Arts Listings

Internationally popular novelist, poet screenwriter—and Berkeley resident—Barry Gifford will be on hand at 9 p.m. tonight at the Cerrito Speakeasy for a celebration of the release of The Imagination of the Heart, the seventh of his Sailor and Lula book series. 

The event will also feature a screening of the 1990 movie of Wild at Heart, from the story that began the series, directed by David Lynch, with whom Gifford co-wrote the screenplay. The movie won the 1990 Palme D’Or at Cannes Festival. 

The evening is co-sponsored by Pegasus Books.  

“Joe Cristiano of Pegasus wanted me to do a reading there,” Gifford recounted, “and show Wild at Heart. Somewhere along the line, I made the suggestion: Why not go back to the Cerrito Speakeasy, which had shown a film of mine before, quite successfully, with Pegasus as the concessionaire for books? It was fun; I loved the place.” 

Gifford continued, “Joe suggested that actors read from the book. So I mentioned Anne Darragh, who played the mother in my play, Wyoming, when the Magic Theatre did it. Anne’s a superb actress, who was in the original cast of Angels in America in New York. I’ll do a Q & A. A little kind of event; easy on me. I get to listen for a change.” 

Gifford gave a glimpse into the latest installment: “In this one, Lula is 80 years old; the Sailor’s been dead for years. She takes a last road trip, with her best friend, Beany, to see their son, Pace, involved in rebuilding New Orleans following Katrina. There’s narrative from the diary she keeps, and dialogue with Beany and people they meet on the trip.” 

Next April, an omnibus volume will collect the seven stories under one cover, though the publisher will also keep the individual volumes in paperback.  

“This huge omnibus will be the culmination,” he said. “I’m very happy. There have been compilations before, with six of them in many countries, but not this one. Even in Russia it’s in omnibus, this way in France, in Spain. It’ll nice to have them all under one roof. And now the whole new thing is e-books, which will be out next April, too. Nobody knows exactly what will happen with them. But I like the idea of the Sailor and Lula on e-books as well as in print, introducing future generations to them as well.” 

Talking about the new electronic and online form of what was once exclusively print media, Gifford asked, “How many kids today think about going into the journalism business? Where is it? Online, some of it is good, most not. The dailies seem to be on their way out. But it has to come back in some form, just like in the record business, where CDs are phasing out—there won’t be any record stores—yet performers insist the recording companies put out vinyl editions of their work. But if no young people go into the news or magazine business, there’ll be nobody to replace the retirees.” 

Gifford mentioned he will be guest speaker in his daughter’s class in Hayward about “kids 11 to 12, on what will they do when they grow up—I’ll speak on my profession. But I’m more interested in what they’re thinking. We seem to be at the end of a very particular era. For somebody like myself, who cares how the word looks on the page, every word chosen after great deliberation, it’s sort of hard to take. And for someone who writes so much dialect, what can you expect from spell check? But I’m far from being a pessimist. New forms emerge; this is a very transformative time. We’ll see how this shakes out.” 

AN EVENING WITH BARRY GIFFORD 

Featuring a screening of Wild at Heart and readings from his work. 9 p.m. Thursday, May 14, at the Cerrito Theater, 10070 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. $8. 649-1320; www.cerritospeakeasy.com. Co-Sponsored by Pegasus Books.