Matt's Writing

Matt Werner, writer & editor

Featured posts

Oakland Unseen releases Spring 2023 issue

Oakland Unseen is a satirical newspaper in the style of The Onion. It is hyper-local fake journalism that covers Oakland and San Francisco’s real news stories through satire. Our street team of newsies is handing out 10,000 copies of this newspaper for free at San Francisco Sketchfest venues in early 2023, and also at Oakland’s […]

Burning Man: The Musical now a feature film!

Burning Man: The Musical had its world premiere on Broadway On Demand and Streaming Musicals on August 27, 2021. Watch the film now. After working with the composer Gene Back for 6 years, we’re excited to announce that our satirical musical comedy has been turned into a feature film. It was shot on a soundstage […]

Recent Posts

East Bay Express reviews Oakland in Popular Memory

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"It wasn't until college that Matt Werner began to truly understand the meaning of his hometown. He remembers it vividly: He was at UC Berkeley, chatting with someone at a party, when she asked where he was from. He told her Oakland, which was met … [Read more]

3 Oakland book events in November

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For those of you who haven't yet been to an Oakland in Popular Memory book reading--you're in luck! I have 3 events in November. Come to hear about the latest innovative artists and musicians in Oakland. You may also get a sneak preview of my next … [Read more]

Michael Chabon’s Real and Imagined Storefronts

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  Jorge Luis Borges wrote fake book reviews of books that didn’t exist. Michael Chabon has taken this postmodern literary conceit beyond Borges. Chabon has not only written fan fiction based on his own writing, but he’s created stores from his … [Read more]

Joaquin Miller: Oakland’s First Hipster?

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Joaquin Miller (Courtesy Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.) Over the past year, I’ve overheard Oakland natives complaining about the influx of hipsters moving to Oakland. However, this trend is as old as the city itself. Poseurs … [Read more]