Join us for live readings
from poetry, fiction, and nonfiction contributors to the
winter 2024 issue of Catamaran

Readings by:
David Hathwell, Kathryn Jordan, Veronica Kornberg
Joe Ortiz, Dorothy Steinicke, Patrice Vecchione

2023 Poetry Prize Book Launch
at the San Francisco Historical Society

Sat Nov. 4th
608 Commercial St, San Francisco
5:00-7:00pm

Join us to celebrate Brad Crenshaw's poetry collection Chased by Lunacies and Wonders, winner of the 2023 Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast poets.

The ticket price includes a copy of the book.

5:00-6:00pm -  Reception. Enjoy complimentary refreshments while you mix and mingle with Bay Area literati. Tour the San Francisco Historical Society Museum, located at the epicenter of San Francisco's historic core, on one of the city's oldest commercial streets. The building is the site of the first mint in the West. Peer into the underground vault were gold was stored prior to the 1906 earthquake. 

6:00 - 6:30 - Live Poetry Readings by poets Alison Turner (2021 winner) and Brad Crenshaw (2023 winner).
6:30-7:00 - Book signings with Brad Crenshaw and Alison Turner
Event parking is available at Portsmouth Square Garage, off Kearny, is just a block away - $8

Catamaran Contributor Readings at the Mechanics Institute

57 Post Street, San Francisco
Thurs. Oct 12th

6:00-6:30 Reception, 6:30-7:30 Readings
7:30-8:00 Library Tour

Readings by:
John Briscoe, Jeff Ewing, Steve Guittierez, Dan Haifley,
Dion O’Reilly, Yaccaria Salvatierra, Sean Stiny

Catamaran 10th Annual Art Exhibition
at the R. Blitzer Gallery

2801 Mission St in Santa Cruz

The exhibition will open on First Friday, Oct. 6th with a reception from 5:00-8:00pm. Join us for refreshments, live music, and a chance to meet the artists.
The exhibit will be open for the month of October, and close on Sat. Oct. 28th with an artist talk at 1:00pm-5:00pm. Gallery hours are Thursday - Sunday from 1-5pm.

Featuring works by: Jack Chapman, Frank Galuszka, Elizabeth Geiger, Christine Hanlon, Nona Hershey, Paul Hotvedt, Ralph Joachim, Jim MacKenzie, Anne Austin Pearce, Harry Stooshinoff

Join us to celebrate the launch of our 42nd edition of Catamaran, our fall 2023 issue of the magazine, with a reception and contributor readings, at the Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz
Reception: 6-7pm
Readings: 7-8pm
With readings by:
Christie Cochrell, Brad Crenshaw, Dan Haifley, Adela Najarro,
Jean McDonough, Dion O’Reilly, Craig Seip, Christine Waresak

Join us to celebrate our Summer 2023 issue in person at Book Shop Santa Cruz! The reception will begin at 6:30, with readings beginning at 7pm. Readings by:

Wallace Baine, Andrew Beierle, Michelle Bitting, Jessica Cohn, Maverick Pflueger, Yaccaria Salvatierra, Dakeya Sampson, David Allen Sullivan, and Barbara Tannenbaum

Join Catamaran at the Orcas Island Lit Fest

Catamaran contributors from the Seattle area will be reading from their work.
Friday, June 2nd at 7pm. at the Roots, a cafe and event space, located at 68 N Beach Rd, Eastsound.

Readings by:
Barbara Bloom, Joanna Kadish, John Glowney, Teressa Janssen, Gary Thompson, Liz Kellebrew, and Vincent Rendoni

Join us to celebrate John Straley’s new book
Blown by the Same Wind

the latest in his cold storage novel mystery series

6:00 - 6:30 - Reception
6:30 - 7:00 - Author Reading and Book Discussion
7:00 - 7:30 - Book Signing

At the Tannery Arts Center, 1050 River St. #118, in Santa Cruz

Mysterious dreams of grizzly bears, a bumbling FBI agent, and a tense hostage negotiation have the town of Cold Storage, Alaska, turned upside down. Inspired by assassination conspiracy theories, the life of Thomas Merton, and the changing tide of the ’60s, Blown by the Same Wind is a coming-of-age story for the entire town. Things in the sleepy fishing town of Cold Storage, Alaska, are changing. It’s the summer of 1968; the men are wearing their hair long, the Vietnam War is at its height, and multiple assassinations have gripped the country. But some things remain the same. Ellie’s bar is still the place to catch up on the town gossip, and there’s a lot to talk about, from the boys who have returned from the war (and the ones who haven’t), to the robberies that are plaguing the locals, to the new guy in town: a famous monk from Kentucky. Ellie, herself a fugitive of sorts, is curious about this “Brother Louis,” and worries about his motives, but he seems harmless enough. However, when a handful of other outsiders arrive to town and start poking around the bar and asking questions, Ellie begins to have reservations. Have they followed this mysterious monk, rumored to be the famous author Thomas Merton, to Cold Storage? And what is it that they want, particularly the inept FBI agent with the strange name: Boston Corbett?

PRAISE FOR THE COLD STORAGE NOVELS

“[Straley] writes crime novels populated by perpetrators whose hearts are filled with more poetry than evil.”

—The Wall Street Journal

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Straley, was a criminal investigator for the state of Alaska, where he and his wife, a marine biologist, raised their only son. He now lives in the Monterey Bay Area, He is the Shamus Award–winning author of The Curious Eat Themselves, The Woman Who Married a Bear, and The Big Both Ways, and was appointed the Writer Laureate of Alaska in 2006.

Join us for dinner and a book discussion at Gabriella Cafe with author Karen Joy Fowler. Karen will as talk about her new novel Booth. Reserve your spot at Gabriella Cafe on Open Table or by phoning the restaurant at 831 457-1677.

DINNER: 6PM
AUTHOR BOOK DISCUSSION AND READING FROM BOOTH: 7PM
BOOK SIGNING: 7:30PM
BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR SALE AT THE SALON

Santa Cruz based author Karen Joy Fowler is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels and three short story collections. Her 2004 novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel, Sarah Canary, won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, was listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, and her collection What I Didn’t See won the World Fantasy Award in 2011. Her most recent novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, won the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction and was short-listed for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. Her new novel Booth was published in March 2022.

From Karen Joy Fowler, a Man Booker finalist and bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves comes an epic and intimate novel BOOTH about the family behind one of the most infamous figures in American history: John Wilkes Booth.

In 1822, a secret family moves into a secret cabin some thirty miles northeast of Baltimore, to farm, to hide, and to bear ten children over the course of the next sixteen years. Junius Booth—breadwinner, celebrated Shakespearean actor, and master of the house in more ways than one—is at once a mesmerizing talent and a man of terrifying instability. One by one the children arrive, as year by year, the country draws frighteningly closer to the boiling point of secession and civil war.

As the tenor of the world shifts, the Booths emerge from their hidden lives to cement their place as one of the country’s leading theatrical families. But behind the curtains of the many stages they have graced, multiple scandals, family triumphs, and criminal disasters begin to take their toll, and the solemn siblings of John Wilkes Booth are left to reckon with the truth behind the destructively specious promise of an early prophecy.

Booth is a startling portrait of a country in the throes of change and a vivid exploration of the ties that make, and break, a family.

Join us for the launch of the 40th Edition of Catamaran
our Spring 2023 issue of the magazine

The Mechanics Institute Library
Thursday, March 16th

featuring contributor readings by:
Margit Liesche, Megan Moodie, Gail Newman, Lisa Ortiz
Rajeev Prasad, Kelly Shire, Paul Skenazy, Jeanne Wagner
Reception: 6:00, Readings: 6:30-7:30, Tour: 7:30-8:00

Elizabeth McKenzie
in conversation with Karen Joy Fowler
about her new novel
The Dog of the North

at Bookshop Santa Cruz, on Pacific Ave. in downtown Santa Cruz
Tues. March 14th, 7:00 pm

"Even funnier, even more romantic than McKenzie's wonderful last, The Portable Veblen, this is a screwball comedy worthy of a Preston Sturgis screenplay. You will be surprised, delighted, and grateful to be aboard The Dog of the North with the admirable Penny Rush as she faces every challenge her wild and crazy family can throw at her. A book that lifts the spirits." —Karen Joy Fowler, author of Booth

Join us in Seattle for
Catamaran’s 10 year anniversary
celebration readings

The event will be at Freehold Theater, 517 Maynard Ave S, in Seattle's Chinatown-International District, on Maynard Avenue South between King and Weller.
Readings by:
Dion O’Reilly, Martin Perlman, Barbara Tannenbaum, Ben Masaoka
Joe McAvoy, Micah Perks, Vincent Rendoni, and Tess Gallagher
Reception: 5:30-6:00, Readings: 6:00-7:00, Book Signing: 7:00-7:30

Join us for dinner and a book discussion at Gabriella Cafe with poet Dion O’Reilly. Dion will as talk about her debut poetry collection GHOST DOGS. Reserve your spot at Gabriella Cafe on Open Table or by phoning the restaurant at 831 457-1677.

DINNER: 6PM
BOOK DISCUSSION AND READING FROM GHOST DOGS: 7PM
BOOK SIGNING: 7:30PM
BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR SALE AT THE SALON

Dion O’Reilly’s Ghost Dogs is polished, powerful, and deeply rooted in the landscape of the Pacific West. The poems tell a compelling story of a life with many challenges, exalted by a sense of the marvelous. Her writing sings with astonishingly fresh imagery, and fully experienced emotion. The poems touch every sense, her metaphors are strikingly original. Ghost Dogs gives a summation of a life, with the poet finding wells of emotion in the most unlikely places—a pig about to be shot by a butcher, or a thumb she sucked until well into adulthood. There is such a fierce appetite in this book, a hunger for the depths and heights of human experience, described with abandon mixed with great refinement.

—Zack Rogow, author of Irreverent Litanies and The Number Before Infinity

Dion O'Reilly’s debut collection, Ghost Dogs, was runner-up for The Catamaran Prize and shortlisted for The Eric Hoffer Award. Her second book Sadness of the Apex Predator will be published by University of Wisconsin's Cornerstone Press in 2024. Her work appears in The Sun, Rattle, Cincinnati Review, Narrative, The Slowdown, and elsewhere. She facilitates private workshops, hosts a podcast at The Hive Poetry Collective, and is a reader for Catamaran Literary Quarterly. Most recently, her poem "The Value of Tears" was chosen by the poet Denise Duhamel as winner of the Glitter Bomb Award.

Catamaran Winter Issue Launch Event
A virtual event - Online
with readings by contributors
nationally and internationally

We are pleased to launch Catamaran's Winter 2023 edition, our 39th issue of the quarterly magazine. This event will feature live readings from poets and writers published in the new edition of the magazine. We are very excited to share with you the continued excellence of our contributors.

Featuring Readings By:

Candace Calsoyas, Nan Cohen, Ken Holland, Charles Hood, Melissa McKinstry, Matthew Meduri, Kateryna Mikhalitsyna, Martin Perlman, Tobi Pledger, Jeremy Ra, Ted Rooney, Pepper Trail,
Laima Vince

Join us to celebrate Santa Cruz poet Farnaz Fatemi’s new book of poetry Sister Tongue. This event will be held at the Tannery Arts Center during the First Friday Art Walk and will be open to the public.

• 6:00-6:30 - Reception

• 6:30-7:00 - Poetry reading and discussion of the book with poet Farnaz Fatemi

• 7:00-7:30 - Book signing

“In Sister Tongue, Fatemi shines gorgeous light on the liminal space between languages, bearing witness to the joy and longing that accompany every act of translation.”—Tracy K. Smith, from the Foreword

The poems in Sister Tongue explore negative spaces—the distance between twin sisters, between lovers, between Farsi and English, between the poet’s upbringing in California and her family in Iran. This space between vibrates with loss and longing, arcing with tension. Fatemi’s poetry delves into the intricacies of the relational space between people, the depth of ancestral roots, and the visceral memories that shimmer beyond the reach of words.

Language is one of the origins of the poet’s displacement and the evidence of her non-belonging—in both Farsi- and English-speaking communities. The long lyric essay which makes up the spine of this book plumbs years of wordlessness and a journey of reconciliation, as Fatemi asks how her tongue might be a passport to the otherwise inaccessible territories within a self. 

Please join us for the 13th annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading, featuring honored guest Natasha Trethewey. Poet Gary Young will host the program, and the evening will include an announcement of the winner of the Morton Marcus Poetry Contest by Catherine Segurson (recipient receives a $1,000 prize).

Join us to celebrate 10 years of our literary journal Catamaran at the Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz. We will have lite appetizers and drinks with a silent auction, followed by a program to honor 10 years of our nonprofit organization's accomplishments.

Join us to celebrate 10 years of our Santa Cruz based literary journal Catamaran at the Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz. The event will be on Thursday, Oct. 20th from 5PM to 8PM. First we will offer light appetizers and drinks in the atrium and garden of the museum with a silent auction for you to browse in the tree room on the first floor.

This will be followed by a program to honor 10 years of publishing our journal and other literary accomplishments. The program will include a fun video and literary readings. Reserve your spot now by getting your ticket! Your attendance will support Catamaran and our community based programs (classes, conference, art exhibits, LitChats, readings) by providing funding for our nonprofit organization. As well as admittance to this festive celebration:

• Enjoy cocktails, wine, and light appetizers provided by Gabriella Cafe, Home, Equinox, and Rebecca Campbell. Mingle with local literati! 

• Browse a silent auction of art works, local products, books, and literary treasures 

• Attend a short program featuring a video reel by Tap Productions and readings 

• Free admission to tour the MAH galleries during the event

• Musical performance on violin and cello, and DJ tunes for dancing following the program

• Special Tannery World Dance Performance

Thank you to our sponsors:

Thank you to our individual sponsors:

Diane Craddock and David Hogye * Alison Carrillo * Rebecca Campbell * Andre LaFleur * Dion O'Reilly