Nathaniel Mackey in conversation with Fred Moten, celebrating the launch of his new poetry collection, "Double Trio," published by New Directions. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Josiah Luis Alderete.

You can purchase copies of "Double Trio" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/staff-picks/double-trio-tej-bet-sos-notice-nerv/

Nathaniel Mackey was born in Miami, Florida, in 1947. He is the author of several books of fiction of "exquisite rhythmic lyricism" (Bookforum), poetry, and criticism and has received many awards for his work, including the National Book Award in poetry for Splay Anthem, the Stephen Henderson Award from the African American Literature and Culture Society, the Bollingen Prize, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Mackey is the Reynolds Price Professor of English at Duke University.

Fred Moten is an American cultural theorist, poet, and scholar whose work explores critical studies, black studies, and performance studies. Moten is Professor of Performance Studies at New York University and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at University of California, Riverside and the University of Iowa. His scholarly texts include "The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study" which was co-authored with Stefano Harney, "In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition," and "The Universal Machine" (Duke University Press, 2018). He has published numerous poetry collections, including The Little Edges, The Feel Trio, B Jenkins, and Hughson's Tavern. In 2020, Moten was awarded a for "[c]reating new conceptual spaces to accommodate emerging forms of Black aesthetics, cultural production, and social life."

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Nathaniel Mackey with Fred Moten

An appreciation of Jack Kerouac’s unique contribution to American literature with talks by Ann Charters, Jean-Christophe Cloutier, Ann Douglas, Tim Hunt, Joyce Johnson, Hassan Melehy, and Regina Weinreich, with readings by Tony Torn, and a birthday greeting by David Amram. This event was originally broadcast live via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis.

On Thursday, March 10, 2022, City Lights, at the birthplace of the San Francisco Renaissance and the Beat movement, celebrated Jack Kerouac’s centenary, with an illuminating exploration of his writing. Moving beyond the hype and fetishization of his personality, some of the country's leading Kerouac scholars take a deep dive into his work. Learn about books you haven’t yet read, his innovations in prose, the influence of his Franco-American background and how he discovered his unique voice.

City Light features one of the largest selection of Jack Kerouac books in the world. Check out our stock at this link: https://citylights.com/author/jack-kerouac/

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation/

Still Outside: Jack Kerouac at 100

D. S. Marriott in conversation with Frank B. Wilderson III, celebrating the publication of D. S. Marriott’s "Before Whiteness: City Lights Spotlight No. 21," published by City Lights Books. This event was originally broadcast live via Zoom and was hosted by Peter Maravelis with an opening statement by Garrett Caples.

You can purchase "Before Whiteness: City Lights Spotlight No. 21" directly from City Lights at a 30% discount here: https://citylights.com/general-poetry/before-whiteness/

Poet and scholar D.S. Marriott was born in Nottingham and educated at the University of Sussex, UK. He is the author of the poetry collections "Incognegro"(Salt, 2006), "Hoodoo Voodoo" (Shearsman, 2008), "The Bloods" (Shearsman, 2011), and "Duppies" (Commune Editions, 2019). His chapbooks include "In Neuter" (Equipage, 2012) and "Lative" (Equipage, 1992). His work is sometimes associated with the Cambridge school of poetry. In his critical and creative work, Marriott, of Jamaican heritage, draws on postcolonial thought and thinkers such as Frantz Fanon and is a leading theorist of Afro-pessimism. His critical books include "On Black Men" (Edinburgh University Press and Columbia University Press, 2000), "Haunted Life" (Rutgers University Press, 2007), and "Whither Fanon? Studies in the Blackness of Being" (Stanford University Press, 2018). He has taught at many universities and is currently based in Oakland, CA.

Frank B. Wilderson III is a writer, dramatist, filmmaker and critic. He is a full professor of drama and African American studies at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of "Red, White & Black: Cinema and the Structure of US Antagonisms" (Duke University Press, 2010), "Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile & Apartheid" (South End Press, 2008), "Gramsci’s black marx: Whither the slave in civil society?" (Social Identities 9.2 , 2003) and "Afropessimism" (Liveright, 2020). He has received numerous honors for his work including The Eisner Prize for Creative Achievement of the Highest Order, The Maya Angelou Award for Best Fiction Portraying the Black Experience in America, an American book Award, amongst others. Wilderson has been described as one of the first writers in the tradition of Afro-pessimism.

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

D. S. Marriott in Conversation with Frank B. Wilderson III

Dodie Bellamy in conversation with Chris Kraus, celebrating Dodie Bellamy's two new books; "Bee Reaved" and "The Letters of Mina Harker," published by Semiotext(e)/Native Agents. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis.

