A LITERARY SALON FOR THE BRAVE & THE RIGHTEOUS IN A TROUBLED WORLD
Fiction. Manifestos.
Sermons.
Commentary.
Tirades. Love Letters.
Poetry. Rhetoric.
Pronouncements.
Babble. Spiel. Stories.
Speeches.
AND THEN WE DANCE….
Beginning on Thursday, March 5th, 2026, 7.30pm at Nomadic Book Shop, 326 23rd street in Oakland, and continuing the first Thursday of every month, Rhapsody will present some of the most luminous writers, poets, commentators, and storytellers in the Bay area and go in search of Utopia! Sex, society, love, technology, politics, art, wealth, and God are just a few of the delicious Utopias we have on our radar.
Each featured writer will read a piece specially written for the evening followed by a conversation with Rhapsody creator Michael French.
A conversation that ultimately will be stripped of its make-up and turned over to the audience to do with as it wishes. A dance party will crown each evening as our bursting hearts will need somewhere to go: Let’s travel the world with MUSIC!
SALONS
Current
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What if Ayn Rand was right after all?
Jennifer Lewis is a writer, editor, and publisher of Red Light Lit. Her debut short story collection, The New Low, was an SPD bestseller. She is the winner of the Nomadic Press Bindle Award and The Los Angeles Review Flash Fiction Award. Her fiction has appeared in publications such as Cosmonauts Avenue, Midnight Breakfast, Los Angeles Press, and CRAFT, among others. Her most recent nonfiction work has been featured in The Rumpus, The Creative Independent, and Alta Journal, where her piece “The High Desert’s Funkiest Art Gallery” won the Los Angeles Press Club’s 17th Annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award. She received her MFA in creative writing from San Francisco State University. Jennifer teaches at The Writing Salon in San Francisco.
Matthew Zapruder is the author most recently of the poetry collections ‘I Love Hearing Your Dreams’ (Scribner, 2024), and ‘How to Continue’ (The Economy Press, 2025), and five previous collections of poetry, including ‘Father’s Day,’ ‘Why Poetry’ (Ecco/Harper Collins), and ‘Story of a Poem’ (Unnamed). He is editor-at-large at Wave Books, where he edits contemporary poetry, prose, and translations. From 2016-17, he held the annually rotating position of Editor of the Poetry Column for the New York Times Magazine and was the Guest Editor for Best American Poetry 2022. He teaches in the MFA in creative writing at Saint Mary’s College of California.
PAST
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There’s no such thing as society.
CARVELL WALLACE is a writer and podcaster whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, GQ, New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and others. His memoir, Another Word For Love was a 2024 Kirkus Finalist in Nonfiction. He’s been nominated for Peabody Award in Journalism, a National Magazine Award, and he was a 2023 winner of the Mosaic Prize in Journalism. His 2018 book The Sixth Man spent 13 weeks as a New York Times bestseller and made Barack Obama’s year end list. He lives in Oakland, California.
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Do you still believe in genius?
JIHAN McDONALD (They/Them) is an Adjunct Professor, ritual facilitator, and writer from the Ohlone lands of Huichin, colonized as Oakland, CA. Jihan’s work is to inspire and motivate more humane being by humans through facilitating opportunities fo healing and evolution so people can consciouslu engage with Life for our personal and communal well-being. A proud graduate of Spelman College, Jihan holds a M.A. in Social Transformation from the Pacific School of Religion as a Peacemaker Fellow. When not trying to save the world, Jihan can be found dancing, cat napping, and / or traveling. They are currently working on a collection of memoir essays entitled, “Free, Black, and 21.”
RAWIYAH TARIQ is a Black, gender non-binary, fat, disabled and neurodivergent artist and kink aware professional. Their roots are in queer, poly-amorous, fat communities. Their tone is reflective of these roots and their work is informed by how these intersect with their Blackness. Magic, massage, storytelling and performance art are tools they use to liberate, heal and reclaim space for marginalized communities. They believe in cohesive and somatic healing and holding practices that align body, mind and spirit. Currently, they are living in the Bay Area while working on their book and their healing and holding practice A Sovereign Embodiment (ASE). Through ASE they provide workshops, ritual creation, divination, and compassionate heart holding.
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Reality is not an option.
NAYOMI MUNAWEERA’S debut novel, ‘Island of a Thousand Mirrors,’ won the Commonwealth Book Prize for the Aisan Region and was short-listed for the DSC Prize and Man Asia Prizes. It was chosen as a Target book club. Her second novel, ‘What Lies Between Us,’ won the Sri Lankan National Book Award and was short-listed for the Northern California Book Prize. The Huffington Post raved, "Munaweera’s prose is visceral and indelible, devastatingly beautiful - reminiscent of the glorious writings of Louise Erdrich, Amy Tan, and Alice Walker, who also finds ways to truth-tell through fiction.” She lives in Oakland California, and is working on her third novel.
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FUCK IT?
KURT WALLACE is a long-time moderator for the San Francisco Writer's Workshop. He’s currently deep in work on ‘River Time,’ a novel about family, trauma and LGBTQ+ struggles that runs from 1920s Berlin to modern America. On this night, we’re going to dive into a piece of that story, created specifically for this Rhapsody salon.
Philosophies by
WILLIAM WINTERS: Since founding Bonobo Network, he has focused on helping people challenge old sexual and relational conditioning, discover – or invent! – new possibilities for pleasure and freedom, and explore them with discernment and care.
MX MAYHEM MAI (they/them): A queer, nonbinary/trans professional dominant and kink educator from San Francisco, they specialize in predicament play, ambidextrous impact topping, and sensual sadism. They believe that kink can be for everyone!
RHAPSODY CONDUCTOR
MICHAEL FRENCH is originally from London, England. He is a writer, director, and creator of brilliant things. In an ideal world he would live in Morocco, have another place in Barcelona, spend three months of the year in Ghana, and have a cabin in the woods of Bath, England, where he’d write every chance he could. He would also meditate every day, practice Tai Chi three times a week, eat Indian food every Sunday evening, visit the moon every six months, and be fit enough to run a marathon if he suddenly feels so inspired. Mr. French is currently compiling his first collection of short stories entitled, 'BABBLE.' He lives in Oakland, California.