New Writing Series Fall 2009

Rosmarie & Keith Waldrop, Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 4:30-6:00 p.m. at the Visual Arts Facility: Performance Space
	Rosmarie Waldrop is a prolific writer, translator and publsher. She is the author of more than three dozen books of poetry, fiction, and criticism, most recently the trilogy Curves to the Apple: The Reproduction of Profiles, Lawn of Excluded Middle, and Reluctant Gravites. With her husband Keith she edits Burning Deck Press, one of the most influential publishers of innovative writing in the United States. Waldrop has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a PEN Award for Poetry in Translation in 2008. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006, and was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
	Keith Waldrop is a prominent poet, translator, and publisher. He teaches at Brown University and has served as co-editor of Burning Deck Press with his wife Rosmarie, since 1968. He is the author of numerous collections of poetry, most recently Several Gravities (Siglio, 2009), a collection of collages. He received an award from the Fund for Poetry as well as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Berlin Artists Program of the DAAD. In 2000, he received a medal from the French government with the rank of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.

Les Figues, Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 4:30-6:00 p.m. at the Visual Arts Facility: Performance Space
	Les Figues Press, co-directed by Vanessa Place and Teresa Carmody, supports work that challenges current perceptions of culture, beauty, and belief by creating a space where conversations between artists and readers can evolve through forms of storytelling, visual art, and critical essay. Vanessa Place is most recently the author of the post-conceptual novel La Medusa (FC2) and, with Robert Fitterman, Notes on Conceptualisms (Ugly Duckling). Teresa Carmody is the author of Your Spiritual Suit of Armor by Katherine Anne (Woodland Editions). Christine Wertheim is a poet, critic, performer, and curator and the author of +\|’me’S-pace (Les Figues), a book of poetics.

Laila Lalami, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 4:30-6:00 p.m. at the Visual Arts Facility: Performance Space
	Laila Lalami was born and raised in Rabat, Morocco. She received a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Southern California. Her first collection of stories, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, was released in 2005 and has been translated into six languages. Her new novel, Secret Son, was released this year and has already received various praise as being a brilliant story, magnificently told, brimming with insight into the complexities of life in contemporary Morocco. She has been the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2009. She is currently Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.

Ron Silliman, Thursday, November 19, 2009, 4:30-6:00 p.m. at the Visual Arts Facility: Performance Space
	Ron Silliman is a prolific poet and critic, one of the original group of San Francisco language poets. Silliman is at work on a long project, Ketjack. The Age of Huts (University of California), Tjanting (Salt Publishing), and The Alphabet (University of Alabama) were the first three stages of this project, and Universe is the next. In 2001, Silliman's interest in critical discourse by and for poets led him to create one of the earliest weblogs on the subject of poetry. He has received a Pushcart Prize and has been included twice in the Best American Poetry anthology series.

Eileen Myles, Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 4:30-6:00 p.m. at the Visual Arts Facility: Performance Space
	Eileen Myles is a poet, playwright and performance artist. Her books include Skies (2001) and Cool for You (2000). Her plays include Joan of Arc: a spiritual entertainment, and Patriarchy. She is a frequent contributor to Art in America, The Village Voice, The Nation, and other periodicals, and is Professor Emeritus of Writing at UCSD. This event is part of the Visiting Artists Lecture Series, hosted by the Department of Visual Arts and co-sponsored by the Dean, Division of Arts & Humanities and the Department of Literature.