4TH ANNUAL

2024 LPC LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL

FREE!

SATURDAY, MAY 11TH

 

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for your
FREE RESERVATIONS 
Walk-Ins are Welcome, but some sessions fill up!

CLICK HERE FOR A PDF of the FULL SCHEDULE 

CAMPUS MAP (ALL SESSIONS IN BUILDING 4000)

 

 

AUTHORS AND SESSIONS

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

JAMES SPOONER
"Community over Capitalism"

Keynote Talk (11-12pm) & Zine/Graphic Novel Workshop (12:30-1:30)

James Spooner is an award winning graphic novelist, filmmaker and tattoo artist.  His debut graphic novel, The High Desert is the LPC Campus Read for 2024. It was named “Best of 2022” by Publishers Weekly, The Washington Post and The New York Public Library. The High Desert is the 2023 recipient of the American Library Association's Alex Award and the Cartoonist Studio Prize. Spooner co-edited an anthology of Blackpunk writers and comic creators entitled,Black Punk Now.Available now,the book was named in the top 10 Music Books of 2023 by Pitchfork, top 5 Music Books from the Guardian and received a Kirkus star. Pantheon has recently acquired his forthcoming second memoir, set for publication in 2025. 

Spooner also directed the seminal documentary Afro-Punkand co-founded the AfroPunk Festival.

 

SF Writers Grotto
GET PUBLISHED!
Dera R. Williams

(10:00 - 10:50 am)

Learn the publication and submission process for agents, publishing houses, and self-publishing. SF Grotto member Dera R. Williams is author of In My Backyard: Stories of Growing Up In Oakland- A Preview and Mother Wit: Stories of Mothers and Daughters. She also published Not Shirley Temple Curls, All the Women in My Family Sing, Nothing But The Truth Publishing

 

World Famous Author
DANIEL HANDLER
(aka Lemony Snicket) 

Fireside Chat with Megan Garcia and Claire Graham (12:30-1:30)

& How to Write Like a Burglar (2:15-3:30)

(photo credit: Meredith Heuer)

As Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler has written  the best-selling series All The Wrong Questions as well as A Series of Unfortunate Events, which has sold more than 60 million copies. A Series of Unfortunate Events was the basis of a 2004 feature film starring Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep, with Jude Law as Lemony Snicket. In 2017 Netflix produced a critically acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning, series based on A Series of Unfortunate Events, starring Neil Patrick Harris. Daniel Handler is the author of the novels The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, Adverbs, We Are Pirates, All the Dirty Parts and Bottle Grove. He worked with Maira Kalman on the books Girls Standing on Lawns, Hurry Up and Wait, Weather Weather, and Why We Broke Up, which won the Michael J. Printz Honor. Handler also edited The Best Nonrequired Reading of 2014,which includes an introduction by Lemony Snicket. His next book will be a memoir titled And Then? And Then? What Else? (Liveright, May 21, 2024). 

 

Exploit Your Life for Art: A Conversation with
ARIEL SCHRAG
(The L Word, Adam, Awkard)

 Zine/GN Workshop (1:30-2:30), Fireside Chat (1:45-2:45), & TV Writing Workshop (3:00 - 4:15)

Ariel Schrag was born in Berkeley, California. She is the author of the novel Adam and of the graphic memoirs Awkward, Definition, Potential, Likewise, and Part of It.She wrote the screenplay for the feature film adaptation of Adam, directed by Rhys Ernst, and has written for the television series The L Word, How to Make it in America, Vinyl, and Dare Me. She has created original television pilots for Showtime and Sony and has several TV projects currently in development. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

 

TV WRITING WORKSHOP BRITTANY MILLER 
(Woke, Platonic, and Blindspotting)
and
ARIEL SCHRAG 
(The L Word, Adam, Awkard)

Brittany Miller (a former LPC English Instructor) most recently served as a co-producer on Season 2 ofBlindspottingfor Starz and Lionsgate TV and worked on two series from Sony Pictures TV, as executive story editor onWokefor Hulu and as story editor onPlatonicfor Apple TV+. She has also written episodes of Woke, Platonic, Blindspotting, and Archer. Miller is a mom, TV writer, and book nerd from the San Francisco Bay Area. A product of the American suburbs, she is deeply invested in stories about identity, culture, and social justice—particularly when those stories make people laugh. 

