Presented by Kaleidoscope School
Skip the book club small talk. These aren’t your average reading group meetings - they’re part seminar, part salon, part theatrical experience, and entirely engaging.
We’re hosting a two-hour deep dive into literature that actually matters on every fourth Thursday of the month. A dramatic reading kicks things off, followed by historical context, close reading, and the kind of wide-ranging conversation that goes places you don’t expect - from aesthetics to politics to questions you didn’t know you had about the human condition.
Each session stands alone, but show up regularly and you’ll find a community of returning voices. We’re building something here: a space where people actually think together, where great writing opens onto the world, and where you leave with perspectives you didn’t walk in with.
We’ll kick off the series with THE HORROR STORY (The Revenge of Nature) starting with a dramatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” - an archetypal tale of madness and murder that helped define the modern horror tradition.
From there, we’ll trace horror’s evolution: from Enlightenment cautionary tales designed to regulate the imagination, through gothic Romanticism and Frankenstein as nature’s revenge against Industrial Revolution technologies, to 20th-century Cosmic Horror and its contemporary transformation into forms like Afrofuturism.
Questions we’ll explore: Why has horror so powerfully gripped the modern imagination? Is it therapeutic - a way of staging trauma? Are our monsters (vampires, zombies, witches, robots) manifestations of repressed social anxieties?
Join us on Thursday Aril 23, 2026 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM at THE EXCHANGE at 617 Marin Street in Old Town Vallejo.
As always space is limited and we tend to sell out so sign up early before all seats are gone.
Please understand that buying a ticket to an event or workshop is no different than buying a concert, theater, or movie ticket and we are unable to offer refunds. You are of course always welcome to gift your seat to a friend if you cannot make it!
ABOUT KALEIDOSCOPE
Kaleidoscope brings together curious people and thoughtful teachers to explore ideas in ways that feel human, engaging, and alive. They believe learning doesn’t have to be transactional or traditional to be meaningful - it can be social, creative, and feel like a night out that also leaves you changed.
Education happens in real time, between people, shaped by perspective and curiosity. When people have space to share ideas, listen deeply, and engage with new perspectives, it strengthens individuals and builds more thoughtful, connected communities.
Lit Nights is facilitated by John and Christine Walker, presented by Kaleidoscope, and hosted at THE EXCHANGE.
Presented by Kaleidoscope School
Skip the book club small talk. These aren’t your average reading group meetings - they’re part seminar, part salon, part theatrical experience, and entirely engaging.
We’re hosting a two-hour deep dive into literature that actually matters on every fourth Thursday of the month. A dramatic reading kicks things off, followed by historical context, close reading, and the kind of wide-ranging conversation that goes places you don’t expect - from aesthetics to politics to questions you didn’t know you had about the human condition.
Each session stands alone, but show up regularly and you’ll find a community of returning voices. We’re building something here: a space where people actually think together, where great writing opens onto the world, and where you leave with perspectives you didn’t walk in with.
We’ll kick off the series with THE HORROR STORY (The Revenge of Nature) starting with a dramatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” - an archetypal tale of madness and murder that helped define the modern horror tradition.
From there, we’ll trace horror’s evolution: from Enlightenment cautionary tales designed to regulate the imagination, through gothic Romanticism and Frankenstein as nature’s revenge against Industrial Revolution technologies, to 20th-century Cosmic Horror and its contemporary transformation into forms like Afrofuturism.
Questions we’ll explore: Why has horror so powerfully gripped the modern imagination? Is it therapeutic - a way of staging trauma? Are our monsters (vampires, zombies, witches, robots) manifestations of repressed social anxieties?
Join us on Thursday Aril 23, 2026 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM at THE EXCHANGE at 617 Marin Street in Old Town Vallejo.
As always space is limited and we tend to sell out so sign up early before all seats are gone.
Please understand that buying a ticket to an event or workshop is no different than buying a concert, theater, or movie ticket and we are unable to offer refunds. You are of course always welcome to gift your seat to a friend if you cannot make it!
ABOUT KALEIDOSCOPE
Kaleidoscope brings together curious people and thoughtful teachers to explore ideas in ways that feel human, engaging, and alive. They believe learning doesn’t have to be transactional or traditional to be meaningful - it can be social, creative, and feel like a night out that also leaves you changed.
Education happens in real time, between people, shaped by perspective and curiosity. When people have space to share ideas, listen deeply, and engage with new perspectives, it strengthens individuals and builds more thoughtful, connected communities.
Lit Nights is facilitated by John and Christine Walker, presented by Kaleidoscope, and hosted at THE EXCHANGE.
