Memory and Fiction -- Junot Diaz

When I was a graduate creative writing student, I remember being floored when I read Junot Diaz's short-story collection "Drown". His book presented the complexity of daily life through characters that were memorable in terms of reminding me of how much of the human spirit intersects with the force of hardship and conflict.

Since reading "Drown," Diaz has continued to inspire and amaze. This year, Diaz won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize award and continues to enlighten anywhere and everywhere he appears to give a reading or give an interview.

Check out this particular reading, where he talks about writing, being a writer of color, academe and the way in which the past influences much of the present.

UCLA LGBT Conference 10th Anniversary

"LOS ANGELES QUEER STUDIES CONFERENCE 2008

CALL FOR PAPERS

Friday and Saturday, October 10-11, 2008
Royce Hall, UCLA

Plenary speakers
Steven Epstein
Gayatri Gopinath
Catherine Lord
Heather Love
Richard Meyer
Juana María Rodríguez
Valerie Traub
David Valentine

Film
Cheryl Dunye will present material from the Outfest Legacy Project, housed at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Performances by
Dynasty Handbag
My Barbarian

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Los Angeles Queer Studies Conference welcomes presentations of research and other work in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender studies, on queer topics, sexuality and gender. Since one of the principal goals of the conference is to encourage the exchange of ideas across academic generations, we invite participation of both graduate students and faculty scholars.

Please send your proposal (not more than 750 words) for a 20-minute presentation and a cv (not more than 1 page) to one of the addresses below. Only one proposal per person. We will not consider proposals that exceed the specified length.

If you would like to organize a panel of three speakers, please feel free to do so. Panel submissions must include not only the proposals and cvs of each of the participants but also a brief statement presenting the panel as a whole. Those who submit proposals as part of a panel should indicate whether, if the whole panel is not accepted, we should consider their proposals individually for possible acceptance.

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: June 23, 2008

Submissions by US Postal Service:
UCLA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Program
3300 Rolfe Hall
Box 951531
Los Angeles, California 90095-1531

Email submissions: lgbs@humnet.ucla.edu

For further information, please contact the LGBTS office at 310 206 0516 or lgbs@humnet.ucla.edu

Organized by the UCLA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Program"