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The Writers' Series

The English department, in conjunction with the LTCC Foundation, supports The LTCC Writers’ Series. We bring well-known poets and writers from all over the country to the college for readings, book signings, craft talks, and workshops. All events are free and open to the public.

We have hosted writers such as Luis Rodriguez, Dorianne Laux, Joseph Millar, Holly Payne, Kevin Clark, Gailmarie Pahmeier, Sholeh Wolpé, David Daniel, H.L. Hix, Francisco Jimenez, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Chris Abani.  We also sponsor faculty readings, poetry open mic nights, and the annual Kokanee Literary Journal award reading.

For information about our Writers' Series, contact Suzanne Roberts at (530) 541-4660 ext. 708.

Upcoming Events:

Jennifer Woodlief, author of "A Wall of White"
Feb. 26, 7 p.m., LTCC Library

The Writers’ Series proudly presents the author of "A Wall of White," Jennifer Woodlief for a reading, discussion, and book signing. Free and open to the community. Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for purchase.

Jennifer Woodlief has worked as a reporter for Sports Illustrated as well as an assistant district attorney and a CIA case officer with a top-secret clearance. Her first book, "Ski to Die: The Bill Johnson Story," was published in 2005 and optioned by Warner Bros. for a movie. Her most recent book about the Alpine Meadows avalanche, "A Wall of White: The True Story of Heroism and Survival in the Face of a Deadly Avalanche," was published in February of 2009 by Atria.  She splits her time between Truckee and Tiburon, California.





Nathalie Handal, poet, playwright, and writer
Friday, April 23, 7 p.m., LTCC Library

Nathalie Handal is an award-winning poet, playwright, and writer. She has lived in Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Arab world.  She is the author of the poetry collections, The NeverField and The Lives of Rain (short-listed for The Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize/The Pitt Poetry Series and recipient of the Menada Award); the poetry CDs Traveling Rooms and Spell; the editor of The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology (an Academy of American Poets Bestseller and winner of the Pen Oakland/Josephine Miles Award); and co-editor along with Tina Chang and Ravi Shankar of Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond (W.W. Norton, 2008). She has been involved either as a writer, director or producer in over twenty theatrical and/or film productions worldwide. She was a finalist for the 2009 A Room of Her Own's Freedom Award, and her forthcoming poetry book, Love and Strange Horses, will be published by the University of Pittsburgh Press.



Previous Engagements include:

Poet June Saraceno and Fiction Writer Christopher Coake

June Sylvester Saraceno is originally from Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Her chapbook Mean Girl Trips was published fall 2006 by Pudding House Press. Her first full length collection of poetry, Altars of Ordinary Light, was released by Plain View Press in 2007. She is currently English Program Chair at Sierra Nevada College, Lake Tahoe and founding editor of the Sierra Nevada College Review.


Christopher Coake’s short fiction has appeared in journals such as The Gettysburg Review, The Southern Review, Epoch, and Five Points, and has been anthologized in The Best American Mystery Stories 2004. His first book, a collection of short stories titled We're in Trouble, was released in 2005 by Harcourt. He is currently working on a novel that examines a century in the history of a gold mining town in Colorado.

Jan Beatty
Jan Beatty is the author of three books: Red Sugar (2008), Boneshaker (2002), and Mad River (winner, 1994 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize), all published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Her limited edition chapbook, Ravenous, won the 1995 State Street prize.

For the past 15 years, Beatty has hosted and produced Prosody, a public radio show on NPR affiliate WYEP-FM featuring the work of national writers.

Beatty has worked as a welfare caseworker and an abortion counselor. She worked in maximum-security prisons and was a waitress for 15 years. She directs the creative writing program at Carlow University where she teaches the Madwomen in the Attic writing workshops and in the MFA program.






Patricia Smith

Lauded by critics as “a testament to the power of words to change lives,” Patricia Smith is the author of five acclaimed poetry volumes—Blood Dazzler, which chronicles the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina; Teahouse of the Almighty (a National Poetry Series selection and winner of the first-ever Hurston/Wright Award in Poetry); Close to Death, Life According to Motown; and Big Towns, Big Talk.

Among her many honors are a Pushcart Prize and the Carl Sandburg Award.


Brian Turner, author of "Here, Bullet," the award-winning book about serving in Iraq.

