PEN Center USA West
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PEN Center USA West
PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN, an international literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being the PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unified under the PEN America umbrella as the PEN America Los Angeles office. PEN Center USA was founded in 1943 and incorporated as a nonprofit association in 1981. Much of PEN Center USA's programming continues out of the PEN America Los Angeles office, including the Emerging Voices Fellowship, PEN In The Community writing residencies and guest speaker program, and PEN Presents conversation series. History The organization was originally established in 1943. In 1952 PEN International granted it the right to become PEN Los Angeles Center, able to set up its own chapters. In 1981 it was incorporated as a Non-profit organization. In 1988 it requested a name change, and eventually it was renamed to PEN USA Center West. On March 1, 2018, PEN C ...
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Non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. An array of organizations are nonprofit, including some political organizations, schools, business associations, churches, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an entity may incorporate as a nonprofit entity without securing tax-exempt status. Key aspects of nonprofits are accountability, trustworthiness, honesty, and openness to eve ...
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Meghan Daum
Meghan Elizabeth Daum (born February 13, 1970) is an American author, essayist, podcaster, and journalist. Childhood and education Although she was born in California, Daum grew up in Austin, Texas, and Ridgewood, New Jersey. She received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College and her Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University. Career Daum spent much of her twenties in New York City. In 1999, she moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, and the experience became the catalyst for her 2003 novel ''The Quality of Life Report'', which follows the life and times of an ambitious young television journalist who trades New York for the fictional town of Prairie City and explores themes of social class in America as well as the contradictions of the "simplicity movement." She is also the author of two collections of essays, ''My Misspent Youth'' and ''The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion'', which was named as a top 10 books of the year by Slate and Entertainment Weekly. It wo ...
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Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. He made his feature-film debut with ''Hard Eight (film), Hard Eight'' (1996). He found critical and commercial success with ''Boogie Nights'' (1997) and received further accolades with ''Magnolia (film), Magnolia'' (1999) and ''Punch-Drunk Love'' (2002), a romantic comedy-drama film. Anderson's fifth film, ''There Will Be Blood'' (2007), about an Hydrocarbon exploration, oil prospector during the History of oil in California through 1930, Southern California oil boom, achieved major critical and commercial success, and is often cited as one of the greatest films of the 2000s. This was followed by ''The Master (2012 film), The Master'' (2012) and ''Inherent Vice (film), Inherent Vice'' (2014). Anderson's eighth film, ''Phantom Thread'', was released in 2017. His ninth film, ''Licorice Pizza'', was released in 2021 to critical acclaim. Anderson has directed music videos for artist ...
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Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston (; born Maxine Ting Ting Hong;Huntley, E. D. (2001). ''Maxine Hong Kingston: A Critical Companion'', p. 1. October 27, 1940) is an American novelist. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese Americans. Kingston has contributed to the feminist movement with such works as her memoir ''The Woman Warrior'', which discusses gender and ethnicity and how these concepts affect the lives of women. She has received several awards for her contributions to Chinese American literature, including the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1981 for '' China Men''."National Book Awards – 1981"


Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver (born April 8, 1955) is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before she began writing novels. Her widely known works include ''The Poisonwood Bible'', the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and '' Animal, Vegetable, Miracle'', a non-fiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments. Each of her books published since 1993 has been on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. Kingsolver has received numerous awards, including the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award 2011, UK's Orange Prize for Fiction 2010, for ''The Lacuna'', and the National Humaniti ...
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Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books
The ''Los Angeles Times'' Festival of Books is a free, public festival celebrating the written word. It is the largest book festival in the United States, annually drawing approximately 150,000 attendees. Started in 1996, the Festival is held on the penultimate weekend of April, hosted by the University of Southern California, and features vendors, authors and publishers. Some of the events are panels with authors discussing a common subject, storytelling and performances for children as well as the''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prizes Highlights 2023 The 28th Festival of Books will return 22-23 April. See website below for information. 2022 The Festival of Books is on April 23 and 24, 2022. More than 500 writers, musicians, artists and chefs, hundreds of exhibitors and an expected 150,000 attendees will transform the 226-acre campus into a vibrant cultural festival in the heart of the Downtown Arts and Education Corridor. The stages and activity areas will feature celebrity au ...
