As we mentioned in last week's event roundup, tonight at Second Act, you can catch a reading called Funny/Sexy/Sad. As the title promises, all the pieces are, you guessed it, funny, sexy, or sad—and written by a slew of somewhat unsung local writers, so we checked in with curator and host Nate Waggoner to learn more about tonight's event. (Full disclosure: he's a former employee at Booksmith, where this writer also works.)

Waggoner, a former Bay Area denizen, moved to Brooklyn in 2014 to pursue writing and slightly cheaper rent. While in the Bay, he accumulated a ton of bylines and writing credits. He contributed to KQED Pop's blog, and wrote several times for Quiet Lightning, Write Club, and Shipwreck. He also co-founded a literary blog called The Tusk, which features both fiction and nonfiction pieces from a wide array of writers. 

Now, he's returned to the city for tonight's reading. "I have a secret and confusing and complicated love for the Haight," he said via email. "I used to work at the Booksmith, the best bookstore in the world. Once, a man wielding a baseball bat on the sidewalk on Haight street told me not to be afraid of him."

The concept for Funny/Sexy/Sad came from The Tusk's co-founder, Lizzy Acker. Acker used to run the show in San Francisco with the help of Amira Pierce, but it fizzled for a few years once Pierce left for the East Coast, and Acker returned to her native Oregon. Waggoner says he's excited to bring it back. "It came from them talking about the main ingredients they wanted to see when they saw a reading, and what they were noticing worked and didn't work while they were attending a lot of readings in grad school," Waggoner said.

Acker will be reading tonight, and Waggoner says he and Acker "got on a bus [from Los Angeles] for eight hours to come here, with little to entertain us but a couple of melty peanut M&Ms." Also, "Her book Monster Party will make you cry."

A group photo from Waggoner's last reading at Second Act. (Photo: Jack Rix)

Other writers to look forward to: 

• Maggie Tokuda-Hall is an Upper Haight resident and children's book author, who also, according to Waggoner, "writes really absurd, poignant stories that I love about a recurring character named Miri."
• Carolyn Ho, who Waggoner describes as "a darkly insightful poet and essayist whose perspective on life helped get me through grad school with my brain intact." She was also voted "Best Writer Without a Book" by SF Weekly in 2014.
• Casey Childers, Waggoner says, "is a master of the voice-driven seven-minute piece and kind of a visionary." 
• Hope Waggoner is Nate's sister, the self-styled "Solange to his Beyonce." Nate says Hope is "much cooler than me, and will kick your ass in an elevator in heels."
• Katherine Duckworth is an old college friend of Waggoner's, and she regularly writes for City Lights' blog.
• Lauren O'Neal is "is a great editor and writer whom everyone should hire," and also the author of this notable tweet.
• Joe Wadlington will also be reading. Wadlington is new to Waggoner's circle, but Waggoner describes him as a "current Write Club SF fan fave who puts out a wonderful Tinyletter called "Drafts" that sends you writing prompts. Hopefully I'll be heartbroken to be away from him soon, too.

If you can't catch Waggoner tonight, he's currently on a reading tour in support of The Tusk, as well as his first book, Dilettantes and Heartless Manipulators, published by Snow Goose Press. Waggoner describes it as being about "an aspiring rapper, an escape from a cult, and a love triangle."

"My next stop is a Kanye West-themed reading in Atlanta," he told us.