About this Event
Join us at Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore on Thursday, August 28 at 7:00 PM when Courtney Gustafson comes to the store to share her new book Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats. Courney will be joined in conversation by Kirstin Cummings, the Executive Director of Oakland based rescue organization
to order a copy of Poets Square.
An intimate memoir about the importance of community and care in a world that can feel impossibly broken— and a story about accidentally going viral while tending to a colony of feral cats.
When Courtney Gustafson moved into a rental house in the Poets Square neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, she didn’t know that the property came with thirty feral cats. Focused only on her own survival—in a new relationship, during a pandemic, with poor mental health and a job that didn’t pay enough—Courtney was reluctant to spend any of her own time or money caring for the wayward animals.
But the cats—their pleading eyes, their ribs showing, the new kittens born in the driveway—didn’t give her a choice.
She had no idea about the grief and hardship of animal rescue, the staggering size of the problem in neighborhoods across the country. And she couldn’t have imagined how that struggle—toward an ethics of care, of individuals trying their best amid spectacularly failing systems—would help pierce a personal darkness she’d wrestled with for much of her life. She also didn’t expect that the TikTok and Instagram accounts she created to share the quirky personalities of the wild but lovable cats, like Monkey, Goldie, Francois, and Sad Boy, would end up saving her home.
Courtney writes toward a vision of connectedness, showing how taking care of the cats reshaped her understanding of empathy, resilience, and the healing power of wholly showing up for something outside yourself. She takes us from the dark alleys where she feeds feral cats, to inside the tragically neglected homes where she climbs over piles of trash and occasionally animals, and then into her own driveway with the cats she loves and must sometimes let go. Compelling and tender, Poets Square is as much about cats as it is about the urgency of care, community, and a little bit of dumb hope.
COURTNEY GUSTAFSON is a cat rescuer, community organizer, and creator of Poets Square Cats on TikTok and Instagram. She lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.
works to eliminate the suffering and overpopulation of cats in the San Francisco Bay Area. We focus on prevention using a data-driven and compassionate approach to enact meaningful change in our community and in animal welfare. This is about more than just cats. It’s about people and community welfare. And it cannot be solved by one organization. From backyards and neighborhoods, to clinics and services, to policy and education. That is what it will take. We are more than a rescue. We are a nonprofit dedicated to changing lives.
THIS EVENT is free but registration is requested. Registration ends at 6:00 pm on August 28.
BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.
DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.
WALK-INS will be accommodated only if space allows.
WE ASK that attendees arrive between 6:45 and 7:00 PM for the event.
PLEASE leave your non-support companion animals at home.
OUR shared restrooms are not accessible after 6:30 PM, please plan accordingly.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Mrs Dalloway's, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, United States
USD 0.00