You can purchase copies of "Bee Reaved" & "The Letters of Mina Harker" directly from City Lights here:  
"Bee Reaved" - https://citylights.com/staff-picks/bee-reaved/ 
"The Letters of Mina Harker" - https://citylights.com/general-fiction/letters-of-mina-harker/

Dodie Bellamy's writing focuses on sexuality, politics and narrative experimentation, challenging the distinctions between fiction, the essay and poetry. In 2018–19 she was the subject of "On Our Mind", a yearlong series of public events, commissioned essays and reading group meetings organized by CCA Wattis ICA. With Kevin Killian, she coedited "Writers Who Love Too Much: New Narrative 1977–1997." A compendium of essays on Bellamy's work, "Dodie Bellamy Is on Our Mind", was published in 2020 by Wattis ICA/Semiotext(e). 

Chris Kraus is a filmmaker and the author of "I Love Dick" and "Aliens & Anorexia", and coeditor of "Hatred of Capitalism: A Semiotext(e) Reader". "Index" called her "one of the most subversive voices in American fiction." Her work has been praised for its damning intelligence, vulnerability and dazzling speed.

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Dodie Bellamy in Conversation with Chris Kraus

City Lights presents Curtis White in conversation with Cheston Knapp celebrating the launch of “Transcendent: Art and Dharma in a Time of Collapse” by Curtis White, published by Melville House. This virtual event took place over Zoom and was hosted by Peter Maravelis.

You can purchase copies of "Transcendent: Art and Dharma in a Time of Collapse” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/general/trancendent/

Curtis White is a novelist and social critic whose works include “Memories of My Father Watching TV”, “The Middle Mind”, and, more recently, “The Science Delusion”, “We Robots”, and “Lacking Character”. His essays have appeared in Harpers and Tricycle. He taught English at Illinois State University. He is the founder (with Ronald Sukenick) of FC2, a publisher of innovative fiction run collectively by its authors. He lives in Port Townsend, WA.

Cheston Knapp is a writer, editor, and photographer. He is the author of “Up Up, Down Down,” a collection of essays. He was the managing editor of Tin House magazine and the executive director of The Tin House Summer Workshop. Exhibits of his photography have appeared at Blue Moon Camera & Machine and Blue Sky Gallery in Portland OR. He makes his home with his wife and son in Portland, OR.

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Curtis White in conversation with Cheston Knapp

City Lights presents Eileen Myles, joined by Fanny Howe, Maggie Nelson, Camille Roy, Laurie Weeks, Simone White, Frank Wilderson, and Jillian Weise, celebrating the publication of "Pathetic Literature," edited by Eileen Myles and published by Grove Atlantic. This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis.

You can purchase copies of "Pathetic Literature" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/pathetic-lit/

“Literature is pathetic.” So claims Eileen Myles in their bold and bracing introduction to "Pathetic Literature," an exuberant collection of pieces ranging from poetry to drama to prose to something in between, all of which explore those so-called “pathetic” or sensitive feelings around which lives are built and revolutions are incited.

From confrontations with suffering, embarrassment, and disquiet, to the comforts and consolations of finding one’s familiar double in a poem, "Pathetic Literature" is a swarming taxonomy of ways to think differently and live pathetically on a polarized and fearful planet.

To learn more about Eileen Myles and the other participants, visit: https://citylights.com/events/eileen-myles/

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Eileen Myles and Friends

City Lights presents Peter Turchi in conversation with Austin Kleon. Peter Turchi discusses his new book “(Don’t) Stop Me if You’ve Heard This Before (and Other Essays on Writing Fiction)”, published by Trinity University Press. This virtual event was hosted by Peter Maravelis.

You can purchase copies of “(Don’t) Stop Me if You’ve Heard This Before (and Other Essays on Writing Fiction)” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/dont-stop-me-if-youve-heard-this-befor/

Peter Turchi has written and coedited several books on writing fiction, including “Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer”, “A Muse and a Maze: Writing as Puzzle, Mystery, and Magic”, “A Kite in the Wind: Fiction Writers on Their Craft”, and “(Don’t) Stop Me if You’ve Heard This Before (and Other Essays on Writing Fiction)”. His stories have appeared in “Ploughshares”, “Story”, the “Alaska Quarterly Review”, “Puerto del Sol”, and the “Colorado Review”, among other journals. He has received numerous accolades, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He is a professor of creative writing at the University of Houston. 

Austin Kleon is a New York Times bestselling author. His books include “Steal Like an Artist”; “Show Your Work!”; “Keep Going”; “Steal Like An Artist Journal”; and “Newspaper Blackout”. His works focus on creativity in today’s world. He has spoken at organizations such as Pixar, Google, and TEDx, and at conferences such as The Economist’s Human Potential Summit and SXSW. 

