my multiculti life ('cuz I was obama first!)

Notes from the Southern Hemisphere: Culture Shocking

2011-09-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

a lovely travel blog from one of my former students who started it as her final project in my women travel writers class.

Notes from the Southern Hemisphere: Culture Shocking: Tamales! This and the rest are from the lovely Pueblito de Los Dominicos, a market hosting incredible artisans and handicrafts. I've m...

Faith Rages Against the Machine

2011-05-30T22:28:00.001-07:00

At our Harvard reunion this weekend, guitar god/musician/activist Tom Morello and I got into a "Who's More Like Obama" contest. Tom's got the Kenyan dad, white mom, Illinois boyhood, Harvard education thing going on. I forfeit a point (at least) for a Nigerian dad, but we both agreed that coming of age in Southeast Asia trumps Illinois any day!

But then Tom (who's a great guy, by the way) pulled out his ace in the hole: whenever he or Obama gets on stage, the crowd goes wild.

Me? Not so much.

"And," as Tom noted, somewhat dismayed, "Obama's been on the cover of Rolling Stone more times than I!"

Well played (literally), Tom, and Happy Birthday!

Documentary film: Grace, Milly, Lucy...Child Soldiers

2011-04-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Goldstar: "I found this event on Goldstar. They have half-price tickets and member reviews of concerts, sports, theater and more.
I'm already a member! http://www.goldstar.com/events/san-francisco-ca/grace-milly-lucy-child-soldiers.html?p=F1116135EB"

Other Tongues: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out Anthology

2011-03-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

I will be the Special Guest Host for the Bay Area Launch of "Other Tongues: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out" Anthology

Friday, March 11 · 7:30pm - 10:00pm

Location	UC Berkeley - Multicultural Community Center 200 MLK Jr. Student Union (formerly Heller Lounge) - Northwest corner of Telegraph & Bancroft Berkeley, CA Authors Reading March 11th: Mica Valdez Kirya Traber Amy Pimentel Angela Dosalmas Lisa Marie Rollins Rage Hezekiah Pheonix Rising Artist Showing: Margo Rivera-Weiss Musical Guest: TBA There will be copies of the book for purchase on site!! This event is co sponsored by: Inanna Publications Macha Femme Third Root Art Collective WCRC Hueso Productions QWOCMAP MultiCultural Center at UCB and more coming soon! OTHER TONGUES: MIXED-RACE WOMEN SPEAK OUT is an anthology of poetry, spoken word, fiction, creative non-fiction, spoken word texts, as well as black and white artwork and photography, explores the question of how mixed-race women in North America identify in the twenty-first century. Contributions engage, document, and/or explore the experiences of being mixed-race, by placing interraciality as the center, rather than periphery, of analysis. Praise for OTHER TONGUES: MIXED-RACE WOMEN SPEAK OUT: In a fresh approach to the quest for understanding mixed-race identity in the Americas, the multiple genres that find their way into the Other Tongues anthology -- from poetry to photography, fiction to scholarship -- perfectly mirror the prodigious spectrum of their authors’ positions toward the topic. This collection speaks boldly and poignantly to who we are, and by "we" I mean not only women of mixed-race ancestry, but all citizens of 21st-century North America. -- Lise Funderburg, author of Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk About Race and Identity These exciting, beautifully inked narratives tell us that, as each woman embraces her biracial or multiracial identity, she mothers a new world, one with equal space for everyone. -- George Elliott Clarke, Africadian & Eastern Woodland Metis, Laureate, 2001 Governor-General’s Award for Poetry Passionate, courageous and insightful, Other Tongues speaks affectingly about the pleasures and paradoxes of living between the conventional categories of race. It is a significant anthology, one that I've been waiting for. -- Karina Vernon, Assistant Professor, Black Canadian Literature and Diaspora Studies, University of Toronto

Faith presents at Literary Salon (oo la la!)

2011-03-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, at destination bookstore, BOOK PASSAGE in Corte Madera, I will be reading and speaking on putting oneself on the page.

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: Faith Adiele, PEN Beyond Margins Award winner and Author of Meeting Faith

Faith Adiele

Monday, March 7, 2011 || 7pm
Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera || www.bookpassage.com

Faith Adiele is the author of Meeting Faith (W.W. Norton), a travel memoir about becoming Thailand’s first black Buddhist nun, which received thePEN Beyond Margins Award for Best Memoir of 2004. A Publishers Weekly starred review credited it with “a comic’s timing, a novelist’s keen observations about human idiosyncrasies and an anthropologist’s sensitivity to race and culture.”

