Thoreau Center Exhibition Opening Reception:

Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here

Art and readings about the 2007 destruction of Al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad, Iraq

Thursday, October 14
5:00pm to 7:00pm
Thoreau Center for Sustainability, San Francisco

On March 5, 2007, a car bomb exploded on Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 30 people and wounding over 100 others. As the center of Baghdad’s bookselling, Al-Mutanabbi Street was the heart and soul of the city. In April 2007, San Francisco bookseller and poet, Beau Beausoleil, and Al-Mutanabbi printmaker, Grendl Lofkvist, formed the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition, asking letterpress printers to craft a visual response to this attack.

And they did. Over a hundred printmakers submitted their own broadsides depicting Al-Mutanabbi Street’s thriving haven for artistic freedom and a place of civil discourse.

Join us for an evening of art, wine and storytelling in support of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition. The evening’s program will include an exhibition of artwork from many of the printmakers who created and donated their work to help support the progress of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition. Also, three printmakers will read from their own writings in response to this 2007 incident. The readers include Deema Shehabi - Palestinian- American Poet - Co-Editor of the anthology, "Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here"; Esther Kamkar - Iranian -American Poet - Contributor to the anthology, "Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here" ; Bettina Pauly - A California Printer - A Letterpress Contributor to the "Al-Mutanabbi Street Broadside Project"

Brown Bag events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in at the front desk.