Octopus Literary Salon hosts fundraiser to relocate from Uptown

A daylong benefit on Sunday to help an Oakland literary salon will feature 100 readers and 12 music acts over the space of 12 hours. The Octopus Literary Salon opened four years ago in Oakland’s Uptown District, transforming a former Quizno’s into a cafe and performance space for a diverse array of artists.

The venue is being forced to move within a year due to a rent increase, according to an announcement by the owners.

Sunday’s benefit event, by the Octopus Preservation Committee and Power Unit 17, is aimed to help pay for the transition to a new space. The “Octopus Day” event runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday at the literary salon, 2101 Webster St.

Each hour from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. there will be 10 readers, with a brief music act at the end of the hour.

From 7:45 p.m. till 10 p.m., the event will feature all-music performances starting with short sets by Marinero and Yogurt Brain and will finish with Preening and Marbled Eye.

A donation of $20 is requested for the event but no one will be turned away, organizers said.

A GoFundMe site created to help the venue can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/the-octopus-literary-salon-needs-you.