She is also lead editor of the international collection, Coming of Age Around the World: A Multicultural Anthology (The New Press, 2008), and writer/narrator/subject of the PBS documentary My Journey Home. The film documents Adiele’s experiences—similar to President Obama’s—growing up with a Nordic-American single mother and traveling to Nigeria as an adult to find her father and siblings.

Her work is newly out in two great anthologies: The Word: Black Writers Talk about the Transformative Power of Reading and Writing and The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World.

Little Debbie Zebra Cakes

2011-02-05T22:30:00.001-08:00

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more hair tales: hairdresser turned activist takes down oga

2011-01-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

I saw this 45-minute film last night at the Berkeley African Film Fest. One Small Step is absolutely HILARIOUS and INSPIRING (especially if you know Nigeria or Pidgin)! From the HOWLS of hysteria around me (and coming out of my own mouth), the old and new world Africans in the audience clearly did.

Besides being well made, it's a fascinating, effective blend of documentary footage and re-enacted drama (the clip makes it look more tragic than it is) produced by The Orderly Society Trust, a civic participation group headed by women! Who knew?

Though I'm African and I'm American, I'm not African American

2011-01-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

Here's Mukoma Wa Ngugi's clear-eyed op-ed on Africans in America that appeared in The Guardian 2 weeks ago. It's sort of a primer to one of the issues my new memoir will cover - Africans in America used as a buffer between African Americans and Anglo Americans. (You may remember that I introduce myself in the PBS film, My Journey Home, with the provocative statement, "Though I'm African and I'm American, I'm not African American.")

Africans who live in America do not share the history of struggle for civil rights, and indeed, even today, do not experience racism in the same way – the 'African foreigner privilege', Mukoma W Ngugi calls it. Photograph: Corbis

I love his term, "African foreigner privilege." I remember a Nigerian boyfriend, who generally was pretty boorish, telling me in a rare moment of insight that, "If you let them, white Americans will keep telling you that you're special. And if you're a naive African, you'll keep believing them."

mixed chick hair tales

2011-01-21T16:08:00.001-08:00

So I'm at the hair salon, an eclectic Brazilian-owned place where I see an African-American stylist to whom my Lebanese-American fairy godmother introduced me. We're multiculting-up my curls - copper, blonde, and brown highlights, while I surf film schedules on my CrackBerry. (I'm consoling myself at not being at Sundance with San Francisco's Film Noir Fest 9 and Indie Film Fest, and the African Film Fest at the Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley.)

The last time I was here my stylist nearly died laughing when I told her about trying to get my hair cut in Nigeria over the summer. Flashback: I got my current twisty-curls style there in 2005, though they were baby Buddha snails back then. My sister took me to a male barbershop, where 2 guys eyed me skeptically, then scooped honey onto my head, covered their hands with plastic mesh, and vigorously rubbed my honey-hair in circles until clumps formed and I had a mild concussion.

I looked like the village madman. In time, as promised, my sugary crazy-clumps separated into tiny swirled buds that I twisted each evening, much to the distress (inexplicably) of American friends. Within 6 months, the curls were permanent, reassembling themselves as soon as my hair dried.

This summer I flew to Nigeria the minute I filed year-end grades, looking sorta ragged. My favorite cousin Nkem, a tall, hilarious law student and killer dancer who instinctually understands my strange American ways better than anyone in my family, took me to a fancy salon. More dubious looks. The stylist picked up the clippers. I shrieked. Nkem leapt up. More stylists came in. The first one was demoted, another deputized. A flurry of Pidgin English was exchanged. Then finally the pronouncement: "She has to pay the White Price. This White Hair is a headache!"

Nkem roared. "She's not white!" he shouted indignantly. "Her people are from down the road." So I was granted Honorary Black status and got a trim, closely monitored and directed by Nkem.

"Tell it again!" my African-American-but-same-color-as-me stylist begs, wiping away tears of laughter. "Tell the one about paying the White Price!"

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Pacific Northwest Scandinavian Mixed Chicks Rule!

