September 7, 2008, 11 am-3 pm: UCLA Writers' Program Writers Faire, UCLA campus, Young Courtyard area. Lots and lots of panels, including two that I'll be chairing:
1)
Graduate Creative Writing Programs: An Inside Look. Hear about the pros and cons of obtaining your graduate degree in today’s world, what the experience is like, how to go about it, and what to do when you have it. With panelists Tod Goldberg, UCR Palm Desert; Steve Heller, Antioch University, Los Angeles; Paul Vangelisti, Otis College of Art and Design; Ray Zepeda, CSU, Long Beach. 1:30–2:10 pm. Boelter Hall, Room 5436.
2)
Getting Published. Whether you’re writing short or long fiction, to get published in today’s changing literary marketplace you need to be your own advocate, have a winning strategy, and write quality work. Join four established authors to learn how they get, and keep, their work in print. Panelists include Kate Gale, Jessica Barksdale Inclan, and Bronwyn Mauldin. 2:20–3 pm. Court of Sciences Building Room 76.
"Cruelty" © by Jason Jägel.
This is the painting
Bark magazine comissioned for their Adriane excerpt from Bay area artist Jason Jägel. It presents a wonderful mix of elements from the book. At the top, young Adriane curls up with her father in front of the TV and learns how to bet on pro-football games. Below, adult Adriane sleeps with her arms around Barry, the stray she finds in the cemetery where her father's now buried (center). Curiously, two of the dogs pictured are smoking, a surreal touch that I love.
About the painting's creation, Jason writes: "This was just after my dad died so when I read the piece I was surprised by the coincidence. My father was a life-long smoker and like me a painter, among other things. The color design I made is based on a traditional American tattoo banner, two in parallel succession. They are an honorific symbol to me, a place to put feeling or tribute. I had just been visiting Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass. where my father was buried and while the cemetery I drew is not a portrait of that place I was definitely thinking of its personality."
Look for Jason's new website,
www.jasonjagel.com, starting in November.
March 9, 2008: Reading with
Ploughshares founding editor
DeWitt Henry at Emerson College's L.A. Center. Also joining us: James Brown, author of
The Los Angeles Diaries.
March 8, 2008: "Looking Ahead to Publication," a panel discussion with Aimee Liu, Rebecca Forster, and Bett Williams, as part of ArtsDay L.A., sponsored by UCLA Extension.
November 6, 2007: PEN USA 17th Annual Literary Awards Festival. Awards were given for best book of fiction, creative nonfiction, research nonfiction, children's literature, poetry, and translation, plus awards for journalism, drama, teleplay and screenplay. I had the privilege of chairing this year's fiction judging panel, and so many of the entries were really first rate. For the full program and invitation, including list of winners, click on the PDF file below.
September 9, 2007: UCLA Extension Writers’ Program’s Writers Faire. Participating on the Graduate Creative Writing Programs panel I chaired were Jenny Factor from Antioch University, Lee Wochner from USC's MPW Program, and Paul Vangelisti from Otis College of Art and Design. Lee and Jenny were new to the panel this year and did a great job describing their programs.
The afternoon panel on Short Fiction was a raucous good time, featuring the always amusing
Tod Goldberg,
Rob Roberge, and Lou Mathews (chair), and newcomer (new to me, at least)
Emily Rapp. She and I shared the distinction of having worked on a short story over the longest period of time (ten years).
July 17, 2007: At the downtown library, I had the pleasure of introducing seven very talented young writers at PEN's Emerging Voices final reading.
This summer, I spent a very productive month at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, located on a beautiful ranch next to Neil Young's spread in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The seven other residents included Mary Childers, author of a wonderful memoir
Welfare Brat, media artist
Takehito Etani and painter
Tiffany Calvert (check out their very cool websites).
September 10, 2006: At the
UCLA Extension Writers' Program Writers' Faire, moderated a panel on Graduate Creative Writing Programs, featuring Steve Heller, Antioch University, Los Angeles; Brighde Mullins, CalArts; James Ragan, USC; and Peter Gadol, Otis College of Art and Design.
Followed by a panel on the Art of the Short Story that also included Chris Iovenko, Vandana Khanna, and
Rob Roberge.
