City Lights presents an afternoon of poetry and discussion in Kerouac Alley with
Maxine Chernoff & Friends
Please join us in celebrating the publication of Maxine Chernoff’s new collection:
Diary:Poems
Published by Quale Press
This event will be held in Kerouac Alley, between City Lights and Vesuvio Cafe, between Grant Avenue and Columbus Avenue – Free to the public – Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-serve basis
It is an unconventional diary that focuses on the state of our troubled world, with references to self taking on a secondary position. She will be joined by poets Paul Hoover, Claudia Keelan, Roxi Power Hamilton, and Cole Swenson who will read briefly from their own work, Maxine’s work, and be in conversation about the book.
Maxine Chernoff is the author of nineteen books of poetry and six works of fiction, one of which was a New York Times Notable Book of 1993. She served 19 years as Chair of Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, where she has continued as professor. Former coeditor of New American Writing, she is the winner of a 2013 NEA in Poetry and a 2009 PEN Translation Award for her cotranslation with Paul Hoover of Friedrich Hölderlin’s Selected Poems. She is a three-time runner-up for the Northern California Book Award. She has taught at Exeter in England, and at summer workshops in Prague, and St. Petersburg, and she has read her work in Brazil, Scotland, China, Belgium, Australia, and England. A native Chicagoan, she was a founding board member of the Poetry Center at the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2016 she was a visiting writer at the American Academy in Rome. She has been a Mill Valley resident since 1994.
Paul Hoover has published 16 poetry books, most recently O, and Green: New and Selected Poems (MadHat Press, 2021). He is editor of Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology and the literary annual, New American Writing. He has translated the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin (with Maxine Chernoff), and San Juan de la Cruz (with Maria Baranda).
Claudia Keelan is the author of ten books, including most recently, We Step into the Sea: New and Selected Poems (Barrow Street), Ecstatic Émigré: An Ethics of Practice (Poets on Poetry Series, University of Michigan Press), O, Heart (Barrow Street, 2014) and Missing Her (New Issues Press). She is also the translator and collector of Truth of My Songs: Poems of the Trobairitz (Omnidawn). She is editor of the poetry journal “Interim” and the new Test Site Poetry Series for University of Nevada Press. Her honors include the Beatrice Hawley Award, the Cleveland State University Poetry Prize, and the University of Georgia Contemporary Poetry Series Award. She is also a two time winner of the Creative Activities Award from the Board of Regents of Nevada, and is a Barrick Distinguished Scholar at UNLV.
Roxi Power Hamilton is a poet, publisher, and performer. Her books include: The Songs That Objects Would Sing (poetry, 2023). Winter in America – Again: Poets Respond to 2024 (anthology co-editor, 2025). Winter in America – Volume 2 (forthcoming, Summer 2026). Viz. Inter-Arts: Trans-Genre anthology series (founder, editor). Roxi teaches at UC Santa Cruz and podcasts and organizes readings for The Hive Poetry Collective. She is a contributing editor for En•Trance Journal, and performs Live Film Narration––“Neo-Benshi”––nationally.
Cole Swensen is the author of twenty books of poetry, most recently Veer (Alice James Books, 2026). A former Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of the Iowa Poetry Prize and the San Francisco State Poetry Center Book Award, she has been a finalist for the Griffin Prize, the National Book Award, and the LA Times Book Award and was awarded the 2025 Paul Engle Award by the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature. She also translates poetry and art criticism from French and has won the PEN USA Award in Translation, the 2024 ALTA National Translation Prize, and the 2025 Stephen Mitchell Prize She divides her time between France and California.
This event is made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation