* NOTE: Items are clearly marked *In Person* if they are happening live in the East Bay. If not marked, click the link to register or attend the event online.
If you have local in-person events that you’d like to see listed, please send them (by the 25th of the month for the following month) to: info@splashpad.org.
Saturday, 11/1, 12-1 pm
LA Library: The Secret Public: How Music Moved Queer Culture from the Margins to the Mainstream. Jon Savage will talk about his book with Brontez Purnell.
Sunday, 11/2, 10a-5 pm, *In Person*
Unity Council: 30th Annual Oakland Día de Los Muertos. Enjoy live music, family-friendly games and activities, Latin American artisans, and the stunning altar artistic installations paying homage to los Muertos. International Blvd. between Fruitvale Ave. and High St., Oakland.
Sunday, 11/2, 4-6 pm, *In Person*
Piedmont Chamber Orchestra: Bay Area Artists’ Showcase: Mostly Mozart. Don Giovanni, the Rondo from Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor and Andante for Flute in C Major, Symphony No. 39, Joachim Raff’s Sinfonietta for winds and horns. 801 Magnolia Ave., Piedmont, CA.
Tuesday, 11/4, 2-3:30 pm
UC-Berkeley Learning in Retirement: Bancroft Library Special Collections. Speaker: Kate Donovan.
Tuesdays in November (4, 11, 18, 25), 4:00-5:00 pm *In Person*
Lake Merritt Anti-Trump Vigil, every Tuesday. Gather in front of the Grand Lake Theatre to give visibility to the opposition to the current administration’s cruel and destructive policies. Bring a sign, or pick from the stash. Due to the earlier sunset, the start time is moved up to 4 pm.
Wednesday, 11/5, 3:30-5 pm, *In Person*
UC-Berkeley Geography Colloquium: Alexis Madrigal. He is the co-host of KQED’s Forum, and a contributing writer at The Atlantic, where he co-founded the COVID Tracking Project. His recent book is The Pacific Circuit. McCone Hall, Room 575, UC Berkeley.
Wednesday, 11/5, 4:10 pm, *In Person*
UC-Berkeley Graduate Lectures: Three Ages and Three Intelligences: Exploit, Explore, Empower. Speaker: Alison Gopnik. A recording will be posted here following the event. Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall, UC Berkeley.
Wednesday, 11/5, 5 pm
UC-Berkeley Arts Research Center: Isabel Allende, in Conversation. She will be joined by Dean Sara Guyer for a conversation that spans her lifetime of work, from her new novel My Name is Emilia del Valle to creating art in authoritarian times. Live stream here.
Wednesday, 11/5, 7 pm
City Lights: HOWL @ 70. Join us for this tribute to the poem that broke ground in the world of letters and freedom of speech.
Thursday, 11/6, 7 pm
Green Apple Books: Will There Ever Be Another You. Patricia Lockwood will talk about her new book, a vertiginous novel about a woman’s descent into illness and insanity. You Tube Live/Link available soon.
Friday, 11/7, 6 pm, through Sunday, 11/30, 11:30 pm
SF Opera Guild: The Monkey King Virtual Opera Preview with Yining Lin (and Special Guest).
Friday, 11/7, 7-8:30 pm
Rotary Nature Center Friends: UV Fluorescent & Bioluminescent Organisms. Naturalist Damon Tighe of the California Center for Natural History will explore the occurrence of UV and bioluminescent phenomena in the living world.
Saturday, 11/8, 10a-6 pm, *In Person*
Berkeley Library: 3rd Annual Library Comic-Con. Featuring panels, workshops, and vendors. 2090 Kittredge St., Berkeley.
Saturday, 11/8, 2-3:30 pm, *In Person*
Litquake Aftershocks: Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore. Author Char Adams in conversation with Dorothy Lazard. Kinfolx, 1951 Telegraph Ave., Suite #4, Oakland.
Sunday, 11/9, 7-10 pm, *In Person*
Hillside Club: Free Flat-shoe Tango Practica with DJ Hanna . 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley.
Monday, 11/10, 12-1 pm, *In Person*
Berkeley Library: Decolonized Kitchen. Maribel Garcia will lead a cook-along and conversation about indigenous foodways, ethnobotany, and cooking with plants. Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave, Berkeley, CA.
Monday, 11/10, 4-5 pm
Playwrights Guild of Canada: Craft Bites International. Sara Graefe (Canada) & Phanésia Pharel (USA) will share short excerpts of their work and then discuss the craft of playwriting with one another.
Tuesday, 11/11, 12-1:30 pm
Letterform Archive: Holy Comic Lettering Batman!: A Retrospective of Comic Lettering and Fonts.
Tuesday, 11/11, 5-6:30 pm
AARP: Movies for Grownups: Row of Life (Documentary). In 2020, Angela Madsen, ocean rower, Marine Corps veteran, Paralympian, and Guinness World Record holder, attempted to row solo from LA to Hawaii.
Wednesday, 11/12, 11 am-12 pm
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute: The Ocean’s Menagerie: How Earth’s Strangest Creatures Reshape the Rules of Life. Drew Harvell will talk about his book.
