A project of Nevada County Arts Council, Yuba Lit is a community reading series celebrating great writing in the Sierra foothills, Yuba Lit launched September 2015 with a program featuring novelists Joshua Mohr and Christian Kiefer, and poet Molly Fisk. The second Yuba Lit drew more than 65 audience members to hear readings from novelists Janis Cooke Newman, Louis B. Jones, and Amy Rutten, and the third Yuba Lit drew an equally robust audience for poet Indigo Moor, novelist Josh Weil, and memoirist Cris Mulvey.
Yuba Lit’s mission is to foster literary community in the Sierra foothills by drawing on the wealth of serious writers who live here and bringing in new perspectives and influences from Sacramento and the Bay Area. ‘Literary community’ to us means both people who write and people who don’t write but appreciate writing as a form of art.
One of our more popular features is our “Audience Flash Reading.” Any attendee who brings a poem or page is given a raffle ticket, and five are drawn, with each winning ticket holder taking the mike to read one poem or page. The quality and diversity of the flash readings, which typically range from self-help spiritual guides to travelogues to poetry, are always part of the fun of Yuba Lit.
Also, we have a long intermission, to give people plenty of time to mingle.
Yuba Lit was founded by producer and host, Nevada City memoirist and fiction writer, Rachel Howard.
For information on upcoming events: YubaLit.org
About Rachel Howard
Rachel Howard is an author, dance critic, teacher, and editor. A new novel is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in Spring 2019.
Her first book was a memoir, The Lost Night. She was interviewed about the book by Ira Glass for an episode of This American Life; you can listen to that interview here. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Gulf Coast, ZYZZYVA, Waxwing (nominated for a Pushcart Prize), O Magazine, OZY, Canteen, Berfrois, the Arroyo Literary Review, and elsewhere, and is forthcoming in the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Her journalism and dance writing have appeared in The New Yorker Online, the New York Times, Ballet Review, and the Hudson Review, among other publications. She wrote about dance for the San Francisco Chronicle for 12 years, serving as chief Dance Correspondent for six of those.
Rachel lives in Nevada City with her husband and daughter. RachelHoward.com
how you can get involved
The Sierra foothills of Northern California have long attracted literary writers, from Mark Twain visiting the Holbrooke Hotel to Gary Snyder homesteading on the North San Juan Ridge.
Yuba Lit depends on the generosity of Sierra literature lovers to cover venue rental and other expenses. We are fiscally sponsored by Nevada County Arts, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, and donations are tax deductible. Donations of any size are most gratefully received. We are most pleased to acknowledge our generous donors publicly on our printed programs.
If you are interested in volunteer opportunities, please contact us: yubalit@gmail.com.
If you are interested in receiving our newsletter and notices of future readings, please contact us: yubalit@gmail.com
