Omnium Gatherum: Alumni & Teaching Staff News

Marci Vogel’s first collection of poetry, At the Border of Wilshire & Nobody, won the inaugural Howling Bird Press Poetry Prize and was published in September, 2015. New poetry, translations, and essays appear or are forthcoming in Zócalo Public Square, Jacket2, Drunken Boat, The Critical Flame, Matter Monthly, InTranslation, and Lunch Ticket. She recently organized a public reading at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook as part of a new campaign to bring poetry to California State Parks.

Carla Trujillo’s new novel Faith and Fat Chances, a PEN Finalist for Socially Engaged Fiction, was published by Curbstone Books/Northwestern U. Press. On December 19, Los Angeles Review of Books ran an extensive interview with her.

Mark Wisniewski’s third novel, Watch Me Go (Penguin Random House Putnam, January 2015), has been praised by Salman Rushdie, Ben Fountain, Daniel Woodrell, and Rebecca Makkai.

Judy Batalion’s debut, White Walls: A Memoir About Motherhood, Daughterhood, and the Mess in Between, was published by NAL/Penguin in January.

Susan Starbird launched Susan The Magazine with “The Intertidal Issue,” her addition to the rich cult literature of kayaking. She has continued to explore the postmodern art of fragments and lists. Her essay “Commuting in the Valley of Shadows” appeared in West Marin Review Vol. 6.

Olga Zilberbourg’s short story, “The Green Light of Dawn,” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Epiphany Journal. Olga attended the Community of Writers thanks to the Carlisle Family Scholarship.

The Penguin paperback edition of Natalie Baszile’s novel Queen Sugar, was published in 2015. The book will soon to be adapted for televison by writer/director Ava DuVernay of “Selma” fame, and co-produced by Oprah Winfrey for OWN, Oprah’s television network.

Frances Dinkelspiel’s nonfiction book Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, landed on the New York Times bestseller list in November.

Matt Sumell’s novel, Making Nice was published by Henry Holt & Company in 2015. He was featured on National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition, Saturday.” The New York Times included Making Nice, in their “The Best Book Covers of 2015” list (cover designed by Gray318); and it was included in The Fiction Advocate’s The 10 Best Books of 2015 list among others.

Marian Palaia’s critically acclaimed debut novel, The Given World, published in April by Simon and Schuster has been longlisted for the PEN/Bingham first novel prize. Shorter works have appeared in Virginia Quarterly Review, TriQuarterly and Joyland. 

Celeste León’s debut novel, Luck is Just the Beginning, is inspired by a true story just and was released by Floricanto Press. The book is available from Amazon and Floricanto Press, as well as Tahoe’s local book store, The Bookshelf.

Gwen Goodkin’s short story, “How to Hold it All In,” has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Atticus Review.

Dasha Kelly’s novel, Almost Crimson, was published by Curbside Splendor Publishing in May, 2015. Slate Magazine Book Review named her in their “23 Best Lines from 2015” list. The line is from Almost Crimson: “She never wanted to forget this moment, this smell, these exact shades of sunshine, lemon, maize, construction hat, yolk, taxi, sunflower, bumblebee, mustard.”

Elisa Adler’s second book, Home Place, has just been released by Floating Island Publications. Parts of it were first read during an Art of the Wild workshop. A love story about a particular valley in the northern Sierra Nevada, Home Place tells the story of a place and the spirits that shape it.

William Petersen’s short story, “Satisfaction”, will appear in the Fall/Winter 2015 edition of Solstice.
(Available online in December.)

Linda González recently published personal essays in Huizache, La Tolteca ‘Zine, and raisingmothers.com.

Dorothy Rice’s first book, The Reluctant Artist: Joe Rice 1918 – 2011, has been published by Shanti Arts Publishing. The author’s father, Joe Rice, was an art teacher in the San Francisco public schools and a little-known artist in his own right. An art book/memoir, The Reluctant Artist includes over 70 full color illustrations of his paintings, ceramics and jewelry, work created over a forty-year period. The senior Rice eschewed any recognition for his art; his reticence and abiding humility inspired his daughter to write about him and to share his work more broadly.

Kathy Walters became a regular contributing columnist for the Nevada Appeal (a daily newspaper distributed from Reno to Gardnerville, NV).