(Evan Karp)

In another recent example of the public library getting hip (see IMBIBE and One City, One Book), the Main hosted a program brainstormed by Rebecca Foust, Melissa Stein and Dean Rader this past Wednesday called The Poetry World Series [watch]. Frog and Toad confronted “the alterity of otherness.” Matthew Zapruder and Ada Limón scanned their respective repertoires for anything to do with glass shoes. With the help of Judge Daniel Handler, the event was a rare combination of humor and heartfelt poetry.

The Booksmith presented John Lithgow and Jeremy Rifkin on the same night, City Arts and Lectures‘ Fall season is in full swing; Andy Borowitz spoke with Paul Lancour.

Maybe it’s time for a commercial? Six ought to do:

Robert Haas, Richard O. Moore, and Linda Norton all read in Berkeley.

Litquake‘s twelfth festival started out with a party at the Verdi Club and then moved on to the Variety Preview Room for Off the Richter Scale, a series of programs including (but not at all limited to) Writing in California Prisons, Rhyming or Not, Science Fiction in a Real World, and Golden Gate and Beyond [creative non-fiction and fiction]. The always-favored Barely Published Authors packed the Make-Out Room and Cross-Border Diatribes filled the Mission Cultural Center with stellar performances by Francisco Herrera, Alejandro Murguíra, and Guillermo Gómez-Peña.

So much to follow… could it truly be? Yes. This past week was only the beginning. Check out a full schedule of Litquake’s events here and check back for videos and updates on each day’s happenings.