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Contact: Isobel Schneider
Berkeley Public Library
510-981-6150
ischneider@cityofberkeley.info

Works in Progress: Susan Griffin in Conversation with Writers

Berkeley, December 30, 2015 – Noted author Susan Griffin, hosts Works in Progress: Susan Griffin in Conversation with Writers, a ground breaking series of conversations in which a wide range of writers talk with Griffin about their current writing projects and how they write. The Berkeley Public Library presents this series of four programs which aims to shed light on the experience of creation, including both conscious labors and moments of sudden inspiration.  All programs will be held at the Berkeley Public Library, Central, 2090 Kittredge St., in the 3rd Floor Community Meeting Room, from 2-4 pm.

Sunday January 17, 2016 - Climate Change and Indigenous Wisdom. In the first program of the series, Susan Griffin, author of A Chorus of Stones and Woman and Nature, and forthcoming novel The Ice Dancer’s Tale, will discuss dreams, revelations and renegade cosmologies, focusing on indigenous wisdom with Melissa Nelson, founder of the Cultural Conservancy, and author of numerous pivotal essays and editor of the now classic anthology, Original Instructions.

Sunday March 13, 2016 - Inheriting Trauma, Secrets and Stories. Elizabeth Rosner, author of many celebrated novels, including Speed of Light, and Blue Nude, and a work in progress “The Survivor’s Café,” whose parents were both imprisoned in concentration camps will discuss memoir, secrets and family history with Joan Miura whose essay about her experience as a young child in the Japanese internment camps in World War II, was published to wide acclaim in the anthology Transforming Terror, and who is expanding that work into a book length memoir.

Sunday May 8, 2016 - Re-membering History. Adam Hochschild, author of the brilliant and thought provoking accounts of history, King Leopold’s Ghost and To End All Wars, and the forthcoming Spain in our hearts, Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, will discuss the process of depicting figures from and moments in history with Nina Wise, celebrated performance artist and teacher, author and director of the astonishing and vivid, Kepler.

Sunday June 5, 2016 - Interior Landscapes in Poetry and Prose, co-sponsored by the Bay Area Book Festival. Al Young, former poet laureate of the State of California, author of many beloved volumes of poetry, including Dancing and Heaven, as well as distinguished novels and screenplays, will discuss the inner workings of poetry and prose with famed translator of Rilke, Anita Barrows, psychotherapist, who has recently written a moving novel about autism, and is the author of several volumes of poetry including Exile and A Record.

For questions regarding this program, call 510-981-6150.

This free program is sponsored by the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library www.berkeleylibraryfriends.org.

The Central Library is located at 2090 Kittredge Avenue and is open Monday, noon - 8 pm, Tuesday, 10 am - 8 pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am - 6 pm, and Sunday from 1 pm - 5 pm.

Wheelchair accessible. For questions, to request a sign language interpreter or other accommodations for this event, please call (510) 981-6195 (voice) or (510) 548-1240 (TTY); at least five working days will help ensure availability. Please refrain from wearing scented products to public programs. Visit the library’s website: www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

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