City Lights LIVE presents Kirsten R. Ghodsee discussing her new book "Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life," published by Simon and Schuster. 

"Everyday Utopia" is an exploration throughout the world and history where varying communities challenge the conventional ways in which we live our lives, raise our families, and interact with those around us. Ghodsee introduces readers to these communities who reimagine life as we know it. From Danish cohousing communities that nourish neighborly bonds to Colombian ecovillages who grow their own food, Ghodsee takes readers through the worlds of those who live in their own utopia. "Everyday Utopia" offers radical hope for what our future could look like if community and connectedness is prioritized. 

Kristen R. Ghodsee is a Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the critically acclaimed author of "Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence." Her writing has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Le Monde Diplomatique, and Jacobin, among other publications. She lives outside of Philadelphia. 

You can purchase copies of "Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/new-nonfiction-in-hardcover/everyday-utopia/.

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

Kristen R. Ghodsee in conversation with Emefa Addo Agawu

City Lights, in conjunction with Heyday Books, presents Jane Smiley in conversation with Steve Wasserman to celebrate the publication of "The Questions that Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom" by Jane Smiley, published by Heyday Books. 

Smiley’s new book offers essays on some of the aesthetic and cultural issues that mark any serious engagement with reading and writing. She dives into the complexities of character and history and how she is inspired by literature of all kinds in her own writing. She shares her analysis and research on the works of classic authors such as Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, and many others. Smiley shares her personal journey as a writer moving from Iowa to California and reflects on her findings within the diverse literature of the state, which often highlights issues of race, class, and sex. 

Jane Smiley is a novelist and essayist. She has won various awards for her work, including the Pulitzer Prize for her novel "A Thousand Acres." She has written for numerous magazines and newspapers such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper’s, and the Nation. Her most recent novel, "A Dangerous Business," was published in 2022.

Steve Wasserman is the publisher of Heyday Books. He is a former editor-at-large for Yale University Press, editorial director of Times Books/Random House and publisher of Hill & Wang and The Noonday Press at Farrar, Straus & Giroux. He has written for numerous publications, including The Village Voice, Threepenny Review, The Progressive, and many others. 

You can purchase copies of "The Questions that Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/new-nonfiction-in-hardcover/questions-that-matter-most-reading-wr/. 

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

Jane Smiley in conversation with Steve Wasserman

City Lights LIVE celebrates the publication of Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems by Joyce Mansour (Translator: Emilie  Moorhouse), published by City Lights Books.

Join us as we dive into the works of iconic Surrealist poet, Joyce Mansour, who emerged from Paris in the 1950s. Mansour is best known for her unfiltered poetry and her participation in the post World War II circle of Surrealist poets.

“Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems” by Joyce Mansour is a bilingual anthology of her striking works. In this episode, Emilie Moorhouse, translator and author of the book's introduction, discusses Mansour's unwavering voice with Garrett Caples, American poet and City Lights editor. Mansour, through her work, expresses her frustration with a patriarchal society that views women as objects rather than multidimensional individuals. Mansour's poetry is as necessary as ever.

You can purchase copies of "Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/emerald-wounds-sel-poems/.

Joyce Mansour Tribute and Book Launch

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

Kit Schluter celebrates the publication of "Cartoons," (City Lights) & Garrett Caples celebrates the publication of "Proses: Incomparable Parables! Fabulous Fables! Cruel Tales!" (Wave Books).

Purchase "Cartoons:" https://citylights.com/city-lights-published/cartoons/
Purchase "Proses:" https://citylights.com/general-fiction/proses-incomparable-parables-fabulous/

About "Cartoons:"
Set in the uncanny valley between Bugs Bunny & Franz Kafka, "Cartoons" is an explosive series of outrageous, absurdist tales. "Cartoons" proposes itself as a genre of imaginary writing in opposition to the realism of most contemporary U.S. fiction, aligning itself with the French symbolism & Latin American fabulism its author is known to translate. A giant cricket with a tiny Kit Schluter in a jar, an umbrella who confuses the words porpoise and purpose in its quest for self-fulfillment, a pair of slugs go on a bender, these are just a few denizens of its pages, suffused with a fairy tale-like animism. A microwave oven decries microaggressions. A beer bottle is filled with regret. An escalator mechanic’s shoe conceals a terrible secret.

Kit Schluter’s recent work has appeared in Boston Review, BOMB, & Brooklyn Rail. He is author of the poetry collection "Pierrot’s Fingernails" (Canarium Books) as well as numerous chapbooks & artist editions of poems & stories. Schluter is included in the latest edition of "Best American Experimental Writing" (Wesleyan UP, 2020), edited by Carmen Maria Machado, Joyelle McSweeney, Jesse Damiani & Seth Abramson. He has translated widely from French & Spanish, including works by Rafael Bernal (New Directions), Marcel Schwob (Wakefield Press), & Olivia Tapiero (Nightboat Books). He recently illustrated Sebastian Castillo’s novel "SALMON." Kit coordinates production & design for Nightboat Books and lives in Mexico City.

