Readings & Events
I love gathering around stories. Readings, conversations, workshops, and festivals are some of the places where writing becomes community.
Photo: Christian Ibarra
South Asian Literature & Arts (SALA) Festival
Selected Poet
📍 Menlo College, Atherton, CA · Sunday, Sept 27, 12:30–1:30pm (tentative)
Sabina reads as a selected poet at the SALA Festival, part of a two-day celebration (Sept 26–27) of South Asian literature, art, and ideas.
Festival Info →Maker, Mentor, Muse
Featured Reader
📍 Online via Zoom · 7:00pm
Sabina reads as part of Maker, Mentor, Muse, an online reading series, in “The S-List: Readings by Six Rooted & Written Writers.”
Get Tickets →LitHop Fresno: The Revolutionary Power of Rage
Panelist
📍 Bookish, Tower District, Fresno, CA · 12:00–12:45pm
“The Revolutionary Power of Rage: Asian Women Poets Reclaim Anger” — a panel with Maw, Preeti, Sabina, and Jenny, part of LitHop, Fresno’s free annual literary arts festival across the Tower District.
Visit LitHop →LitHop Fresno: Where I Belong
Panelist
📍 Tower Yoga, Lotus Room, Tower District, Fresno, CA · 4:00–4:45pm
“Where I Belong: How Personal Geography Informs Writing Across Genres” — a panel with Preeti, Sabina, Elizabeth, and Rowena, part of LitHop, Fresno’s free annual literary arts festival across the Tower District.
Visit LitHop →Body Language
Featured Reader
📍 Litcrawl San Francisco · venue & time TBA
Sabina reads alongside fellow Writers Grotto members Jennifer Christgau-Aquino, Rowena Leong Singer, Preeti Vangani, and Swetha Amit as part of Litcrawl San Francisco.
In Conversation: Sarita Sarvate on Midnight’s Daughter
Interviewer
📍 SFPL · The Page, 1st Floor · 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 · 6:00–7:30pm
Grotto Nights at the Library: Sabina interviews author Sarita Sarvate about her memoir Midnight’s Daughter, winner of the 2025 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition.
Visit SFPL Event Page →More events coming soon. To invite Sabina to read or speak, reach out below. Get in Touch →
Past Events
A selection of past readings, panels, and appearances.
2026
February 16, 2026 · Moderator
Green Apple Books
“In Conversation with Tayyba Kanwal”
📍 San Francisco, California
Moderated a conversation celebrating the launch of Talking with Boys, discussing contemporary Pakistani and Pakistani American literature.
March 4–7, 2026 · Panelist
AWP Conference & Bookfair
“Conjuring Home: Women of Color on Exile, Borders & Belonging”
📍 Baltimore Convention Center · Baltimore, Maryland
A conversation on immigration, exile, colonization, family, and belonging with Tara Dorabji, Grace Loh Prasad, Betty Shamieh, and Eirinie Carson.
March 17, 2026 · Featured Reader
Berkeley Poetry Festival
“Rooted & Written”
📍 Online
Read alongside Angel Bista, Ashia S. Ajani, Kevin Madrigal Galindo, and Zara Jamshed in a Rooted & Written reading celebrating poetry, identity, heritage, and belonging.
May 30, 2026 · Panelist & Workshop Facilitator
Bay Area Book Festival
“Preserving Ancestral Knowledge as BIPOC Writers”
📍 Brower Center, Berkeley, California
Joined Eirinie Carson, Rowena Leong Singer, and Grace Loh Prasad for a panel and generative workshop exploring memory, family history, language, and ancestral knowledge in creative writing.
June 6, 2026 · Featured Reader
Telegraph Hill Books
“Out of Fury Into Grace”
📍 San Francisco, California
Read alongside Lauren C. Johnson, Lisa Rosenberg, Eirinie Carson, Arely Miranda González, and Lama Rimawi as part of the Writers Grotto’s Aloud/Out Loud reading series.
August 5, 2026 · Featured Speaker
Book Society
“Rooted & Written: Preserving Ancestral Knowledge”
📍 Berkeley, California
Joined Eirinie Carson, Rowena Leong Singer, and Grace Loh Prasad for a conversation on memory, place, language, and family history in their work, part of the Writers Grotto’s Rooted & Written program for BIPOC writers.
2025
October 22, 2025 · Featured Reader
APAture 2025 — Kearny Street Workshop (Litquake)
“(UN)Becoming”
📍 San Francisco, California
October 25, 2025 · Featured Reader
Lit Crawl San Francisco (Litquake)
“Kindred: All the Ways Poetry Says Sisterhood”
📍 San Francisco, California
2024
February 2024 · Curator
Writers Grotto × Salesforce Park
“Words & Stories Reading Series”
📍 Transbay Joint Powers Authority
Featured readers included Pia Chatterjee, Leigh Lucas, Terry Tierney, Samz R. Nesh, Christopher Cook, and Giovanna Lomanto.
2023
June 23, 2023 · Emcee
The Writers Grotto Reading & Meeting
Featuring Shanthi Sekaran, Jenny Bitner, Rachel Chalmers, and Terry Tierney.
Sabina Khan-Ibarra 