On July 28, 2014, Bay Area Generations hosted our 11th edition at Hotel Rex in downtown San Francisco. On this occasion, we had two emerging writers reading in public for the first time: One was 17-year-old Herman Lin, who read his short story “This Winter Is Not Cold” with great clarity and dramatic intensity, which is all the more impressive considering that Herman was ten years old when he came here from China and English is his second language. The other was the remarkable 80-year-old Diego Deleo, who only began writing a couple of years ago, and whose Rumi-esque poem “Why Say It” brought our audience to a standing ovation.

Jazz musicians Michael Parsons (piano) and Gerald Bryant (flute) provided the striking musical interludes.

It was an altogether remarkable evening.

Special thanks to Evan Karp at Litseen for storing our video as part of its extensive archive. Visit their website to find thousands of readings plus a daily calendar of Bay Area literary events and more. Or download the app.