Happiest publication day to translator C Francis Fisher and Joyce Mansour, SATISFIED SARCOPHAGI: Collected Short Stories (City Lights. August 4, 2026) 🌸 citylights.com/city-lights-...
City Lights Booksellers & Publishers
@citylightsbooks.bsky.social
A literary meetingplace since 1953, City Lights is a landmark bookstore and publishing house, known for our commitment to innovative writing and progressive ideals.
www.instagram.com/p/DbmnjQTm_Z... #SealeyChallenge 2/31 Love Works by Janice Mirikitani (Rest in Power, awesome poet & activist), published by the great @citylightsbooks.bsky.social 🌁🌃
![Book sits on wood.
Cover photo (by Alain McLaughlin) is B&W: Mirikitani (a Japanese American woman, w/mid length dark hair, wearing a leather jacket, a watch and a ring on her left wrist & ring-finger), smiling, leans out of a 2nd or 3rd story window over a fire escape above a blurry street scene.
Above the photo, in large white hollow text on a burgundy & black pattern:
LOVE WORKS
Below that, on a black horizontal stripe, in medium text:
[grey]Janice [white]MIRIKITANI
Below the photo, on a wider orange horizontal stripe, inside a thin white rectangle, in small text:
SAN FRANCISCO POET LAUREATE • SERIES No. 2](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:u2v3xos3vdyjm6ypwksdwi24/bafkreiha4w3lps4z6dcjex2ldppvd5kipbyepy6icdnqphg7l7b2qomleu)
![Poem on pp 70-71 of Love Works reads
THE STORYTELLER
for Brenda Wong Aoki
and Mark Izu
Her voice
a pool of silk
slides over our shoulders
enters our ears.
White crane maiden
weaves feathers
plucked from her heart
into a loom
of words
[ital.]tsu-ka tsu-ka.
A single thread, stained with blood,
is woven
into fables
of greed and love
and who prevails
Who prevails?
Sometimes we
[ital.]fly.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:u2v3xos3vdyjm6ypwksdwi24/bafkreidvkcvjfm2fgi3zf57kcqb7nmzv7bp72aebohxuuebg4firclnfyi)
The Right to Read Act invests in school libraries, strengthens literacy, and defends students' freedom to read. Sign and share the petition today! #library #libraries #read #reading #book #books #lit Via @everylibrary.bsky.social action.everylibrary.org/hr6640s3365
SEND AN EMAIL: Support the Right to Read in the United States
In a moment when censorship is spreading rapidly, and school libraries remain dramatically under-resourced, this bill sends a clear message
action.everylibrary.org
“‘What do they do in the Strong Room?’ I asked the man squatting behind the door. ‘Make lady jam,’ he told me, without taking his eyes off the newspaper.” From Joyce Mansour’s Satisfied Sarcophagi: Collected Short Stories ( @citylightsbooks.bsky.social ).
Corridors of Madness, by Joyce Mansour
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From our Summer Books section, Jess Paiz’s incomplete guide to San Francisco independent publishers, including @auntlute.bsky.social, @citylightsbooks.bsky.social, @lastgaspbooks.bsky.social, @tachyonpub.bsky.social, @twolinespress.com, and Third State Books: sf.gazetteer.co/prints-of-th...
Prints of the city
An incomplete guide to San Francisco’s independent publishers
sf.gazetteer.co
“Lying spread out along the wall like poppies in a priest’s garden, twelve Waffen-SS officers in night uniforms awaited death in a joyless and frustrated silence.” From Joyce Mansour’s “Satisfied Sarcophagi: Collected Short Stories” ( @citylightsbooks.bsky.social ).
Corridors of Madness, by Joyce Mansour
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"Sound was the first thing that drew me to writing—the melopoeia—the sound of the poem and how it affects the body in ways we don’t recognize." Temporary Utopias: @randlebrowning.bsky.social interviews Eleni Sikelianos about Memory Rehearsal (@citylightsbooks.bsky.social). ➡️ buff.ly/AnUQ0Xh
A memorable evening celebrating Greg Sarris and the release of his new novel at @citylightsbooks.bsky.social in #SF. Greg joined @zyzzyvamag.bsky.social's editor for a conversation in #KerouacAlley about the novel, CA Indigenous history and the people and places that shaped this work.
Don't let the American government decide what books you and your family are allowed to read. action.everylibrary.org/hr_7661 via @everylibrary.bsky.social
PETITION: Don't Let the Federal Government Regulate Your Reading
Not one country's freedom and liberty has ever been increased by banning books.
action.everylibrary.org
City Lights LIVE! events are back! Join us online and in Kerouac Alley this week! ⭕️ Thursday 7/23 6:30pm PT THE LAST HUMAN BEAR Greg Sarris with Oscar Villalon @heydaybooks.com In Kerouac Alley, registration not required, find more information here: citylights.com/events/greg-...