Wednesday, 11/12, 12-1 pm, *In Person*
UC-Berkeley Dept. of Music: Korean Music Festival/Berkeley New Music Project. Del Sol Quartet and traditional musicians from the National Gugak Center in Seoul will perform new works from Berkeley and Santa Cruz composers. Hertz Concert Hall, UC Berkeley.
Wednesday, 11/12, 6-7:30 pm, *In Person*
Oakland Library: Making Art with Limits & Chance. Jeni Paltiel will lead you through hands-on techniques for creating abstract collages and other artworks inspired by artists like Ellsworth Kelly, Jean Arp, and Yoko Ono. Piedmont Branch, 80 Echo Ave., Oakland.
Thursday, 11/13, 11-1 pm, *In Person*
Celebrate the 2nd Anniversary of tge Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District at the Rainbow Crosswalk Ribbon Cutting event. Meet at the Pride flagpole. 3207 Lakeshore Ave, Oakland.
Saturday, 11/15, 3-5 pm, *In Person*
Berkeley Art Center: Book Launch and Closing Reception for PULLEY. A collaborative exhibition with NIAD Art Center, curated by Christopher Robin Duncan. 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley.
Monday, 11/17, 9-10 am
Playwrights Guild of Canada: Craft Bites International. Makram Ayache (Canada) and Susi Siriya Orenius (Finland) will share short excerpts of their work and then discuss the craft of playwriting with one another.
Tuesday, 11/18, 4 pm
National Book Awards: Readings from the Finalists in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Translated Literature. Hosted by Michelle Zauner, bestselling author of Crying in H Mart, and the songwriter, musician, and lead vocalist of Japanese Breakfast.
Tuesday, 11/18, 4-5:30 pm
44th and 3rd Bookseller: Finding Home: A Memoir. Denise Nicholas’s will explore her journey through TV and film stardom (Room 222, In the Heat of the Night) and how she reinvented her life to become a novelist.
Wednesday, 11/19, 9-10 am
Playwrights Guild of Canada: Craft Bites International. Richie Wilcox (Canada) and James Ley (Scotland) will share short excerpts of their work and then discuss the craft of playwriting with one another.
Wednesday, 11/19, 4-5 pm
Tewksbury Library: Celebrating 25 Years of Gilmore Girls — Q&A with Gilmore Book Club Blogger Kristine Eckart.
Wednesday, 11/19, 5 pm
National Book Awards: Announcement of the Winners.
Wednesday, 11/19, 6:30 pm
CUNY Graduate Center: Baldwin: A Love Story. Nicholas Boggs will talk about his biography of James Baldwin with John McWhorter of the NY Times. A video of this event will be posted a few days later here.
Wednesday, 11/19, 7-8:30 pm *In Person*
Grand Lake Neighbors bi-monthly meeting. This is the place to meet neighbors and learn about what’s going on in the Grand Lake neighborhood with regard to public safety, issues like the Grand Ave. redesign, and occasionally meet your city council member. Barnett Hall (behind Lakeshore Ave. Baptist Church, 3534 Lakeshore Ave.
Wednesday, 11/19, 9:01 pm, through Friday, 11/21, 8:59 pm
Sustainable Woodstock: Screening of Singing Back the Buffalo. This documentary shows how indigenous visionaries, scientists and communities are rematriating the buffalo to the heart of the North American plains they once defined.
Thursday, 11/20, 5-6:40 pm
AARP: Movies for Grownups: Familiar Touch. Follows an older woman’s transition into assisted living.
Sunday, 11/23, 4 pm, *In Person*
Berkeley Women’s Community Chorus: Fall Performance. Music about the change of seasons from autumn to winter, ringing in the new year, and themes of our November and December holidays. Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley.
Monday, 11/24, 11 am-12 pm
Playwrights Guild of Canada: Craft Bites International. Lawrence Aronovitch (Canada) and Dr. R.C. Travis Weekes (Caribbean) will share short excerpts of their work and then discuss the craft of playwriting.
Wednesday, 11/26, 11 am-12 pm
Royal Drawing School: Drawing Dialogues. Turner Prize-winning artist Sir Grayson Perry RA will discuss the power of drawing in identity, storytelling and satire.
Friday, 11/28, 5-8 pm, *In Person*
Prescott Market: Live Music Fridays.Bay Area/Oakland-based jazz, funk, and soul artists performing live. 1620 18th St., West Oakland.
Sunday, 11/30, 9 am-Noon, *In Person*
Splash Pad Park: Last Sunday of the Month Volunteer Work Day. Gloves and tools are provided, or bring your own for weeding, pruning, litter pick-up, and planting. (Wear a hat and a long-sleeved shirt; bring water.)
Sunday, 11/30, 11-11:45 am, *In Person*
SF Chamber Orchestra: Nutcracker Sweet with the Puppet Company. Oakland Fairyland’s beloved puppeteers team up with the SFCO for a delightful version of Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic. The Freight, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley
Sheila McCormick is an Adjunct Professor Emerita in Cal’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Prior to her retirement in January 2016, she had a research lab at the USDA/ARS-UC Berkeley Plant Gene Expression Center in Albany, studying the molecular biology of plant reproduction. She has been a frequent contributor to the Splash Pad News, beginning with a series of seven neighborhood walks—posted between January and April 2017.