July 1, 2006: "Submitting to Small Presses and Literary Journals," a panel discussion with Kate Gale, editor of
Red Hen Press and
The Los Angeles Review, and Timothy Green, associate editor of the poetry journal
Rattle. Part of PEN's Writers' Toolbox Day, West Hollywood Community Center.
June 1, 2006: 13th Annual UCLA Writers' Program Publication Party. Five-minute readings from 22 Program instructors, including Samantha Dunn,
Rachel Resnick, Rob Roberge. Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.
April 29, 2006: "She Said, She Said," a fiction panel about writing in women's voices, along with Susan Isaacs, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, and
Leslie Schwartz—L.A. Times Festival of Books.
March 18, 2006: Authors Forum Luncheon hosted by the Santa Maria Branch of AAUW (American Association of University Women) with authors Mark Bittner, Lynette Brasfield, Silvio Cadenasso, and Joyce Dudley.
February 1, 2006: Reading, plus discussion about editing anthologies—with Ava Chin—at Cal Arts, Valencia, CA.
January 26, 2006: Writers on Writing, with host Barbara DeMarco-Barrett--interview about Adriane on the Edge.
January 19, 2006: Connie Martinson Talks Books--interview about Adriane on the Edge.
January 12, 2006: Reading from Adriane on the Edge, Borders, White Flint, Rockville, MD
January 11, 2006: Reading from Adriane on the Edge. Borders Timonium/Lutherville, MD
January 7, 2006: Reading from Adriane on the Edge. Robin's Bookstore, Philadelphia, PA
January 4, 2006: Reading from Adriane on the Edge, Newtonville Books, Newton, MA
December 14, 2005: Reading from Adriane on the Edge, Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA.
December 13, 2005: Reading from Adriane on the Edge. Borders Westwood, Los Angeles, CA.
October 22, 2005: Reading from
Adriane on the Edge with
Jennifer Vandever, author of
The Brontë Project, which
PW has called "wickedly clever." Emerson College Los Angeles Center.
October 2, 2005: "Road Maps: Process and Strategy in Writing Fiction," a panel I moderated, featuring
Bebe Moore Campbell,
David Francis,
Aimee Liu and
Leslie Schwartz—as part of the West Hollywood Book Fair.
September 26, 2005: Reading at Towson University from the upcoming Adriane book.
September 23-25, 2005: Baltimore Festival of Books. Reading from Garrett in Wedlock, and a panel discussion on publishing also featuring Masha Hamilton, Matt Bondurant, Buzz Williams, and J. Robert Lennon (whose novel Mailman is very cool).
September 11, 2005: UCLA Extension Writers' Program's 2005 Writers Fair panel on Graduate Creative Writing Programs, featuring Steve Heller from Antioch University Los Angeles, Tom Lutz from CalArts, James Ragan from USC, and Peter Gadol from Otis College of Arts and Design.
June 2, 2005: UCLA Writers' Program 12th Annual Publication Party. Short readings by Paul Mandelbaum, Lou Mathews, Holiday Reinhorn,
Rachel Resnick, Rob Roberge, Ellen Slezak,
Suzanne Lummis, and others. Fowler Museum of Cultural History on the UCLA Campus.
April 4, 2005,: Discussion of Garrett in Wedlock with Connie Martinson on syndicated cable show Connie Martinson Talks Books.
April 2, 2005: Meet the Authors & Bookfaire, Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts at Whittier College.
Jan. 13, 2005: Interview with Barbara Demarco-Barrett on her KUCI radio show Writers on Writing, 88.9 FM in the L.A. area or www.kuci.org.
Dec. 29, 2004: Reading from Garrett in Wedlock Robin's Bookstore, 108 s. 13th St., Philadelphia, PA.
Dec. 15, 2004: Reading from Garrett in Wedlock. Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA.
Dec. 13, 2004: Reading from Garrett in Wedlock. Borders Westwood, Los Angeles, CA.
Dec. 4, 2004,: Reading from
Garrett in Wedlock with
Jennifer Vandever, author of the forthcoming novel
The Brontë Project). Emerson College Los Angeles Center. (Co-sponsored by Skylight Books.)
