College of Creative Studies

Spring 2009 Literature Symposium

Wednesdays, 4:00-5:00 p.m. Old Little Theatre (Building 494)

April 1: Marnie Pomerantz MacClean

Marnie MacLean was born in December 1969, in the hippie haze of flower power. She likes that, especially since other notable events that year were The Hells Angels killing a man at a Rolling Stones concert and The Manson Murders. Marnie was named after the Alfred Hitchcock psychological thriller "Marnie" and still wonders why her parents would name her after a woman with serious psychological problems, unnatural fears, and compulsive kleptomania. Marnie lived 30 years in New York City. She graduated from Barnard College in 1992 with an English Lit degree specializing in Medieval Lit (which she's still not sure what that does in the 21st Century). After graduating, Marnie acted in films and on stage, but she spent most of her time writing in her journal, documenting her own psychological thrillers. Since elementary school, Marnie has kept a diary. Although often astounded by the brilliance of her own insight and reflection, she never expected that 20 years later, she would be in a comedy show reading her high school diaries to the public, which would subsequently be published in the book, Get Mortified: Love Is A Battlefield. Since moving to Los Angeles 8 years ago, Marnie has been writing and performing in performance art shows, storytelling shows, and in comedy review. Marnie has an article in Glamour.com coming out this month, called "Prada to Nada", about her recent experience being scammed by Bernard Madoff in the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time. No small time pilfering for this Park Avenue resident. Marnie is happily married and lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and their three dogs, Jasmin, Caviar, and Biffer.

April 8: John Nathan

JOHN NATHAN is an author, translator, Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, and cultural critic who has devoted a long and rich lifetime to removing the cloak of enigma that surrounds the Japanese.

Reviewing Nathan's recent memoir, Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere, Howard French of the New York Times wrote:

"Nathan has written a beautiful and intimate account of his charmed, often self-absorbed and sometimes lonely life...and one reads it marveling at how he was able to change metiers almost by the season and always regain his footing." This year, completing his first novel, A Bintel Brief, Nathan has embarked on yet another career. At the literature symposium he will read from A Bintel Brief .

April 15: Parry Gripp

Parry Gripp is a composer and song-writer. He wrote the theme song to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and headed the band "Nerfherder." He operates an orchid farm in Goleta. The title of his presentation is "Hamster on the Keyboard."

April 22: Kerrie Kvashay-Boyle

Kerry Kvashay-Boyle received her MFA from the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Her short stories have been published in many magazines and anthologies, including Best American Non-Required Reading 2003, McSweeny's #9, Coe Review, Outsider Rules, Hip to be Square, Politically Inspired Fiction. She is the editor of Homecoming; Americans, Adolescents, Immigrants and the co-editor of Doubletakes, Pairs of Contemporary Short Stories. She will be a featured reader and writer at the Lobero's "Speaking of Stories," Monday, May 11.

April 29: Lisa Teasley

Lisa Teasley is the author of the acclaimed novels HEAT SIGNATURE (2006) and DIVE (2004), and the award-winning story collection, GLOW IN THE DARK (2002), all published by Bloomsbury. GLOW IN THE DARK is winner of the Gold Pen and the Pacificus Foundation Awards. Her past awards include: the May Merrill Miller Award, the National Society of Arts & Letters Award, and the Amaranth Review Award.

Lisa Teasley's books have been praised in numerous publications such as the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Village Voice; Teasley has been profiled in publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Glamour magazine, and LA Weekly, where she appeared on the cover.

Lisa Teasley's essays and stories have been much anthologized, and in media such as Los Angeles Times Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, and National Public Radio. She is the writer and presenter of BBC Television's documentary, "High School Prom," praised in the London Guardian, Observer, and Financial Times. She has taught fiction writing at UCLA Writers Program, Antioch, and Cal Arts MFA programs. Lisa Teasley's homepage is www.lisateasley.com.

May 6: Jonathan Gold

Jonathan Gold was the first food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for his work as a restaurant reviewer. He writes for The LA Weekly and appears often on NPR's Good Food and This American Life. He is the author of Counter Intelligence.

May 13: Teddy Macker

Teddy Macker teaches in the Writing Program and the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. His work has appeared in Antioch Review, Southern Humanities Review, New Orleans Review, and elsewhere, with new work forthcoming in New Letters, Seneca Review, The Sun, New Ohio Review, and the anthology, The River Teeth Reader. He received his M.F.A. from UC Irvine, served as Writer-in-Residence at the Gilman School in Baltimore, and lives in Carpinteria on a farm in the foothills.

May 20: Jeanette Castillo

Jeanette Castillo is a writer, scholar and producer of digital media. She is a graduate of UCSB's College of Creative Studies and holds an MA and PhD in Mass Communication from Indiana University. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Digital Media at Florida State University's College of Communication, where she teaches digital media post-production as well as graphics and animation. Her writing credits include film (song lyrics),
television and video games. She is a video producer, DVD author, animator
and weaver of soundtracks. She has published fiction and poetry. Her
scholarly focus is on politics and the Internet, and the ways in which
citizens use digital media tools to form collective and individual political
identities.

May 27: Lisa Beck, Budhi Harlow and Company

Special African Narrative Dance and Music. Lisa Beck and Budhi Harlow teach African dance and drumming. They perform in theaters and schools in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and donate their efforts to causes as diverse as arts educations in the schools to saving the pelicans.

June 3: Alex Scordelis

Alex Scordelis is a graduate of the College of Creative Studies and earned his MFA at the New School. His new book about pranks is being published by Harper Collins this spring.