Molina and Alli Warren, reading at The Green Arcade

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Feliz Lucia Molina, reading and in conversation with Alli Warren

VIDEO + AUDIO Prose at The Poetry Center: R.O. Kwon and Nona Caspers, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle and Maryam Ivette Parhizkar, reading at University Press Books

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Maryam Ivette Parhizkar, reading and in conversation with Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle

VIDEO + AUDIO Brandon Shimoda with Aisuke Kondo, reading, art presentation, and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Morgan Parker and Charif Shanahan, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Poetry Center Book Award Reading: Lauren Levin and Melissa Mack, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Black Study Series: Frank B. Wilderson III and D.S. Marriott, reading from their poetry at The Green Arcade

VIDEO + AUDIO Black Study Series: Frank B. Wilderson III, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Jasmine Gibson and Juliana Spahr, reading at Moe's Books

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Jasmine Gibson, reading and in conversation with Juliana Spahr

CANCELLED In Common Writers Series: Kiese Laymon and Tongo Eisen-Martin, reading their work

CANCELLED In Common Writers Series: Kiese Laymon, reading and in conversation with Tongo Eisen-Martin

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Janice Lee and Brenda Iijima, reading at Alley Cat Books

VIDEO + AUDIO In Common Writers Series: Janice Lee, reading and in conversation with Brenda Iijima

VIDEO + AUDIO Prose at The Poetry Center: May-lee Chai and Junse Kim

VIDEO + AUDIO “Stop Sweeping Us, We Are Not Trash”: Leroy F. Moore Jr. and Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia

VIDEO + AUDIO M. NourbeSe Philip, reading and in conversation: the Leslie Scalapino 21st Century Innovative Writers Series, at McRoskey Mattress Co.

VIDEO + AUDIO Steven Seidenberg and Jared Stanley, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Mazza Writer in Residence Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta, in collaboration with Kyle Parker at The Green Arcade

VIDEO + AUDIO Mazza Writer in Residence Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta with special guest Daisy Zamora, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO “I have decided to wholeheartedly consecrate myself to my art” —Mazza Writer in Residence, Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta

VIDEO + AUDIO Tripwire Cross-Cultural Poetics Series: Antena: a language justice and language experimentation collaborative, Jen Hofer and John Pluecker

VIDEO + AUDIO Tripwire Cross-Cultural Poetics Series: John Pluecker and Jen Hofer, reading from their poetry at E. M. Wolfman Bookstore

VIDEO + AUDIO MK Heather June Gibbons and Chavez, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Tommy Pico and Brontez Purnell, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Forrest Gander, solo reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO James Kass and Paul S. Flores: a reading & performance celebrating 21 years by two founders of Youth Speaks

VIDEO + AUDIO The Black Aesthetic, in performance and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Cosmic Diaspora (Jake Marmer, John Schott, Joshua Horowitz) and Steve Dalachinsky, in performance

NO VIDEO NoViolet Bulawayo, Gina Berriault Award for Fiction, reading

VIDEO + AUDIO Tom Raworth (1938–2017): A Celebration of His Life and Work, at The Maude Fife Room, UC Berkeley

VIDEO + AUDIO David Henderson, solo reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Solmaz Sharif, solo reading and reception

VIDEO + AUDIO Jackie Wang, Carceral Capitalism, with Lily Hoang, A Bestiary, a reading and book party at The Green Arcade

VIDEO + AUDIO Lily Hoang and Jackie Wang, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Julian Talamantez Brolaski and Garrett Caples, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Dale Smith, on Robert Duncan and Charles Olson, and reading his own poetry

VIDEO + AUDIO Lewis Jordan Trio, for Langston Hughes on his Birthday

VIDEO + AUDIO David Hobbs, The George Oppen Memorial Lecture, "Oppen and His Early Others," at Unitarian Center

VIDEO + AUDIO Jerome Rothenberg, solo reading and in conversation

AUDIO: David Meltzer Memorial Tribute

VIDEO + AUDIO alex cruse and Kevin CK Lo, in performance and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Trace Peterson and Max Wolf Valerio, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO William Rowe and Helen Dimos, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Dennis Cooper and Eileen Myles, reading at McRoskey Mattress Co.

VIDEO + AUDIO Tongo Eisen-Martin with Marshall Trammell, duo performance at The Green Arcade

VIDEO + AUDIO Mazza Writer in Residence Tongo Eisen-Martin, solo performance and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Camille T. Dungy and Javier Zamora, reading and in conversation

The New Talkies: Live Film Narrations at Artists' Television Access

VIDEO + AUDIO Douglas Kearney and Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta, in performance and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Martha Ronk and Paul Vangelisti, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Nellie Wong and Genny Lim, reading and in conversation

VIDEO CLIPS David Brazil, Sara Larsen, Andrew Schelling

VIDEO + AUDIO Orlando White and Patrick James Dunagan, Poetry Center Book Award Reading

VIDEO + AUDIO Janice Lowe plays Leaving Cle, Poetry and Groove, with Yohann Potico and Kevin Carnes

VIDEO + AUDIO Ariel Goldberg and Simone White, Giant Night: The Poetry Project at 50, a reading and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange, a group reading and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Margaret Randall, Only the Road ⁄ Solo el Camino: Eight Decades of Cuban Poetry

VIDEO + AUDIO David Boyce, Hafez Modirzadeh, Marshall R. Trammell and Friends at Bird & Beckett

VIDEO + AUDIO Asya Abdrahman, Faith Adiele, Tonya M. Foster: Navigating Space for Women, at Museum of the African American Diaspora

VIDEO + AUDIO Layli Long Soldier and Truong Tran, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Hank Lazer and Andrew Maxwell, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Oki Sogumi and Wendy Trevino, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Benjamin Hollander, a Memorial Tribute, at Unitarian Center

