Bastard Out of Carolina Marathon Reading

Sponsored by the Allison-Layman Family Trust

Co-presented with the Bay Area Lesbian Archives, the GLBT Historical Society, the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center at SFPL, and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History & Culture at Duke University

Dorothy Allison’s debut novel Bastard Out of Carolina was a revelation on its release: a blazing, unflinching, thoroughly original tale grounded in the author’s working-class Southern upbringing and written with her distinctive, razor-sharp wit. Lauded by the New York Times Book Review as “one of those once-in-a-blue-moon occasions when the jacket copy seems inadequate and all the blurbs are examples of rhetorical understatement,” Bastard Out of Carolina remains a powerful, provocative, and lyrically gorgeous fixture of American letters over twenty years after its release. In remembrance of Allison’s legacy as a writer, lesbian feminist, and advocate for sexual freedom, Litquake is proud to join the author’s literary estate in presenting a cover-to-cover marathon reading of Bastard featuring a lineup of readers who knew and loved Allison in life, as well as those who continue drawing inspiration from her trailblazing work. Select chapters staged by Word for Word, Poltergeist Theatre Project, and Fancypants Productions. FREE, $10-15 suggested donation

Book sales for this event coordinated by Noe Valley Books

Host or Publisher Litquake, San Francisco's Literary Festival