Julia Shalett Vinograd (December 11, 1943
– December 5, 2018
) was a poet. She is well known as "The Bubble Lady" to the Telegraph Avenue community of
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, a moniker she gained from blowing bubbles at the
People's Park demonstrations in 1969. Vinograd is depicted blowing bubbles in the
People's Park Mural off of Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.
Education
Vinograd was born in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, the daughter of Sherna Shalett and her husband, chemist
Jerome Vinograd
Jerome Vinograd (February 9, 1913 – July 7, 1976) was an American biochemist who developed density gradient ultracentrifugation and contributed to the understanding of DNA supercoiling.
Education
Vinograd obtained his undergraduate degree in ...
. Her family, including younger sister Deborah, relocated to
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
when her father joined the faculty of the
California Institute of Technology. Vinograd graduated with a B.A. from the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
in 1965, and went to Iowa, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts from the
Iowa Writers Workshop
The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...
at the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
.
Poetry
Vinograd became part of the "street culture" of Berkeley beginning in the 1960s and was often called a "street poet". She was also an active participant in the influential poetry slam scene at Cafe Babar in the
Mission District
The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...
from the mid-Eighters through the 1990s, where she yelled "Staaaaaarting!" at the beginning of each night of poetry.
She published numerous books of poetry and her work has been included in a number of anthologies, including ''Berkeley! A Literary Tribute''. She also edited the anthology ''New American Underground Poetry, Vol 1: The Babarians of San Francisco'' alongside
David Lerner
David Lerner (November 23, 1951 – July 1, 1997) was an American outlaw poet who helped lead the influential poetry group the Babarians at Cafe Babar in San Francisco.
Life
Lerner was born in New York City and came from a family of Russian ...
and Alan Allen. She was also profiled in
Contemporary Authors
''Contemporary Authors'' is a reference work which has been published by Gale since 1962. It provides short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary and near-contemporary writers. ''Contemporary Authors'' does not have selective inclusion cr ...
.
Honors and awards
Vinograd was awarded a
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...
for her poem, "For The Young Men Who Died of AIDS," and in 1985 won an
American Book Award
The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...
from the
Before Columbus Foundation.
The City of Berkeley, California, awarded her a Poetry Lifetime Achievement Award. On June 5, 2004, Berkeley Mayor
Tom Bates
Thomas H. Bates (born February 9, 1938) was the 21st mayor of Berkeley, California, and a member of the California State Assembly. Bates is married to Loni Hancock, another former mayor of Berkeley and State Assembly member who served in the C ...
declared that day to be "Julia Vinograd Day," for representing the spirit of Berkeley: "She gives us a voice when ours vanishes. She gives voice to the homeless, the street performers, the merchant, the coffee drinker, friends and foes alike, and her words, like a sharp knife, cut deep into the truth. She describes us as full of life, and love, and heartache. She makes us honest. We, the eccentric, the lonely, the broken are given a voice." She has been called Berkeley unofficial "poet laureate".
A feature documentary is in production about Vinograd's life and work
Julia Vinograd: Between Spirit and Stone
Bibliography
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Recordings
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Anthologies
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References
External links
Julia Vinograd: Between Spirit and StoneFeature documentary in production.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinograd, Julia
1943 births
2018 deaths
Writers from Berkeley, California
American women poets
University of California, Berkeley alumni
University of Iowa alumni
20th-century American poets
21st-century American poets
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers
Poets from California
Jewish American poets
21st-century American Jews
es:Julia Vinograd