Babar in Exile is a quarterly reading series curated and hosted by Richard Loranger and Paul Corman-Roberts at The Octopus Literary Salon in Oakland, California. It is a commemoration and revival of the raucous trinity of high energy San Francisco readings of the 1980’s and 90’s, located at Café Babar, Paradise Lounge, and Club Chameleon. Each reading features two original participants of these series along with a contemporary poet of similar ilk who is dubbed an “Honorary Babarian”. Babar in Exile also proffers a much-loved open mic, which was core to the explosion of performative voices in those original series, and an aluminum siding gong in (loud) memory of the stageside wall at Café Babar which readers so lovingly bashed for emphasis. It began in May, 2015, and was cut slightly short after February, 2020, due to the pandemic. We’d planned one final blowout event that May, on what would have been our fifth birthday. As of 2023, things are still opening up in the Bay Area, but who knows, maybe we’ll have a finale yet!
Historically the Café Babar, Poetry Above Paradise, and Chameleon series are very significant in the San Francisco Bay Area poetry arena, and had a strong and positive influence on many of today’s Bay Area writers who have come into their own since that time. They were, among other things, a link between the Beat tradition and the millennial galaxy of voices, fostering the passionate work of women, queer writers, street poets, and wordsmiths of more diverse backgrounds than the reading scene had ever done before, paving the way for the megacultural tide of the 21st Century. Numerous of the poets from this era are still active in the Bay Area poetry venues, but many are mind-blowing readers who rarely read out any more. Babar in Exile gives contemporary audiences a chance to hear and share the stage with strong voices who helped to shape Bay Area poetry over the last thirty years, writers of both historical importance to the local and national scenes, and of ongoing influence.
The readings and features are listed below, with the latest reading on top. With any luck you came on down to check out a slice of Bay Area poetry history, now and in the making, and made your way home with a bindle full of inspiration and a thimbleful more hope for the species.
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COMING UP: Babar in Exile #22: Up Close & Personal
Our next-to-last reading of the series!
Thursday, February 13, 2020
7 – 9 pm
at
Himalayan Flavors
(in the back room)
1585 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA
Featuring:
Russell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga
Tim Xonnelly
and “Honorary Babarian” Anna Allen
Hosted by Paul Corman-Roberts & Richard Loranger
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Babar in Exile #21: Till Death Do We Part
Thursday, November 14, 2019
7 – 9 pm
at
Himalayan Flavors
(in the back room)
1585 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA
Featuring:
Chris Trian
Deirdre Trian
and the work of Vampyre Mike Kassel
Hosted by Paul Corman-Roberts & Richard Loranger
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SPECIAL EVENT:
Zeitgeist Press Presents:
Julia Vinograd Release Party – Selected Works and Tribute Anthology
Sunday, October 20, 2019
2 – 4 pm
at
Himalayan Flavors
(in the back room)
1585 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA
Zeitgeist Press is very excited to present two new Julia Vinograd books with a celebration at Himalayan Flavors. Publisher Bruce Isaacson has put together A Symphony for Broken Instruments, a seminal collection of selected works along with a big section of previously unpublished poems. Never before has such a tour de force of Vinograd’s work been together in one volume, which is 384 pages in total, including art by Deborah Vinograd and Chris Trian. At the same event, editor Deborah Fruchey presents Our Lady of Telegraph Avenue, the new tribute anthology of poems to, for, and about Julia Vinograd by a slew of friends and local writers.
Please join us for a festive afternoon celebrating the life and work of this remarkable woman who energized and shaped the poetry of the SF Bay Area for over fifty years.
with
Bruce Isaacson presenting A Symphony for Broken Instruments: Selected and New Works by Julia Vinograd
and
Deborah Fruchey presenting the Julia Vinograd tribute anthology Our Lady of Telegraph Avenue
with readings from both volumes.
Hosted by Bruce Isaacson & Deborah Fruchey
Event is free of charge and books for sale at a one-time discount.
