Program Description
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Write It Now, Risk It All: An edgy, honest, and inspiring celebration of writing that dares, featuring a diverse cadre of award-winning writers from the MFA Program in Writing at California College of the Arts.
From the memoirs of the first Black woman to ordain as a Buddhist nun in Thailand (Faith Adiele), to the taboo-crushing saga of Iranian women (Jasmin Darznik), the misadventures of a modern day "spinster" (Taryn Shelby), tales from a pioneering Antarctic explorer (Leslie Carol Roberts) and a searing account of life as a Vietnamese refugee (Aimee Phan), our readings are proof of Cynthia Ozick's definition of writing as "essentially an act of courage."
Speakers
Faith Adiele
FAITH ADIELE is author of Meeting Faith, an award-winning account of becoming Thailand’s first Black Buddhist nun, and The Nigerian Nordic Girl’s Guide to Lady Problems. Her media credits include A World of Calm (HBO-Max), Sleep Stories (Calm App), documentary My Journey Home (PBS) about finding her family in Nigeria, and a travel column in Detour and Miami Herald. She co-founded the nation’s first writing workshop for BIPOC travelers and African Book Club at the Museum of the African Diaspora. One of Marie Claire Magazine’s “Five Women to Learn From,” Faith Chairs Writing & Literature at California College of the Arts.
Jasmin Darznik
Jasmin DARZNIK is the New York Times bestselling author of three books, most recently The Bohemians. Her personal essays have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. She is chair and associate professor of the MFA in Writing Program at California College of the Arts.
Aimee Phan
Aimee PHAN is an author, NEA fellow, and faculty member in the MFA Writing Program and Literature Program at California College of the Arts. Her debut story collection, We Should Never Meet (which won the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award in Prose), and her novel The Reeducation of Cherry Truong tell oft-silenced stories of Vietnamese refugees.
Leslie Carol Roberts
Leslie Carol ROBERTS is an author, journalist, research scholar, and professor who has traveled to every continent, taking photos and writing narratives of humans, more-than-humans, and ecologies. She is the author of Here Is Where I Walk: Episodes from a Life in the Forest and The Entire Earth and Sky: Views on Antarctica.
Lit Crawl Sebastopol features over 119 authors from around the Bay Area during its four hours of literary mayhem and will draw hundreds of readers, writers, and revelers to crawl through downtown Sebastopol, listening to readings and celebrating Sonoma County’s spirited and diverse literary community.
LitCrawl is FREE to all.