2011-01-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

My old friend Heidi Durrow (and sister Pacific Northwest Scandinavian Mixed Chick), author of the best-selling novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky and co-organizer/founder of the Mixed Roots Film Fest and Mixed Chicks Chat Podcast, will be in the Bay Area Monday for the paperback release of the novel.

Check her out January 17, 2011 at 7PM at the fabulous Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera, CA 94925, 415-927-0960.

Tip: The restaurant next door to the bookstore is equally fabulous. I remember some kind of truffle-y appetizer.

Baby Eats Tattoo!

2011-01-12T23:21:00.000-08:00

When Mum was in town for the Holidaze, I dragged her along on baby-visiting rounds, thus ensuring that there would be at least one individual to feign interest in feeding and sleep schedules, someone who could be trusted not to drop said babies on their soft heads. (It's also a cheap way to give her the baby fix I sure ain't providing.)

First off was a friend who'd inexplicably given birth to a fat-cheeked Chinese baby who grunts a lot (inexplicable because Mom is of South Indian descent and Dad is Anglo - and neither grunts much). But, as the little girl is less than 8 weeks old, there's hope that melanin, that tricky stuff, will kick in.

Next up was a sister Igbo/Anglo-European whose technically quarter-Igbo daughter is all Igbo. That is, she wants to walk before she can sit; she wants to have that over there; she won't give up. From the moment I walked into the place, Li'l Igbo couldn't take her button eyes off me, forgoing even The Breast to watch me over her shoulder.

Once she got close, Li'l Igbo grabbed my two red wrist strings (a Senhor do Bonfim fita from my trip to Bahia this summer, and a Buddhist sai sin from an event with Alice Walker & Jack Kornfield) and yanked me to her. She then proceeded to try to gnaw my tattoo off my wrist.

Now, her mum is not one of those obsessive anti-bacterial parents who thinks the world will come to an end if her child comes in contact with, well, the world. Fortunate for me, as the tot kept launching herself off her mum's lap and onto my arm, mouth open. Now, granted, the tattoo is rather delicious-looking, but consider this…

Though nearly every traditional society thinks my tattoo is theirs, it’s actually Igbo. I (along with the famous Nsukka Group of artists) have long been a fan of uli art, the temporary painting done by Igbo women for auspicious occasions on their bodies and buildings. In some regions of Igboland, women made body stamps by carving designs in bamboo, and in the absence of a trained free-hand uli artist, I decided to use an old stamp design.

Traditional artists used the 5 pigments readily available: black from charcoal or the uli plant itself; red from the camwood tree; yellow from soil or tree bark; white from clay; and indigo from uli seeds or laundry bluing. As yellow and white tat ink wouldn’t show on my skin, I ended up with a red, blue and black tattoo, the colors ordered to evoke the Igbo philosophy of duality (more on this in my forthcoming memoir).

And though I got the tattoo (and personalized uli stationary created by book artist Shari DeGraw) to heal my chi (spirit double), who missed out on the traditional birth rituals and planting of a natal tree, my young Nigerian sister was shocked at my “devilish” markings (thanks, British missionaries!). On the other hand, my elderly, extremely-proper, extremely-Christian stepmother was mesmerized. During my last visit to Nigeria, she kept grabbing and caressing my wrist. “So beautiful,” she'd say, fingers trembling. “It reminds me of my mother back in the village.”

So, gnaw on, Li'l New World Igbo!

eating identity: come out for tuesday's feast of words

2011-01-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

Order Tickets & View Maps to Blurred Identity: A Literary Potluck

Read the Feast of Words Blog & Learn About the Chef!
Culinary guest Peter Jackson is the executive chef of Canvas Underground, a supperclub that aims to bring people together for great food and cool art in ever-chaning venues. The collective is a port of the Ghetto Gourmet dining party network, which is continuing the Bay Area's guerilla cooking tradition. Past Canvas Underground dinner parties have inculded a "Depression Dinner" and a four course meal in a foreslosed West Oakland Victorian. canvasunderground.wordpress.com

My Life in Sugar: The Bûche de Noël of Peace

2010-12-27T00:21:00.001-08:00

Buche de Noel 2010

A set by meetingfaith

» You can also view all 15 items as a slideshow

How your Bûche de Noël can help achieve world peace:

First assemble all your friends (Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur, heavy cream, bittersweet Scharfenburger chocolate, Dutch cocoa) to make a giant Ho-Ho.