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Babar in Exile #20: Babar Does the Lit Crawl
Saturday, October 19, 2019
8 – 9 pm
at
Gents Barber Club
3041 – 24th Street (between Folsom and Harrison)
San Francisco, CA
Featuring:
QR Hand
Jan Steckel
Sparrow 13
Bruce Isaacson
Richard Loranger
Deborah Fruchey
David Gollub
Kathleen Wood
and Steve Arntson
Hosted by Paul Corman-Roberts
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Babar in Exile #19: A Family Affair
Thursday, August 8, 2019
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Kimi Sugioka
Richard Stone
and Kai Sugioka-Stone
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Babar in Exile #18
Thursday, May 9, 2019
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Glenn Ingersoll
Deborah Fruchey
and
Yume Kim
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Babar in Exile #17: Viva Babar! – New Zeitgeist Press Authors
Thursday, February 14, 2019
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring, all the way from Las Vegas:
Bruce Isaacson
Syd Stewart
James Norman
and Heather Lang Cassera
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Babar in Exile #16: Babar de los Muertos
Thursday, November 8, 2018
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Josiah Luis Alderete
Michelle Cruz Gonzales
y Chris “L7” Cuadrado
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Babar in Exile #15: Babar in Exile Returns to Lit Crawl
Saturday, October 20, 2018
6:30 – 7:30 pm sharp
at
Intentionally Blank
1360 Valencia Street (between 24th and 25th Streets)
San Francisco, CA
Featuring:
Bruce Isaacson
Jan Steckel
Margery Snyder
Tarin Towers
Julia Vinograd
David Gollub
Kathleen Wood
and “Honorary Babarian” Paul Corman-Roberts
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Babar in Exile #14
Thursday, August 9 2018
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Neeli Cherkovski
QR Hand
and “Honorary Babarian” Kelly Landmine
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Babar in Exile #13
Thursday, May 10, 2018
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Daphne Gottlieb
Alvin Orloff
and “Honorary Babarian” Giavanna Ortiz de Candia
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Babar in Exile #12
Thursday, February 8, 2018
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Margery Snyder
Tarin Towers
and “Honorary Babarian” G Macias Gusman
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Babar in Exile #11: Babar in Requiem
Thursday, November 16, 2017
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Margery Snyder reading Whitman McGowan
and Dawn Oberg reading Dominique Lowell
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Babar in Exile #10: Babar in Exile Comes to Lit Crawl
Saturday, October 14, 2017
8 – 9 pm
at
Gents Barber Club
3041 – 24th Street (between Folsom and Harrison)
San Francisco, CA
Featuring:
Bruce Isaacson
QR Hand
Julia Vinograd
David Gollub
Kathleen Wood
David West
Deborah Fruchey
and
Steve Arntson
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Babar in Exile #9
Thursday, August 10, 2017
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Sparrow 13
Tom Stolmar
and “Honorary Babarian” Vanessa Lewis
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Babar in Exile #8.5: Special Edition featuring Ralph LaCharity
Friday, June 16, 2017
5 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Ralph LaCharity
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Babar in Exile #8
Thursday, May 4, 2017
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
John Longhi
Dawn Oberg
and “Honorary Babarian” Joel Landmine
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Babar in Exile #7
Thursday, February 16, 2017
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Jennifer Joseph
and “Honorary Babarian” William Taylor, Jr.
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Babar in Exile #6
Friday, October 21, 2016
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Jan Steckel
Max Wolf Valerio
and Tim Donnelly
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Babar in Exile #5
Sunday, June 12, 2016
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Bucky Sinister
Deborah Fruchey
and “Honorary Babarian” Garrett Murphy
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Babar in Exile #4
Saturday, February 13, 2016
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Kimi Sugioka
Steve Arntson
and “Honorary Babarian” James Cagney
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Babar in Exile #3
Thursday, November 12, 2015
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Bruce Isaacson
David West
and “Honorary Babarian” Missy Church
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Babar in Exile #2
Thursday, August 13, 2015
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Julia Vinograd
David Gollub
Kathleen Wood
and “Honorary Babarian” MK Chavez
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Babar in Exile #1
Friday, May 8, 2015
7 pm
at
The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA
Featuring:
QR Hand
Jennifer Blowdryer
Richard Loranger
and “Honorary Babarian” Cassandra Dallett