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Literary Festival – “Homecoming” – 10/18/26

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October 18th, 2026 – 12-4 pm Joaquin Miller park Each year in the third week of October, we return to Joaquin Miller Park to celebrate our connection to our unique and evolving literary history. The California Writers Club was started in 1909 by a vibrant writing community that met on this Oakland hillside, and it annually invites members of all writing groups to join us for a day of beautiful words in a glorious setting. This year we have a very special event, the re-dedication of our Club’s historic contribution to Oakland’s most storied Park. California wouldn’t be on the cultural map without our writers! The event moves through several sites in Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland. Park along Joaquin Miller Road near the reflecting pool (see parking map below), or arrange ADA access before the event. See schedule and map below. FREE EVENT — RSVP TODAY! The Program This educational and artistic program is uniquely designed with a double goal: to bring back the voices of writers who shaped...
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FOJMP.org: California Writers Memorial Grove

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It's live! The complete record of the California Writers Memorial Grove is now live on the FOJMP website.  This is the architectural drawing I found in the Woodminster Theater archive in the Bancroft Library. This is the poster that will be hung in the Ranger Station: See it BIG This is the "soft unveiling" of the poster at the 2026 Friends of Joaquin Miller Park Annual Meeting: Please share your thoughts! What do you think of the author list?  Who have you read/would like to read?  What works by these authors do you think speak to issues of today?  For what historic or contemporary California Writer would you nominate a tree?
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The Century Club: "Browning and Miller: The Unlikely Friendship of Two Literary Lions"

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I am deeply honored to be the kick-off speaker for the revivification of the San Francisco Browning Society! I'm excited to strengthen a literary friendship that began in 1871. The Browning Monument in Joaquin Miller Park has been a mystery to us all... now coming fully to light. Please RSVP to the contact below... I look forward to seeing all the hats and ties!  (And to think it all began with a crumbling disaster! )
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Location: 1355 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
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Redwood Glen: Intuitive Painting

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 Yes, that was me hugging that tree.  This month, I had the serendipitous fortune to join an intuitive painting class in the redwoods, something I've never done before.  On summer weekends, Redwood Glen teems with brides and grooms posing for professional photographs, hikers with dogs, and groups of children in art camp--but it still feelsprivate, spacious, and soaring. I arrived to find a picnic table groaning with art supplies, and spotted a gathering away between the trees.   Seven people sat on the ground around a carpet, some on plump cushions. After a moving introduction by our facilitator, Bahar Amanzadeh, we were no longer strangers. Bahar, who moved the the US from Iran half a lifetime ago, shared some ceremonial Persian artifacts, and told her story. Then she read a long poem by Rumi--first in Farsi, then in improvised English.  “If the thirsty seek water, the water is also seeking the thirsty.” — Rumi Bahar runs intuitive painting classes and wor...
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Location: Big Trees Trail, Oakland, CA 94611, USA
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Memorial Grove: The Robert Louis Stevenson Tree

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The first musical this summer was Jekyll and Hyde and I did some guerrilla literary ed in the Park. I'm working on a poster for the Ranger Station that displays a map of the California Writers Memorial Grove, just downhill from the amphitheater, and photos of all the writers for whom these trees were planted. This seemed like a good opportunity to label one of the trees! So if you are walking the stairs and you see these unsightly papers taped to a redwood, pay attention! (I recommend zooming in... I had to brave some protective ivy to put them there.) There's a story there! The text page reads:
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Sanborn Roadsides: Potential Pocket Preserves

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Before we can even say hello, Saumitra (Sáw-mit-truh) Kelkar disappears behind a tree to examine a half-eaten mushroom I didn't even notice was there. This becomes the theme of our Sanborn Road walk, a deeply tracked conversation with constant interruptions when something would catch his eye and he'd climb up to take a closer look. Purple Needle Grass! Amanita Velosa! Mariposa Lily!  Saumitra's Instagram, oakland.bio is blowing up, and I'm a huge fan. This now-freelance biology teacher posts about native plants right that grow in sidewalk cracks and on empty lots—I couldn't wait to see what he knew about Joaquin Miller Park. Since he's someone who can find nature anywhere, Saumitra doesn't need to "go to the woods" like the rest of us—we're both amazed he's never really hiked here. Our 2 hour walk is a mutual info dump as we weave together what he knows —the secret life of all of the plants—and what I know—the people behind the scenes, the...
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Location: Sanborn Dr, Oakland, CA, USA
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Memorial Grove: Joaquin Miller Went Walkin'!

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FOJMP welcomed 120 kids from Head Royce to the Park for Earth Day where they could learn about plants, pull some weeds, and hear my song! I performed it 5 times, turning skeptical faces into big smiles each time. I'd ask for a volunteer to play the guitar and select my tall brother Felix Baum from the audience. I'd confess that he was a plant (ha ha) and teach the German word for tree. Then I'd secretly teach a few Joaquin Miller facts as I dressed up "Mr. Tree." When he had the hat and bearskin vest on I'd ask if anyone had ever seen a picture of Miller and if he looked right. One person, each time, would know that he had a beard and voilá! I would produce the paper poetry beard!  After each performance to a group of 30, the kids would come and try on the beard and hat, or play the guitar, or sing their own songs to me! One kid even introduced himself as the real Joaquin. (Eyeballs are part of the disguise...) After each performance to a group of 30, the kids...
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Location: Woodminster Cascade, Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Park, Oakland, CA 94602, USA
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