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Alex Espinoza
Alex A. Espinoza (born May 31, 1964) is a former National Football League quarterback who played for one season with the Kansas City Chiefs. He went to college at Iowa State after transferring from Cal State-Fullerton. During the strike shortened season of 1987 he was picked up as an undrafted free agent to serve as a backup quarterback by Kansas City and played in only one game. He compiled 69 yards on 9 out of 14 attempts with two interceptions and five rushing yards in his lone NFL game, a 42–0 loss at Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ... in his lone NFL year. External linksStats from NFL.com 1964 births Living people American football quarterbacks Cal State Fullerton Titans football players Frankfurt Galaxy players Iowa State Cyclones football p ...
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Bruce Bauman
Bruce Bauman is an American writer. He is the author of the novels '' Broken Sleep'' (2015) and ''And The Word Was'' (2006). His work has appeared in the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Salon'', ''BOMB'', ''Bookforum'', ''Dart International Magazine'', and ''Black Clock''. He has previously been awarded the City of Los Angeles Award in literature (2008-2009), a Durfee Foundation grant, and an UNESCO/Aschberg award. Career Bauman formerly taught in CalArts's MFA Creative Writing Program and School of Critical Studies. He served as the senior editor for the literary magazine ''Black Clock'' for 13 years, from its inception to its end in 2016. Personal life Born in Brooklyn and raised in Flushing, Queens, Bauman currently lives in Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
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Jerry Stahl
Jerry Stahl (born September 28, 1953) is an American novelist and screenwriter. His works include the 1995 memoir of addiction ''Permanent Midnight''. A 1998 film adaptation followed with Ben Stiller in the lead role. Stahl has worked extensively in film and television. Early life Stahl grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His family is Jewish. His father, David Henry Stahl, emigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union; he served a term as Attorney General of Pennsylvania and was later appointed as a federal judge. David had previously worked as a coal miner. At the age of 16, Stahl was sent to a boarding prep school near Philadelphia. He attended Columbia University. Post-college he traveled, living in Greece—in caves outside of Matala, on Crete, the streets of Paris, then London, where he landed a job as a bartender at an Irish pub. He later returned to America to live in New York City, where he became a writer. Career Stahl began publishing short fiction, won a ...
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Aimee Bender
Aimee Bender (born June 28, 1969) is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her surreal stories and characters. She is a 2011 recipient of the Alex Awards. Biography Born to a Jewish family, Bender received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at San Diego, and a Master of Fine Arts from the creative writing MFA program at University of California at Irvine. While at UCI she studied with Judith Grossman and Geoffrey Wolff. She received ArtsBridge scholarships and worked with mentor Keith Fowler to create writing programs for K-12 students in Orange County, California. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Southern California where she served as Director of the USC PhD in Creative Writing & Literature from 2012 to 2015. In the past she taught a class in surrealist writing at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and was a senior artist at the non-profit theater workshop The Imagination Workshop, helping mentally ill and at ...
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Cynthia Bond
Cynthia Bond (born 1961) is an American author. Her debut novel ''Ruby'' spent six consecutive weeks on the ''New York Times'' Bestseller list, and was chosen as a selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0. She was born in Hempstead, Texas, and now lives in Los Angeles. Bond won a journalism scholarship to Northwestern University she then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Bond was a PEN Rosenthal Fellow for Emerging Writers. Bond is also on staff at the Paradigm Malibu Adolescent Treatment Center. Professional work Bond founded The Blackbird Collective in 2011 to, according to their website, "create a nurturing, supportive environment for writers" with an emphasis on "telling truths seldom shared, and using creativity to help others." She taught writing to homeless and at-risk youth for over 15 years at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Some of the youth she worked with inspired episodes of sexual violence described in her debut novel, ''Ruby''. Bond was ins ...
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Maggie Nelson
Maggie Nelson (born 1973) is an American writer. She has been described as a genre-busting writer defying classification, working in autobiography, art criticism, theory, feminism, queerness, sexual violence, the history of the avant-garde, aesthetic theory, philosophy, scholarship, and poetry. Nelson has been the recipient of a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2012 Creative Capital Literature Fellowship, a 2011 NEA Fellowship in Poetry, and a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in Nonfiction. Other honors include the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism and a 2007 Andy Warhol Foundation/Creative Capital Arts Writers Grant. Life and career Nelson was born in 1973, the second daughter of Bruce and Barbara Nelson. She grew up in Marin County, California. Her parents divorced when she was eight after her mother fell in love with their house painter. In 1984, Nelson's father died of a heart attack. She moved to Connecticut in 1990 to study English at Wesleyan University w ...
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