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Peter Turchi in conversation with Austin Kleon

City Lights in conjunction with Asian American Writers’ Workshop and University of California Press present a tribute to the life and work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. Moderated by Linda Norton with appearances by Brandon Shimoda, Min Sun Jeon, and Christina Yang celebrating the publication of two new books from University of California Press: "Dictee" and "Exilee and Temps Morts: Selected Works." This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis.

You can purchase copies of "Dictee" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/general-fiction/dictee-2/
And "Exilee and Temps Morts: Selected Works" here:https://citylights.com/general-poetry/exilee-temps-morts-sel-works/

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1982) was a poet, filmmaker, and artist who earned her BA and MA in comparative literature and her BA and MFA in art from the University of California, Berkeley. During her brief yet brilliant career, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha explored a variety of media, including handmade books, video, film, sculpture, performance, and sound. Her work is distinctive for its somber, unforgettable beauty, its innovative treatment of texts and images, and its ongoing, rigorous exploration of the phenomena of physical, cultural, and linguistic displacement. One element linking much of her work is an abiding concern with film and film theory. Cha’s aesthetic influences are to be found much less among contemporary artists than among the works of filmmakers such as Chris Marker, Yasujiro Ozu, Jean-Luc Goddard, Marguerite Duras, Michael Snow, and above all, Carl Th. Dreyer. She was especially influenced by their innovative treatments of narrative and their concern for problems of memory, communication, and consciousness. Cha was also influenced by her studies of French film theory, particularly the scholarship of Christian Metz, Jean-Louis Baudry, Thierry Kuntzel, and Bertrand Augst. From these theorists, Cha developed an awareness of the artwork as an extended “apparatus,” the meaning of which was inscribed between its psychological origin in the artist, its material and temporal existence, and its destination in the viewer’s consciousness. While Cha developed her response to these ideas particularly in her live performances, they can be seen to have considerably influenced her work in other media as well. Cha, who died tragically in New York City in 1982, received her MFA from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978, and was an employee of the University Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Special thanks to BAMPFA for the use of this biography).

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) is a national literary nonprofit dedicated to publishing and incubating work by Asian and Asian diasporic writers, poets, and artists. Since their founding in 1991, they have provided a countercultural literary arts space at the intersection of migration, race, and social justice. Find out more at aaww.org.

To learn more about the speakers in this tribute, visit: https://citylights.com/events/dreaming-of-theresa-hak-kyung-cha-an-appreciation/ 

And if you would like to see any of the visuals shared during this event, you can check out the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBZ_-hEqC3c

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Dreaming of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: An Appreciation

LIVE! From City Lights welcomes poet, critic, theorist and McArthur fellow Fred Moten in celebration of his latest poetry collection, “perennial fashion presence falling.” 

In conversation with award-winning poet Douglas Kearney, Moten shares some pieces from his book, which hold an innate quantum curiosity about the infinitude of the present and the ways in which one could observe the history of the future. Moten approaches the sublime, relishing the intermediary space of microtonal thought.  

Fred Moten works in the Departments of Performance Studies and Comparative Literature at New York University. He is concerned with social movement ,aesthetic experiment and black study and has written a number of books of poetry and criticism, including National Book Award finalist “The Feel Trio.” Moten is a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

You can purchase copies of “perennial fashion presence falling” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/266548/

This was a virtual event hosted by Douglas Kearney and made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation.

Fred Moten in conversation with Douglas Kearney

LIVE! From City Lights celebrates author Robert Greenfield and his latest publication “True West: Sam Shepard’s Life, Work, and Times.” 

Much like Greenfield’s previous biographies, “True West” delves deeply into the life of world-famous playwright and actor Sam Shepard, whose work was matched by his equally dramatic life and relationships. Greenfield interviewed dozens of people who knew Shepard well, and makes the case for Shepard as not just a great American writer but a unique figure who first brought the sensibility of rock ‘n’ roll to theater. 

Robert Greenfield is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and the author of “Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out.” He lives in California. 

You can purchase copies of “True West: Sam Shepard’s Life, Work, and Times” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/true-west-sam-shepards-life-work/

This was a virtual event hosted by Peter Maravelis, in conjunction with Crown Books, and made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation.

Robert Greenfield discussing the life and work of Sam Shepard

City Lights LIVE and Beacon Press celebrate the publication of “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (the 10th Anniversary Edition)” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, published by Beacon Press, with a conversation between Roxanne and Manu Karuka Vimalassery.

Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire.