Turner is a soldier-poet whose debut book of poems, "Here, Bullet," won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award, the New York Times “Editor's Choice” selection, the 2006 Pen Center USA "Best in the West" award, and the 2007 Poets Prize, among others.

Turner served seven years in the US Army, to include one year as an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Prior to that, he was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999-2000 with the 10th Mountain Division. Turner's poetry has been published in Poetry Daily, The Georgia Review and other journals, and in the Voices in Wartime Anthology published in conjunction with the feature-length documentary film of the same name. He earned an MFA from the University of Oregon and has lived abroad in South Korea.

"Here, Bullet" is a harrowing, beautiful first-person account of the Iraq war. The poems in this remarkable collection reflect Turner's experiences as a soldier with penetrating lyric power, compassion, sensitivity, and eloquence, while deploring the violence and acknowledging the grief and terror of war. One poem, "Eulogy," was written to memorialize a soldier in his platoon who took his own life. Adding his voice to the current debate about the US occupation of Iraq, in poems written in the tradition of such poets as Wilfred Owen, Yusef Komunyakaa (Dien Cai Dau), Bruce Weigl (Song of Napalm) and Doug Anderson (The Moon Reflected Fire), veteran Brian Turner's affecting poetry of witness is exceptional for its beauty, honesty and skill. These gracefully-rendered, unflinching poems make "Here, Bullet" a must-read for anyone who cares about the war, regardless of political affiliation.

An Evening with Publisher and Writer Kate Gale

Kate Gale is the founding editor of Red Hen Press, and the author of five books of poetry, most recently Mating Season (Tupelo Press). She has also written one children's book, a novel, and the libretto to the opera Rio de Sangre. Kate received her doctorate in English literature from Claremont Graduate University in English literature and teaches at California State University Dominguez. She lives and writes in Los Angeles, California.


Todd James Pierce

Pierce was winner of the 2006 Drue Heinz Literature Prize for his book, "Newsworld" (2006), which was selected by Joan Didion. He is also the author of the novel, "The Australia Stories" (2003), which was later republished under the title "A Woman of Stone" (2006), and a textbook on writing called "Behind the Short Story" (2007).


Bart Edelman

Edelman is a professor of English at Glendale College where he edits Eclipse, a literary journal. His work has appeared in many anthologies and textbooks. He teaches workshops across the United States and was Poet-in-Residence at Monroe College of the State University of New York. His poetry collections include Crossing the Hackensack (1993), Under Damaris’ Dress (1996), The Alphabet of Love (1999), The Gentle Man (2001) and The Last Mojito (2005).




Poet Denise Duhamel

Denise Duhamel is the author of numerous books and chapbooks of poetry. Her most recent titles are Two and Two (University of Pittsburgh, 2005) and Mille et un sentiments (Firewheel Editions, 2005). Her other books currently in print are Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001), The Star-Spangled Banner, winner of the Crab Orchard Poetry Prize (1999); Kinky (1997); Girl Soldier (1996); and How the Sky Fell (1996).  A winner of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, she has been anthologized widely, including four volumes of The Best American Poetry (2000, 1998, 1994, and 1993). Duhamel teaches creative writing and literature at Florida International University and lives in Hollywood, FL, with her husband, the poet Nick Carbó.

Nevada Writer Ann Ronald
A foundation professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, Ronald was named the university’s outstanding researcher in 2005. In 2006, she was elected to the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. Best known for her book on Edward Abbey, The New West of Edward Abbey, she also has written a Zane Grey monograph and a study of nineteen-century British fiction, Functions of Setting in the Novel.

Francisco Jimenez
At the age of 4, Francisco Jiminez and his family crawled under a fence crossing the border between Mexico and America. Working from sunrise to sunset, the entire family made only $15 a day as migrant farmworkers, living in one room shacks and tents without electricity or running water. As a result of his family's illiteracy, persistent poverty, and transient lifestyle, Professor Jimenez's education was sporadic at best. In his early years, he largely educated himself, reading books he found at the local dump.

Today, Professor Francisco Jiminez is a professor of Modern Languages at Santa Clara University, an acclaimed author, and the winner of numerous awards. At the global level, Professor Jiminez creates awareness about the plight of migrant farmworkers - his award-winning books, which include the autobiographical novels "The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child," and its sequel, "Breaking Through," have been published in English, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese.