Sonoma County Literary Update

January 2026 Calendar of Literary Events

The monthly calendar reflects announcements that literary folk from the area have sent to us. To get a more complete list of author-events and workshop schedules, addresses and directions to the event locations, as well as bios of the presenters, you can use the links below.   Please send your calendar announcements, text only (no attachments or PDFs please), no later than noon on the last day of each month. Calendar entries are easier to include if they follow the format you see here (Day, date, time: event, cost, location, contact). Events should be within an hour’s drive of Sonoma County. Send your announcements to editor@socolitupdate.com. NOTE: Lengthy announcements will be edited. Where possible, please provide a link to a web page with complete details.

Book Passage www.bookpassage.com*
Copperfield’s Books www.copperfieldsbooks.com*
Petaluma Writers’ Forum and Jumpstart Writing Workshops: www.thewritespot.us
Readers’ Books www.readersbooks.com
Redwood Writers www.redwoodwriters.org
Sebastopol Center for the Arts www.sebarts.org
Sitting Room Library www.sittingroomlibrary.org

*NOTE: Book Passage and Copperfield’s Books have archived their virtual events. For Book Passages Conversations With Authors, go to: https://bookpassage.extendedsession.com/archive/ Copperfield’s Books’ Virtual Event Library may be found on YouTube.

Sunday, January 4. Session 3 of Short Story Project begins (write 8 Stories in 8 weeks, online and free). All the authors in the project write a story based on the same one-sentence prompt, and these are all posted on storyauthors.com. For details see Workshops page.

Monday, January 5, 4:00 p.m. Cotati poet Karen Pierce Gonzalez will perform an adaptation of her chapbook Coyote in the Basket of My Ribs, via Zoom, as part of Poetry: Near and Afar, a celebration of New York poets and poets across the country. Open mic sign up whe program opens. Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84107234780?pwd=IRnCzserbjL1KLEU1IEDccbTypUmlJ.1. Meeting ID: 841 0723 4780  Passcode: 834281

Monday, January 5, 6:00 p.m. Rivertown Poets Zoom meeting with featured readers Rebecca Faust and Jeanne Wagner. Followed by open mic. We ask that you bring one poem of less than three minutes to share so that we can include everyone who would like to read. If you’d like to join the reading list, please send an email to rivertownpoet@gmail.com. Join Zoom meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6508887879. Passcode: 2241991

Tuesday, January 6, 4:00-5:30 p.m. Poetic Medicine with Judith Redwing Keyssar at Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Redwing Keyssar has been leading “poetic medicine” sessions through her work in Palliative Care at UCSF for the past 5 years. Her work has created an international community of people who, by listening to and writing poetry together, have healed wounds of grief and loss” and provided resiliency to move forward on our life paths. $15.00. Max 18 attendees, pre-registration required. Details and registration: sebarts.org/classeslectures/p/poetic-medicine-01/06/26

Thursday, January 8, 4:00 p.m. Book Passage Corte Madera presents a multi-author panel discussing how historical fiction inspires and educates readers. Francine Falk-Allen, Janis Robinson Daly & Ginny Kubitz Moyer will share how and why they began their writing journeys and will read from one of their novels: The Path Beneath Her Feet (Robinson Daly), The World at Home (Kubitz Moyer), and A Wolff in the Family (Falk-Allen). More details: bookpassage.com/event/francine-falk-allen-ginny-kubiz-moyer-janis-robinson-daly-historical-fiction-panel-corte

Friday, January 9, 7:00-8:00 p.m. 7 Minutes Max Storytelling at Occidental Center for the Arts. An evening of 7 live stories told in 7 minutes or less. $10 GA, $5 for OCA members. Pay at the door. Storytellers will be selected randomly from willing participants. Theme for January: Resolutions. Details: occidentalcenterforthearts.org

Sunday, January 11, 4:00 p.m. Book Passage Corte Madera presents local author and creative writing and journalism teacher, Rebecca Elegant. Featured book: Tell Me Something True, a beautiful collection of 35 original poems paired with images of Northern California’s natural beauty, connecting the reader with the emotional landscape that’s part of the human experience. Details: bookpassage.com/event/rebecca-elegant-tell-me-something-true-corte-madera-store

Tuesday, January 13, 5:00-7:00 p.m. Poetry Salon Happy Hour at Barrel Proof Lounge, 501 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa. Raise a glass to the Power of Words! Fabulous Featured readers include: Jean Hegland, Ken Rodgers, Guy Biederman, and Betty Rodgers. Happy Hour starts at 4 p.m. with $6 beers & $2 off wine. Free popcorn! Start the new year off right with community, music and poetry! Email Timothy Williams, jaxonspress@gmail.com for more information.

Wednesday, January 14, 7:30 p.m. Dave Pokorny presents West Side Stories:  Every month there is a theme, hopefully that sparks a memory for you. You put your name in a hat and 10 people’s names are drawn at random. When your name is pulled you get 5 minutes to tell your personal true story. At the end of the evening, everyone votes by text for their favorite story of the night. The winner gets $50. January’s theme is “First Things First.”  Details and ticket ($21.50) purchase: davepokornypresents.com/west-side-stories

Thursday, January 15, 6:00 p.m. Bill Vartnaw will be reading at the San Francisco Public Library, Main Library, downstairs at the Latino/Hispanic Meeting Rooms A & B, for Kim Shuck’s Poem Jam.  Also reading: Gail Mitchell, Ingrid Keir & special guests(?)  The Public Library is at 100 Larkin St., across from Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco’s City Hall & the Asian Art Museum. More info: sfpl.org/events/2026/01/15/performance-kim-shucks-poem-jam

Friday, January 16, 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Online Literary Open Mic. Share a short story or poetry. Email johnnybodega1@gmail.com for Zoom link. Hosted by John Christian, http://flyingchairproductions.weebly.com.

Saturday, January 17, 11:00 a.m. Redwood Writers Club presents Shelley Blanton-Stroud on The Messy Intersection of Fact and Fiction: Navigating the Challenges of Writing a Novel based on History. She will talk about the challenges and opportunities based on writing historical fiction. How much does your fiction “have” to adhere accurately to history? What happens, good and bad, when you diverge? At the Finley Center, Santa Rosa. Details: redwoodwriters.org/shelley-blanton-stroud-the-messy-intersection-of-fact-and-fiction/

Sunday, January 18, 11: 00 a.m. Virtual book launch for Robin Gabbert’s new poetry collection, Somehow I haven’t Drowned. See our In Print page for info on book. Join the Zoom meeting at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88318148420?pwd=yzpsovUrqfdqxuqDnEIBRhfI3jyEtJ.1. Meeting ID: 883 1814 8420. Passcode: 388482. For questions, email: robinpoetry@gmail.com

Tuesday, January 20, 3:00-4:30 p.m. North Bay Poetics presents a preview of social (in)justice poems and poetry performance tips with Karen Pierce Gonzalez. Email Karen for Zoom link: kpgfolkheart@gmail.com. Or send an email to North Bay Poetics (info@northbaypoetics.net) to be added to their list.

Wednesday, January 21, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Dusty Artifact or Window Into the Past: Writing Poems on Petaluma History. If you think you know Petaluma history, then come prepared to be surprised as we write poems from new perspectives. Join Sonoma County Poet Laureate Dave Seter for this special one of a kind workshop. Free at Petaluma Historical Library and Museum, 20 Fourth Street, Petaluma. More details and registration: https://www.petalumamuseum.com/calendar-event/dusty-artifact-or-window-into-the-past-writing-poems-on-petaluma-history/

Wednesday, January 21, 6:00 p.m. Santa Rosa Poetry Slam. (Signups at 5:30 p.m.). At Brew Coffee and Beerhouse (555 Healdsburg Ave., Santa Rosa). Contact Santarosapoetryslam@gmail.com. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571774108946

Friday, January 23, 7:00 p.m. Copperfields Books welcomes novelist, actor and filmmaker John Sayles to Montgomery Village for the launch of his powerful historical fiction novel Crucible. Details: copperfieldsbooks.com/event/john-sayles-1

Saturday, January 24, 12:00 p.m. The third in the 3-part Zoom series #NotJustPretty, hosted by Cotati poet Karen Pierce Gonzalez and sponsored by Broken Spine Arts (UK). Special guests: Poets/artists Cat Baloq, Laura Grevel, Fidel H. Walsh, Jenn Givhan, Soheila Vahedi. There will also be an open mic. Zoom link forthcoming. More details: karenpiercegonzalez.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_19.html

Sunday, January 25, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Fourth Sunday Meditation Gathering with Clara Rosemarda. Free on Zoom. Details on Workshops page. Contact: 707-567-7117 or rosen@sonic.net

Sunday, January 25, 1:00 p.m. A special joint author event at Book Passage Corte Madera featuring two award-winning authors: Alice Jones, a celebrated poet, physician, and psychoanalyst, will be presenting her luminous new memoir, Cadence of Vanishing. She will be joined by Denise Newman, a distinguished poet, translator, and interdisciplinary artist, who will discuss her latest work, The Redesignation of Paradise. Details: bookpassage.com/event/alice-jones-denise-newman-cadence-vanishing-redesignation-paradise-corte-madera-store

Tuesday, January 27, 7:00-8:00 p.m.  Poetic License Sonoma: the first of quarterly Zoom readings in 2026 with guest headliner Terry Ehret, who has published four collections of poetry, most recently Night Sky Journey, and three bilingual volumes of the poems of Mexican poet Ulalume González de León. She is a co-founder of Sixteen Rivers Press and poet laureate emerita of Sonoma County. PLS poets include Steve Trenam, Jaime Zukowski, Judith Vaughn, Leo McCloskey, Kusum Jain, Susanne Arrhenius, Joseph Cutler, and Joan Osterman. The theme this month is Doubt. Zoom link: https://santarosa-edu.zoom.us/j/85623008113

Friday, January 30, 7:00 p.m. Copperfield’s Books welcomes local authors Grant Faulkner and Gail Butensky to Petaluma in celebration of their new book Something Out There in the Distance. Flash-fiction master Faulkner and photographer Butensky have partnered to create this unique narrative made up of stories alongside edge-of-the-world photography. The book tells of two lovers taking a reckless, searching road trip through the American West. More details: copperfieldsbooks.com/event/grant-faulkner-gail-butensky

 

Mark Your Calendar for February 2026

Sunday, February 1, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Occidental Center for the Arts. Writing Workshop with Julie Gieseke. Write Here: Letting the Land Open Up your Stories. This personal story/memoir workshop is for anyone interested in developing some of the many stories they hold. No previous experience required. Julie Gieseke is a writer, performer and visual artist. She is a coach for individuals seeking ways to break open their creative expression. Cost: Non-OCA Members $125/ Members $115. For details: see Workshops page or occidentalcenterforthearts.org

Monday, February 2, 6:00 p.m. Rivertown Poets at Aqus Cafe in Petaluma. Featured readers: Donna Emerson and John Trenam. Donna will launch her new poetry collection, Daphne Lifts Up, at this event and be available to sign books. Followed by open mic. Bring one poem of less than three minutes to share. Email any questions to rivertownpoet@gmail.com.

Tuesday, February 3, 6:00 p.m. Copperfields Books in Petaluma celebrates the release of The Lions’ Run with New York Times bestselling author Sara Pennypacker, joined in conversation by Stacey Lee, bestselling author and founder of the We Need Diverse Books movement. Details: copperfieldsbooks.com/event/sara-pennypacker-stacey-lee

Friday, February 6, 6:00 p.m. Book Passage author event in celebration of award-winning author David Guterson’s heartfelt and surprisingly humorous new book, Evelyn in Transit: A Novel. A crystalline short novel about defying expectations, hitting the road, and seeking the right way to live. At Corte Madera Store. Details: bookpassage.com/event/david-guterson-evelyn-transit-novel-corte-madera-store

Saturday, February 7, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Rumi’s Caravan at Sebastopol Center for the Arts. An Evening of Poetry and Music in the Ecstatic Tradition. Kay Crista, Barry Spector, Maya Spector, Rebecca Evert, and Larry Robinson share their heartfelt verses, drawing from the rich tapestry of Rumi’s wisdom and the ecstatic spirit of poetic expression. Tickets: $35 will call only. Details:sebarts.org/classes-lectures/rumis-caravan-2026

Tuesday, February 10, 17, 24, 4:00-5:30 p.m. Poetic Medicine with Judith Redwing Keyssar at Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Redwing Keyssar has been leading “poetic medicine” sessions through her work in Palliative Care at UCSF for the past 5 years. Her work has created an international community of people who, by listening to and writing poetry together, have healed wounds of grief and loss” and provided resiliency to move forward on our life paths. $40.00 for 3 sessions. Max 18 attendees, pre-registration required. Details and registration: sebarts.org/classeslectures/p/poetic-medicine-02/10/26

Tuesday, February 10, 6:00-7:30 p.m. Writers Forum presents Kate Farrell: Telling Your Life Story. Memoir writing is often an emotionally intense process that can resurrect old feelings and traumas. We’ll discuss the ups and downs of writing a memoir, how to find support, and techniques to use in the process. Free on Zoom. Hosted by Marlene Cullen. Details:thewritespot.us/forum.php

Wednesday, February 11, 7:30 p.m. Dave Pokorny presents West Side Stories:  Every month there is a theme, hopefully that sparks a memory for you. You put your name in a hat and 10 people’s names are drawn at random. When your name is pulled you get 5 minutes to tell your personal true story. At the end of the evening, everyone votes by text for their favorite story of the night. The winner gets $50. January’s theme is “No Pain Without Gain.”  Details and ticket ($21.50) purchase: davepokornypresents.com/west-side-stories

Friday, February 13, 7:00-8:00 p.m. 7 Minutes Max Storytelling at Occidental Center for the Arts. An evening of 7 live stories told in 7 minutes or less. $10 GA, $5 for OCA members. Pay at the door. Storytellers will be selected randomly from willing participants. Theme for January: Resolutions. Details: occidentalcenterforthearts.org

Friday, February 13, 7:00 p.m. Copperfield’s Books welcomes award-winning author Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes to Montgomery Village, featuring her stunning new novel The Pohaku. Details: copperfieldsbooks.com/event/jasmin-iolani-hakes

Sunday February 15, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Occidental Center for the Arts hosts the writers of Red Flag Warning: Mutual Aid and Survival in California’s Fire Country: edited by Dani Burlison & Margaret Elysia Garcia. (AK Press) A guide for living physically, mentally and emotionally amid ecological destruction. Readers are invited to examine what fire can and does mean to them and what it means for us to re-imagine the world. Presenters from this collection include Dani Burlison, Manjula Martin, Hiya Swanhuyser, Beatrice Camacho, and Amy Elizabeth Robinson. Free admission, all donations gratefully accepted. Selected readings, and conversation with the audience, followed by book sales and signing. Refreshments for sale. OCA: 3850 Doris Murphy Way, Occidental, For more info: occidentalcenterforthearts.org

Friday, February 20, 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Online Literary Open Mic. Share a short story or poetry. Email johnnybodega1@gmail.com for Zoom link. Hosted by John Christian, http://flyingchairproductions.weebly.com.

Saturday, February 21, 11:00 a.m. Redwood Writers Club presents Christine Walker: SENSORY, WHOLE-BODY WRITING: How to bring Memorable Characters Alive on the Page! At the Finley Center in Santa Rosa (room 5). Details and registration.

Sunday, February 22, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Fourth Sunday Meditation Gathering with Clara Rosemarda. Free on Zoom. Details on Workshops page. Contact: 707-567-7117 or rosen@sonic.net

Sunday, February 22, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Occidental Center for the Arts Literary Series. Double Book Party, Music and Art! A Trifecta! An entrancing afternoon with two esteemed poets, Donna Emerson and Gerald Fleming, with selected readings from their recent collections, respectively, Daphne Lifts Up and The Bastard & The Bishop. musical interludes on various stringed instruments from award-winning composer and musician, Jared Emerson-Johnson. Pop-up Art show in lobby from local artist, Barbara Marlin, creator of Daphne Lifts Up book cover. Following readings, a Q&A, with book sales and signing in the lobby. Refreshments will be available for sale. Free event, all donations always gratefully accepted. 3850 Doris Murphy Way, Occidental 95465. OCA is accessible to people with disabilities. For more info: occidentalcenterforthearts.org