With growing support for movements, such as the campaign to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and the Dakota Access Pipeline protest led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” is an essential resource providing historical threads that are crucial for understanding the present.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a New York Times bestselling author, grew up in rural Oklahoma in a tenant farming family. She has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades and is known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues. Dunbar-Ortiz is the winner of the 2017 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize, and is the author or editor of many books, including “Not a Nation of Immigrants, Blood on the Border,” and “Loaded” (published by City Lights), amongst other titles. She lives in San Francisco. 

Manu Karuka Vimalassery is the author of “Empire’s Tracks: Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad” (2019). He is a co-editor, with Juliana Hu Pegues and Alyosha Goldstein, of “On Colonial Unknowing,” a special issue of “Theory & Event,” and with Vivek Bald, Miabi Chatterji, and Sujani Reddy, he is a co-editor of “The Sun Never Sets: South Asian Migrants in an Age of U.S. Power” (2013). He is a member of the Council for Collaborative Inquiry, and an assistant professor of American Studies at Barnard College.

You can purchase copies of “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (the 10th Anniversary Edition)” at https://citylights.com/indigenous-peoples-hist-of-the-u-s/. 

This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz in conversation with Manu Karuka Vimalassery

Jordan Elgrably in conversation with Sarah AlKahly-Mills, with readings from both authors. 

City Lights celebrates the publication of "Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction," edited by Jordan Elgrably, published by City Lights Books.

You can purchase copies directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/stories-from-the-center-of-the-world/

"Stories from the Center of the World" gathers new writing from 25 emerging and established writers of Middle Eastern and North African origins, offering a unique collection of voices and viewpoints that illuminate life in the global Arab/Muslim world. The authors included in the book come from a wide range of cultures and countries, including Palestine, Syria, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, and Morocco.

In “Asha and Haaji,” Hanif Kureishi takes up the cause of outsiders who become uprooted when war or disaster strikes and they flee for safe haven. In Nektaria Anastasiadou‘s “The Location of the Soul According to Benyamin Alhadeff,” two students in Istanbul from different classes — and religions that have often been at odds with one another — believe they can overcome all obstacles. MK Harb‘s story, “Counter Strike,” is about queer love among Beiruti adolescents; and Salar Abdoh‘s “The Long Walk of the Martyrs” invites us into the world of former militants, fighters who fought ISIS or Daesh in Iraq and Syria, who are having a hard time readjusting to civilian life. In “Eleazar,” Karim Kattan tells an unexpected Palestinian story in which the usual antagonists — Israeli occupation forces — are mostly absent, while another malevolent force seems to overtake an unsuspecting family. Omar El Akkad‘s “The Icarist” is a coming-of-age story about the underworld in which illegal immigrants are forced to live, and what happens when one dares to break away.

Contributors include: Salar Abdoh, Leila Aboulela, Farah Ahamed, Omar El Akkad, Sarah AlKahly-Mills, Nektaria Anastasiadou, Amany Kamal Eldin, Jordan Elgrably, Omar Foda, May Haddad, Danial Haghighi, Malu Halasa, MK Harb, Alireza Iranmehr, Karim Kattan, Hanif Kureishi, Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi, Diary Marif, Tariq Mehmood, Sahar Mustafah, Mohammed Al-Naas, Ahmed Naji, Mai Al-Nakib, Abdellah Taia, and Natasha Tynes.

Jordan Elgrably is a Franco-American and Moroccan writer and translator, whose stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in numerous anthologies and reviews, including Apulée, Salmagundi, and The Paris Review. Editor-in-chief and founder of The Markaz Review, he is the cofounder and former director of the Levantine Cultural Center/The Markaz in Los Angeles (2001-2020), and producer of the stand-up comedy show “The Sultans of Satire” (2005-2017) and hundreds of other public programs. He is based in Montpellier, France and California.

Sarah AlKahly-Mills is a Lebanese-American writer. Her story “The Salamander” is included in the new book "Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction," edited by Jordan Elgrably, and just published by City Lights. Her fiction, poetry, book reviews, and essays have appeared in publications including Litro Magazine, Ink and Oil, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Michigan Quarterly Review, PopMatters, Al-Fanar Media, Middle East Eye, and various university journals. Born in Burbank, CA, she now lives in Rome, Italy.

Originally hosted live in City Lights' Poetry Room on Thursday, May 9, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. 

Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation cosponsored with Golden Thread Productions. citylights.com/foundation

Jordan Elgrably with Sarah AlKahly-Mills

Celebrate Gil Cuadros with Kevin Martin, Rafael Pérez-Torres, & Amy Scholder. Opening by Greyson Wright & readings by Joseph Cassara & Flavia Elisa Mora.

