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Fall Readings Series 

The Creative Writing Program's annual Fall Reading Series presents a season of events celebrating literature, showcasing award-winning authors, and honoring the inspiration to write. Free of charge and open to the public, our events are generously underwritten by the Grossmont College English Department, the GC Academic Affairs Symposium and Lecture Fund, and the Foundation for Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges (FGCC) Creative Writing Fund. Please consider visiting the FGCC Creative Writing Fund to make a tax deductible contribution that will help us continue bringing literary excellence to our students and community. Thank you!

 

 

PARKING & ACCESSIBILITY:

For our off-campus visitors, parking is free in all available spaces designated for use by students; permits are not required. All venues are wheelchair accessible. If you would like an accommodation for ASL interpreter services (on-site or Zoom), CLICK HERE to submit a request to the Accessibility Resource Center's Interpreting/RTC Coordinator, Denise Robertson, denise.robertson@gcccd.edu619-933-8191 c/text • Video Phone: (619) 567-4269.


2024 FRS Calendar 

Click author names for additional bios and event details. Campus information, directions, and maps are available HERE.

 

Event Date Time Location

Ruben Navarrette journalist / memoirist

memoir author of A Darker Shade of Crimson, and nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group

Sep. 25 12:30pm 70-162: Library Living Room

Daniela Sow poet

author of the newly launched poetry collection, Half Moon Rising; event also features student poets Kassandra Reyes and Artrice Bennett

Oct. 10 2:00pm Griffin Gate

Mark Wallace author

prize-winning novelist, poet, and essayist, and author of Crab, Telling It Slant, The Quarry and the Lot, and others

Nov. 13 6:30pm PVAC

New Voices student reading

exceptional student writers from the Fall 2024 semester's creative writing courses performing new and original works

Dec. 9 6:30pm PVAC

 

See below for info about our 2024 season of events, and download our 2024 FRS flier:

FRS 2024 Flier


Ruben Navarrette memoirist and journalist

Banned Books/Banned Lives Reading

Wed., September 25, 12:30pm, Rm. 70-162 Library Living Room

Ruben NavarretteCrab, a book coverRuben Navarrette is the most widely read Latino columnist in the U.S., and the 16th most popular columnist in America according to Media Matters. He is a nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group whose twice-a-week column appears in nearly 150 newspapers, a contributor to USA Today and foxnews.com, and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Navarette is the author of the memoir, A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of a Harvard Chicano (Random House 1994). On television, Navarrette has appeared on dozens of shows, television and radio. He judged the contest for the Pulitzer Prizes in 2013 and 2014, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary by the Washington Post Writers Group in 2012. Navarrette lives in the San Diego area with his wife, and three children.

American Library Association Banned Books Week banner

 


Daniela Sow poet and author

Thur., October 10, 2pm, Griffin Gate

(Building 60, outside southwest corner)

 

Daniela SowHalf Moon Rising, a book coverDaniela Paraguya Sow (she/her) was born in New York City, New York, and she was raised in Angeles City, Philippines, and in various cities in Southern California. She and her family currently live in San Diego, where she serves as an Associate Professor of English at Grossmont College.  Her writing has appeared in Mixed Asian Media, The Plentitudes Journal, The Hyacinth Review, The Lumiere Review, and elsewhere. Her debut full-length poetry collection, Half Moon Rising, is now available for purchase (Kelsay Books, May 2024). Connect with her at danielasow.com

 

Also featured...

Two student poets will feature as opening readers for Daniela Sow's reading:

Kassandra Reyes and Artrice Bennett

student poet Kassandra ReyesKASSANDRA REYES was born in Encinitas, California, raised up and down San Diego and North County. She writes passionately about what it means to be a Mexican-American, proudly embracing her roots from Oaxaca and Michoacán Mexico. Majoring in English to become a teacher, she advocates for the youth and children in poverty, prejudice, and disabilities.  

 

student poet Artrice BennettARTRICE BENNETT is a poet and lover of literature with a weakness for coffee and the color of burnt clay. She graduated from Grossmont College before studying English at the University of California, Berkeley and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Creative Writing from San Diego State University, where she is a Prebys Creative Writing Scholar. Her work is published in Crab Apple Literary, Tiny Spoon, and The Hyacinth Review.

 


Mark Wallace poet, novelist, essayist

Wed., November 13, 6:30pm, PVAC Performing and Visual Arts Center

Mark WallaceMark Wallace is the author and editor of a number of books of fiction, poetry, and essays. His most recent novel, Crab, was published in 2017 by Submodern Books. Other recent publications include Haze: Essays, Poems, and Prose (Edge Books 2004), and a book-length prose poem, Notes from the Center on Public Policy, and a novel, The Quarry and The Lot. Temporary Worker Rides a Subway won the 2002 Gertrude Stein Poetry Award and was published by Green Integer Books. His critical articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, and he has co-edited two essay collections, Telling It Slant: Avant Garde Poetics of the 1990s, and A Poetics of Criticism.

 

Crab, a book coverThe Quarry and the Lot, a book coverTelling It Slant, a book coverTemporary Works Rides a Subway, a book cover

 

Lester Bangs picture disc

Mark Wallace is this year’s featured guest presenter for the annual Lester Bangs Memorial Reading, which honors influential music journalist, author, and musician, Lester Bangs. Bangs, an El Cajon native and Grossmont College alumnus, is widely credited for having coined the terms "punk" and "heavy metal.” In 2009, Grossmont College officially honored Bangs’s international celebrity status by dedicating to him a bronze "Walk of Fame" plaque, located in the Main Quad in front of the Tech Mall.

 


New Voices student literary reading

Mon, December 9, 6:30pm, PVAC

New VoicesNew Voices is our popular biannual event will feature exceptional student writers from the Fall 2024 semester's creative writing courses performing their new and original works of short and flash fiction, novel excerpts, literary nonfiction, poetry, drama, and hybrid works.

 

 

 

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