Decorate said Ho-Ho with marzipan mushrooms (dotted with cocoa "dirt"), coconut "snow", fresh currants, and boughs of snowy (i.e., sugared) rosemary. Fun!

En route to Christmas Eve dinner, have a meltdown at the prospect that folks might actually consume your masterpiece.

After a few vodkas, walk into the kitchen to find the Arab, African-American, Nordic, Nigerian & Check-Other dinner guests bowing down before your creation in unified, cross-cultural genuflection.

Flushed with the possibility of interfaith tolerance and understanding (or with vodka), consent to the knife.

Be less ambitious at the Nigerian Christmas party the next day. Bake a mantelikakku (Finnish almond cake) and fill with lingonberry preserves.

Place said kakku next to giant, African-village-sized vats of Jollof Rice & Fried Plantain, Egusi Soup & Pounded Yam, Turkey & Salad.

Watch how they get along. Your entire cultural heritage on a table.

NPR Tries to Scoop Me, Sparking Much Multiculti Angst

2010-12-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

SO I'm sitting in the car yesterday, catching up on a little reading (don't ask), when this story comes on NPR, thereby triggering the aforementioned angst. Apparently a recent study shows that "most people who are biracial self-identify as - wait for it - 'BIRACIAL'"! Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?

Nikki Khanna, the lead author of the terrifically-named study, "Passing As Black: Racial Identity Work Among Biracial Americans," was interviewed, along with Casey Gane-McCalla, a lead blogger at NewsOne (and like I, internationally biracial, though in very interestingly different ways) and artist/professor Kip Fulbeck, whose show, Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids, was published by Chronicle Books.

Video on the making of Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids

Once NPR opened up the phone lines there were plenty of the usual Tragic Mulattoisms ("Both groups are mean to me!"), as well as the No Contextisms ("I deny race; I love both my parents!"). My fave was a 70-something black woman who called in to say, I've been seeing mixing for half a century; why you all acting like you invented it?!

The Bottom Line: I just need to stop being spiteful about being scooped and finish my book . . . yesterday! In fact, I should call up (and by call, I mean email) my dear-dear friend and former writing partner Deesha Philyaw, who's just launched an hysterically-and-pithily named webinar called Write Your Damned Book Proposal Already! (In the meantime, while you're procrastinating, you can listen to the 30-min NPR segment here.)

A rabbi, a young man & hot menorah wax

2010-12-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

San Francisco erotica writer Simon Sheppard got things going by reading a story involving a rabbi, a young adult man and hot menorah wax.

Thus begins Meredith May's story for the San Francisco Chronicle about Feast of Words: A Literary Potluck, the cool new food/writing series that I'll be the literary guest for on January 4.

Food Bloggery: My Cunning (and completely unnecessary) Plan to Stalk Dianne Jacob

2010-12-13T19:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight I finally made it to 18 Reasons (the amazingly active educational arm of Bi-Rite Creamery). As I've just started blogging, I figured I could use some help, and what better way to start than with a workshop on How to Write a Food Blog? Even more exciting, Dianne Jacob, whom I've been dying to meet, was teaching the workshop.

I use her classic, Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Reviews, Memoir, and More, for teaching both food writing and memoir (it's that good). Turns out it's just been seriously updated and expanded, with a huge section on the whole crazy Food Blogging Phenom. It also turns out that Dianne Jacob alone is completely worth the price of admission - opinionated, hilarious, friendly.

Case in point: Just as I was taking my seat, I heard a woman marvel, "Half Nigerian and half Norwegian!"

"Hey, that's me!" I blurted, hopping up (despite the fact I'm Finnish, not Norwegian). It was Dianne herself and we were soon making plans to meet. How lovely is that? (Clearly no need for bloggery plottery.)

Though apparently my interest in food blogging does not extend beyond photographing my meals with my BlackBerry and posting them on Facebook (along with the occasional photo of my cats eating popcorn), I did get tons of ideas and inspiration for how to design and focus a blog. Dianne: "Your blog has to say more than I LOVE FOOD!" (jazz hands)!

The only downside was that the man sitting next to me, a loud, fidgety, know-it-all, bellowed in my ear for two hours (where's a desperate housewife with a pocketful of Ritalin when you need it?). So after getting my book signed, I had to head straight to Bi-Rite Creamery for some seasonal ice cream therapy (eggnog with brandy). The peppy man in line behind me was moved to say that I was a beautiful curly-haired Nigerian-Finn and that I could (and should!) try every flavor, no matter how many folks were in line.

