City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

09/30/2026

Truong Tran, author of "How to Exi(s)t: A Poet’s Memoir" TOUR!

Thurs, Oct 8, 7pm: Rizzoli Books, 1133 Broadway, NYC, with Margaret Rhee and Joseph Legaspi

Fri, Oct 9, Noon: New School for Social Research, 66 West 12th Street, New York, NY, Room A-404. Open to the public

Sun, Oct 18, 2pm: City Lights and Litquake present the San Francisco book launch! With City Lights editor, Garrett Caples. If you can’t join us in person, sign up for the livestream here https://shorturl.at/eG58z

Thurs, Oct 22, 6pm: Santa Clara University’s “Writing Forward Reading Series” presents Truong Tran, in conversation with KB Brookins. Held at the De Saisset Museum Auditorium. 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050. Free to the public.

Thurs, Oct 29: UC Santa Cruz’s “Living Writer’s Program"

Weds, Nov 4, 7pm: East Bay book launch at Pegasus Books, downtown Berkeley, with Esmé Weijun Wang

Fri, Nov 6, 7:30pm: Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA, reading, with Mimi Tempestt.

Sat, Nov 7, 11am – 2pm: Beyond Baroque, workshop

Sun, Nov 8, 3pm: Vroman’s, Pasadena CA, with Mimi Tempestt and Prageeta Sharma

Fri, Nov 13th: Location TBD, Dallas, TX, eading and conversation with Frederick Tran

Sun, Feb 21, 2027: Chicago IL, “Sunday Reading Series: Poetry, Prose and Cocktails,”held at Hungry Brain, 2319 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

More info: https://citylights.com/publishing/author-tours/

09/30/2026

Join City Lights and our fellow indie presses in Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco

this Sunday, Oct 4th, 11am to 4pm

at Litquake's Small Press Fair

We'll be listening to poetry, and selling our publications at deep discounts for cheap thrills ❤️

See you there?

These folks with be there there:

Alta Journal
Campfire Press
Center for S*x and Culture
Cita Press
DoppelHouse Press
Double Negative Press
Feather Press
Foglifter Journal and Press
The Green Arcade / Ithuriel's Spear
Heresy Press
Heyday Books
Last Gasp Press
Locus Magazine
Two Lines Press
Mumblers Press
North Atlantic Books
Panamerica
PAWA
PM Press
Reed Magazine
Scrambler Books
Sixteen Rivers Press
Society for the Promotion of Speculative Fiction
SoftPublishing
Unsolicited Press
Weavers Press
ZYZZYVA Literary Magazine
https://litquake2026.sched.com/event/2WDkL/small-press-book-fair

09/28/2026

New York friends!

You are cordially invited to
at Truong Tran's NYC book launch

for HOW to EXI(S)T: A Poet's Memoir
(published by City Lights)

with Margaret Rhee
&
Joseph Legaspi

at beautiful Rizzoli New York

Thursday, October 8th, 6pm

1133 Broadway near West 26th Street

Kindly RSVP here:
https://shorturl.at/0eMZ1

09/23/2026

What a thrill to host Jack White at City Lights today, reading poems from JACK WHITE COLLECTED LYRICS and SELECTED WRITING, edited by Ben Blackwell and published by Third Man Books 🤍

09/23/2026

"There is nothing for it I know except in generosity and tenderness for you to love me, and take my longing for you, my turning toward you as a thank you offering that I lay at your feet for all the beauty and the thought of joy that you have given me."—Eva Sikelianos, from her letter to Natalie Barney, Summer 1901

Excerpted from MEMORY REHEARSAL by Eleni Sikelianos
*published by City Lights

See Eleni:
THIS EVENT IS CANCELED DUE TO BAD WEATHER: Fri Sept 25, 7pm La Grua Center, Stonington CT
* book sales by Bank Square Books

Tues Sept 29, 5:30pm Brown University, Providence RI
*book sales by Riff Raff

More at https://citylights.com/publishing/author-tours/

photo credit:

Eva Sikelianos in Natalie Barney's play "Équivoque," based on Sappho fragments. (Smithsonian, Alice Barney Pike Papers)

09/22/2026

Congrats to Dick Cluster, who won the Northern California Book Award, Best Prose Translation

for his work on Gabriela Alemán’s novel SMOKE

published by City Lights on Oct 14, 2025.

🔥

from the award citation:
Cluster's compelling translation gracefully navigates the novel's rich linguistic tapestry, which combines dreamlike lyrical evocations with detailed geographies, historical figures, cultural references, and embedded fragmentary texts.

With remarkable clarity that avoids simplification, Cluster honors Alemán's use of multilingual dialogue, especially the indigenous Guarani language, ultimately deserving the same accolades as the character Biro, "a magician, a hypnotist."

More about SMOKE: https://citylights.com/city-lights-published/smoke/
Edited · 18m

09/21/2026

City Lights LIVE! Events this week:

🌝 Monday 9/21 7pm PT/10pm ET
Diane Williams with Rita Bullwinkel
I LIKED REX
[The New York Review of Books]
Attend in-store or register here: https://citylights.com/events/diane-williams-in-conversation-with-rita-bullwinkel/

🌠 Tuesday 9/22 7pm PT/10pm ET
May-lee Chai in with CA Poet Laureate Lee Herrick
MY HUNGRY GHOSTS: Essays and Incantations
[Blair Books]
Attend in-store or register here: https://citylights.com/events/may-lee-chai-book-launch-for-my-hungry-ghosts/

🌁 Thursday 9/24 7pm PT/10pm ET
A Conversation with Genny Lim: San Francisco’s Poet Laureate
Genny Lim in conversation with D.A. Powell
Attend in-store or register here: https://citylights.com/events/a-conversation-with-genny-lim-san-franciscos-poet-laureate/

You can find the rest of our upcoming events here: https://citylights.com/events/

09/18/2026

Next Wednesday, Jack White will be at City Lights signing copies of his new work JACK WHITE: Collected Lyrics & Selected Writing
[Third Man Books]

He will be reading from the collection and in conversation with City Lights Events Director, Peter Maravelis!

Join us in the bookstore and be sure to register here: https://citylights.com/events/jack-white/

09/17/2026

HOLD STILL
by Ben Ehrenreich
City Lights, pub date: Oct 13

One of Literary Hub’s Most Anticipated Books for 2026!

One of Publishers Weekly’s Big Fall 2026 Books from Independent Publishers!

"After his mother—the celebrated writer and activist Barbara Ehrenreich—died in 2022, Ben Ehrenreich set a goal to deal with his grief: he would write a story every day. This project forms the basis of this book, part short fiction, part memoir, about dealing with the loss of a parent while becoming one yourself. "—Emily Temple, Literary Hub

"All of the pieces are reflections of a son with a hole in his heart trying to make sense of a world without his mother. A truly beautiful tribute to a remarkable woman."—Candace Smith, Booklist

Pre-order your copy here:
https://citylights.com/city-lights-published/hold-still-2/

09/16/2026

“How do I claim my identity as a writer when I also dread the act of reading?” he asked.

Truong Tran in conversation about his new book, HOW TO EXI(S)T: A Poet's Memoir (forthcoming in October with City Lights!), with Nicolle Delgado at the East Bay Express

Truong Tran confronts language and identity: Bay Area poet explores dyslexia, queerness and exclusion in his new memoir.