Debora Curry
English Dept - Administrative Assistant
Email: debora.curry@gcccd.edu
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8am to 10am and 2pm to 4pm - email Debora for link for her Zoom Office hours
The annual Fall Reading Series presents a season of events celebrating literature, showcasing award-winning authors, and honoring the inspiration to write. Events are sponsored by the English Department and Creative Writing Program of Grossmont College, as well as a variety of other campus agencies and programs.Click here for official maps and directions to our campus venues. See event descriptions for additional info about parking services.
Friday, September 13a promotional reading
7-8:30pm, Verbatim Books, 3793 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104
This off-campus, inaugural event of the 2019 Fall Readings Series showcases Acorn Review, Grossmont College’s own student-produced literary journal. Forthcoming contributors perform their published works, and student editors and production staff will be available to sell copies, and featured writers will be on hand for signing.
Info and Contact
an LGBTQ Reading
7-8:15pm, Griffin Gate (Bldg 60)
Hosted annually by English Prof. Alan Traylor during U.S. National Banned Books Week, this year’s stirring and empowering Banned Books/Banned Lives event features writers and spokespersons presenting personal stories, poetry, and performance on the Queer community’s history of persecution, its hard-won civil rights gains, and its ongoing, indefatigable advocacy against the censure and banning of LGBT members and families. Panel to include Grossmont College faculty and students, as well as guest presenters from the local Queer community. National Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign sponsored by the American Library Association and Amnesty International, promoting the freedom to read by showcasing banned/challenged books and persecuted individuals.
Info and Inquiries:
a Lester Bangs Memorial Reading
7-8:15pm, Room 26-220
Off-campus guests may use Code 6614 at any yellow parking kiosk for a free dashboard parking permit good for the day of this event.
Jim DeRogatis is the official biographer of gonzo music journalist and GC alumnus Walk-of-Famer Lester Bangs. An associate professor of English at Columbia College Chicago, DeRogatis is a freelance rock journalist and co-hosts Sound Opinions, the world’s only rock ’n’ roll talk show. Currently a drummer for the punk trio, Vortis, DeRogatis began in the early 1980s with indie-rock bands such as the Airlines, Speed the Plough, and the Ex-Lion Tamers. In addition to his fifteen years as pop music critic at The Chicago Sun-Times, DeRogatis has authored nearly a dozen books, including Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America’s Greatest Rock Critic; Staring at Sound: The True Story of Oklahoma’s Fabulous Flaming Lips; and, Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Jim DeRogatis’s recently released eleventh book, Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly, is a shocking compendium of the author’s investigative journalism spanning twenty years. DeRogatis was the first to break the scandal of R. Kelly’s sexual predation of young black girls.
Jim DeRogatis will be available after the reading for Q&A and book signing. Selected books will be available for purchase at the venue.
Info and Links:
a multimedia presentation and book signing
11am-12:15pm, Griffin Gate (Bldg 60, across from bookstore)
Join Grossmont College alumnus, social media rockstar, and frontman and bassist for the now infamous Asian-American rock band The Slants, Simon Tam, for a reading and multi-media presentation featuring his forthcoming memoir, Slanted: How an Asian American Troublemaker Took on the Supreme Court. The book chronicles Tam's 2017 landmark Supreme Court free speech victory after Tam sued the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for preventing him from trademarking the band’s name. Earning recognition from the Obama administration for his championing of diverse social issues, Tam has received numerous accolades for his advocacy work, including the American Bar Association’s Mark T. Banner award, the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award, and Chinese American Citizens Alliance’s "Citizen of the Year" award. Tam has been a keynote speaker, performer, and presenter at TEDx, SXSW, Comic-Con, The Department of Defense, Stanford University, and over 1,200 events across four continents. He has guested on The Daily Show, NPR, BBC, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone. In 2018, Tam founded The Slants Foundation, a scholarship and mentorship organization focused activism and community engagement.
Simon Tam will be available after the reading for Q&A and book signing. Selected books available for purchase at the venue.
a "Rock the Page" day of writing and fundraising
9am-4pm, Griffin Gate [Look for online registration in early October]
The popular biennial fundraising event is back! Open to all Grossmont faculty, students, and staff, Write-a-Thon participants raise pledges to help our Creative Writing Program bring nationally renowned authors to our spring Literary Arts Festival. The event includes prizes, lunch, and hours of inspiring and fun writing prompts presented by Grossmont instructors. Volunteers and donations of money or prizes for the event are welcome and greatly appreciated.
Info and Contact
an end-of-semester student reading
7-8:30pm, Griffin Gate
Use code #66287 at any parking kiosk to receive a free dashboard permit good for Monday evening, December 9.
In this crowd-pleasing final event of the 2019 Fall Readings Series, the semester’s most talented students from the Creative Writing Program courses perform their original works of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama, and hybrid forms. Refreshments and printed programs available to all.
Info and ContactDebora Curry
English Dept - Administrative Assistant
Email: debora.curry@gcccd.edu
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8am to 10am and 2pm to 4pm - email Debora for link for her Zoom Office hours
8800 Grossmont College Drive
El Cajon, California 92020
619-644-7000
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