College of Creative Studies

Winter 2013 Literature Symposium

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

CCS Literature Symposium Winter 2013

Jan 9 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 was a featured reader and writer at the Lobero's "Speaking of Stories." She is currently living in Santa Barbara and writing a screenplay.

Jan 16 Geoffrey Jacques

Geoffrey Jacques is a poet, critic, and teacher who writes about literature, the visual arts, and culture. His research interests include modernist poetry and poetics, African American literature and culture, and the postmodern city.

Jacques' latest book of poems is Just For a Thrill (Wayne State University Press, 2005). His previous poetry collections include Hunger and Other Poems (1993) and Suspended Knowledge (1998). Jacques has also published poems in such journals and anthologies as Fence, Callaloo, Hambone, MiPoesias, Black Renaissance Noire, O-Blek, Long News in the Short Century, in the anthology Abandon Automobile: Detroit City Poetry 2001 (Wayne State University Press, 2001), and elsewhere.

Jan 23 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 anthologized in media such as Los Angeles Times Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, andNational 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.

Jan 30 Thomas Patrick Levy

Thomas Patrick Levy is a poet who lives in Los Angeles. He is the author of two collections, IDon't Mind If You're Feeling Alone and Please Don't Leave Me Scarlett Johanssen.

Feb 6 Deana Barone

Deana Barone is a storyteller, writer and actress. She is a Moth storyslam winner and tells stories all around LA. She is the creator, curator and co-host of The Trunk Show, a multi-genre storytelling event, and directs and dramaturges selected pieces in it. She is also a private story and acting coach, teaches a storytelling class, and gives talks about storytelling as a business tool. She is currently directing and developing "Duck Ugly," a solo show by Claire Thomasina J., and working on her own solo show, "The Little Girl and Lalu." Deana has played on off-broadway and regional stages, on TV, in indie movies, in commercials, as a voiceover actor, and in rejected pilots starring Matthew Perry. She loves clowns, skipjack tuna, and chocolate.

Feb 13 Sameer Pandya

Sameer Pandya earned his BA in History from the University of California, Davis and his PhD from the Program in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford, Sameer began teaching in the English Department at Queens College, City University of New York. After five years, he returned to California, and in 2008, started teaching in the Asian American Studies department at UC Santa Barbara.

Sameer's teaching and writing interests are located at the cross section between South Asian Studies and Asian American Studies. At Queens, he taught courses on South Asian literature, postcolonial and literary theory, and modernism. At UCSB, he teaches, among other courses, the introductory course on Asian American literature, a creative writing workshop, a course on the history of South Asians in America, and a class on Asian American aesthetics.

While maintaining a strong scholarly interest in the autobiographical tradition and the history of sport in South Asian and Asian American Studies, Sameer has concentrated his writing and publishing in fiction and commercial non-fiction. He has published short stories in Narrative Magazine, Other Voices, and Epiphany. And his non-fiction has appeared in Sports Illustrated and The New York Daily News. At Miller-McCune.com, he writes the Research of Culture blog and has published a series of articles on topics ranging from the financial crisis on college campuses and the effects of the recession on contemporary masculinity to the economics of professional sports.

Feb 20 Blas Falconer

Blas Falconer is the author of The Foundling Wheel (Four Way Books 2012) and A Question of Gravity and Light (University of Arizona Press 2007). The recipient of an NEA Fellowship, the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange, and a Tennessee Individual Artist Grant, his poems have been featured by Poets and Writers, The Poetry Foundation, and Poetry Society of America. A coeditor of Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets (Southern Illinois University Press 2010) and The Other Latino: Writing Against a Singular Identity (University of Arizona Press 2011), he is a lecturer at the University of Southern California and teaches in the low-residency MFA at Murray State University.

Feb 27 Dixie Salazar

Dixie Salazar has published four books of poetry: Hotel Fresno by Blue Moon Press in 1988, Reincarnation of the Commonplace (national poetry award winner) by Salmon Run Press in 1999, Blood Mysteries by University of Arizona in 2003 and Flamenco Hips and Red Mud Feet also by University of Arizona in 2010. Limbo, her novel, was published by White Pine Press in 1995. Her newest collection, Altar for Escaped Voices will be published by Tebot Bach in 2012.

She has also taught extensively in the California prisons and the Fresno County jail. Currently, she is involved as a homeless advocate and shows her art at the Silva/ Salazar studios at 654 Van Ness in Fresno, California. website: dixiesalazar.com

Mar 6 Claire Cordingley

Claire Cordingley is a writer, actress, and producer living in Los Angeles. She has performed widely at story-telling and stand-up events in Los Angeles and the UK. Her most recent solo show, "Duck Ugly" was debuted at the Santa Monica playhouse in December.

Mar 13 Louisa Hall