City Lights & the SF LGBT Center celebrate the publication of 
"My Body Is Paper: Stories and Poems" by Gil Cuadros, edited by Pablo Alvarez, Kevin Martin, Rafael Pérez-Torres, & Terry Wolverton, foreword by Justin Torres. Published by City Lights Books. 

Purchase "My Body Is Paper" here: https://citylights.com/my-body-is-paper-stories-poems/ 
Purchase "City of God" here: https://citylights.com/city-lights-published/city-of-god/

Since "City of God" was published by City Lights 30 years ago, it has become an unlikely classic (an “essential book of Los Angeles” according to the LA Times). The book has touched those who find in his work a singular evocation of Chicanx life in Los Angeles around the time of the AIDS epidemic, which took his life in 1996. Little did we know, Cuadros continued writing exuberant works in the period between his one published book & his untimely death at 34. This recently discovered treasure, "My Body Is Paper," is a stunning portrait of sex, family, religion, culture of origin, & the betrayals of the body. Tender & blistering, erotic & spiritual, Cuadros dives into these complexities which we grapple with today, showing us how to survive these times & beyond.

Gil Cuadros (1962–1996) was a groundbreaking gay Latino writer whose work explored the intersections of sexuality, race, & spirituality. Diagnosed with HIV in 1987, Cuadros channeled his experiences into "City of God," capturing the raw emotions of living with a life-threatening illness. His lyrical intensity & unflinching honesty shined a light on marginalized communities & familial expectations. "City of God" has gone on to become a classic of Chicanx literature.

Kevin J. Martin is the executor of the Estate of Gil Cuadros, & a longtime copyeditor & writer. He serves as Senior Writer & Associate Editor for MagellanTV, where he writes on various topics related to art & culture. 

Rafael Pérez-Torres is professor of English & Gender Studies at UCLA & author of "Movements in Chicano Poetry and Critical Mestizaje," co-author of "Memories of an East L.A. Outlaw," & co-editor of "The Chicano Studies Reader." 

Amy Scholder is a literary editor & documentary filmmaker known for amplifying the stories of marginalized artists & activists. Amy began her career as an editor at City Lights. She has since served as US Publisher to Verso Books, later joining 7 Stories Press as Editor & Chief. In 2008, Scholder left 7 Stories to become the executive editor of the Feminist Press at the City University of New York. Scholder was approached by director Pratibha Parmar & producer Shaheen Haq to help finish their hybrid documentary feature, "My Name Is Andrea," about Andrea Dworkin. She became an executive producer of the film, which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.

Joseph Cassara is the author of "The House of Impossible Beauties" (Ecco), winner of the 2019 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction & finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction. A graduate of Columbia University & the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he currently serves as the George & Judy Marcus Endowed Chair of Creative Writing at San Francisco State University.

Flavia Elisa Mora is a queer, Mexican migrant artist, activist, & community organizer raised in occupied Ramaytush Ohlone land, in La Mission. Her main two foci are muralismo & Flor y Canto poesía. Flavia’s work delves into the exploration of her identity, relationships, migration story, family & community history. She is a published writer, performs poetry throughout the Bay, & is one of the lead artists for the mural "Alto al Fuego en la Misión," located on 24th and Capp, SF.

Event originally broadcast from City Lights' Poetry Room on Thursday, May 30, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. citylights.com/foundation

Gil Cuadros Tribute and Book Launch

Judith Butler discusses their new book "Who’s Afraid of Gender?" published by Farrar Straus Giroux. Named a "Most Anticipated Book of 2024" by Time, Elle, Kirkus, Literary Hub, The Millions, & Electric Literature.

Purchase book here: https://citylights.com/whos-afraid-of-gender/

Judith Butler, the groundbreaking thinker whose iconic book "Gender Trouble" redefined how we think about gender & sexuality, confronts the attacks on “gender” that have become central to right-wing movements today. Global networks have formed “anti-gender ideology movements” that are dedicated to circulating a fantasy that gender is a dangerous, perhaps diabolical, threat to families, local cultures, civilization—& even “man” himself. Inflamed by the rhetoric of public figures, this movement has sought to nullify reproductive justice, undermine protections against sexual & gender violence, & strip trans & queer people of their rights to pursue a life without fear of violence.

The aim of "Who’s Afraid of Gender?" is not to offer a new theory of gender but to examine how “gender” has become a phantasm for emerging authoritarian regimes, fascist formations, & transexclusionary feminists. In their vital, courageous new book, Butler illuminates the concrete ways that this phantasm of “gender” collects & displaces anxieties & fears of destruction. Operating in tandem with deceptive accounts of “critical race theory” & xenophobic panics about migration, the anti-gender movement demonizes struggles for equality, fuels aggressive nationalism, & leaves millions of people vulnerable to subjugation.

