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11 AM - 12:15PM
panel discussion WHY LITERATURE MATTERS hosted by PROFESSOR SYDNEY BROWN
William Carlos Williams once wrote 鈥淚t is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.鈥 In this annual, student-favorite event, a panel of 小优传媒 students, faculty, and administrators share their moving and powerful personal accounts of the role literature has played in their journeys, advocating the relevance of literature and its potential to inspire change, cultivate humanity, and serve us in, both, personal and global ways.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
This year's WLM featured presenters:
- student Cameron LaZenberry, "Brain Trauma & Literature: Rediscovering Myself through Daniel Keyes鈥 Flowers for Algernon"
- student Sara Canelon, "Because I See Myself: Latinx Representation in Young Adult Literature"
- student Melina Gilbert, "The Magical Healing of Fantasy"
- student Christine Gelastopoulos, "There Is No Wrong"
- Dr. Oralee Holder, English Dept. Chair, "Why the Poetry of Mary Oliver Matters"
Past WLM panelists have included PUENTE students, history professor Dr. Sue Gonda,
author and Humanities professor Maria Rybakova, Dean of English/Social and Behavioral
Sciences Agustin Albarran, English Department Chair Dr. Oralee Holder, Humanities
professor Dr. Pete Schmidt, students Raphael Umphres-Piscitelli, Adilene Delgado,
and 小优传媒 Creative Writing Program alumnae Cassady Lynch and Felicia Williams.
English Professor SYDNEY BROWN received her MFA from San Diego State University. Brown has served as Co-Coordinator of the 小优传媒 Creative Writing Program, Title V Activity Co-Director for Acceleration and Placement and, beginning in Fall 2019, will wear the mantle of Grossmont College鈥檚 Project Success Coordinator.
7-8:15 PM
memoirists ANTHONY SWOFFORD and CHRISTA PARRAVANI
Memoirists Anthony Swofford and Christa Parravani read from, and discuss, their latest works. Before and after the reading, books by both authors will be available for purchase and signing. Author Q&A following the reading.
About the Authors
Writer and photographer Christa Parravani holds an MFA in Visual Art from Columbia University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers Newark. Currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at West Virginia University, Parravani has taught photography at Dartmouth College, Columbia University, and UMass, Amherst and exhibited her work internationally and domestically, including with the Michael Foley Gallery in New York City and the Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles.
An Indie Bound Next Pick, as well as a "must-read memoir" selection by NPR, Oprah
and People Magazine, Parravani鈥檚 national bestseller, Her: A Memoir, shares the author鈥檚 journey through grief after the loss of her beloved identical
twin sister, Cara. Raised in poverty by a strong-willed mother and an unstable, abusive
father, twins Christa and Cara share an intensely private and creative world between
them. However, Cara gradually self-destructs into substance abuse after being raped,
and perishes from an overdose. Faced with the statistic that when one identical twin
perishes the surviving twin鈥檚 rate of dying within the next few years spikes, the
author chronicles her battle to avoid her sister鈥檚 fate: 鈥淢y reflection was her and
it wasn鈥檛 her. I was myself but I was my sister. I was hallucinating Cara鈥攖his isn鈥檛
a metaphor.鈥
Vanity Fair praised Her as "astonishing," and Booklist describes Parravani鈥檚 memoir as "raw and unstoppable... a triumph of the human spirit." Her: A Memoir was named best book of the year in 2014 by the Wall Street Journal, Salon, and Library Journal. Christa Parravani's writing has appeared in Marie Claire, Glamour, The Washington Post, Salon, The Rumpus, The Daily Beast, The London Times, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, and others. She has been featured in Poets and Writers, in Vogue, on PBS, on NPR's "All Things Considered," and others.
Memoirist, novelist, and poet Anthony Swofford is a graduate of the Iowa Writers鈥 Workshop and currently on faculty in the MFA program at West Virginia University. His acclaimed 2003 Gulf War memoir, Jarhead, chronicles his time as Lance Corporal Anthony Swofford serving as a Scout Sniper with the STA (Surveillance and Target Acquisition) Platoon of 2nd Battalion 7th Marines. Following his military service, Swofford studied English at Sacramento鈥檚 American River College and subsequently earned his Barchelor's degree in English at U.C. Davis. He attended the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and obtained a Master of Fine Arts in Writing. While receiving critical acclaim for Jarhead (adapted in 2005 by director Sam Mendes into a hit film starring Jake Gyllenhaal), Swofford taught English at Lewis and Clark College and St. Mary's College of California. Jarhead received the Martha Albrand Art of Memoir Award from PEN.
Tony Swofford鈥檚 other books include Exit A: A Novel (Scribner, 2008) and his most recent release, Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails (Twelve 2012). Dedicating this confessional memoir to his father, Swofford writes an unflinching, sometimes painful-to-read account of his own ten oversexed years of profligacy and substance abuse after the success of Jarhead. At the core of his memoir is Swofford's struggle to reconcile with a dying father whose campaign of emotional abuse haunted his son from childhood into adulthood. Reviewer John Slania of BookPage praises Swofford鈥檚 memoir as "short, staccato and rhythmic. More importantly, it鈥檚 honest. Swofford doesn鈥檛 spare anyone in his account, not his lovers, not his family, not himself. He paints himself as a fast-living philanderer and a failure at being human. Fortunately, he is a studious traveler, and the journey ends on a hopeful note, with Swofford learning lessons from his dying father on how to lead a more meaningful life."
Tony Swofford has been a Brown Foundation Fellow at the Dora Maar residency in Menerbes, France, and is the recipient of a prestigious Michener-Copernicus Fellowship and PEN Art of the Memoir Award. He has made guest appearances on Fresh Air, All Things Considered, The Wolf Blitzer Show, The Daily Show, and others. His wide-ranging periodical publications include Harper鈥檚, The Guardian, Post Road, the New York Times, Harper's Men鈥檚 Journal, The Iowa Review, and dozens of others. He's currently completing a biography of Gold Star father Carlos Arredondo, the hero of 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, which is being adapted for HBO Films. His next writing ventures currently include a book-length essay, No One Loves the Fat Man; a time travel novel, Sixty Diamond Minutes; and a prose poem cycle about right-wing extremism, Right Wing Radio Flyer.
Currently, Anthony Swofford lives in New York with his wife, Christa Parravani, and their daughter.
RESOURCES
BOOKS, ANTHOLOGIES, AND CONTRIBUTING WORKS
BY CHRISTA PARRAVANI |
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Her: A Memoir (Picador 2014). ISBN: 978-1250044396 |
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Her: A Memoir (Thorndike Press 2013). ISBN: 978-1410460448 |
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鈥淔ilthy White Daisies." in Women in Clothes. Ed., Sheila Heti, et al. (Riverhead Books 2014). ISBN: 978-0399166563 |
BY ANTHONY SWOFFORD |
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Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails (Twelve 2012). ISBN: 978-1455506736 |
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Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles (Scribner 2003). ISBN: 978-0743244916 |
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Exit A: A Novel (Scribner 2008). ISBN: 978-0743270397 |
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Sachiko [Exit A]. (Calmann-L茅vy 2009). ISBN: 978-2702138977 |
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Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations. Foreword by Anthony Swofford. (Haymarket Books 2008) ISBN: 978-1931859653 |
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Burning the Little Candle: An Anthology of Writing. Introduction by Anthony Swofford. (Ad Lumen Press 2017). ISBN: 978-0986037405 |
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Wildgen, Michelle, ed. Food and Booze: A Tin House Literary Feast. Contributor, Anthony Swofford. (Tin House Books 2006) ISBN: 978-0977312771 |
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Nicosia, Gerald, ed. Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement. Contributor, Anthony Swofford. (Basic Books 2004) ISBN: 978-0786714032 |
AUTHOR LINKS
CHRISTA PARRAVANI
- Facebook:
- Macmillan Publishers:
- Twitter:
- Instagram:
- Kopeikin Gallery:
ANTHONY SWOFFORD
- Official website:
- Facebook:
- C-SPAN appearances:
- imdb:
- Simon and Schuster:
- Twitter:
SELECTED WORKS BY CHRISTA PARRAVANI
- "Back Home." Cosmonaut Avenue (2014). cosmonautsavenue.com/christa-parravani-back-home/
- excerpt from Her: A Memoir. National Public Radio [NPR] (2013).
