American poet Billy Collins reads a selection of humorous poems and then discusses the craft of writing with Dean Nelson and an appreciative audience in this keynote event of the 2013 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24601]
Michelle Tea has written memoirs, poetry and the novel “Rose of No Man's Land.“ She is founder and Executive Director of RADAR Productions, a non-profit which oversees monthly readings at the San Francisco Public Library, the Sister Spit international literary performance tours, a poetry contest and the Radar LAB retreat for writers and artists. Tea is Editor at Sister Spit Books, an imprint of City Lights. In 2013 McSweeney's published the first in her series of Young Adult fantasy novels, A Me...
Aaron Shurin is the author of eleven books of poetry and prose, most recently Citizen, a collection of prose poems and King of Shadows, a collection of personal essays. His writing has appeared in over thirty national and international anthologies, and has been translated into seven languages. Shurin’s honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Gerbode Foundation. He lives in San Francisco. Series: ...
Peter Orner's fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many publications and received numerous awards. He is the editor of two non-fiction books and is a long time permanent faculty member at San Francisco State. He reads before an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 24371]
Pam Houston’s latest novel is Contents May Have Shifted. Her stories have been selected for The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, and Best American Short Stories of the Century. She is the winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA award for contemporary fiction, and The Evil Companions Literary Award and multiple teaching awards. She is the Director of Creative Writing at U.C. Davis and teaches in the Pacific University MFA program. She lives on a ranch in Colorado. Series: "Story Ho...
Kathleen Fraser’s newest collection, m o v a b l e TYYPE, foregrounds texts from four recently produced Artist Books. Her collected essays, Translating the Unspeakable: Poetry and the Innovative Necessity, is in its second printing. She edited and co-founded the journal HOW(ever) and in 2001, launched its on-line version, How2. While director of The Poetry Center, Fraser founded The American Poetry Archives at San Francisco State University where she taught in the Graduate Writing Program for 20...
Hosted by Robert Hass and University Librarian Thomas C. Leonard, this event features distinguished faculty and staff from a wide range of disciplines introducing and reading a favorite poem. This year’s participants: Justin Brasheres (Environmental Science), Associate Chancellor and Chief of Staff Beata Fitzpatrick, Donna V. Jones (English), Vice Provost Catherine Koshland (Teaching, Learning, Academic Planning and Facilities), Director Lawrence Rinder (Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Arch...
Rebecca Solnit is the author of thirteen books, most recently the best selling “Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas.” She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism, and the Lannan Literary Award. A product of the California public education system from kindergarten to graduate school, she recently received an honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is a contributing editor to Harper's and regular contributor to the politic...
Michael L. Ross, Professor of Political Science and and Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA, looks at how developing nations are shaped by their mineral wealth -- and how they can turn oil from a curse into a blessing. Series: "Writers" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 24027]
In his new book “Sounds of Capitalism,” UCLA musicologist Timothy D. Taylor tracks the use of music in American advertising for nearly a century, from variety shows to the rise of the jingle, the postwar rise in consumerism and the more complete fusion of popular music and consumption in the 1980s and after. Here he discusses the awkward transition early 20th century advertisers endured as they adjusted to the new medium of radio. Series: "Writers" [Humanities] [Show ID: 24026]
Why is Cinco de Mayo, a holiday commemorating a Mexican victory over the French at Puebla in 1862, so widely celebrated in California and across the United States, when it is scarcely observed in Mexico? David E. Hayes-Bautista, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA, explains the holiday is not Mexican at all, but rather an American one, created by Latinos in California during the mid-nineteenth century. Series: "Writers" [Humanities]...
Story Hour in the Library celebrates the writers at UC Berkeley with this annual student reading featuring short excerpts of work by winners of the year’s biggest prose prizes, Story Hour in the Library interns, and faculty nominees. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 23988]
One of the year’s most lively events, the student reading includes winners of the following prizes: Academy of American Poets, Cook, Rosenberg, and Yang, as well as students nominated by Berkeley’s creative writing faculty, Lunch Poems volunteers, and representatives from student publications. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 22620]
Why is Cinco de Mayo, a holiday commemorating a Mexican victory over the French at Puebla in 1862, so widely celebrated in California and across the United States, when it is scarcely observed in Mexico? David E. Hayes-Bautista, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA, explains the holiday is not Mexican at all, but rather an American one, created by Latinos in California during the mid-nineteenth century. Series: "Writers" [Humanities]...
Isabel Allende is one of Latin America's foremost female writers. The author of nineteen books, her works have been adapted for movies, plays, musicals, operas, ballets, radio programs and two international movies. In addition to her career as writer, journalist, and teacher, she has created The Isabel Allende Foundation to empower women and girls worldwide. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 23835]
Timothy D. Taylor is professor in the department of ethnomusicology and musicology at UCLA. In his new book, “Sounds of Capitalism,” he tracks the use of music in American advertising for nearly a century, from variety shows to the rise of the jingle, the postwar rise in consumerism and the more complete fusion of popular music and consumption in the 1980s and after. Series: "Writers" [Humanities] [Show ID: 23820]
Countries that are rich in petroleum have less democracy, less economic stability, and more frequent civil wars than countries without oil. Michael L. Ross, Professor of Political Science and and Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA, looks at how developing nations are shaped by their mineral wealth -- and how they can turn oil from a curse into a blessing. His new book, shows why oil wealth typically creates less economic growth than it should; why it produces jobs for men...
