June 12: Poetry Cocktail Hour for University Press Books

Fundraising Goal: $2000

It’s a tough time for local bookstores, what with the social distancing and the sheltering in place. So we’re raising funds to help local Bay Area bookstores stay in business, with a series of fundraisers. This event will feature Amber Tamblyn, Alejandro Murguia, Jack Foley, Stephanie Burt, Baruch Porras-Hernandez and Jessy Randall reading for University Press Books.

Amber Tamblyn is an Emmy, Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominated actress, writer and director, and the author of 6 books, including  the critically acclaimed best sellers, Era of Ignition: Coming of Age in a Time of Rage and Revolution, Dark Sparkler and Any Man.

Alejandro Murguía is the author of Southern Front and This War Called Love (both winners of the American Book Award). His non-fiction book The Medicine of Memory highlights the Mission District in the 1970s during the Nicaraguan Solidarity movement.

Stephanie Burt is a poet, literary critic, and professor with eight published books, including two critical books on poetry and three poetry collections. Her essay collection Close Calls with Nonsense (Graywolf Press, 2009) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her next poetry collection is Advice from the Lights: Poems (Graywolf, 2017).

Jack Foley has published 16 books of poetry, 5 books of criticism, a book of stories, and a 1300-page “chronoencyclopedia,” Visions & Affiliations: California Poetry 1940-2005. He became well known through his multi-voiced performances with his late wife, Adelle, also a poet. He currently performs with his new life partner, Sangye Land.

Baruch Porras Hernandez is a San Francisco writer, stand up comedian, illustrator, and the author of the small poetry collections “I Miss You, Delicate” and “Lovers of the Deep Fried Circle” both from Sibling Rivalry Press. His solo show “Love in the Time of Piñatas” got a clapping man from the SF Chronicle and fed the “Baruchador” donut that Dynamo Donuts named after him to sold-out houses at Epic Party Theatre back in December of 2019.

Jessy Randall’s poems, comics, and other things have appeared in Asimov’s, McSweeney’s, Poetry, and The Best American Experimental Writing. Her collection of poems A Day in Boyland (Ghost Road) was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. Her other books include The Wandora Unit (Ghost Road, a young adult novel about love and friendship in the high school poetry crowd), There Was an Old Woman (Unicorn, prose poems built from nursery rhymes), Suicide Hotline Hold Music (Red Hen, poems and comics), and How to Tell If You Are Human (Pleiades, diagram poems). She is a librarian at Colorado College.

All proceeds benefit University Press Books. Shop online now!

• June 12 at 5 PM
• Register at Eventbrite