Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Prostitutes Writing on Life, Love, Work, Sex, and Money
David Henry Sterry and R.J. Martin, Jr.
  - Tuesday, August 4
  - 7:00 PM

Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys is a collection of short memoirs, rants, confessions, nightmares, journalism, and poetry covering life, love, work, family, and yes, sex. The editors gathered pieces from the world of industrial sex, including contributions from art-porn priestess Dr. Annie Sprinkle, Tracy Quan (author of Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl), best-selling memoirist David Henry Sterry (Chicken: Self Portrait of a Young Man for Rent), women and men right off the streets, and girls participating in the first ever National Summit of Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth. (Soft Skull Press)

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Cripple Poetics: A Love Story
Petra Kuppers and Neil Marcus
  - Wednesday, August 5
  - 7:00 PM

A love story for crip culture! By turns playful, unsettling, raw and moving, Cripple Poetics: A Love Story is an immersive and sensual correspondence that builds and heats by accretion—one keystroke at a time. Cripple Poetics is e-mails, IMs and letters between lovers; poetic rumination/invigoration; and disability arts manifesto. (Homofactus Press)


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Jessica Hoffmann, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Daria Yudacufski, and other contributors to make/shift magazine
  - Thursday, August 6
  - 7:00 PM

Make/shift magazine creates, documents, and critiques contemporary feminist culture and action from antiracist, queer, and transnational perspectives. Join us for an evening of readings featuring make/shift coeditors/copublishers Jessica Hoffmann and Daria Yudacufski, columnist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, and other contributors. www.makeshiftmag.com


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Cerca Del Fuego
Jorge Argueta
  - Tuesday, August 11
  - 7:00 PM

Composed during the historical elections in El Salvador that took place in April, Cerca del Fuego, Poema de la Victoria/Close to the Fire, Victory Poem, is a celebration of the Salvadoran people. In this epic poem Jorge Argueta sings the joy and endurance of El Salvador. The reading will be accompanied by the music of Enrique Ramirez and the author’s own photographs from recent trips to El Salvador. (Luna’s Press)


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Cook Food: A Manualfesto For Easy, Healthy, Local Eating
Lisa Jervis
  - Wednesday, August 12
  - 7:00 PM

Founding editor and publisher of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture Lisa Jervis has created more than just a rousing food manifesto and a nifty set of tools—Cook Food makes preparing tasty, wholesome meals simple and accessible for those hungry for both change and scrumptious fare. If you want to eat healthier but aren't sure where to start, or if you've been reading about food politics but don't know how to bring sustainable eating practices into your everyday life, Cook Food will give you the scoop, while keeping your taste buds satisfied. With a conversational, DIY vibe, a practical approach to everyday cooking on a budget, and a whole bunch of animal-free recipes, Cook Food will have you cooking up a storm, tasting the difference, thinking globally and eating locally. (PM Press)


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Digital Artifact Magazine Presents: A Launch Party and Resource Sharing Rodeo!
Readings and performances by Christian Nagler, Matt Roher, Jacob Evans, and others
  - Thursday, August 13
  - 7:00 PM

Digital Artifact, an online, multimedia publication, invites you to beat the recession blues with a borrowed bounty feast in celebration of Issue Three: We Made This For You Out Of Nothing. Bring blackberries from Bernal Heights, garden grown zucchini bread, wild crafted nettle tea, and what have you! We will also facilitate a brief resource-sharing rodeo to foster culture making in cash strapped times. Bring unused art supplies to donate to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, sign up to swap skills (know web design? need a grant writer?) or just munch on some blackberries and enjoy the readings and performances.

Issue Three contributors Matt Roher and Jacob Evans, some-time editors and co-founders of Small Desk Press, will read funny, weird, sad, beautiful collaborative email poetry and discuss urban radish foraging. Christian Nagler, fiction writer, teacher, and performer with Anna Halprin's Sea Ranch Collective, will present a performance comprised of ephemeral and universally available materials. Find out more at digitalartifactmagazine.com


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In Praise of Falling
Cheryl Dumesnil
  - Thursday, August 20
  - 7:00 PM

The overarching theme of In Praise of Falling is encapsulated in the Zen proverb, ‘fall down seven times, get up eight.’ The poems address the ways in which we fall—through disillusionment, disappointment, or plain, old-fashioned mistakes. And they address the ways we rise up—out of personal debacles, unfortunate circumstances, family legacies, and collective struggles. (University of Pittsburgh Press)


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Spanish Book Group / Círculo de Lectores de Literatura en Español
  - Tuesday, August 25
  - 7:00 PM

Join us for our Spanish language book group on the fourth Tuesday of each month. A mix of native speakers and advanced level hablantes, the group has been meeting in the Mission District on a monthly basis for more than nine years. In August the group will discuss Ursúa by William Ospina and is available at a 10% discount for all book group participants.


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Youth Speaks Spoken Word Workshop 6:00 PM
Open Mic and Reading featuring Hammertime author Josh Healey 7:00 PM
  - Wednesday, August 26

Founded in San Francisco in 1996, Youth Speaks empowers the next generation of leaders, self-defined artists, and visionary activists through written and oral literacies. They challenge youth to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices as creators of social change. Young folks are especially encouraged to attend but all are welcome to take part in the Spoken Word Workshop! (No pre-registration necessary)

When Bertolt Brect meets MC Hammer: it's Hammertime. Josh Healey explores the brutal, beautiful space between party and politics in this searing, humorous poetry collection that will be featured following the workshop. (University of Wisconsin Press)


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For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America
John Curl
  - Thursday, August 27
  - 7:00 PM

It is the cooperation of working people that has brought the best of the United States to life. Cooperatives have played a vital role throughout the American saga, starting in its formative years. A staggering 120 million Americans belong to cooperatives today -- yet the existence of such a movement, and its dramatic and stirring story, remain all but ignored by most historians. For All the People seeks to reclaim this history. (PM Press)


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Queer Open Mic
  - Friday, August 28
  - 7:00 PM sign-up for performers
  - 7:30 PM start time

The Queer Open Mic features poetry, creative writing, music and more. $3-5 optional donation. All kinds of queers welcome. For more info, visit http://queeropenmic.com.


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The Burger Queen Social
  - Saturday, August 29
  - 5:30 PM

From the minds that brought about Gay Shame and Ships in the Night comes the Burger Queen Social—a fun and exciting opportunity to meet other radical queer, trans, and genderqueer folks to hook up with for political witchery and discussion. With free vegan eats and a wildly engaging DJ!


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Left Turn Magazine presents: Popcorn for the People free monthly film screening!
  - Monday, August 31
  - 7:00 PM

Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.


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