Welcome to Alley Cat Books!
May Show at Alley Cat Books Gallery: "The Political Eye—From the Surreal to the So Real"
April 20, 2013, 2:52 pm

Thirteen internationally-renowned San Francisco Bay Area artists present the evolution of the political eye in "surreal and so real" works covering the past three decades. Curated by Juan Pablo Gutierrez.

Featuring the art of: Juana Alicia Araiza, Diego Marcial Rios, Tirso Araiza, Gilberto Osario, Emmanuel C. Montoya, Jos Sances, Miranda Bergman, Susan Cervantez, Linda Wilson, Calixto Robles, Silvia Ledezma, Kevin Woodson, Daniel Arcos, Alejandro Murguia (Poet Laureate for the City of San Francisco) and Juan Felipe Herrera (Poet Laureate for the State of California).

Opening reception: Sunday, May 5, 6-8 p.m.

Show runs May 5-31.

www.alleycatbooksgallery.com

April Show at Alley Cat Books Gallery: "Amanda Lopez: Mi Vida Loca—Photos From the Archive"
March 27, 2013, 5:24 pm

Family, culture, love and passion are the unifying themes in this show of photography. Many of Lopez's images were shot in San Francisco's Mission District, including portraits of past and present neighbors, musicians and lowriders from her Suavecito series. Also included in the show will be images from Cali Love, a series of portraits created in ongoing collaboration with artist Jenni Tay.

Opening reception: Friday, April 5, 6-8 p.m.

Show runs April 5-25.

www.amandalopezphoto.com

 

March Show at Alley Cat Books Gallery: "Other Women"
February 27, 2013, 2:33 pm

On view March 8-27 at Alley Cat Books Gallery: "Other Women," a group show featuring the art of Juliet Anderson, Alexandra Blum, Layla Durrani, Dianne Hoffmann, Leila Mansur, Kate Rosenberger and Marsha Shaw. Opening reception: Friday, March 8, 6 p.m.—8 p.m.

February Show at Alley Cat Books Gallery: "Barrio Querido—44 Anos"
February 21, 2013, 6:51 pm

On view at Alley Cat Books Gallery: "Barrio Querido—44 Anos," photos by Tampico Marchbanks. Over 100 images of the Mission, spanning decades. Through February 27.

Up Now in Alley Cat's Back Gallery: Yola
September 4, 2012, 11:18 am

Alley Cat Books is thrilled to have in its back gallery a new installation by Polish street artist Yola! Opening Reception Friday September 7th.

Yola—a street name of Polish artist Jola Kudela.

She specializes in large scale paste-ups, featuring classical paintings retreated using contemporary models. She combines her passion for renaissance art with her skills in image manipulation and digital composition (while not doing street art she works as a motion graphics designer and compositing artist on blockbuster movies. She has created street art pieces in Warsaw, Buenos Aires, Paris and Melbourne.

She collaborates with Agnieszka Lesiewicz, TV producer and director.

www.yolart.net

Owner Beats Odds to Open Fourth Bookstore
May 29, 2012, 8:59 pm

 

Jun
2
Poetry Reading: Prageeta Sharma and Susan Scarlata
Sunday, June 2, 2013 - 6:00pm
Poetry Reading: Prageeta Sharma and Susan Scarlata

 

Join us for a reading by poets Prageeta Sharma and Susan Scarlata, in conjunction with the publication of Sharma's new book, Undergloom.
 
Prageeta Sharma is the author of Bliss to Fill (Subpress Collective, 2000), The Opening Question (Fence Books, 2004, winner of the 2004 Fence Modern Poets Prize), Infamous Landscapes (Fence Books, 2007), and her most recent book, Undergloom (Fence, 2013). She is also the recipient of the 2010 Howard Foundation Grant. Sharma is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of Montana.
 
Susan Scarlata's book It Might Turn Out We Are Real is out now on Horse Less Press. She has taught writing from Wyoming to Hong Kong and many places in between. Scarlata holds degrees from Brown and the University of Denver and is the editor of Lost Roads Press. New work is forthcoming in The Denver Quarterly, 1913, and the Van Gogh Gogh anthology.
 
6 p.m., free.
 
May
25
Poetry Reading: Arturo Mantecón and Andrea D. Lingenfelter
Saturday, May 25, 2013 - 7:00pm
Poetry Reading: Arturo Mantecón and Andrea D. Lingenfelter

Join us on Saturday, May 25 at 7 p.m. for a reading by Arturo Mantecón and Andrea D. Lingenfelter!

Arturo Mantecón is a translator, poet, and short story writer. His short stories have been published in The Americas Review, The Dunes review, Café Bellas Artes, Bliss, and various anthologies. His translations have been published in Poetry Now, Left Curve, and Skidrow Penthouse. He is the translator of the great, mad Spanish poet Leopoldo María Panero. His two published books of selected poems by Panero are My Naked Brain (Swan Scythe Press, 2011) and the just-released Like an Eye in the Hand of a Beggar (Editions Michel Eyquem).
 
