The Iliad” A 13-Hour Live Reading (w/ Lunch + Dinner) at Grace Cathedral (SF)

9:00 AM

Event Reader check-in and General Seating begins for all ticket holders.

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10:00 AM

Reading begins promptly of Caroline Alexander’s The Iliad, with an invocation in Ancient  Greek by Caroline Alexander herself.

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Once the reading starts, the poem should be spoken aloud without comment or interruption, reader by reader, until each of the designated interludes for music and dinner. There will be a large screen showing the English text of each passage as it is being read to help the audience follow along.

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11:00 AM – 9:30 PM –  Candlelight Labyrinth Walk  

We invite guests to walk a sacred path at Grace Cathedral during the reading, stepping individually into an ancient spiritual symbol found on nearly every continent across numerous cultures for thousands of years. The Labyrinth is limited to nine visitors at a time. In the spirit of the quest for peace and challenging the past and current state of violence in our world, those who have been victims of violence may also wish to carry a photo of a loved one.

We present this, and all our Homer readings, as a call to peace and non-violence.

11:00 AM – 9:30 PM –  Refreshments

Your ticket fee includes refreshments and light lunch options.

A variety of beverages and grab and go snacks (coffee, water, fruit, half sandwiches, etc.) will be available in the Dining Hall throughout the event. We encourage you to bring a water bottle to refill at the Cathedral.

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11:30 AM – 2:00 PM –  Lunch

Your ticket fee includes lunch.

A boxed lunch will be available in Gresham Hall, downstairs. We will not pause the reading for lunch.. We encourage you to bring a water bottle to refill at the Cathedral

5:30 – 6:30 PM – Dinner 

Your ticket fee includes this meal.

A dinner break will take place in the Gresham Hall, downstairs. We are providing delicious boxed Mediterranean dinners by Za’atar of San Francisco and we invite everyone to participate in the group dinner. No food is allowed in the main Cathedral areas.

Coming and Going

While you are free to (quietly) come and go, we strongly encourage you to stay

and experience the duration of the event and of the poem.  We have carefully abridged the text to retain the scope and grandeur of the epic within the 10-hour time frame, and those who stay for the full reading will feel greatly rewarded.

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10:00 PM – Conclusion

The Reading will conclude with a live performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Susan Jane Matthews, organist.