Detail of The God of San Francisco book cover, courtesy of James J. Siegel; portrait of James J. Siegel by Desi Tafoya; portrait of Natasha Dennerstein by Jose Alberto Guzman Colon; portrait of Baruch Porras-Hernandez by Fabian Echevarriah; portrait of Dazié Grego-Sykes by Bethanie Hines; portrait of Jacques J. Rancourt by PhotosJustSo.
In honor of National Poetry Month in April, poet James J. Siegel will read excerpts from his new poetry collection The God of San Francisco (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2020), a poetic exploration of San Francisco’s queer history from the North Beach drag scene to Twin Peaks Tavern in the Castro, from the triumphant election of Harvey Milk to the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic. Siegel will be joined by queer poets Natasha Dennerstein, Dazié Grego-Sykes, Baruch Porras-Hernandez and Jacques J. Rancourt to read poems that explore our personal connections to LGBTQ history, our queer ancestors and the ongoing fight for equality.
All attendees who donate $20 or more with their ticket reservation for this event will receive a copy of The God of San Francisco from author James J. Siegel!
Please make sure to include your mailing address when reserving your tickets in order to receive your book after the event.
SPEAKERS
Natasha Dennerstein (she/her/hers) was born in Melbourne, Australia. She has an MFA from San Francisco State University. Natasha has had poetry published in many journals internationally. Her collections Anatomize (2015), Triptych Caliform (2016) and her novella-in-verse About a Girl (2017) were published by Norfolk Press in San Francisco. Her trans chapbook Seahorse (2017) was published by Nomadic Press in Oakland. She lives in Oakland, California, where she is an editor at Nomadic Press and works at St. James Infirmary, a clinic for sex-workers in San Francisco. She was a 2018 Fellow of the Lambda Literary Writer’s Retreat.
Dazié Grego-Sykes (he/him/his) is an Oakland-based performance artist, educator, author and activist. He graduated from the Experimental Performance Institute at New College in San Francisco and holds an MFA in interdisciplinary arts and writing from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is most known for his two solo plays Am I a Man and Nigga-Roo. He won the Best of SF Fringe Award in 2017 and recently published a collection of poetry titled Black Faggotry (2020) which sits alongside his debut spoken-word album Make Me Black. Currently, Grego-Sykes is writing a play titled The 45th which focuses on the impact of the Trump administration on the lives of Black and brown people in the Bay Area. He is the associate artistic director for San Francisco’s Tenderloin-based performance ensemble Skywatchers.
Baruch Porras-Hernandez (he/him/his) is a writer, performer, organizer, professional emcee, curator, standup comedian and the author of the chapbooks I Miss You, Delicate and Lovers of the Deep Fried Circle, both with Sibling Rivalry Press. He had the honor of touring with the legendary Sister Spit Queer poetry tour in 2019 and is a two-time winner of Literary Death Match, a regular host of literary shows for KQED. His solo show Love in the Time of Piñatas got a clapping man from the San Francisco Chronicle and was performed to sold-out houses at Epic Party Theatre in December 2019. He is the head organizer of ¿Donde Esta Mi Gente? a Latinx literary performance series, and is currently the lead artist in a multidisciplinary project that will create new Queer Latino Superheroes with the Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana in San Jose.
Jacques J. Rancourt (he/him/his) is the author of the full-length poetry collections Brocken Spectre (forthcoming in 2021) and Novena (2017), as well as a chapbook In the Time of PrEP (2018). His poems have appeared in the Boston Review, Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Ploughshares, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among others. He earned a BFA and BA from the University of Maine and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he was a founding editor of the literary journal Devil’s Lake. He has held fellowships, residencies, and scholarships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Stanford University where he was a 2012–2014 Wallace Stegner Fellow. He lives in San Francisco and currently works as a middle-school principal.
James J. Siegel (he/him/his) is the author of the poetry collection The God of San Francisco, published in 2020 by Sibling Rivalry Press. He is the host and curator of the monthly Literary Speakeasy show at Martuni’s piano bar in San Francisco. Originally from Toledo, Ohio, his first poetry collection, How Ghosts Travel, was inspired and fueled by his coming of age in the Midwest and was a finalist for an Ohioana Book Award. He was a scholarship recipient to the Antioch Writers’ Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and his poems have been featured in a number of journals, including The Cortland Review, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, HIV Here & Now and The Good Men Project. He was also featured in the anthology Divining Divas: 100 Gay Men on Their Muses.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
This event will take place online. After you register, you will receive a confirmation email with a link and instructions on how to join.
ADMISSION
Free | $5 suggested donation
Register online here: http://bit.ly/3pGmWnD
ASL INTERPRETATION
ASL interpretation provided upon request. Please write at least three days in advance of event to leigh@glbthistory.org.
JOIN THE GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks: www.glbthistory.org/memberships.