Presidential Speaker 
JARON LANIER
AI and the Future of Education

(3:00-4:00 pm)

(Photo Credit: Joseph Gordon Levitt)

Jaron Lanier is known as the father of virtual reality technology and has worked on the interface between computer science and medicine, physics, and neuroscience. He lives in Berkeley, California. He is the author of Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Who Owns the Future, and You Are Not a Gadget, Dawn of the New Everything, as well as articles in the The New Yorker and Wired magazine.   Ten Arguments has earned the accolades"All-Time Favorite Book" from Wired and Best Book of 2018 from The Fanancial Times .  Lanier’s books have won varied awards, including the 2014 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, one of the highest literary honors in the world, Harvard’s Goldsmith Book Prize, and best book of the year at book festivals such as the San Francisco Book Festival. In 2018, Lanier was named one of the 25 most influential people in the previous 25 years of tech history by Wired Magazine. He’s also been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine, top one hundred public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine, top 50 World Thinkers by Prospect magazine, and one of history’s 300 or so greatest inventors in the Encyclopedia  Britannica. In 2009 Jaron Lanier receiveda Lifetime Career Award from the IEEE, the preeminent international engineering society.

 

All Friends Are Necessary: 
TOMÁS MONIZ
From First to Final Draft, A discussion about working with publishers

(10:00-10:50 am)

Tomás Monizis a father, writer, teacher, and performer. His newest novel, All Friends Are Necessary, will be available from Hachette Book Group in May.  His debut novelBig Familiawas a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel 2020 Award, a finalist for a LAMBDA 2020 award for Bisexual Fiction, and a finalist for the Foreword Review Indies Award! He edited Rad Dad, Rad Families, and the kids book Collaboration/Colaboración. He's an Artist Affiliate at the Headlands Center for the Arts. For more information, visit TomásMoniz.com.\

 

Hands-On Zine/Graphic Novel  Production Workshop
James Spooner, Ariel Schrag, & Tomás Moniz

(12:30-1:30 pm)

Make your own zine or graphic novel with these three experts!  Materials will be provided.  No experience necessary!

 

Harm Reduction Workshop
TRACEY HELTON MITCHELL
The Big Fix: Hope After Heroin

(1:45-2:45 pm)

Tracey Helton Mitchell, author of the acclaimed The Big Fix: Hope After Heroin, is a recovering heroin addict. After completing rehab in 1998, she dedicated her life to the care and treatment of heroin users. Tracey entered school through an ex-offender’s program where she earned a bachelors of business administration and masters of public administration. In addition, she is a certified addiction specialist and supervisor. She was featured on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and in the movie Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street.  She has also been featured by CNN, Anderson Cooper,Vice, theHuffington Post, and the New York Times. Tracey lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. Narcan trainging included.

 

Islamic History: The Politics of Religion
TAMIM ANSARY
Memoir and Fiction Master Class

(10:00 - 10:50 am)

Tamim Ansary is an Afghan-American writer of fiction, memoir, and history.  He became famous after 9/11 for a viral email condemning the Taliban but also warning of the dangers of a full-scale war in Afghanistan.  He also facilitated the SF Writers Workshop for over 20 years.  His work has won the 2010 Northern California Book Award, been selected for San Francisco’s One City One Book read, and broadcast on NPR. Among his many books areThe Invention of Yesterday: A 50,000 Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection; Games without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan; West of Kabul, East of New York; and DestinyDisrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes. Ansary also edited and published a group of essays by young Afghans entitled, Snapshots: This Afghan American Life.For more information, visit MirTamimAnsary.com.

GRACE LOH PRASAD
 The Translator’s Daughter:
Writing the Hybrid Identity

(1:15-2:15 pm)

Born in Taiwan, Grace Loh Prasad was two years old when the threat of political persecution under Chiang Kai-shek’s dictatorship drove her family to the United States, setting her up to become an “accidental immigrant.” The family did not know when they would be able to go home again; this exile lasted long enough for Prasad to forget her native Taiwanese language and grow up American. Having multilingual parents—including a father who worked as a translator—meant she never had to develop the fluency to navigate Taiwan on visits. But when her parents moved back to Taiwan permanently when she was in college and her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she recognized the urgency of forging a stronger connection with her birthplace before it was too late. As she recounts her journey to reclaim her heritage in The Translator’s Daughter, Prasad unfurls themes of memory, dislocation, and loss in all their rich complexity. The result is a unique immigration story about the loneliness of living in a diaspora, the search for belonging, and the meaning of home.