An essential intervention into one of the most fraught issues of our moment, "Who’s Afraid of Gender?" is a bold call to refuse the alliance with authoritarian movements & to make a broad coalition with all those whose struggle for equality is linked with fighting injustice. Imagining new possibilities for both freedom & solidarity, Butler offers us a hopeful work of social and political analysis that is both timely and timeless.

Judith Butler is the author of several books including "Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity," "Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of 'Sex'," "The Psychic Life of Power: Theories of Subjection, Excitable Speech, Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly," & "The Force of Non-Violence." In addition to numerous academic honors & publications, Butler has published editorials & reviews in The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Nation, Time Magazine, the London Review of Books, & in a wide range of journals, newspapers, radio & podcast programs throughout Europe, Latin America, Central & South Asia, & South Africa. They live in Berkeley.

Maggie Nelson is the author of several acclaimed books of poetry & prose, including "Like Love: Essays and Conversations" (2024), the national bestseller "On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint" (2021), National Book Critics Circle Award winner and international bestseller "The Argonauts" (2015), "The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning" (2011), "Bluets" (2009; named by Bookforum as one of the top 10 best books of the past 20 years), "The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial" (2007), & "Women, the New York School, & Other True Abstractions" (2007), "Something Bright, Then Holes" (2007), & "Jane: A Murder" (2005; finalist, the PEN/ Martha Albrand Art of the Memoir). A recipient of a 2016 MacArthur “genius” Fellowship, she is currently a professor of English at the University of Southern California.

Originally broadcast from City Lights' Poetry Room on Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. citylights.com/foundation

Judith Butler with Maggie Nelson

City Lights and Akashic Books celebrate the publication of "Joyce Carol Oates: Letters to a Biographer," edited by Greg Johnson, published by Akashic Books. 

Purchase here: https://citylights.com/new-nonfiction-in-hardcover/joyce-carol-oates-letters-to-a-biograp/

This rich compilation of Joyce Carol Oates’s letters across four decades displays her warmth and generosity, her droll and sometimes wicked sense of humor, her phenomenal energy, and most of all, her mastery of the lost art of letter writing. In this generous selection of Joyce Carol Oates’s letters to her biographer and friend Greg Johnson, readers will discover a never-before-seen dimension of her phenomenal talent.

Whereas her academic essays and book reviews are eloquent in a formal way, in these letters she is wholly relaxed, even when she is serious in her concerns. Like Johnson, she was always engaged in work, whether a long novel or a brief essay, and the letters give a fascinating glimpse into Oates’s writing practice.

Joyce Carol Oates is the celebrated author of a number of works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. She is the editor of "New Jersey Noir," "Prison Noir," and "Cutting Edge: New Stories of Mystery and Crime by Women Writers;" and a recipient of the National Book Award, the PEN America Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Humanities Medal, and a World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey. "A Darker Shade of Noir: New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers" is her latest work.

Steve Wasserman is the publisher of Heyday Books. He is a former editor-at-large for Yale University Press and editorial director of Times Books/Random House and publisher of Hill & Wang and The Noonday Press at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. A founder of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at the University of Southern California, Wasserman was a principal architect of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books during the nine years he served as editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review (1996–2005). He has written for many publications, including "The Village Voice," "Threepenny Review," "The Nation," "The New Republic," "The American Conservative," "The Progressive," "Columbia Journalism Review," "Los Angeles Times," and the "(London) Times Literary Supplement."

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Thursday, March 18, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. citylights.com/foundation

Joyce Carol Oates in conversation with Steve Wasserman

City Lights and Melville House present Yanis Varoufakis in conversation with Peter Maravelis, discussing "Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism" by Yanis Varoufakis, published by Melville House.

Purchase here: https://citylights.com/topographies/technofeudalism/

Perhaps we were too distracted by the pandemic, or the endless financial crises, or the rise of TikTok. But under cover of them all, a new and more exploitative system has been taking hold. Insane sums of money that were supposed to re-float our economies after the crash of 2008 went to big tech instead. With it they funded the construction of their private cloud fiefdoms and privatized the internet.

Technofeudalism says Yanis Varoufakis, is the new power that is reshaping our lives and the world, and is the greatest current threat to the liberal individual, to our efforts to avert climate catastrophe—and to democracy itself. It also lies behind the new geopolitical tensions, especially the New Cold War between the United States and China.


