Join Margery Snyder and friends of Whitman McGowan to celebrate his masterwork, UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE (Viridiana, 2015), collected performance texts 1985 – 2012, published one year ago, just a few months before he died in October 2015.

As his CDs revealed his gift for fruitful collaboration with musicians & other artists, so this book shows off the interplay between Whitman’s words & the amazing images created by his scratchboard illustrator & Espresso Bar compadre Bruce Litz. It’s a beautiful book, with many of Whitman’s best-remembered rants, songs & monologues—and even if you know his stuff, you’re sure to discover a few new or forgotten gems.

We’ll be reading (or chanting) some of Whitman’s best pieces, listening to his recordings & generally letting the memories of Whitman’s unique presence & performance bounce around the bookstore. Please join us!

Read the SF Chronicle article by Steve Rubenstein on Whitman after he passed away.  Rubenstein writes, “Whitman McGowan, a San Francisco coffeehouse poet, assembled words like the parts of an antique pocket watch and made each one fit precisely and do his bidding. He performed in dark clubs to devoted audiences who were as passionate about the English language as he was.
He was funny, loud, bold, oversize, profane, tender and always honest.”