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A panel of artists and toy makers discuss toy design during a workshop at the 2024 Berkeley Public Library Comic Con. Credit: Berkeley Public Library<\/p>\nWe work for you \u2014 reporting on the stories our community needs. Our journalists attend city council and school board meetings, follow tips and make the calls to keep you informed on the important issues in Berkeley. Will you chip in today to support that work during our year-end fundraising campaign?<\/p>\n
A panel of artists and toy makers discuss toy design during a workshop at the 2024 Berkeley Public Library Comic Con. Credit: Berkeley Public Library<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udca5 The Berkeley Public Library Comic Con is back for its third year! Over 30 local artists and vendors will be in attendance, and 11 workshops will be held throughout the day on insights from East Bay BIPOC cartoonists, how artists have worked in large projects such as Star Trek and Marvel, how to make your own zines and comics, and more. Saturday, Nov. 8, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Central Library Branch. FREE<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udcda Novelists Jennine Cap\u00f3 Crucet (\u201cSay Hello to My Little Friend\u201d) and Willy Vlautin (\u201cThe Horse\u201d) speak as part of a series of events celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Oakland-based New Literary Project<\/a>, which has put nearly $1 million directly into writers\u2019 hands, from UC Berkeley English department grad students teaching teens in juvenile detention to mid-career authors receiving career-changing prizes. Thursday, Nov. 6, 5 p.m. Wheeler Hall\u2019s Fife Room. FREE<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udcd7 Queer singer, actress, and author Hayley Kiyoko will speak about her latest young adult novel, \u201cWhere There\u2019s Room for Us.\u201d Socialite Freya Tallon has her life mapped out to produce heirs for a lord and uphold her family\u2019s nobility, but that changes when she meets a female poet named Ivy. Tickets include a signed copy of the book and a photo opportunity with Kiyoko. Thursday, Nov. 6, 7 p.m. International House. $30<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc83 Cafe Buenos Aires will host a beginner tango class and social every Thursday in November and December. Tickets include admission to the class, social, and a non-alcoholic beverage. 7-9 p.m. $20<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udf92 Central Works presents \u201cDada Teen Musical: The Play,\u201d a comedy featuring high school student Annabelle who decides to create a dadaist version of \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d to round out her Harvard application, despite being part of a staunchly Yale family and not knowing what dadaism is. (Read Emily Mendel\u2019s review<\/a>.) Shows run now through Nov. 23. $20-45<\/a> (Pay-what-you-can tickets also available)<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfad An amuse bouche to whet the appetite before the opening of the Shotgun Players\u2019 production of the Tony Award-winning Sondheim classic \u201cSunday in the Park with George,\u201d the company and the Al Hirschfeld Foundation present \u201cHirschfeld\u2019s Broadway,\u201d a one-night multi-media presentation with behind the scenes stories of Hirschfeld\u2019s work plus a pop-up art gallery of his iconic line drawings. Friday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. David Brower Center, $20<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7 Grupo Sudamericanto presents \u201cSongs of Resistance, Beauty and Love,\u201d a program of m\u00fasica latinoamericana combining Brazilian jazz with folk rhythms from Chile, Per\u00fa, Venezuela, Cuba and Puerto Rico. Led by multi-faceted Puerto Rican vocalist\/interpreter Madeleine Zayas, the all-star combo performs original arrangements of Latin American classics as well as originals by Zayas and pianist Marcos Silva. Friday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. La Pe\u00f1a Cultural Center. $17.30-$35<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udf84 It\u2019s a hard knock life for Annie at Berkeley Playhouse. Annie\u2019s life at Miss Hannigan\u2019s orphanage turns around when billionaire Daddy Warbucks adopts her for Christmas to show her New York City and his love. Shows run from Nov. 7 to Dec. 21. $19-$55<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udf3c The Berkeley Herbal Center is hosting a Community Limpia Circle, a traditional Mexican folk medicine practice where plants and prayers are used to promote healing, release of emotions, and support during major life transitions. Saturday, Nov. 8, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. $30<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddfa The Orly Museum of Hungarian Culture, where Budapest meets Berkeley, presents acclaimed pastry chef Eve Aino Roza Wirth\u2019s cookbook \u201cSweet Heritage: A Journey Through Hungarian Tortes and Desserts.