Author Archive

Support the Caravan to Cuba and Break the Blockade- Dinner & Awards
Location: Pacific Cultural Center, 1307 Seabright Ave. Santa Cruz
Friday March 16, 2012, 7:00p.m. to 10:00p.m.
At the Pacific Cultural Center,
1307 Seabright Ave. Santa Cruz

Entrance: $15-25 sliding scale
*Dinner: Vegetarian Dinner including Pozole, Tamales and Tres Leches Cakes. *Presentation* by Gail Walker, new Co-Director of Pastors For Peace. *Awards* to honor local activists Nancy Abbey and Lois Muhly. *Music* by Flor de Caña. *MC* Brett Taylor

Gail Walker will outline plans for this summer\’s blockade busting Caravan to Cuba. Come to this exciting evening to learn more about the project, support scholarships for people to go on the caravan, and have a good time!
Guests will need to take off their shoes in the performance hall to protect the flooring.
Sponsored by: Resource Center for Nonviolence, Watsonville Autonomous Brown Berets, Santa Cruz Cuba Caravan, Three Americas, Santa Cruz Women\’s International League for Peace and Freedom. For more info , call 831-750-8687.

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Title: Echoes of Vietnam, an inspiring evening of poetry and memoir
Location: Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz

The event will feature readings from the acclaimed poet Hoang Hung and Andrew Pham reading from his award-winning memoirs, and many others.

Tickets: Reading: $5-10 suggested donation (No one turned away.)  Reading and Reception: $20-40 suggested donation. For more information, email kimmahler@iplsf.com or call 408 480 1828. Advance tickets can be purchased at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/232242


Following a recent trip to Vietnam Santa Cruz poet Ellen Bass was introduced to Hoang Hung, whose work has been translated into English and published in many U.S literary magazines. Hung’s work has been repressed in Vietnam because he has written, in part, about his experiences imprisoned in re-education camps after the Vietnam-American war.

Following a writing residency in Chicago Hoang Hung will travel to Santa Cruz to read from his newer poetry that highlights his experience with Buddhist meditation. Bass says, ‘ ‘The community’s support is overwhelming. I am grateful that so many individuals and organizations have voiced their appreciation for the opportunity to hear this deeply moving and eloquent poet.

Along with Hoang Hung, will be award-winning poets Paul Hoover, Nguyen Do, and Ellen Bass who have translated some of Hoang Hung’s poems and will also read from their own work. Dick Guthrie will read from his memoir in progress and Mike Abkin will present drawings by Vietnamese children from Speak Peace.

Hosted by The International Poetry Library of SF and Innovent Transmedia, the event is co-sponsored by the Resource Center for Nonviolence, Poetry Santa Cruz, the National Peace Academy and the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network. Hoang Hung’s arrival will be an introduction to the Vietnamese International Poetry Festival in San Francisco in April.

Hoàng Hung became one of the most valued poets of the “anti-American-War” generation in 1960’s. He has been a symbol of the spirit of renewal in contemporary Vietnamese poetry. His work includes six volumes of poetry and translation, including his latest book, Hanh Trinh (My Journey), 2006, which won the prestigious Poetry Award of the Hanoi Writers’ Association. His poems have been published in translation in France, the US, and other countries.

Andrew X. Pham is a writer and journalist whose award winning books include, Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam (1999), The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars (2008), and Last Night I Dreamed of Peace (2008), a translation of Dr. Thuy Tram’s diary that was written during the Vietnam War. His current book, A Culinary Odyssey: My Cookbook Diary of Travels, Flavors, and Memories of Southeast Asia, will be published in March 2012.

Paul Hoover has published numerous volumes of poetry, the most recent being Desolation : Souvenir (2012). With Nguyen Do, he edited and translated the anthology, Black Dog, Black Night: Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry (2008) and Beyond the Court Gate: Poems of Nguyen Trai (1380-1442), published in 2010. He has won the Frederick Bock Award and the Jerome J. Shestack Award. Professor of Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, he edited Postmodern American Poetry (1994), a second edition of which will appear in 2013.

Nguyen Do’s poetry collections include The Fish Wharf and The Autumn Evening (1988,) The Empty Space (1991,) and New Darkness (2009.) With Paul Hoover, he edited and translated Black Dog, Black : Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry (2008), Beyond the Court Gate (2010) 12 3 poetry of Thanh Thao (2008) and Returning to Con Son poetry of Nguyen Trai (2009.) With Hoang Hung he edited and translated Selected Poetry of Allen Ginsberg (forthcoming). The recipient of a grant from The Poetry Foundation “for his contribution to poetry of the world,” Nguyen Do now lives in San Francisco.

Ellen Bass\’s poetry books include The Human Line, named a Notable Book of 2007 by the San Francisco Chronicle and Mules of Love, which won the Lambda Literary Award. In 1973 she co-edited with Florence Howe the first major anthology of poetry by women, No More Masks! and she co-authored The Courage to Heal which has been translated into 12 languages. Among her awards for poetry are a Pushcart Prize, New Letters Prize, Larry Levis Prize from Missouri Review, and the Pablo Neruda Prize. She teaches in the MFA program at Pacific University.

Books and chapbooks will be available for sale.

Following a writing residency in Chicago Hoang Hung will travel to Santa Cruz to read from his newer poetry that highlights his experience with Buddhist meditation. Bass says, ‘ ‘The community’s support is overwhelming. I am grateful that so many individuals and organizations have voiced their appreciation for the opportunity to hear this deeply moving and eloquent poet.

