5TH ANNUAL

2025 LPC LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL

FREE!

SATURDAY, MAY 10TH
Mertes Center for the Arts, Bldg. 4000

International Best Seller (60 Million Copies in 41 Languages):
Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket): And Then? And Then? What Else
Best-Selling Keynote AAPI Presidential Speaker:
Thrity Umrigar: The Museum of Failures
Best-Selling Mexican-American Author:
 Julissa Arce: You Sound Like A White Girl
Award Winning One-Act Playwright:
Steve Budd: Seeing Stars and Oy, What They Said about Love
Dating Sociologist Podcasters:
Yue Xu & Julie Krafchick: How to Be Datable
Pushcart Prize Nominated Poet:
Deema Shehabi: Palestinian-American Poetry Reading
LPC Professor and Punk Rocker:
Michelle Gonzales: Marisolandia & a Publishing Workshop
Northern California Book Award Winner:
Tamim Ansary: Truther: Conspiracy Theories & a Writing Workshop
Chocolate and Wine Tasting and Writing
Bri & Tri: Poetry Slam
Havik LPC's Literary Arts Magazine Publication Ceremony

Music and Food Trucks!

Ticket Reservations Available 
April 1
Full Schedule

AUTHORS AND SESSIONS

KEYNOTE CONVERSATION 
AAPI and Presidental Speaker Series

Thrity Umrigar
Museum of Failures

Thrity Umrigar is the best-selling author of the novels Bombay Time, The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet, The Weight of Heaven, The World We Found, The Story Hour, Everybody’s Son and The Secrets Between Us. Her new novel, Honor, is an Indie Next List Pick for January 2022. Umrigar is also the author of the memoir, First Darling of the Morning and three children's picture books, When I Carried You in My Belly, Sugar in Milk and Binny's Diwali. Her books have been translated into several languages and published in over fifteen countries. She is a Distinguished University Professor of English at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. More info at Thrity Umrigar.com

International Best Selling Author
DANIEL HANDLER
(aka Lemony Snicket) 
Book Talk and Writing Workshop

 

(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 newest memoir is titled And Then? And Then? What Else? (Liveright, May 21, 2024), and he will be holding a writing workshop called "How to Write Like a Burglar."

Dating Advice w/Q&A
Yue Xu & Julie Krafchick

National Best-Selling Author:
Julissa Arce
You Sound Like a White Girl

 "You sound like a white girl.”  These were the words spoken to Julissa by a high school crush as she struggled to find her place in America…

Julissa Arce is a national best-selling author, speaker, and social justice advocate who rose to prominence as a former Wall Street executive while undocumented. Her work focuses on immigrant rights, education equality, and social justice. Arce Julissa has contributed to The New York Times, TIME, Buzzfeed News, Crooked Media, CNBC, and serves on the board of the National Immigration Law Center. She co-founded the Ascend Educational Fund, providing scholarships for immigrant students. Sworn in as a U.S. citizen in 2014, she now uses her platform to reshape the narrative around immigration.

Steve Budd
Seeing Stars and Oy, What They Said about Love
One-Man Comedies about Family Dysfunction Mental Illness, and Love

About the Shows

Seeing Stars: Ever wish that someone you love would change overnight? Be careful what you wish for! At 31, Steve moves back in with his parents. But when his gruff, distant dad transforms before his very eyes, Steve is in for the ride of a lifetime. “Seeing Stars” is a heartfelt and hilarious exploration of family dysfunction, mental illness, and a son’s desire to connect with his dad.
Oy, What They Said about Love: Steve Budd wonders why other people can tie the knot and he can’t. Oy, does he wonder! So he asked a bunch of couples what brought them together and keeps them from pulling apart. Meet a Jewish couple who met on Craigslist, an interfaith pair who hooked up at a Halloween party, and more.
Steve Budd is an actor, writer, storyteller, and award-winning solo performer living in Oakland, California.  His solo show “What They Said About Love” ran for three months at The Marsh in 2018 and was a Theatre Bay Area Top 5 Solo Show. 

Michelle Cruz Gonzales
Marisolandia
& Get Published!

Michelle Cruz Gonzales writes about the intersections between race, class, and gender. Her memoir The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band (PM Press) documents her experiences traveling with Spitboy as the drummer, lyricist, and the one woman of color. She and the band are featured in the movie Turn It Around: Story of East Bay Punk. She has published in literary journals such as The Los Angeles Review of Books, anthologies, including Listen To Your Mother: What They Said Then, What They’re Saying Now (Penguin Random House), and online publications such as Latino Rebels, Longreads, Razorcake, and Alta Journal. Gonzales holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College and has been on the English faculty at Las Positas College since 2005. In Marisolandia, Gonzales explores cultural erasure, forced assimilation, and political resistance through a near-future dystopia. 

Northern California Book Award Winner
Tamim Ansary:
Truther: Conspiracy Theories Book Talk
and Non-Fiction v Fiction Writing Workshop

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 are The 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 Destiny Disrupted: 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.

 

Deema Shehabi
Poetry of the Palestinian Diaspora

Deema Shehabi (Arabic: ديمة الشهابي) (born 1970) is a Palestinian poet and writer. She has widely published in journals and wrote her first book of poetry in 2011. It was followed by an anthology which she co-edited in 2012 in response to the bombing of Baghdad's historic literary district and in 2014 a collaboration with another exiled poet of a collection of renga-style poems.

"Speak Your Peace" Poetry Slam Workshop

&

LPC Poetry Slam with Bri and Tri

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
Havik:
The Las Positas College Journal of Arts & Literature

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.

 

 

Thank you to Our Sponsors and to Donors like You!

 

Kenneth Cooper and the Las Positas College Foundation

The Livermore Cultural Arts Council

The Las Positas College President’s Speakers Series
and Dr. Dyrell Foster, LPC President

 The Independent newspaper!

THANK YOU!

 

The Independent