 

Word of Mouth
Poetry Writing Workshop with
WINE AND CHOCOLATE TASTING
Gabi Myers, Aaliya Nitoto, and Sarah Cain

(4:30-6:00 pm)

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever wondered how writers capture the magic of taste and scent in words? Join writing teacher and foodie-farmer Gabi Myers, author of Hive Mind and Too Many Seeds, in this writing workshop centered around a tasting of delicious chocolate bonbons and flower wine from local artisan producers. winemaker Aaliya Nitoto and chocolatier Sarah Cain will be on hand to give us the story of their wares before we sample them!

 

All the Right Notes:
DOMINIC LIM
From the Stage to the Page

(2:45-3:45 pm)

Dominic Lim (he/him) is the author All the Right Notes,which was selected as one of the best romance novels of 2023 by Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Harper's Bizaare, LQBTQ Reads, Book Riot, and many others.  He has enjoyed a lifelong love affair with music. Dominic holds a master’s from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is an alum of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and has sung with numerous professional choral ensembles. As a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association, he has performed Off-Broadway and in regional productions throughout the US. Although he probably shouldn’t admit to having favorites, the thrill of singing “This is the Hour” in the chorus of Miss Saigon still pops up in his dreams. Dom supports his local writing community as a member of the Writers Grotto and as a co-host of San Francisco’s Babylon Salon. He lives in Oakland with his loving and supportive partner, Peter, and their whiny cat, Phoebe.

 

 

"Speak Your Peace" LPC Poetry Slam with Bri and Tri

(Slam Poetry Workshop 2-3 pm)

(LPC Poetry Slam 3:15-4:15 pm)

 

The 21st annual LPC Poetry Slam will be hosted by Bri and Tri of Speak Easy Poetry and LPC's own Toby Bielawski. Featuring slam performances and an open mic with prizes. Open to the public. 

 

Bri Blue is an Author, Orator, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Women's Rights Advocate, and Motivational Speaker hailing from Berkeley, CA. A UC Berkeley graduate, Blue's unique, high-energy, tailored performances connect emotion, entertainment, and inspiration to the goals, vision, and experiences of her audience.See videos of Bri Blue speaking here.

 

Natriece (Tri) Spicer is an author, educator & owner of The Inspired Life, a wellness consulting company. She wears a hat rack of titles easily compiled into her preferred term as the people’s person. Her latest project is the release of “The Inspired Life Podcast hosted by Natriece” available on ApplePodcast, Spotify, and everywhere things are being streamed! She often dreams of working from the coast of Africa someday. For now, she likes anything outdoors and lives in sunny California.See videos of Natriece Spicer speaking here.

 

Publication and Awards Ceremony for Havik: The Las Positas College Journal of Arts & Literature

(4:30-6:00 pm)

Havik, the Las Positas College Journal of Arts & Literature, celebrates the release of its 2024 edition with live readings and presentations by contributors, as well as awards in the categories of poetry, prose, visual art & photography, experimental work, and academic nonfiction. Founded by David A. Wright, the anthology has been published annually in various forms since 1978. Havik has received 1st place Best of Show in Literary Arts Magazines the past three years at the annual Associated Collegiate Press national conventions. The in-person ceremony is open to all and will be streamed live online. For more information, visit the Havik website.

 

Curious George Children's Theater

11 am and 2 pm*

Play Tickets Sold Separately (Click Here)or
Use the QR Code in the Picture

 

 

 

 

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FOOD TRUCKS & MUSIC! 

 

THANK YOU!

 

Thank you to Our Sponsors and to Donors like You!

The Las Positas College Literary Arts Festival is generously supported by grants from Kenneth Cooper and the Las Positas College Foundation; Las Positas College President’s Speakers Series and Dr. Dyrell Foster, LPC President; The Student Equity and Achievment (SEA) Program and Program Director Shawn Taylor; and The Independent newspaper!

THANK YOU!

 

The Independent