“I’ve come to understand that we need to tend to the living weave of thought and feeling that becomes writing, just as we tend to other things we want to keep alive, like children and plants,” writes Eleni Sikelianos, author of Memory Rehearsal (@citylightsbooks.bsky.social). at.pw.org/WRSikelianos
“I let myself be dragged toward the door when it was my turn, a vague hymn rising from the orchestra: ‘It’s good to feel like dead meat in summertime.’” From Joyce Mansour’s Satisfied Sarcophagi, out this summer with @citylightsbooks.bsky.social.
Corridors of Madness, by Joyce Mansour
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Ambient 1: Music for Airports by Brian Eno "This album is like a Pavlovian signal — I put it on, I write." —Eleni Sikelianos's playlist for her new book MEMORY REHEARSAL (City Lights May 2026) ❤️ @largeheartedboy.bsky.social playlist: bit.ly/4gxVKFN
Summer reading recommendations from Bay Area book people!
Staff picks: Summer reading recs from your friendly neighborhood booksellers
Kar recommends Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg Emma Copley Eisenberg’s debut collection is a masterclass in the short story, taking up the mantle of the likes of Lucia Berlin, Carmen Maria Machado, ...
sf.gazetteer.co
For our Summer Books Guide we asked well read booksellers from places like @greenapplebooks.bsky.social, @citylightsbooks.bsky.social, @booksmith.bsky.social, and Christopher’s Books for their summer must-reads: sf.gazetteer.co/staff-picks-...
"We've both seen a lot of change in the book business; one of the things that hasn't changed is the importance of conversation."—Paul Yamazaki on the Open Book Podcast open.spotify.com/show/5cUvUFg...
Last week our podcast featured Eleni Sikelianos in conversation with Matthew Zapruder discussing Sikelianos' latest work, published by City Lights! Listen at the links below, or on Apple Podcasts! Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/livefromcity... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7uGq...
Eleni Sikelianos talks about her memoir, MEMORY REHEARSAL, with the hosts of MEMOIR NATION. They discuss what it means to embody the life of an ancestor you never knew in your writing, & the role of photographs as narrative rather than decorative elements. A fascinating exploration. bit.ly/4fyyYxa
Eleni Sikelianos on How Subject Shapes Story
Memoir Nation · Episode
bit.ly
'The child in the picture is my grandfather, Glaukos. He is an old man in every memory I have of him, but he too was once young."——Eleni Sikelianos, from "Glaukos," published in MEMORY REHEARSAL (just published by City Lights!) Excerpted at Air/Light Magazine airlightmagazine.org/.../issue-13...
Celebrating Allen Ginsberg on his centennial 👑🎂 photo taken at Fantasy Records in Berkeley CA, 1950s
Eleni Sikelianos is at Naropa University's Summer Writing Program this Thursday, June 4th! 2:30pm: Artist's Talk 7pm: Faculty Reading with Fargo Tbakhi & Lucia Hinojosa Both events take place in the Performing Arts Center on Naropa University’s Arapahoe Campus bit.ly/4dYHJhD
"I write about what goes through my mind, and naturally, the world goes through my mind. So it looks like I'm writing about the world, but I'm just writing about notating the record of my mind's epiphanies."—Allen Ginsberg Ginsberg's Centennial is Weds., June 3rd! www.npr.org/2026/05/31/n...
Fresh ink! I reviewed Memory Rehearsal by Eleni Sikelianos for The Providence Eye: pvdeye.org/memory-rehea... @citylightsbooks.bsky.social @thepvdeye.bsky.social
The Family Legend: Eleni Sikelianos's Memory Rehearsal - The Providence Eye
It can be hard to come to terms with ancestors, especially if they’re charismatic, secretive, and unconventional. Fodder for endless gossip, they feed family legends while failing to show up for reuni...
pvdeye.org
Sunnylyn Thibodeaux, Lucky Charms: New and Selected Poems 2000-2025 / @nolapoet.bsky.social @citylightsbooks.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2026/06/sunn...
Sunnylyn Thibodeaux, Lucky Charms: New and Selected Poems 2000-2025
LUCKY CHARMS It is midafternoon. You are adrift My head flutters with smiles of the dead My heart aches. Rain let up for a brief spell o...
robmclennan.blogspot.com
awaiting spouse from an appointment, with my newly-purchased copy of Sunnylyn Thibideaux’s selected poems from City Lights // @citylightsbooks.bsky.social @nolapoet.bsky.social
Join us for our last two events before our June break! 🔴 TONIGHT Tuesday 5/26 7pm PT/10pm ET THROUGH THE GATES OF HELL: American Injustice at Guantanamo Bay Joshua Colangelo-Bryan w Philip Kearney [Humanitas Media] Join us at the bookstore or join the livestream here: citylights.com/events/joshu...
🛶 TONIGHT 5/21 7pm PT/10pm ET Barry Gifford THE EXCEPTION: Uncle Buck’s Book of Irrepressible Navigation @sevenstories.bsky.social If you can't make it to the bookstore, register here to join us online: citylights.com/events/barry...
