Writers (Video)

Jeannette Walls drew from her nomadic childhood with negligent but interesting parents for her memoir “The Glass Castle” and her colorful grandmother for “Half-Broke Horses: A True Life Novel.” Her latest, “The Silver Star,” continues to explore dysfunctional family love and loyalty. She talks here with veteran journalist Dean Nelson as part of the 19th annual Writer’s Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Show ID: 25517]

Cynthia Cruz’s poems have been published in the New Yorker, Paris Review, Boston Review, American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review and others. Her first collection of poems, RUIN, was published by Alice James Book and her second collection, “The Glimmering Room,” was published by Four Way Books in 2012. She has received fellowships from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony as well as a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University. Her third collection of poems, Wunderkammer, is from Four Way Books in 2014. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 26024]

Cancer is a lens in which to understand modern society and the acquisition of knowledge, argues Pulitzer-Prize winning author and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee. In this wide-ranging interview with journalist Dean Nelson, Dr. Mukherjee goes on to describe himself as a “sober optimist” about the future of cancer research as he urges the cancer community to demand more public support for cancer therapies, treatments and prevention. He was presented as part of the Exploring Ethics series convened around his best-selling book, “The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” by the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology and the Helen Edison Lecture Series at UC San Diego Extension. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 25516]

Author, New York Times columnist and master storyteller Samuel Freedman describes the process of creating powerful narratives about people engaged with race, faith and other cultural issues in this interview with veteran journalist Dean Nelson. Freedman is presented as part of the 19th Annual Writer’s Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 26029]

Linda Gregerson is the author of five books of poetry, most recently The Selvage (2012). Her many honors include awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and Mellon Foundations, the Kingsley Tufts poetry endowment. Her third book, Waterborne, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Gregerson is Caroline Walker Bynum Distinguished University Professor at the University of Michigan. She reads to an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27967]

This reading is a special event celebrating the first anthology of Burmese poetry in English translation in more than fifty years. At a time of political transformation in Myanmar, Zeyar Lynn, poet, essayist, and translator presents his work from “Bones Will Crow: 15 Contemporary Burmese Poets.” Lynn is widely regarded as the most influential living poet in Myanmar and a translator of many Western poets, including Sylvia Plath, John Ashbery, and Charles Bernstein. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25925]

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: Police Chief Margo Bennett, Chancellor Nicholas B. Dirks, Keith P. Feldman (Ethnic Studies), Dean Keith Gilless (College of Natural Resources), Alexander Givental (Mathematics), Timothy Hampton (Comparative Literature), Associate Director of Administration Dylan Hendricks, Patricia Penn Hilden (Native American History & Comparative Ethnic Studies), Maria Mavroudi (Byzantine History & Classics), Water Quality Program Manager Tim Pine (Office of Environment, Health & Safety), and Financial Analyst Jane Youn (English) Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25863]

Story Hour in the Library celebrates the writers in Berkeley campus community with an annual student reading. The event features 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: 24376]

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: 24352]

David Shields is the author of twelve books, most recently Jeff, One Lonely Guy, which was co-written by Jeff Ragsdale and Michael Logan. He is a winner of multiple PEN awards and the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, two NEA fellowships, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation grant, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. He is the Milliman Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at the University of Washington and a member of the faculty in Warren Wilson College’s low-residency MFA Program for Writers. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Show ID: 24375]