Reading by Nellie Wong,
with special musical guest Destiny Muhammad
Wednesday, November 6th – 7pm – 8:30pm
Bird & Beckett Books and Records
653 Chenery Street, San Francisco, CA 94131
Chinese American revolutionary feminist poet Nellie Wong, joined by special musical guest, singer and harpist Destiny Muhammad, will read selections from “Nothing Like Freedom” at a bookstore launch event held on Wednesday, November 6th – 7pm at Bird & Beckett Bookstore.
For additional information, please visit https://birdbeckett.com/
A Glen Park resident, Nellie Wong grew up in Oakland’s Chinatown and came of age working in her parents’ restaurant there. Tracked into a working class path and following business classes at Oakland High School, she went to work as a secretary at Bethlehem Steel. In her 30s, in the late 1960s, Nellie enrolled at San Francisco State University, taking creative writing, ethnic studies and feminist studies classes and joining the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women, lifelong associations that continue to this day. Her development as a poet and her dedication to the struggle for radical social change took on a focused momentum in those years at San Francisco State which has continued for five decades. In her mid-80s, in tribute to her engagement in poetry and political struggle, students at Oakland High successfully petitioned for a building at the school to be named for her.
Nellie’s first book, Dreams in Harrison Railroad Park (Kelsey Street Press) was published in 1977, followed by The Death of Long Steam Lady (West End Press, 1986). Stolen Moments, a chapbook, was published in 1997. Prior to the current release, her most recent collection was Breakfast Lunch Dinner (Meridian Press Works, 2012). Her poems have appeared widely in periodicals and anthologies including those of The Revolutionary Poetry Brigade and Moonstone Press, among others, and one of her poems was published in 2023 on The American Academy of Poets’ Poem-a-Day webpage.
In 2022, Nellie Wong received PEN Oakland’s Reginald Lockett Lifetime Achievement Award.
For additional information, please visit nelliewong@ddns.net
Destiny Muhammad is a Recording / Performing Artist / Band Leader / Composer & Producer. Her genre, “Celtic to Coltrane,” is cool and eclectic with a feel of Jazz & Storytelling to round out the sonic experience.
Destiny has curated concerts for Grace Cathedral Christmas Concert Series, SFJAZZ Tribute to Jazz Harp Legend Alice Coltrane, SF Symphony SOUNDBOX Series featured guest for GRAMMY Winner Kanye West ‘Sunday Service’, shared the stage with Jazz Masters Denise Perrier, Omar Sosa, and Blue Note Artist Ambrose Akisemuire, to name a few.
She has headlined Healdsburg Jazz Festival. Destiny was 2023 Healdsburg Jazz Fest Black History Month Artist in Residence Guest Workshop Presenter for Amateur Music Network, collaborator with the Santa Cruz Symphony Harp Ambassador for the Awesome Orchestra Collective and the Marcus Shelby’s New Orchestra. Destiny is a Governor of The Recording Academy, ASCAP Songwriter Awardee, SFJAZZ Teaching Artist, Bay Area Jazz and Blues Award Winner (BAJABA) and a California Arts Council Legacy Fellow.
For additional information, please visit destinymuhammad.net