- "In My Twin Sister鈥檚 Rape, There Were Many Victims." Opinion. Washington Post 28 March 2013.
- "My Sister鈥檚 Keeper." Marie Claire 15 March 2013.
SELECTED SOURCES ABOUT CHRISTA PARRAVANI
- Carter, Elena. "Her by Christa Parravani." Review. The Rumpus 25 July 2013.
- Ellen, Elizabeth. "Elizabeth Ellen Interviews Christa Parravani: The Interview That Almost Wasn鈥檛." Hobart: Another Literary Journal 15 January 2016.
- Julavitis, Heidi. "The Unbearable Likeness of Being." Review. BookForum April/May 2013.
- Keckler, Kristen. "Christa Parravani: Her: A Memoir." Review. American Literary Review Spring 2014.
- Pfarrer, Steve. "A Twin Carries On Alone In 'Her: A Memoir'." Interview. "All Things Considered." NPR 10 March 2013.
- Pfarrer, Steve. "Former UMass Teacher Christa Parravani Pens Memoir about Tortured Ties with Late Twin." Amherst Bulletin 29 March 2013.
- Scribner, Amy. "Christa Parravani: Coping With the Loss of a Mirror Image." Interview. BookPage March 2013.
- Swofford, Anthony. "Without Her Twin: Christa Parravani鈥檚 Debut Memoir." Interview. The Daily Beast 07 March 2013.
SELECTED WRITINGS ONLINE BY ANTHONY SWOFFORD
- "At the Collision Between." The Iowa Review vol. 33, no. 1 (Spring 2003).
- "Nobody Loves the Fat Man." Crazyhorse 93 (Spring 2018).
- "Without Her Twin: Christa Parravani鈥s Debut Memoir." Interview by Anthony Swofford. The Daily Beast 07 March 2013.
SELECTED SOURCES ABOUT ANTHONY SWOFFORD
- "Anthony Swofford on America鈥檚 Best War Writer, Karl Marlantes." The Daily Beast 11 November 2011.
- Elliott, Stephen. "Interview with Anthony Swofford." The Believer no. 41 (February 2007).
- Froula, Anna, Danny Mayer, Jonathan Vincent, and Keith Woodward. "Global Wars and Writing Warrior Culture: disClosure interviews Anthony Swofford." disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory vol. 13, article 8.
- "Getting the Venom Out." One Aggie Network (UC Davis Alumni Association) 2 January 2016.
- "Interview with Anthony Swofford." Iowa Review April 2015. Web.
- MacDonald, Jay. "Anthony Swofford: Wounds of War." Interview/Review of Exit A. BookPage January 2007.
- McCall, Sarah. "The Private Intrigue of a Reluctant Memoirist: An Interview with Writer Anthony Swofford." Interview. Barley South Review September 2016.
SELECTED MEDIA
"After War And Fame, Dad Is Author's Challenge." All Things Considered. National Public Radio Airdate 17 June 2012. Duration: 05:59.
"Anthony Swofford Reads and Excerpt from Jarhead." Audio. This American Life. Episode 232: The Real Story. Airdate: 14 February 2003.
AOL. "You鈥檝e Got Anthony Swofford." YouTube. Posted 28 September 2012. Duration: 01:34.
"Author Anthony Swofford on His New Memoir, Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails." More Talk Radio. Celeste Carey and Cecil Prescod, Hosts. KBOO. Airdate: 11 June 2012. Duration: 55:15.
New York State Writers Institute. "Christa Parravani at the NYS Writers Institute in 2013." YouTube. Posted 13 March 2013. Duration: 03:01.
Quibell, Crystal-Lee. "Editing a Tragedy with Christa Parravani." Podcast. Literary Speaking 19 September 2016. Player FM. Duration: 27:12.
Rutgers University Association. "Rutgers MFA - Christa Parravani." YouTube. Posted 28 February 2013. Duration: 18:28.
Twelve Books. "Trailer for Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails: A Memoir by Anthony Swofford." YouTube. Posted 22 May 2012. Duration: 02:02.
Zinno, Mark and Matt Pascarella. "Anthony Swofford (Writer, Jarhead)." Hazard Ground Podcast Ep. 93 (11 November 2018). Duration: 01:11:25.