2018 Fall Readings Series

_{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.}  

Acorn Review Reading/Launch

Friday, Aug 24 • 7-8:30pm, Public Square Coffee House, 8278 La Mesa Blvd, La Mesa

In this "Early Bird" special, the first event of the 2018 Fall Reading Series celebrates the launch of the new issue of the Acorn Review, Grossmont College’s student-produced literary journal. Come hear contributors perform their published works  sign your copy of the Acorn Review. You can buy a published copy of Acorn Review at this event. Coffee, tea, and pastries will also be available for purchase. Contact Julie Cardenas for info: julie.cardenas@gcccd.edu.

Chest-O-Drawers Press: An Open Reading

Wednesday, Sep. 12 •7-8:30pm, GC Library, 1st Floor

Reading is fundamental, but a reading in the library’s inspiring ambiance of books and couches is sublimely decadent. Open to anyone (staff, faculty, and students), participants may use up to five minutes to read original writing from any creative genre: poetry, creative non-fiction, short fiction, spoken word performance, etc. This event is collaboratively sponsored by the Grossmont College Library and GC’s own Chest-O-Drawers Press. Want more info? Contact nadra.farina-hess@gcccd.edu or daniela.sow@gcccd.edu. 

Banned Books/Banned Lives Reading

Thursday, Sep. 27 • 7-8:30pm, Griffin Gate • Sponsored by WACC, the World Arts & Cultures Committee of Grossmont College.

This year’s event celebrates 2018 National Banned Books Week and the power of the outsider, with performance readings of marginalized and censured voices, featuring Erica Blunt, Brendan Praniewicz, Vera Sanchez, Cayla Vizcarra, San Diego Slam Team. For more information about this year's event, contact Alan Traylor: alan.traylor@gcccd.edu.

U.S. National Banned Books Week, an annual awareness campaign sponsored by the American Library Association and Amnesty International, promotes the freedom to read by showcasing banned / challenged books, persecuted individuals, and disenfranchised populations. 

Lester Bangs Memorial Reading, feat. rock critic/memoirist Pamela Des Barres

Tuesday, Oct. 9 • 7-8:30pm, Griffin Gate • This event made possible by the generosity of the World Arts & Cultures Committee. 

Super-groupie and memoirist Pamela Des Barres comes to Grossmont College to spill the tea on such rock luminaries as Elvis, Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and others. A former rock-n-roll groupie, musician, author, and magazine writer, Des Barres is the author of five memoirs:  Rock Bottom: Dark Moments In Music Babylon (St. Martins Press 1996); on Chicago Review Press, Take Another Little Piece of My Heart (2008), Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies (2013), and international bestsellers, I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie (2005) and Let it Bleed: How to Write a Rockin' Memoir (2017). Her sixth book, Sex, God, and Rock n Roll, is due to be released by Chicago Review Press in fall of 2019. Selected books available for purchase and signing at the event. For more info, contact  karl.sherlock@gcccd.edu or daniela.sow@gcccd.edu. 

poet Joe Medina Reading/Book Launch

Thursday, Nov. 1 • 7-8:30pm, Griffin Gate

The Creative Writing Program is honored and excited to showcase one of our own, Joe Medina, in a reading and launch of his new poetry collection, The Scorpion's Mineral Eye (San Diego City Works Press 2018.) Having completed his Master’s from San Diego State with a creative dissertation in poetry, Medina joined the GC faculty in 1987 and spearheaded Grossmont College’s first Puente Project, as well as launching the annual Celebration of Banned Books readings. After his retirement in spring of 2012, Medina set to work on completing his first book-length collection poetry. Joe’s engagement in Griffin Gate is part of a regional reading tour to promote his new book. Copies will be available for purchase and signing.

New Voices: A Student Reading

Monday, Dec. 3 • 7 PM, Griffin Gate

In this crowd-pleasing final event of the 2018 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 other unique forms of literary and spoken word art. Invited exclusively by this semester’s instructors of creative writing classes and workshops. Refreshments and printed program copies will be available to all attendees. Contact for more info: karl.sherlock@gcccd.edu.