\u201d Reserve in advance and you can take a pastry home with you after the book talk. Saturday, Nov. 8, 2:30 p.m. Orly Museum of Hungarian Culture. FREE<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfbb Award-winning Galvin Cello Quartet will be performing their program \u201cVoice of the Piano,\u201d which explores famous piano compositions such as Mozart\u2019s Four-hand Sonata on the cello. Saturday, Nov. 8, 3 p.m. 2727 College Ave. $40<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf7 Diaspora Arts Connection presents vocalist and setar master Fared Shafinury, best known as a rocker who draws on classical Persian music, for a classical recital with Rambod Dargahi on the tonbak and Naghmeh Sarang on the kamancheh. Saturday, Nov. 8, 7 p.m. Live Oak Theater. $60-$75<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udfb6 Acclaimed French accordionist Th\u00e9o Ould concludes his November UC Berkeley residency with a concert of graduate student works developed via months of close collaboration and exchanges with Ould on the artistic and technical aspects of the compositions. Saturday, Nov. 8, 8 p.m. Wu Performance Hall. FREE<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\uddfc Zimbabwean mbira master Samaita Botsa, who\u2019s performed widely across the U.S. over the past two months, returns to the East Bay for a final performance with Berkeley mbira champion Erica Azim, delivering a meditative prayer for global healing. Saturday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m. Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance. $10-$1,000<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udfbb The Women Composers Collective presents Berkeley violinist and composer Irene Sazer with pianist Rebecca Hass, cellist Jessica Ivry and guest percussionist Lillian Yee for a night of original music. Saturday, Nov. 8, 7 p.m. Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship. $25-$40<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83e\udd20 It\u2019s never been cooler to get square, dancing that is, with Dare to be Square West, a square-dancing workshop culminating in evening hoedowns featuring callers Sue Hulsether and Tony Mates, and bands Stumptown Stringband and Echo Mountain. Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 8-9, 8 p.m. Ashkenaz. $20-$25<\/a><\/p>\n \u265f\ufe0f Brad Buchanan, English professor emeritus at California State Sacramento, reads from his coming-of-age novel set amid the Soviet Union\u2019s elite chess players at the end of the cold war, \u201cSpy\u2019s Mate.\u201d followed by an informal chess tournament with Thinkers Publishing\u2019s Daniel Vanheirzeele, a National Master in chess. Sunday, Nov. 9, 11 a.m. Clio\u2019s Books. $7<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udfb7 The Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, a talent-laden 17-piece ensemble led by Berkeley-reared trumpeter and composer Erik Jekabson, celebrates the release of the group\u2019s 4th CD, \u201cA Piece of the Action,\u201d and 10th anniversary at the Jazzschool, where the ESO is the ensemble in residence. Sunday, Nov. 9, 5:30 p.m. The Jazzschool. $20<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddf7 Next week, CNMAT<\/a> hosts a series of concerts showcasing a very different side of the peninsula\u2019s musical heritage with the Korean Experimental Music Festival<\/a>, which runs Nov. 11-16 at UC Berkeley, as well as UC Santa Cruz and Stanford. Blending traditional Korean instrumentalists with emerging technologies, the performances feature a bevy of musicians from the National Gugak Center in Seoul and the Bay Area\u2019s intrepid Del Sol String Quartet. The first four of the festival\u2019s 10 concerts take place at Cal. Tuesday-Sunday, Nov. 11-16, various times. Morrison Hall\u2019s Wu Hall. FREE<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83e\uddf6 Got a half-finished knitting or painting project calling your name? Bobby G\u2019s Pizzeria is hosting a Creative Co-working Night for anyone looking to gather and work on their crafts together. Tuesday, Nov. 11, 6-8 p.m. FREE<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5 The Hillside Club\u2019s Documentary Film Series presents Berkeley director Kathryn Golden\u2019s feature length profile of Oakland percussion maestro John Santos, \u201cSantos\u2013Skin to Skin,\u201d an intimate portrait of a culture bearer, activist, and bandleader. Wednesday, Nov. 12,\u00a0 7 p.m. Hillside Club. $15<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\udf0e Berkeley Rep is debuting \u201cMother of Exiles,\u201d a play where Miami border patrol staff Braulio accidentally summons the spirit of his great-grandmother, who faced deportation at Angel Island from America\u2019s immigration laws in 1898. Together, they travel the world to escape a climate catastrophe. Shows run from Nov. 14 to Dec. 21. $31-$135<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f\u00a0See more things to do\u00a0in\u00a0Oakland<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Richmond<\/a>.\u00a0And check out our big list of\u00a0affordable things to do<\/a>\u00a0anytime in Berkeley.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s an event you\u2019d like us to consider for this roundup, email us at\u00a0the-scene@berkeleyside.org<\/a>. If there\u2019s an event that you\u2019d like to promote on our calendar, you can use the self-submission form on our\u00a0events page<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2026 We have a small favor to ask.<\/p>\n We work for you to provide free and independent journalism covering the stories that matter most in Berkeley. And we rely on readers like you to make our work possible. That\u2019s why we\u2019re asking you to contribute to our year-end membership campaign today. We\u2019ve set a goal to raise $180,000 by Dec. 31 and we\u2019re counting on readers like you to help get us there.\u00a0<\/p>\n Your support will enable us to continue doing the work for you and our community to provide the reporting Berkeley needs. So, what do you say, will you join us in doing the work?<\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n \t