Litquake's Lit Cast

Recorded live at Litquake Festival 2025

"Dear ferocious dreamer. Dear maven of song and surveyor of every flung star. Dear meandering romantic, audacious witness, dear listener with the whole of your covetous heart." So begins Patricia Smith's invocation poem that grounded us on the penultimate night of Litquake 2025. Poets Mia Ayumi Malhotra, Achy Obejas, Matthew Zapruder, and Gabriel Cortez shared their work and we collectively bore witness to the beauty and resiliency of our words and community at the Mission's historic Victoria Theater.

Litquake Foundation | Literary Festival | San Francisco

Recorded live at Litquake Festival 2025

KALW's Sunni Khalid, NPR's former Cairo bureau chief, sat down with Daniel Zoughbie, UC Berkeley complex systems scientist and historian to explore how US presidents have shaped the Middle East, often unleashing instability and conflict along the way—and the one US president who successfully charted a better course.

Recorded live at Litquake Festival 2025

We spent a special evening at the Counterculture Museum with 4 award-winning crime fiction writers, all spinning murderous tales starring dramatically different protagonists. In this episode of LitCast, you will hear the authors read from their books and then go on to discuss their craft. Enjoy!

Recorded live at The Lost Church in San Francisco during Litquake 2025

Three authors gathered to create imaginative spaces where queer magic defeats the forces of evil. You'll hear from Charlie Jane Anders on her novel Lessons in Magic and Disaster, Michelle Tea on her novel Little F, and Caitlin Starling on her novel The Starving Saints. The evening was moderated by Evette Davis, author of the Council Trilogy.

Recorded live at Litquake Festival 2025

Shortly after the 60-year celebration of The Grateful Dead at Golden Gate Park, experts, intimates, and fans gathered at The Lost Church in San Francisco to continue spreading the love and sharing the memories. Litquake co-founder, journalist, and author Jack Boulware moderated a deadhead line up including Amelia Davis, David Gans, Jim Newton, and Dennis McNally. Enjoy!

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fUlvS0CcmMI?si=K5sZ8pfLo6_j1bSM

Recorded live at KALW during Litquake Festival 2025

Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, co-authors of the book Life After Cars and hosts of "The War on Cars" podcast, discuss the idea of building infrastructure that isn't centered around the automobile. In conversation with KALW's Sunni Khalid, they discuss the history of car-centric culture and outline the ways in which it contributes to inequality, climate crisis, and even the loneliness epidemic. They also offer glimpses at cities tackling the problem in novel and effective ways and offer practical tips for navigating the (car-free) road ahead.

Recorded live during Litquake Festival 2025

A beautiful evening was had with U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón as she read and discussed Startlement, an essential collection spanning nearly twenty years of emphatic, fearlessly original poetry from one of America's most celebrated living writers. With no shortage of awards and accolades to her name (MacArthur Genius and Time Woman of the Year, anyone?), Limón looked back on her distinguished career and shared radiant new work for the first time. In conversation with Matthew Zapruder.

Recorded live at Litquake Festival 2025

Outdoor enthusiast Josh Jackson had never heard of "BLM land" before a casual recommendation from a friend led him to a free campsite in the desert—and the revelation that over 15 million acres of land in California are owned collectively by the people. Recorded live at KALW during Litquake Festival 2025, Jackson discusses his new book, The Enduring Wild, which takes us on a road trip spanning thousands of miles, crisscrossing the Golden State to seek out every parcel of public wilderness therein. Jackson tells of the Indigenous peoples who have called them home for millennia, of the threats that imperil them today, and of the grassroots organizers and political champions who have rallied to uphold mandates to protect these natural treasures for generations to come. In conversation with KALW's Marissa Ortega-Welch.

Recorded live at Litquake 2025

What happens when a work becomes unbound by language, medium, and format? How does meaning and experience shift? These are the questions we explore in this recording from Litquake Festival 2025.

Writer, editor, and voice director Camilo Garzón and special guests, Noelle de la Paz, Monica Cure, and Amanda Nazareno, guide a listening party through three immersive audio adaptations: an Ecuadorian horror story about altitude sickness transformed into auditory terror, Romanian poetry layered with kitsch and nostalgia, and a Japanese short story with sounds and voices pushing the limits of reality. These multiple translations—from language, to audio, to the stage—unbind narrative from any single form, transcending the boundaries of medium, translation, and performance.

Recorded live at Counterpulse in San Francisco during Litquake Festival 2025.

Award-winning writer and cultural critic Sarah Schulman discusses the themes in her book, The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity. In conversation with 48 Hills' Mark Bieschke, she delves into the intricate and often misunderstood concept of solidarity to provide a new vision for what it means to engage in this work—and why it matters.