Drawing on stories from Greek myth and pop culture, from Homer to Mad Men, Varoufakis explains this revolutionary transformation: how it enslaves our minds, how it rewrites the rules of global power, and, ultimately, what it will take overthrow it.

Yanis Varoufakis is an economist and academic, a bestselling author, and the former finance minister of Greece. He is a co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025. His books include "And the Weak Suffer What They Must?," "Talking to My Daughter About the Economy," "Adults in the Room," and "Foundations of Economics."

Praise for "Technofeudalism:"

“Blending intellectual memoir, history, and economic and technological history, Varoufakis creates an intimate atmosphere that is a genuine pleasure to read … It’s hard to read this book and deny its power … illuminating.” — The Washington Post

“An outstanding economist and political analyst.” — Noam Chomsky

"Arresting … an ambitious thinker and a lively writer … Varoufakis is right that we are in thrall to digital platforms, who hold our data hostage and prevent us from switching to 'a competing cloud fief'" ― The Times (London)

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. https://citylights.com/foundation/

Yanis Varoufakis

Tarek El-Ariss in conversation with Peter Maravelis, celebrating the publication of "Water on Fire: A Memoir of War" by Tarek El-Ariss, published by Other Press.

Purchase here: https://citylights.com/middle-east/water-on-fire-memoir-of-war/

"Water on Fire" tells a story of immigration that starts in a Beirut devastated by the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), continues with experiences of displacement in Europe and Africa, moves to northeastern American towns battered by lake-effect snow and economic woes, and ends in New York City on 9/11. A story of loss, but also of evolution, it models a kind of resilience inflected with humor, daring, and irreverence.

Alternating between his perspective as a child and an adult, Tarek El-Ariss explores how we live with trauma, poignantly illustrating the profound impact of war on our perception of the world, our fears and longings. His memoir is at once historical and universal, intellectual and introspective, the outcome of a long and painful process of excavation that reveals internal turmoil and the predicament of conflict and separation. A contemporary “interpretation of dreams” dealing with monsters, invisible creatures, skin outbreaks, and the sea, it is a book about objects and elements, like water and fire, and about how encountering these elements triggers associations, connecting present and past, time and space.


Tarek El-Ariss is the James Wright Professor and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College and was a Guggenheim Fellow (2021–22). Trained in philosophy, comparative literature, and visual and cultural studies at the American University of Beirut, the University of Rochester, and Cornell University, he is the author of "Trials of Arab Modernity: Literary Affects and the New Political" and "Leaks, Hacks, and Scandals: Arab Culture in the Digital Age," and editor of the MLA anthology "The Arab Renaissance: A Bilingual Anthology of the Nahda."

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Friday, May 17, 2024. Special thanks to Judith Gurewich. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. citylights.com/foundation/

Tarek El-Ariss

City Lights celebrates the publication of "Blessings," a novel by Chukwuebuka Ibeh, published by Doubleday.

Purchase here: https://citylights.com/blessings/

Obiefuna has always been the black sheep of his family—sensitive where his father, Anozie, is pragmatic, a dancer where his brother, Ekene, is a natural athlete. But when Obiefuna’s father witnesses an intimate moment between his teenage son and another boy, his deepest fears are confirmed, and Obiefuna is banished to boarding school. As he navigates his new school’s strict hierarchy and unpredictable violence, Obiefuna both finds and hides who he truly is. Back home, his mother, Uzoamaka, must contend with the absence of her beloved son, her husband’s cryptic reasons for sending him away, and the hard truths that they’ve all been hiding from. As Nigeria teeters on the brink of criminalizing same-sex relationships, Obiefuna’s identity becomes more dangerous than ever before, and the life he wants drifts further out of reach. Set in post-military Nigeria and culminating in the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2013, "Blessings" is an elegant and exquisitely moving story that asks how to live freely in a country that forbids one’s truest self, and what it takes for love to flourish despite it all.

Chukwuebuka Ibeh is a writer from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, born in 2000. His writing has appeared in McSweeney's, New England Review of Books and Lolwe, amongst others, and he is a staff writer at Brittle Paper. He was the runner-up for the 2021 J.F. Powers Prize for Fiction, was a finalist for the Gerald Kraak Award, and was profiled as one of the “Most Promising New Voices of Nigerian Fiction” by Electric Literature. He has studied creative writing under Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dave Eggers, and Tash Aw, and is currently a an MFA student at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

francesca ekwuyasi is a learner, artist, and storyteller born in Lagos, Nigeria. She was awarded the Writers Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers in 2022 for her debut novel, "Butter Honey Pig Bread" (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020). "Butter Honey Pig Bread" was also shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Dublin Literary Award. "Butter Honey Pig Bread" placed second on CBC’s "Canada Reads: Canada’s Annual Battle of the Books," where it was selected as one of five contenders in 2021 for “the one book that all of Canada should read.” francesca’s writing has appeared in the Malahat Review, Transition Magazine, Room Magazine, Brittle Paper, the Ex-Puritan, C-Magazine, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Canadian Art, Chatelain and elsewhere. Her short story, "Ọrun is Heaven" was longlisted for the 2019 Journey Prize. She co-authored, "Curious Sounds: A Dialogue in Three Movements" (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023), a multi-genre collaborative book with Roger Mooking.