VIDEO + AUDIO Charles Alexander and Susan Thackrey, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Frances Richard, The George Oppen Memorial Lecture: "The Mind's Own Place and Feminine Technologies: George Oppen and Possibilities of the Political," at Unitarian Center

VIDEO + AUDIO Working With Others: Convivial Research (Revisited), Manolo Callahan, Stefano Harney, and Tonika Sealey Thompson, at the Howard Zinn Book Fair

VIDEO + AUDIO Barbara Jane Reyes and Oscar Bermeo + Video Debut Screening

VIDEO + AUDIO Alice Notley reads The Descent of Alette, two nights at The Lab

VIDEO + AUDIO José Kozer, a bilingual reading and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Prose at The Poetry Center: Carolina De Robertis and Micah Perks

VIDEO + AUDIO Geneva Chao and Mg Roberts, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Rod Smith and Lee Ann Brown, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Florencia Castellano, Luis Felipe Fabre, Pablo Katchadjian, Stalina Emmanuelle Villarreal, the Señal chapbook series, at Artists' Television Access

VIDEO + AUDIO Julia Bloch and erica lewis, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Jennifer Foerster, solo reading at the exhibition "When I Remember I See Red," at Fine Arts Gallery

VIDEO + AUDIO Bill Berkson Memorial Tribute, at McRoskey Mattress Co.

VIDEO + AUDIO Samantha Giles and Angela Hume, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Tongo Eisen-Martin and Jasmine Gibson, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Hollie Hardy and Mukta Sambrani, Poetry Center Book Award Reading

VIDEO + AUDIO For Franco Beltrametti: with Joanne Kyger, Duncan McNaughton, Donald Guravich, Maggie Brown, Jim Nisbet, Judy Goldhaft, Stefan Hyner, at The Green Arcade

VIDEO + AUDIO Stefan Hyner: “This Other World Not Civilized,” a reading and talk with Lao Tzu, T’ao Yüan Ming, Li T’ai Po

VIDEO Kuwentuhan (Talkstory) Collective Performance at McRoskey Mattress Co.

VIDEO + AUDIO Kuwentuhan (Talkstory): a project of The Poetry Center and Barbara Jane Reyes

VIDEO + AUDIO Sarah Schulman and Terry Castle: a reading from The Cosmopolitans and a conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Elaine Kahn and Trisha Low, reading and in conversation

AUDIO Ed Pavlić and David Lau, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Fred Moten and Nathaniel Mackey, with Hafez Modirzadeh, at McRoskey Mattress Co.

VIDEO + AUDIO Clarence Major and Patricia Spears Jones, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Annie Finch, solo reading and conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Tom Clark and Vincent Katz, reading new work at The Green Arcade

VIDEO + AUDIO Vincent Katz and Jane Gregory, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Roberto Tejada, The George Oppen Memorial Lecture: "Assault on the Quiet Continent: Oppen in Mexico," at Unitarian Center

VIDEO + AUDIO Gregory Pardlo, solo reading, 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry

VIDEO + AUDIO Stephen Rodefer, a Memorial Tribute, at Berkeley Arts Festival

VIDEO + AUDIO Leticia Hernández-Linares and Lee Herrick, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Adjunct Action | Poets in Action: Jessica Beard, Hugh Behm-Steinberg, David Buuck, Stephanie Young, at Howard Zinn Book Fair

VIDEO + AUDIO Poet | Artist | Activist: Let’s Make A Plan: Christopher Higgenbotham, Christian Nagler, Cassie Thornton, at the Labor Archives and Research Center

VIDEO + AUDIO John Keene, Counternarratives: reading and in conversation with Tân Khánh Cao, at Green Apple Books on the Park

VIDEO + AUDIO John Keene, Counternarratives: Prose at The Poetry Center

VIDEO + AUDIO Tonya M. Foster and David Buuck, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Lucia Berlin's A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories, a reading with Stephen Emerson, Gloria Frym, August Kleinzahler, and Mimi Pond, at the Maude Fife Room, UC Berkeley

VIDEO + AUDIO Michael Gizzi's Collected Poems, a Celebration, at The Green Arcade

VIDEO + AUDIO Katy Bohinc and Paul Ebenkamp, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO David Meltzer: Two-Way Mirror, solo reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Robert Dewhurst and Michael Seth Stewart on the Life and Work of John Wieners

VIDEO + AUDIO Ernesto Cardenal, reading at Brava Theater

VIDEO + AUDIO Prageeta Sharma and Thomas Devaney, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Claudia Keelan and Rusty Morrison, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Maged Zaher and Rodney Koeneke, reading at Ruth's Table

VIDEO + AUDIO The Tahrir of Poems: Maged Zaher reads Egyptian Poets

VIDEO + AUDIO Arisa White and Raina J. Léon, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Peter Culley and Stacy Szymaszek, reading at Ruth's Table

VIDEO + AUDIO Stacy Szymaszek and Peter Culley, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Tribute to Kathleen Fraser, at Writers' Studio, California College of the Arts

VIDEO + AUDIO Pierre Joris and Nicole Peyrafitte, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Pierre Joris on Paul Celan, at City Lights Books

VIDEO + AUDIO Joanne Kyger and Robert Adamson, at Unitarian Center

VIDEO + AUDIO Robert Adamson, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Duncan McNaughton and Bill Berkson, reading and in conversation

AUDIO Bill Berkson and Duncan McNaughton, reading at The Lab

VIDEO + AUDIO Poetry Center Book Award Reading, Alli Warren and Laura Moriarty, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Okey Ndibe, reading and in conversation

VIDEO + AUDIO Frank O'Hara's Lunch Poems 50th Anniversary Reading, at McRoskey Mattress Co.