Richard Berengarten (aka Richard Burns) was born in London in 1943. The author of more than twenty books, Berengarten has been something of a maverick in contemporary British poetry. Two of his books are regarded as contemporary classics: “The Manager” and “The Blue Butterfly,” an elegy for victims of a Nazi massacre in former Yugoslavia. A book of essays about his work, “The Salt Companion to Richard Berergarten,” has recently appeared. He is a Bye-Fellow at Downing College, Cambridge. This is ...
This reading celebrates the publication of “ascension,” the first book of poems by giovanni singleton, coordinator of Lunch Poems. She has recently been selected by the Poetry Society of America for its biennial New American Poets series. singleton is a recipient of a New Langton Bay Area Award Show for Literature and has been a fellow at Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Cave Canem: A Workshop for African-American Poets, and the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference. She is founding editor of “noctu...
Mark Danner has written about foreign affairs and American politics for more than two decades, covering Latin America, Haiti, the Balkans and the Middle East among other stories. He was for many years a staff writer at The New Yorker and contributes frequently to The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine and other publications. He teaches at the University of California and at Bard College and speaks and debates widely about America's role in the world. Series: "Story Hour in the...
Blogger and author Rachel Held Evans (”Evolving in Monkey Town” rachelheldevans.com) offers humorous stories about her life as she describes the style differences in writing for the web versus the page. Evans is presented as part of the 2012 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 23096]
Cristina Garcia is the author of five novels, a collection of poetry, and three works for young readers including her newest release “Dreams of Significant Girls” about three wealthy and adventurous ninth-grade girls from different worlds who converge upon a Swiss boarding school for a summer of discovery. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 23646]
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon was awarded the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for Black Swan, her debut collection of poems that mixes vernacular language with classical mythology, modern struggles with Biblical trials, and gives voice to women past and present. With her second, ]Open Interval[, nominated for the 2009 National Book Award, Van Clief-Stefanon “marries a wildness of vision with a lens-maker’s precision.” She is co-author, with Elizabeth Alexander, of the chapbook Poems in Conversation and a Con...
Clayton Eshleman, American poet, translator, and editor, reads from his recently released translation “Solar Throat Slashed,” by Aimé Césaire, co-translated with A. James Arnold. Césaire, a strong anticolonialist, was born in the Caribbean and wrote his poems and plays in French. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 22615]
Ben Bac Sierra’s story is one of transformation. Raised in San Francisco’s Mission District he lived a harsh existence until the United States Marine Corps set him on a path to becoming a Gulf War veteran, professor, and author of Barrio Bushido. After an honorable discharge, he received a BA at UC Berkeley, a teaching credential and an MA. at San Francisco State University, and a JD at UC Hastings College of the Law. He is a professor at City College of San Francisco and he regularly presents a...
Carol Edgarian is an author, editor, and publisher. Her novels include the New York Times bestseller “Three Stages of Amazement” and the international bestseller “Rise the Euphrates.” Edgarian and her husband, editor and writer Tom Jenks, founded the non-profit magazine Narrative which publishes more than three hundred artists each year. She speaks to an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 23310]
Are America’s civil rights laws a failure? Stanford Law professor and “Rights Gone Wrong” author Richard Thompson Ford argues that while they have been successful in fighting overt discrimination, they’ve fallen short in addressing other social injustices and in some cases, have been hijacked by political extremists for personal advantage. Ford is interviewed by Jennifer Burton, a visiting scholar to UC San Diego. Series: "Revelle Forum" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 22625]
Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes writer Glenn Greenwald for a discussion of his new book, “With Liberty and Justice for Some.” Greenwald traces his intellectual odyssey; analyzes the relationship between principle, power, and law; and describes the erosion of the rule of law in the United States. Highlighting the degree to which the legal system frees the powerful from accountability while harshly treating the powerless, Greenwald describes the origins of the current system, its repudi...
Writer and MacArthur Fellow Mark Danner talks about writing as reportage versus as a creative act, and examines how words are used for differing purposes. Series: "Conversations with History" [Humanities] [Show ID: 8042]
Born in San Francisco, Robert Haas is a California poet but his poetry, translations, and essays reveal an intimacy that transcends the borders of states and nations. With his direct clarity and promotion of literacy in “places where poets don’t go,” he served two years as U. S. Poet Laureate (1995-97). His numerous books include “Sun Under Wood,” “Time and Materials,” and “The Apple Trees at Olema: New and Selected Poems.” Hass’s numerous accolades include the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, two...