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. citylights.com/foundation/

Chukwuebuka Ibeh in conversation with francesca ekwuyasi

Bushra Rehman in conversation with May-lee Chai, celebrating the publication of "Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion" by Bushra Rehman, published by Flatiron Books.

You can purchase copies of "Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/general-fiction/roses-in-the-mouth-of-a-lion-2/

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis.

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Bushra Rehman in conversation with May-lee Chai

Daniel Borzutzky in conversation with Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, celebrating the publication of "The Murmuring Grief of the Americas" by Daniel Borzutzky, published by Coffee House Press

You can purchase copies of "The Murmuring Grief of the Americas" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/murmuring-grief-of-the-americas/

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis.

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Daniel Borzutzky in conversation with Ricardo Alberto Maldonado

Mosab Abu Toha reading from “Forest of Noise: Poems” by Mosab Abu Toha, published by Knopf Publishing Group

You can purchase copies of “Forest of Noise: Poems” directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/forest-of-noise-poems/ 

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Monday, November 4, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis.

This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Find more recent events at our YouTube channel: CityLightsBooks

Mosab Abu Toha reading from "Forest of Noise: Poems"

City Lights celebrates the publication of Indigenous Poetics, edited by Inés Hernández-Ávila and Molly McGlennen, published by Michigan State University Press.

You can purchase copies of Indigenous Poetics directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/poetry-criticism-biographies/indigenous-poetics/

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Monday, August 18, 2025. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation


Inés Hernández-Ávila and Molly McGlennen in conversation with Casandra López

City Lights presents award-winning investigative journalist Will Potter discussing his new book Little Red Barns: Hiding the Truth, from Farm to Fable, published by City Lights Books.

You can purchase copies of Little Red Barns directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/little-red-barns/

Originally held onsite at City Lights and broadcast via Zoom on Monday, October 27, 2025. 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation


Will Potter discussing Little Red Barns

City Lights and the Center for the Art of Translation present Gabriela Alemán in conversation with Dick Cluster, celebrating the publication of her new book Smoke, published by City Lights Books.

You can purchase copies of Smoke directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/city-lights-published/smoke/

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Wednesday, October 29, 2025. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Gabriela Aleman in conversation with Dick Cluster

City Lights and Summit Books present Amanda Uhle in conversation with Vendela Vida, celebrating the publication of her memoir Destroy This House, published by Summit Books/Simon & Schuster.

You can purchase copies of Destroy This House directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/new-nonfiction-in-hardcover/destroy-this-house-memoir/

Originally held at City Lights and broadcast via Zoom on Wednesday, October 1, 2025. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation


Amanda Uhle in conversation with Vendela Vida

Description: City Lights and Princeton University Press celebrate the publication of Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back – By Joshua Clark Davis – Published by Princeton University Press.

You can purchase copies of Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back here: https://citylights.com/new-nonfiction-in-hardcover/police-against-the-movement-sabotage-o/

Originally held at City Lights and broadcast via Zoom on Tuesday, October 7, 2025. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation

Joshua Clark Davis in conversation with Daphne Muse.wav

Gabriela Cabezón Cámara in conversation with Achy Obejas

City Lights and Litquake celebrate the publication of We Are Green and Trembling – by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, published by New Directions.
 
You can purchase copies of  We Are Green and Trembling  from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/we-are-green-trembling/

Originally held at City Lights and broadcast via Zoom on Thursday day, October 16, 2025. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation


City Lights celebrates the publication of Fruto: Bearing the Burden of Care – by Daniela Rea – Translator: John Gibler – published by City Lights Books.

You can purchase copies of Fruto: Bearing the Burden of Care  here: https://citylights.com/fruto-bearing-the-burden-of-care/

Originally held at City Lights and broadcast via Zoom on Wednesday, November 19, 2025. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation


Daniela Rea in conversation with John Gibler

Suzette Partido discussing “Love Will Save Us, Right?”

The official podcast for City Lights Publishers & Booksellers in San Francisco. Featuring readings and archives. Hosted by City Lights events coordinator Peter Maravelis.

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