San Francisco International Poetry Festival

Main Stage Events

Friday, July 24

Main Stage Poetry Reading

Join us for a wide variety of international poetry readings, hosted by devorah major, with a special reading by San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane di Prima.

with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Zhai Yongming, Ignatius Mabasa, Maram al-Massri, Diane di Prima, Alexander Skidan, Nguyen Qui Duc, Roy "Chicky" Arad, Daisy Zamora, Cletus Nelson Nwadike, Anna Lombardo, Menna Elfyn, Paul Flores

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm at Palace of Fine Arts

Saturday, July 25

Main Stage Poetry Reading

Join host Janice Mirikitani for a wide variety of international poetry readings.

with Francis Combes, Ziba Karbassi, Georges Castera/Joj Kastra, Agneta Falk, Carla Badillo Coronado, Al Young, Taslima Nasrin, Ámbar Past, Tarek Eltayeb, Ferruccio Brugnaro, Sasha Pimentel Chacòn, Jack Hirschman, Najwan Darwish

7:00 pm - 9:30 pm at Palace of Fine Arts

All SFIPF Events

Wednesday, July 22

Words with a View

In celebration of the San Francisco International Poetry Festival, the SFPL is hosting an exhibition featuring art and broadsides from participating poets. Exhibition runs from July 11 – August 2, 2009

at Main Library, Third Floor, General Collections
Red Poet Film Screening

Join us for a documentary film about Poet-in-Residence for Friends of the SFPL, Jack Hirschman, directed by Matthew Furey.

Jack Hirschman will be present.

6:00 pm at Koret Auditorium, Main Library

Thursday, July 23

Jack Kerouac Alley Kick Off Party

Join musician Jonathan Richman to celebrate the kick-off of the 2nd Biennial San Francisco International Poetry Festival with an outdoor party featuring poetry and music.

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm at Jack Kerouac Alley

Friday, July 24

Main Stage Poetry Reading

Join us for a wide variety of international poetry readings, hosted by devorah major, with a special reading by San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane di Prima.

with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Zhai Yongming, Ignatius Mabasa, Maram al-Massri, Diane di Prima, Alexander Skidan, Nguyen Qui Duc, Roy "Chicky" Arad, Daisy Zamora, Cletus Nelson Nwadike, Anna Lombardo, Menna Elfyn, Paul Flores

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm at Palace of Fine Arts

Saturday, July 25

Translation Colloquy

Moderator and participant Alejandro Murguía joins poets Olivia Sears, Stephen Kessler, Judith Ayn Bernhard and Kareem James Abu Zeid in a conversation about the art and craft of translation in today’s works.

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm at Mission Branch Library
Children’s Story Time

Join host Sarah Menefee and poets/authors Ámbar Past (Mexico), Jorge Argueta (El Salvador), Tony Robles (The Philippines), and Cletus N. Nwadike (Sweden) for a children’s story time and book reading, and a book giveaway.

with Ámbar Past, Cletus Nelson Nwadike

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm at Richmond Branch Library
Youth Poet Event

Join host Anne Wintroub of Friends of the Library for a youth poetry reading with WritersCorps.

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm at Western Addition Branch Library
Workshop: Writing a Love Poem

Join Syrian/French poet Maram al-Massri and Friends Executive Director Donna Bero to explore this ancient and universal art form.

with Maram al-Massri

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm at Alliance Francaise
Poetry Reading at Richmond Library

Featuring Zhai Yongming (China) reading with Jamie Proctor-Xu, Alexander Skidan (Russia) reading with Rebecca Bella and Nguyen Qui Duc (Vietnam) reading with Isabelle Pelaud.

with Zhai Yongming, Alexander Skidan, Nguyen Qui Duc

2:30 pm - 4:30 pm at Richmond Branch Library
Poetry Reading at North Beach Library

Hosted by Rosemary Manno, featuring Roy Arad (Israel) reading with Neeli Cherkovski, Menna Elfyn (Wales) reading with Maketa Groves, Paul Flores (USA) and San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane di Prima.

