Poet, author, and former Department Chair RUTH ANDERSON led the Poetry Writing workshops for many years and contributed to the launch of the College's first readings series.
THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL is a presentation of the Grossmont College English Department's Creative Writing Program.
This year, as our College also marks its sixtieth year of excellence, we're proud to look back upon a quarter century of Literary Arts Festivals that brought dozens of award-winning poets and writers to our campus. These events have created one-of-a-kind opportunities for our students and community members to experience literature beyond the page, hear it as relevant, living expression, and have meaningful dialogue with a celebrated author in person—often for their first time.
Numerous friends, faculty, deans and administrators, campus services, and, of course, students, deserve our thanks for their role in making these past twenty-five years so memorable. However, with the hindsight of six decades now, certain Department colleagues stand apart as consequential, not only for their part in the emergence of our Creative Writing Program, but also for their many labors of love in contribution to a critical mass that would one day ignite the tradition of the annual Literary Arts Festival. We salute and cherish each one of them.
Poet, author, and former Department Chair RUTH ANDERSON led the Poetry Writing workshops for many years and contributed to the launch of the College's first readings series. |
Playwright and fiction writer VERENA ANDERSON was a dedicated part-time instructor who was the progenitor for FirstDraft magazine, the predecessor of Acorn Review Literary Journal. |
Poet, Creative Writing instructor, and beloved colleague, JUDY BARKLEY was an editor and production assistant for Cowles Mountain Journal, which showcased the poetry, fiction, and literary nonfiction of California community college faculty. |
Still a currently tenured English Department faculty member, poet and literary essayist, SYDNEY BROWN, served as former LAF co-ordinator and Creative Writing Program co-ordinator, and is principally responsible for building the LAF's gravitas in the last decade. |
DR. ORALEE HOLDER, former Department Chair, was a fierce supporter of the Creative Writing Program who always took an active role in our annual Festival, including walking the length of the campus to promote it, introduce honored literary guests, and even participate, herself, as a reader. She has been instrumental in the growth of the LAF. |
Poet, playwright, novelist, fiction writer, author KAMLA "KAMAL" KAPUR taught Creative Writing and forged the first drama writing workshops for the Creative Writing Program. Kapur is internationally recognized and, in India, highly acclaimed for her writings and plays. |
Playwright, poet, and composer, GEORGE KIRAZIAN, was a charter faculty member, early English Department Chair, and co-founder of Grossmont College’s first literary magazine, Talon. |
Poet JOE MEDINA, Grossmont College’s Puente Project founder, and loyal advocate of all things literary arts, bringing fiction writer Daniel Reveles to Grossmont College for the author's very first literary reading. Medina also originated the annual Celebration of Banned Books reading and, over the years, was a supportive presenter at many LAF events. |
Fiction writer and poet STEPHANIE MOOD, much loved for many years as the Department’s Short Fiction Writing workshop instructor, is the charter coordinator of the Creative Writing Program and founder deluxe of the Literary Arts Festival. Here tireless and inventive efforts to produce the Festival raised the bar on literary events on our campus. |
Novelist and poet, Lt. Col. ROBERT "BOB" MOORE, served as Department Chair, taught Creative Writing, and founded the Creative Writing Program as a stand-alone program within the Grossmont College English Department. |
His tenure lasted only a few years, but poet LLOYD NORWOOD was an active part of the San Diego literary scene in his time and primarily responsible in 1974 for creating our first fall semester readings series, which featured writers and poets Ai, Michael McClure, Diane Wakoski, W. S. Merwin, Carl Rakosi, Sherril Jaffe, and future U.S. Poet Laureate, Philip Levine. |
CHESTER H. PALMER, who transitioned from his position as charter English Department faculty to the administrative position of Evening Division Dean, was also the faculty advisor and co-founder of Talon, Grossmont College’s very first student-edited literary magazine. It lasted only two issues, but Palmer lives on as the inspiration for the name, Chest-O-Drawers Press. |
During his time as Department Chair, Creative Writing faculty member GARY PHILLIPS pioneered and led our Creative Writing Program’s first Novel Writing workshop while remaining an indefatigable advocate for the growth of the Literary Arts Festival. Since then, the Novel Writing course has remained one of our bread-and-butter workshops. |
During the decades of the eighties and nineties, past Department Chair and author GLENDA RICHTER taught virtually every course in our Program, from Intro Creative Writing, to the Poetry Writing and Fiction Writing workshops. She was also a contributing organizer for the very earliest Literary Arts Festivals coordinated by colleague Stephanie Mood. |
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