Sometimes, we need a little bit more than just poetry and music. Sometimes we have the urge to witness a wild-eyed man with one sweater sleeve missing shove pieces of paper into a coconut and then set it on fire - all while someone yells about why bird porn is a serious issue. The 16th &... More >>

Finding your voice as a writer is hard. Finding your voice as an erotic writer is all but impossible. In one direction is “awkward and clinical.” In another is “Anne Rice.” And there’s literally hundreds of others that result in the rough equivalent of “I have a... More >>

Charlie Anders, blond of bob and mini of skirt, is the hostess with the mostest at her literary hootenanny, Writers with Drinks. (She's also the news editor of io9, Gawker's sci-fi/fantasy blog.) Aside from Anders' charming ways, the lineup of readers is always delightful. Novelists, poets,... More >>

Readings in San Francisco are constantly evolving. Traditional lit events involving a person, a microphone, and a hushed audience are still around, but more often than not, you’ll find the literati combining their love of words with such variables as yo-yo artists, acrobatics, kink,... More >>

Love it or hate it, graffiti is here to stay. In recent years, graffiti artists such as Shepard Fairey and S.F. locals Barry McGee and Mike Giant have found acceptance in the contemporary art world, shaking off the popular assumption that graffiti is solely the practice of young hoodlums. The... More >>

Most of what we know about Poetry at the 33 is that Kim Addonizio either used to hang out there or still does. That may sound like it isn't very much to go on, but Addonizio is one of the city's most underrated talents. She's a fucking genius, if you want to know the truth. If there's any... More >>

You know what ensures that children’s books stay in good condition? Keeping them away from children. That’s why Mr. George M. Fox’s collection, which contains more than 2,000 early British and American children’s books, looks so pristine. Donated to the S.F. Public... More >>

When it comes to innovation and sheer volume, the Bay Area literary scene is unrivaled. What other city devotes an entire month to literature (Litquake) and a dedicated pub crawl for the written word (Lit Crawl) every year? We’ve been known to hold readings in abandoned apartments (Live... More >>

Comedians are “always depressed,” we hear. After we’re done fervently hoping it isn’t true, we wonder how “funny” and “depressing” ever came to be separate categories, especially post-Mitch Hedberg. At Previously Secret Information, they aren’t, sort... More >>

Buried deep down in the very core of our hearts is the passion to perform. We secretly want to dress in 1960s get-up, strap on a ukulele, and do Tiny Tim covers. No? Maybe that's just us. However, we can all agree on the burning desire to perform and create art. The hard part (besides mustering... More >>

“We’ve all done some fucked-up shit,” says Dixie De La Tour: going home with the wrong person, getting in over our heads in a BDSM scenario, sitting through that timeless, endless feature Nightmare Date II: The Boundary-Free Zone. We’ve all also been blown away by indoor... More >>

Have you ever seen a Gritchen in your kitchen? Or dared to dance with the One-Legged Zantz? We can’t think of a better time to start than during the final days before Christmas. Long out of print, Don’t Bump the Glump was Shel Silverstein’s first and strangest collection of... More >>

​In late 2010 we attended a reading we'll never forget. We didn't know it, but a madman was about to take the stage. Except he didn't take the stage. He hopped down off it, and immediately a dozen people rushed to form a semicircle around him on the floor. What came next was a controlled... More >>