City Lights and Verso Books celebrate the publication of Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination by Adam Shatz published by Verso Books What does it mean to be a politically committed writer? Through a close reading of the lives and works of some of the greatest intellectuals of recent times, Adam Shatz asks: […]

City Lights celebrates the publication of Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems by Joyce Mansour Translator: Emilie Moorhouse Published by City Lights Books Garrett Caples in conversation with Emilie Moorhouse Rediscover Joyce Mansour, the most significant Surrealist poet to emerge from 1950s Paris. “You know very well, Joyce, that you are for me–and very objectively too–the greatest […]

Join City Lights in celebrating our 70th anniversary by learning more about our history! This event will take place live and in person in Kerouac Alley (next to the bookstore, between our shop and Vesuvio Cafe).  City Lights celebrates its 70th Year! Have you ever wondered about the origins of City Lights? Did you know there […]

City Lights and The New Press celebrate the publication of War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine by Norman Solomon published by The New Press From the acclaimed veteran political analyst, a searing new exposé of how the American military, with the help of the media, conceals its perpetual […]

City Lights and Dalkey Archive Press celebrate the publication of “small pieces” By Micheline Aharonian Marcom and Fowzia Karimi Published by Dalkey Archive Press small pieces is a collaboration between novelist Micheline Aharonian Marcom and writer and visual artist Fowzia Karimi, pairing Marcom’s short stories (or “miniatures” as Marcom calls them—prose pieces of one page […]

City Lights and Duke University Press celebrate the publication of The Williamsburg Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Sound on the Brooklyn Waterfront By Cisco Bradley Published by Duke University Press In The Williamsburg Avant-Garde Cisco Bradley chronicles the rise and fall of the underground music and art scene in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn between the […]

Our beautiful fall season offers plenty of time to get outside.  Join us for an interactive and inspiring talk on ways to have more meaningful experiences in the outdoors.  Gavin, from the South Lake Tahoe Library rary, will present a selection of science-rooted tips for creatively engaging with the natural world, blended with reading of […]

Investigative journalist Justine Barron is joined by Rabia Chaudry, Alex Vitale, and Sierria Warren (Moderated by  Kim Brown) discussing the newly published book They Killed Freddie Gray: The Anatomy of a Police Brutality Cover-Up Hardcover by Justine Barron, forward by Rabia Chaudry published by Arcade Books Based on new evidence and deep reporting, the riveting […]

Grammy Award-winning music scholar and celebrated biographer John Szwed presents the first biography of Harry Smith, the brilliant eccentric who transformed twentieth century art and culture. He was an anthropologist, filmmaker, painter, folklorist, mystic, and walking encyclopedia. He taught Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe about the occult, swapped drugs with Timothy Leary, sat at the […]

City Lights together with Princeton University Press present Joanna Moorhead in conversation with Wendi Norris celebrating the newly published book Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington By Joanna Moorhead Published by Princeton University Press An illustrated biography of the pioneering British artist and writer, tracing her life and work through the many […]