with Roy "Chicky" Arad, Menna Elfyn, Paul Flores, Diane di Prima

2:30 pm - 4:30 pm at North Beach Branch Library
Poetry Reading at Western Addition Library

Hosted by Cathleen Williams, featuring Ignatius Mabasa (Zimbabwe) reading with Michael Warr and Maram al-Massri (Syria) reading with Tina Tarnoff.

with Ignatius Mabasa, Maram al-Massri

2:30 pm - 4:30 pm at Western Addition Branch Library
New Voices

Readings by 2008 Poets 11 selected poets Melba Abela, Marty Campbell, Aja Couchois Duncan and David Menendez Alvarez.

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm at North Beach Branch Library
Reading and Q & A with Francis Combes

Join French poet Francis Combes at the Alliance Francaise for a reading and Q & A session.

with Francis Combes

2:00 pm - 3:30 pm at Alliance Francaise
Poetry Reading at Mission Library

Featuring Anna Lombardo (Italy) reading with Olivia Sears, Daisy Zamora (Nicaragua) reading with George Evans, Cletus Nelson Nwadike (Nigeria) reading with Agneta Falk.

with Anna Lombardo, Daisy Zamora, Cletus Nelson Nwadike

2:30 pm - 4:30 pm at Mission Branch Library
Main Stage Poetry Reading

Join host Janice Mirikitani for a wide variety of international poetry readings.

with Francis Combes, Ziba Karbassi, Georges Castera/Joj Kastra, Agneta Falk, Carla Badillo Coronado, Al Young, Taslima Nasrin, Ámbar Past, Tarek Eltayeb, Ferruccio Brugnaro, Sasha Pimentel Chacòn, Jack Hirschman, Najwan Darwish

7:00 pm - 9:30 pm at Palace of Fine Arts

Sunday, July 26

North Beach Poetry Crawl

1:30pm – 3:00 pm: Beat Museum
Hosted by Tony Ryan, featuring Ámbar Past (Mexico) reading with Alejandro Murguía, and Al Young (United States).

1:30pm – 3:00pm: Kerouac Alley
Hosted by Bob Coleman. Poets: Ferruccio Brugnaro (Italy) reading with Jack Hirschman, and Carla Badillo Coronado (Ecuador) reading with Jessica Loos.

3:30pm – 5:00pm: Caffe Trieste
Hosted by Soheyl Dahi, featuring Ziba Karbassi (Iran) reading with Niloufar Talebi, and Najwan Darwish (Palestine) reading with Sharon Doubiago.

3:30pm – 5:00 pm: Beat Museum
Hosted by Csaba Polony. Poets: Francis Combes (France) reading with Matt Gonzales, and Agneta Falk.

5:30pm – 7:00 pm: Live Worms Gallery
Hosted by Bix Warden, featuring Tarek Eltayeb (Sudan/Austria) reading with Kareem James Abu Zeid, and Sasha Pimentel Chacòn (The Philippines).

5:30pm – 7:00 pm: Kerouac Alley
Hosted by Nadya Williams, featuring Georges Castera/Joj Kastra (Haiti) reading with Boadiba, and Taslima Nasrin (Bangladesh) reading with Dottie Payne.

with Ámbar Past, Al Young, Ferruccio Brugnaro, Carla Badillo Coronado, Ziba Karbassi, Francis Combes, Agneta Falk, Tarek Eltayeb, Sasha Pimentel Chacòn, Georges Castera/Joj Kastra, Taslima Nasrin, Najwan Darwish

1:30 pm - 7:00 pm at locations in North Beach
Washington Square Park Closing Party

Join host Jack Hirschman with Jonathan Richman and Friends of the Library Executive Director Donna Bero for the closing event, featuring an indigenous Quichua dance by poet Carla Badillo Coronado accompanied by Jorge Molina, and music by the Vince Lateano Quartet.

7:30 pm at Washington Square Park