2012-2013 Visiting Writers Series Features Author Christina Adams

The 2012-2013 Visiting Writers Series featured Christina Adams, author of A Real Boy: A True Story of Autism, Early Intervention, and Recovery (Penguin, 2005), on Thursday, March 7th, 2013, at California State University, Long Beach’s Soroptomist House. Adams began her talk by discussing her career progression and recent career that involves working on a new book about the benefits of camel milk for people with autism. She then addressed writers’ goals and asked, “What makes a book or article worth reading?” In response, she offered four features of readable work: truth, story, pace, and writing skill. Adams claimed that writing is at once selfish and selfless: taking time from others and making one self-involved while giving readers enjoyment, emotion, and important information. Speaking to aspiring writers, Adams recommended writing two to four hours a day to develop strong skills and publishable work. She outlined tools for writing, ranging from notes to multimedia, and encouraged writers in the audience to persevere and follow new, unexpected paths. “Writing,” Adams explained, “helps you figure out your personal life, which leads to better living.”

Adams transitioned into a discussion of her latest venture by showing a photograph of her and Gil Reigler receiving frozen Israeli camel milk from San Diego International Airport at 2 a.m. “How weird is that? I’m not an animal person. Who knew?” she said. Adams came across camel milk after the publication of her book in 2005. Following a hunch about the benefits of camel milk for people with autism, she got some camel milk, gave it to her son, and immediately saw improvements in her son’s autism. Her son is now fifteen years old and continues to benefit from camel milk. Sharing her experiences, Adams truly demonstrated that material, from the mundane to the mysterious, is where you find it. “People are interested in the odd and the universal. Joining the two is a triumph,” she said. Concluding her talk, Adams offered the following advice on how to succeed as a writer: workshop your manuscript, go to conferences, contact agents, establish a credible platform, refine you message, research potential buyer numbers (factually define your audiences), and use social media in your proposal or pitch.

Adams then read a selection from her work in progress Peace, Love, and Camel Milk. Click here to watch her presentation and here to watch the Q&A session that followed.

Adams wrote fiction in CSULB’s M.F.A. program, and her master’s thesis, titled Boozy Creek, won the award for “best first chapter of a novel.” Despite her focus on fiction throughout graduate school, however, Adams made a career for herself in nonfiction writing, working in government and the aerospace industry. She turned her attention to autism after her son was diagnosed at age two. Since then, she delivers lectures nationally on relationships, health, and autism, and has had her work featured in Autism File Global Magazine, The Washington Post, Child Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and several other venues. Adams has also been interviewed by Web M.D., NPR, and many other television and radio shows.  

 

The Visiting Writers Series has been a tradition at CSULB for decades, hosting many of the country’s most prominent writers. The 2012-2013 series is really something special because it welcomes back graduates of CSULB’s Creative Writing M.F.A. program who are now out in the world writing and publishing books.

All readings in the 2012-2013 Visiting Writers Series are co-sponsored by CSULB’s Department of English, English Students’ Association (ESA), HipPoetics Creative Writing Club, and Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.

[Photo: L-R Stephen Cooper and Christina Adams]

 

Written by Cortney Kimoto

Sigma Tau Delta Applications

The CSULB chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, is currently accepting applications for membership! Sigma Tau Delta seeks not only to recognize high-achieving students in English language and literature, but it also promotes interest in English on college campuses and in the surrounding community. We’re looking for motivated students: people who would like to create a community of English enthusiasts on campus and people who would like to promote our field at CSULB and in southern California.

Please visit our site for more information.

Questions? Contact Martine van Elk, faculty advisor (Martine.vanElk@csulb.edu).

2013 Graduation Celebration and Awards Banquet

Schedule

5:00 p.m.          Cash Bar

6:00 p.m.          Dinner (veg. and non-veg. buffet)

6:45 p.m.          Awards

Cost

$10 for students (winners plus one guest receive complimentary tickets)

$20 for family, friends, and faculty

RSVP

Please make your reservation and payment before May 17, 2013. Email cortney.kimoto@csulb.edu or call 562.985.4223 to RSVP. Please submit your payment as cash or check to “CSULB Research Foundation.” Submit your payment to Department of English (MHB 419).

 

 

 

Re/Inventions: Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference — “Hysteria”

 

Mark your calendars for the second-annual interdisciplinary graduate student conference!

Launched in 2012 with the theme “Occupation,” Re/Inventions is a conference conceived of and organized by students for students to provide a forum for scholarly discussion on a wide range of issues, questions, and salient views facing our world in the early twenty-first century. This year Re/Inventions welcomed scholars from across the disciplines to submit abstracts that interrogate historical outlooks and consider future implications of the theme “Hysteria.”

Organized by a committee of English graduate students, encouraged by our Department Chair, Dr. Eileen Klink, and supported by the faculty and staff of the Department of English, the goal of the conference is to increase interest, exposure, and participation in post-baccalaureate academic pursuits by providing students with an opportunity to share their current work and areas of research. Designed with graduate students and advanced undergraduates in mind, Re/Inventions promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and participation among our Southern California CSUs, UCs, neighboring private colleges, and opens a dialogue to include participants from outside the state.

While this forum is intended for the presentation of scholarly articles, a limited number of creative submissions including creative writing, spoken word, performance pieces, and art installations may be featured as well.

Click here to view the conference schedule. For additional information, please visit the Re/Inventions website.

 

 

EGSA: “How to Apply to PhD Programs” Panel Discussion and General Meeting

EGSA will host the panel discussion “How to Apply to PhD Programs” with Dr. Dennis López from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. and then hold its general meeting afterward

 

 

Nancy Strow Sheley Published Her Essay “Curricular Commonalities in Conflicted Countries: U.S., Rwanda, and Cyprus”

Nancy Strow Sheley recently published her essay “Curricular Commonalities in Conflicted Countries: U.S., Rwanda, and Cyprus” in Issues on Education and Research: Volume 3 (Athens Institute for Education and Research, 2013).

Based on Fulbright-supported studies in Cyprus (2008) and Rwanda (2004), Sheley’s essay examines the commonalities of cultural conflicts that are rooted in faulty educational processes which often include a dependence upon rote learning, a belief in incomplete or biased historical narratives, a lack of critical thinking infused in learning, and educational structures that require obedience over critical reflection.  Further, her essay illumines the difficulties in U.S. schools with bullying and inadequate methods to deal with aggressive behavior.  Ultimately, Sheley argues that all three countries need improved curricula to ensure the education of better citizens for communities, countries, and the world.

Click here to access the entire volume.

Poetry Reading: Jeffrey McDaniel

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sponsors: HipPoetics Creative Writing Club, RipRap Literary Journal, and the Department of English

MFA Reading Series #5

MFA Reading Series #4

Poetry Reading: Eloise Klein Healy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sponsors: HipPoetics Creative Writing Club, RipRap Literary Journal, and the Department of English