Andrea D. Lingenfelter is a translator and poet. Her translations have appeared in Poetry International Festival (Rotterdam, 2004), Manoa: Mercury Rising—Contemporary Poetry From Taiwan (2003), Frontier Taiwan: Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan (Columbia University Press, 2001), The Poem and the World (Seattle, 1994) and Time Asia, (October 23, 2000). She has recently published translations of the work of Zhai Yongming, one of China's leading poets, in an award-winning volume titled The Changing Room (Zephyr Press, 2011). She is also the translator of the novels Candy (Little, Brown, 2003), Farewell to My Concubine, and The Last Princess of Manchuria.
 
7 p.m., free
May
24
Movie Screening: Together People
Friday, May 24, 2013 - 7:30pm
Movie Screening: Together People

Vulgar people, sadistic people, ripped-off people ... wherever and whenever people are falling apart, you'll find them ... the Together People.

Join us for a screening of Together People, a 2012 film by Gary Fembot, director of Mondo Bottomless and AIDS Camp. (There will also be educational films and other treats.)

7:30 p.m., free!

 

May
23
Poetry Reading: Jeff Alessandrelli, Patrick Haas, Peter Burghardt, and Laura E. Davis
Thursday, May 23, 2013 - 6:00pm
Poetry Reading: Jeff Alessandrelli, Patrick Haas, Peter Burghardt, and Laura E. Davis

Join us for a reading by Jeff Alessandrelli, Patrick Haas, and Peter Burghardt, in conjunction with the publication of Alessandrelli's new collection of poems, A Lover's History of Nevada (Both Books).

Jeff Alessandrelli lives in Portland, Oregon and is the author of the little book Erik Satie Watusies His Way Into Sound (Ravenna Press) and three chapbooks, including Don't Let Me Forget to Feed the Sharks (Poor Claudia). Work by him has appeared in Pleaides, Salt Hill, Gulf Coast, Boston Review, and Cut Bank. He also co-curated The Clean Past Reading Series in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Last Time Will Be the First, his first-full-length collection of poetry, is forthcoming from Burnside Review Press in 2014.

Patrick Haas is apoet and author based in Oakland, California. His writing has been published in Unstuck, Salt Hill, and the University of Virginia Press anthology Best New Poets 2012.

Peter Burghardt lives in Oakland where he works as a poetry editor and book designer for Omnidawn Publishing, and co-edits the book arts imprint and chapbook series speCt!. His writing has appeared in various journals, including BlazeVox, Ah Bartleby, and is forthcoming in Witness.

May
19
Reading and Publication Party: Outpost19's California Prose Directory
Sunday, May 19, 2013 - 5:00pm
Reading and Publication Party: Outpost19's California Prose Directory

Join us for a reading and publication party in celebration of Outpost19's book California Prose Directory: New Writing From the Golden State, edited by Charles McLeod.

A Vacaville rodeo. Hollywood quid pro quo. A verbal altercation at a Buddhist retreat. Nearly starving to death in the farmlands of Clovis. The Santa Anas blowing fire through the SoCal foothills. The lights of oil rigs glowing brightly in the Santa Barbera channel. Farm worker strikes and Prop 21. Smelting the Lost Coast. Hiking the Mojave. Hell's Angels, divorce law, and Chez Panisse. The mountains and the beaches. The cities and the desert. In these 20 short stories and 16 essays, established and emerging writers speak to California's myriad joys and juxtapositions.

Contributors: Joy Aguilar, Andrew Foster Altschul, Will Boast, Teri Carter, Jasmin Darznik, Stephen Elliott, Ernest Finney, Josephine Fitzpatrick, Jane Hammons, Vanessa Hua, Tara Ison, Ben Jahn, Courtney Amber Kilian, Sarah LaBrie, Dinah Lenney, Kara Levy, Brandon Lingle, Lina Losascio, Mira Martin-Parker, Mike McAllister, Donnelle McGee, Anthony J. Mohr, Tom Molanphy, Angela Morales, Erica Olsen, David Page, Sarah Pape, Anthony Seidman, Patty Somlo, Scott T. Starbuck, J. Ryan Stradal, Stephen Tollefson, Cameron Walker, Cathy Warner, Emily Meg Weinstein, Rose Whitmore.

5 p.m., free.

May
11
Birthmothers Speak: Kelle Groom and Deanne Ross
Saturday, May 11, 2013 - 5:00pm
Birthmothers Speak: Kelle Groom and Deanne Ross

Two birthmothers tell their stories in their own words and voices. Deanna Ross's solo performance Birthmother  weaves her own highly personal memoir with moving and surprising facts about adoption in the United States. Distinguished author Kelle Groom reads from her memoir I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl, the winner of man awards and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice selection. A Q&A will follow each presentation, and Kelle Groom will sign books.

This is a free event. Content is for adult audiences. Prior to this event, from 1-4 p.m., attend a public exhibit about birthmothers. This is a collaboration between the Adoption Museum Project, the On Your Feet Foundation, and many courageous birthmothers.

May
4
Microfono Abierto en Espanol
Saturday, May 4, 2013 - 4:00pm
Microfono Abierto en Espanol

El Colectivo Verso Activo, te invita a compartir un poema, un cuento o una cancion.

Estamos comenzando esta nueva del Microfono Abierto en espanol en Alley Cat Books.

Sabado 4 de May a las 4 p.m.

Continuaremos reuniendonos en el mismo lugar el primer sabado de cada mes de las 6 a la 8 p.m.

Esperamos que nos acompanes en el Taller de Creacion Literaria y otras actividades relacionadas al quehacer literario en espanol.

No te olvides de invitar mas gente!

Contacto: [email protected]

 
May
3
Poetry Reading: J Grabowski, Micah Ballard, and Rod Roland
Friday, May 3, 2013 - 7:00pm
Poetry Reading: J Grabowski, Micah Ballard, and Rod Roland

Join us for a reading by NY's J Grabowski and SF's Micah Ballard and Rod Roland!

J Grabowski lives and works in New York, He is the co-founder of Push Press and also the Heliopolis Project, a storefront in Brooklyn dedicated to experimental art and literature.

Micah Ballard was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His books include Parish Krewes (Bootstrap Press, 2009) and Waifs and Strays (City Lights, 2011), which was nominated for the California Book Award in poetry. He edits Auguste Press with his wife, poet Sunnylyn Thibodeaux.

Rod Roland is a poet and artist. His books include The Playgroup (Gas Meter Press) and the forthcoming Best Loved (Old Gold). He's a contributor to Amerarcana: A Bird & Beckett Review 2013, and has poems in an upcoming issue of Big Bell.

Free, 7 p.m.

Apr
26
Centaur and Stick Soldiers: New Poetry
Friday, April 26, 2013 - 6:30pm
Centaur and Stick Soldiers: New Poetry

Join us to celebrate the new books from two prize-winning poets, Greg Wrenn and Hugh Martin!

Greg Wrenn's first book of poems, Centaur, was selected by Terrance Hayes for the 2013 Brittingham Prize and was published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

Born and raised in northeast Florida, Wrenn is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and a recipient of the Lyric Poetry Award from the Poetry Society of America as well as the Margaret Bridgman Scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. His work has appeared in New England Review, The American Poetry Review, The Yale Review, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. A graduate of Harvard University and Washington University in St. Louis, he is a Jones Lecturer at Stanford University.

Hugh Martin's full-length collection of poetry, The Stick Soldiers, was the winner of the 2011 A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize. It was published through BOA Editiions, Ltd. in March, 2013. 

Apr
11
Tinta/Voz Poetry Series: Maya Chinchilla, Ricardo Tavarez, Katie Tomzynski, and Jose Hector Cadena
Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 6:30pm
Tinta/Voz Poetry Series: Maya Chinchilla, Ricardo Tavarez, Katie Tomzynski, and Jose Hector Cadena

The second Thursday of every month brings Tinta/Voz, a new poetry series featuring emerging writers, curated by Jose Cadena and Marguierite Munoz.

This month's readers: Maya Chinchilla, Ricardo Tavarez, Katie Tomzynski, and Jose Hector Cadena. Open mic to follow.

6:30—8 p.m., free.

Sponsored by San Francisco Poet Laureate and Alley Cat Books.

 

Fabulous Remaindered Books

Alley Cat has been getting in new orders of fantastic sale-priced remainder books every day, with titles guaranteed to please everyone (we swear)! Come on by today to check it out!

Sleeping Father by Matthew Sharpe

This isn't just another quirky, witty book about a dysfunctional family (and yes, I realize that term is probably redundant), this is a tour de force dissection of several psychological types prominent in our hyper-neurotic age. Sharpe is finely attuned to the secret machinations of the human mind and can write about them with an economical lucidity that makes one want to stand up and cheer: Lets hear it for articulateness! Sharpe has enough psychological insight that I'd hire him as my analyst in a heartbeat. (Unfortunately, he's not available as he's busy teaching creative writing in the Bronx.) But here's the thing: when he wants to be (which is about every thirty pages or so) Sharpe is way funnier than my current shrink... or just about anyone writing in the English language today. He's laugh-out-loud hysterically hilarious - and never in a tasteless or a contrived way, either. His humor is always compassionate and wise. And though the plot meanders a bit, it never bogs because the believable, lovable characters keep the reader so deeply engaged. If you're looking for comparisons, I'd say he's a bit like J.D. Salinger or Dave Eggers and the equal of either. High praise? You bet, but I'll stand by it!