Aww, how Santa is that (if Santa were a jolly South Asian man with a weakness for salted caramel ice cream, and why not)?

Roasted Duck Tacos & $5 Poems: The Bizarre Bazaar

2010-12-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

On Sunday my longtime fun-pal Ron Palmer and I hit the Fort Mason Bizarre Bazaar (aka, Ye Olde Indie Crafte Faire). The Food Situation: Given that Ft Mason hosts Off-the-Grid, I was surprised to see a mere 4 food trucks, only 2 of which offered real food! Multiculti highlights: an Asian roast duck taco at Kung Fu Taco and us sharing Hot Chocolate with Vanilla Ice Cream Shots at Twirl and Dip. Ebony and Ivory...

Yes, he's a real boy (despite plasticine cheeks & crazy eyes, as he puts it)

The Best Part: Ron, a Soft Skull poet-hipster, stopped by a booth run by a striking young woman with a vintage manual typewriter and a sign promising personalized poems in 3 minutes. It so happens that the intrepid entrepreneur poetess was an old fan of mine! Upon Ron's request, she typed me a poem on origami paper, rolled it up, and put it in an apothocary bottle with a charming hand-stamped label.

Later, she appeared behind us in the crowd, handed me another poem ("the real one") and disappeared: Uber-charming! Check her out: silvi alcivar (the poetry store); she also sells art pieces and jewelry on Etsy.

My Crafte Faire Conclusion: (1) Not enough food. (2) Too many ugli-doll knock-offs. (3) San Francisco hipsters are much-better-dressed-than but not-as-nice-as their East Bay counterparts. Did I say that outloud? Am I crazy?

I'm on iTunes! I exist!

2010-12-12T10:28:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving morning I did a phone interview for a podcast of The Secular Buddhist. Ted Meissner was a delightful, thoughtful host who let me ramble on unimpeded (and trash British cooking - oops!). He creates a webpage with its own music for each episode and provides links to guests' work. Listen to my interview online or on iTunes.

Here's the companion website to the podcast, which examines early Buddhist teaching and practice, with a critical eye to its secular application. Whadya think? Is secular Buddhism The Way?

Malaysian Food & Naked Rabbis: A Feast of Words

2010-12-12T00:19:00.000-08:00

So December's Feast of Words: A Literary Potluck brought out lots of writer-participants who is turn brought out lots of potluck offerings. (Stay posted for a story in the SF Chronicle.)

Photo credit: Feast of Words

Here I am (below) in lavender, enjoying something either Naughty or Nice, as per this month's theme. I made very sexy pizzettas (if I say so myself) of sassy barbequed chicken, succulent grilled pineapple and sultry smoked gouda. It turns out that the night's literary guest, gay-erotica-king Simon Sheppard (who read an hilarious/erotic, though not particularly foodcentric, Chanukah story) loves pineapple pizza. In return he kindly turned me onto an eyeglass store he claims is San Francisco's best kept secret, but if I tell you, he may have to kill me. And I like food too much to die.

Photo credit: Feast of Words

Here's the fabulous Azalina of Azalina’s Malaysian, the night's culinary guest. Given that I lived/ate in Thailand for 2 years and recently took cooking classes in Bali and South India, I was super-excited to reunite with my spice friends! Azalina did not disappoint. In addition to having a rich global background (Indian by way of Malaysia now living in San Francisco), she's cooked/trained at some of the best places (including one of my faves - Raffles in Singapore!). Her 3 dishes manifested this cultural journey beautifully.

It's Like a Dinner Party, in a Gallery, with 30 Strangers

2010-12-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

My new favorite event series:

SOMArts Cultural Center presents Feast of Words: A Literary Potluck, a monthly event that is part social, part reading series, and part inspiration for writers and foodies alike. Co-hosted by Irina Zadov and Lex Leifheit, Feast of Words takes place on the first Tuesday of each month. Each month features short writing exercises, shared food and featured culinary and literary guests around a theme.

December’s writing theme is “Naughty or Nice” and features literary and culinary guests Simon Sheppard, and Azalina (of Azalina’s Malaysian), respectively. Feast of Words starts at 7:00pm on Tuesday, December 7th. Admission is $10 in advance at www.feastofwords.eventbrite.com, $5 with a potluck dish or $12 at the door. Space is limited to 60 writers, advance tickets are recommended.

