Writers (Audio)

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: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24348]

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 Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 24370]

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 years. Her honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and two NEA fellowships. She has published 16 volumes of poetry and seven collaborative Artist Books, recently collected by the Bienecke Library at Yale. Her work has been translated widely in Italian and French. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24346]

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 Archive), Colleen Rovetti (University Relations), Debarati Sanyal (French), Associate Director Sanchita Saxena (Center for South Asia Studies), Director Alix Schwartz (Academic Planning for the College of Letters & Science), David Sklansky (Law), and Andrew Stewart (Classics) Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24345]

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 political site Tomdispatch.com. Here she reads to an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 24369]

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] [Show ID: 24025]

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]