About "Proses:"
In the grand tradition of poet’s fiction, "Proses: Incomparable Parables! Fabulous Fables! Cruel Tales!" is a collection of nine phantasmagorical stories by poet & City Lights editor, Garrett Caples.
Turning its back on the ethos of traditional narrative, "Proses" draws on Marcel Schwob, magical realism, & speculative fiction for inspiration, projecting worlds dominated by dream logic & impossible  dimensions. Spectral nuns, xenobots, explosive phraseology, & even Ringo Starr are some of the unexpected dilemmas confronting the various protagonists. Poets such as Andrew Joron, Kit Schluter, & Claude Grind make cameo appearances. While each story is a standalone, the collection amounts to an intricate whole, as themes, objects, & characters recur, encouraging readers to enjoy the book sequentially. Regardless of how it's enjoyed, "Proses" is both a satire of the world of contemporary poetry & a celebration of that world’s fantastic, infinite imagination.

Garrett Caples is the author of "Lovers of Today" (Wave Books, 2021), "Power Ballads" (Wave Books, 2016), "Complications" (2007), & "The Garrett Caples Reader" (1999), a collection of outtakes, "The Rise & Fall of Johnny Volume" (2020), & a bilingual selection, "Noches Apátridas" (Unstated Nights, 2019). He’s also written a book of essays, "Retrievals" (2014), & a pamphlet, "Quintessence of the Minor" (2010). He’s the editor of Philip Lamantia’s "Preserving Fire: Selected Prose" (2018), Samuel Greenberg’s "Poems from the Greenberg MSS" (2019), & Michael McClure’s "Mule Kick Blues and Last Poems" (2021), as well as the co-editor of "The Collected Poems of Philip Lamantia" (2013), "Particulars of Place" (2015) by Richard O. Moore, "Incidents of Travel in Poetry: New and Selected Poems" (2016) by Frank Lima, & "Arcana: A Stephen Jonas Reader" (2019). He is an editor at City Lights Books, where he curates the Spotlight Poetry Series.

Originally broadcast from City Lights' Poetry Room on Thursday, May 22, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. citylights.com/foundation

Kit Schluter with Garrett Caples

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 & Semiotext(e) celebrate the publication of "Stubble Archipelago" by Wayne Koestenbaum with a conversation between the author & Tausif Noor.

Purchase here: https://citylights.com/stubble-archipelago/

Wild new adventures in word-infatuated flânerie from a celebrated literary provocateur. This book of thirty-six poetic bulletins by the humiliation-advice-giver Wayne Koestenbaum will teach you how to cruise, dream, decode a crowded consciousness, find nuggets of satisfaction in unaccustomed corners, & sew a language glove roomy enough to contain materials gathered while meandering. Koestenbaum wrote many of these poems while walking around New York City. He’d jot down phrases in a notebook or dictate them into his phone. At home, he’d incorporate these fragmented gleanings into overflowing quasi sonnets. Thus each poem functions as a coded diary entry, including specific references to sidewalk events & peripatetic perceptions. Flirting, remembering, eavesdropping, gazing, squeezing, sequestering: Koestenbaum invents a novel way to cram dirty liberty into the tight yet commodious space of the sonnet, a fourteen-lined cruise ship that contains ample suites for behavior modification, libidinal experiment, aura-filled memory orgies, psychedelic Bildungsromane, lap dissolves, archival plunges, & other mental saunterings that conjure the unlikely marriage of Kenneth Anger & Marianne Moore. Carnal pudding, anyone? These engorged lyrics don’t rhyme; & though each builds on a carapace of fourteen lines, many of the lines spawn additional, indented tributaries, like hoop earrings dangling from the stanzas’ lobes. Koestenbaum’s poems are comic, ribald, compressed, symphonic. They take liberties with ordinary language, & open up new pockets for sensation in the sorrowing overcoat of the “now.” Stubble—a libidinal detail—matters when you’re stranded on the archipelago of your most unsanctioned yet tenaciously harbored impulses.

Wayne Koestenbaum—poet, critic, novelist, artist, performer—has published nineteen books, including "The Queen’s Throat," a groundbreaking study of sexuality & the human voice which was a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist. Additional books to his credit include: "Camp Marmalade," "Notes on Glaze," "The Pink Trance Notebooks," "My 1980s & Other Essays," "Hotel Theory," "The Anatomy of Harpo Marx," "Humiliation," "Jackie Under My Skin," & "The Cheerful Scapegoat." His essays & poems have been widely published in periodicals & anthologies, including "The Best American Poetry," "The Best American Essays," The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, London Review of Books, The Believer, The Iowa Review, Cabinet, and Artforum. Formerly an Associate Professor of English at Yale & a Visiting Professor in the Yale School of Art’s painting department, he is a Distinguished Professor of English, French, & Comparative Literature at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.

Tausif Noor is a critic, curator, & PhD student in global modern art history at the University of California, Berkeley. His writing & essays have appeared in publications such as Artforum, the Poetry Project Newsletter, the New York Review of Books, & the New Yorker, as well as in various exhibition catalogues, artist books, & edited volumes. He lives in Oakland, CA.

Originally broadcast via Zoom on Monday, March 25, 2024. Hosted by Peter Maravelis. Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. citylights.com/foundation

Wayne Koestenbaum with Tausif Noor

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"

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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