Along with Hoang Hung, will be award-winning poets Paul Hoover, Nguyen Do, and Ellen Bass who have translated some of Hoang Hung’s poems and will also read from their own work. Dick Guthrie will read from his memoir in progress and Mike Abkin will present drawings by Vietnamese children from Speak Peace.

Hosted by The International Poetry Library of SF and Innovent Transmedia, the event is co-sponsored by the Resource Center for Nonviolence, Poetry Santa Cruz, the National Peace Academy and the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network. Hoang Hung’s arrival will be an introduction to the Vietnamese International Poetry Festival in San Francisco in April.

Hoàng Hung became one of the most valued poets of the “anti-American-War” generation in 1960’s. He has been a symbol of the spirit of renewal in contemporary Vietnamese poetry. His work includes six volumes of poetry and translation, including his latest book, Hanh Trinh (My Journey), 2006, which won the prestigious Poetry Award of the Hanoi Writers’ Association. His poems have been published in translation in France, the US, and other countries.

Andrew X. Pham is a writer and journalist whose award winning books include, Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam (1999), The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars (2008), and Last Night I Dreamed of Peace (2008), a translation of Dr. Thuy Tram’s diary that was written during the Vietnam War. His current book, A Culinary Odyssey: My Cookbook Diary of Travels, Flavors, and Memories of Southeast Asia, will be published in March 2012.

Paul Hoover has published numerous volumes of poetry, the most recent being Desolation : Souvenir (2012). With Nguyen Do, he edited and translated the anthology, Black Dog, Black Night: Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry (2008) and Beyond the Court Gate: Poems of Nguyen Trai (1380-1442), published in 2010. He has won the Frederick Bock Award and the Jerome J. Shestack Award. Professor of Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, he edited Postmodern American Poetry (1994), a second edition of which will appear in 2013.

Nguyen Do’s poetry collections include The Fish Wharf and The Autumn Evening (1988,) The Empty Space (1991,) and New Darkness (2009.) With Paul Hoover, he edited and translated Black Dog, Black : Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry (2008), Beyond the Court Gate (2010) 12 3 poetry of Thanh Thao (2008) and Returning to Con Son poetry of Nguyen Trai (2009.) With Hoang Hung he edited and translated Selected Poetry of Allen Ginsberg (forthcoming). The recipient of a grant from The Poetry Foundation “for his contribution to poetry of the world,” Nguyen Do now lives in San Francisco.

Ellen Bass\’s poetry books include The Human Line, named a Notable Book of 2007 by the San Francisco Chronicle and Mules of Love, which won the Lambda Literary Award. In 1973 she co-edited with Florence Howe the first major anthology of poetry by women, No More Masks! and she co-authored The Courage to Heal which has been translated into 12 languages. Among her awards for poetry are a Pushcart Prize, New Letters Prize, Larry Levis Prize from Missouri Review, and the Pablo Neruda Prize. She teaches in the MFA program at Pacific University.

Books and chapbooks will be available for sale.

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Title: Occupation Art: Untold Stories, Eyewitness Accounts
Location: Pacific Grove Art Center, 568 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove, CA
Description: Occupation Art: Untold Stories, Eyewitness Accounts featuring  Nora Barrows-Friedman & others and video featuring artist Suzanne Klotz. SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2-4 p.m. Come starting at 1:00 to see the exhibits!. Pacific Grove Art Center, 568 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove, CA. Nora Barrows-Friedman is a staff editor and reporter with The Electronic Intifada. She has been regularly reporting from occupied Palestine since 2004, and worked with youth in broadcasting and photographic arts at the Ibdaa Cultural Center in the Dheishah Refugee Camp in the West Bank for several years. .
Start Time: 1:00 -see the exhibits; 2-4 Presentation
Date: 2012-03-04

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“How Martin Luther King, Jr. Changed the Shape of American Christianity” At: Progressive Missionary Baptist Church, 517 Center St., Santa Cruz. For more info: Darrell Darling, 831-458-1958

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CORRECT DATE is THURSDAY, JANUARY 26

Rabbi Michael Lerner: “Embracing Israel/Palestine: A Strategy to Heal and Transform the Middle East”

A Book Signing & Lecture with Rabbi Michael Lerner

Location: Resource Center for Nonviolence NEW Building, Main Hall, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. 7:00p.m.

“Rabbi Michael Lerner provides us with a brilliant and hopeful vision of how to transform the Middle East from a cauldron of violence to a vanguard of peace. I hope every American will read this book and apply its lessons to change how we deal with the Middle East.” -President Jimmy Carter.

In “Embracing Israel/Palestine” Rabbi Michael Lerner challenges everyone, including Palestinians and Israelis who think they know the cause of the conflict to look deeper, even into their own psyches. More than that, he creates a real, living road map for peace where understanding our shared humanity and deep need for healing are core values for creating a future for the Holy Land so that it becomes a true light of peace amongst all nations.

Suggested donation of $10 – 15 ~ no one turned away for a lack of funds.
Student discount available. Donations of $25 include the new book.

For more information,  (831) 216-5670 or  piac  (at) calcentral  (dot) com or call 831-423-1626. Sponsored by the Palestine Israel Action Committee and RCNV.

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