December’s event will also include a quick-write competition of “naughty” and “nice” on-the-spot writing with special prizes for the winners!

Minority vs. Majority: The Cage Match

2010-11-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you combine (A) an optimistic stray cat; (B) a poor white family; and (C) a biracial girl with an eccentric, highly-politicized mother, both of whom are obsessed with Great Afro-Americans in History?

Find out in the new memoir I contributed to Issue 12 of Switchback, on the theme of Minority vs. Majority!

Plus, this interview with the delightful C. Adán Cabrera, a staffer at Switchback (a publication of the MFA Program at the University of San Francisco), gets my mom's official thumbs-up!

In a lot of ways, Faith Adiele inhabits the boundaries. Racially, spiritually, creatively, Faith has created an identity all her own that is a mixture of many different categories. She is, in many respects, also a trailblazer, the most prominent example being her temporary ordination as Thailand’s first black Buddhist nun. Read the entire interview....

I'm Reading TONIGHT in San Francisco

2010-11-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

Dog Stew, Painted Penises & Other Global Food Adventures

2010-11-15T02:27:00.000-08:00

This evening I drove back to destination book store Book Passage (in Corte Madera) to see the legendary Don George (whom I'd met there 3 months ago at the annual Travel, Food & Photography Conference) launch the latest Lonely Planet anthology, A Moveable Feast: Life-Changing Food Adventures Around the World.

The book brings to the table a veritable who's who of food writers, travel writers, and food travel writers. Eleven or twelve (depending on where you place Jan Morris) of the 38 contributors are women (which certainly beats the latest Best American Travel Writing 2010 with its single female contributor!); hard to tell who other than Pico Iyer was a writer of color.

So, on to the dog stew and painted penises (can your food adventure beat these?)...

World Hum hipster Jim Benning (who took me for a stalker and avoided eye contact after I snapped at the nut-job next to me in line who kept grabbing my books and claiming they were hers) opened with an account of driving to nearly-ghost-town Tijuana for lunch.

Surprise guest reader Simon Winchester (in town on his own book tour) gave a pitch-perfect, dry-Brit-wit reading about receiving bags of hate mail after writing a piece on eating dog stew.

Photographer/travel writer Amanda Jones (who arrived directly from New Zealand looking better than anyone has a right to) read a hilarious tale of being offered a mango by a naked tribesman with a painted penis.

And the much-loved Larry Habegger of the much-loved Travelers' Tales series that's launched a thousand careers (and with whom I have corresponded for more than a decade but only met tonight!) closed out the evening with a touching account of an hospitable yak herder in the Himalayas.

What was your life changing food adventure abroad?

WOW!: Women On Wanderlust

2010-11-09T12:26:00.001-08:00

Distinguished Visiting Writer Faith Adiele

Presents

WOW!: Women On Wanderlust:

A Panel of Writers & Editors Answers Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Writing & Publishing

Travel Fiction & Nonfiction

To be Followed by a Book Signing & Private Reception

Monday November 15, 2010

4:30 - 5:30 PM

GSB Gathering Hall, Mills College

5000 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland

Free & Open to the Public

Download now or preview on posterous

travel panel flyer.docx (125 KB)

NonfictioNow & Travel

2010-11-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: Sejal Shah

So TRAVEL is on my mind. I'm just back from a trip to my alma mater, the University of Iowa, where I reunited with members of our 9-year-old Travel Writers Group, participated in the biennial NONFICTIONOW CONFERENCE, and - get this - ran into pals from the UK and Kenya: the truly international Laura Fish and Billy Kahora, managing editor of Kwani?, who is helping to coordinate PILGRIMAGES, an ambitious travel writing project (where actual African writers write about - imagine - Africa!).

The star of the conference was easily the brilliant and hilarious cartoonist/graphic memoirist Alison Bechdel, though the soulful and witty John Edgar Wideman was no slouch either!

I sat on a panel called Wayward Women: Gender in Travel Writing that was organized by the whirlwind phenomena that is Stephanie Elizondo Griest. I was excited to present with her, along with my old grad school classmate, the supremely eloquent Michele Morano, and my long-time shero Mary Morris, who is a hoot!

While I was gone, my students (I'm teaching a graduate course at Mills on Women Travel Writers) were off traveling on their own as part of their final projects.