I will be reading, along with other contributors to the PEN Oakland anthology, Fightin’ Words, on Tuesday, February 10, 2015, 6:30 p.m. in the Berkeley City College Auditorium.  In addition, as one of the three editors, I will make brief introductory remarks about the genesis of the book and its roots in the activism of PEN Oakland.

For Immediate Release:

Contact:      Kim McMillon

(510) 681-5652

kimmac@pacbell.net

www.penoakland.com

Heydaybooks.com

 

GROUND-BREAKING BAY AREA ANTHOLOGY

BLENDS SOCIAL ACTIVISM AND LITERATURE

 

Fightin’ Words: 25 Years of Provocative Poetry

and Prose from “The Blue-Collar” PEN

 

Poetry Reading

Tuesday, February 10,  6:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center Street, Berkeley, CA

 

(Berkeley), January 28, 2015 — PEN Oakland invites the public to a free reading from their ground-breading anthology Fightin’ Words:  25 Years of Provocative Poetry and Prose at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center Street in Berkeley on Tuesday, February 10 from 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm.  Award-winning authors Floyd Salas, Jack and Adelle Foley, Lucille Lang Day, Claire Ortalda, Kirk Lumpkin, Tony Rodriquez, Richard Silberg, devorah major, and Rafael Jesús González will read. Professor Sharon Coleman will emcee this event. This is an opportunity to meet many of the diverse cultural voices that are highlighted in this groundbreaking new work edited by Judith Cody, Kim McMillon and Claire Ortalda.   For more information, please call (510) 681-5652.

 

Advance Praise for Fightin’ Words

“A tide of swelling voices that dare to speak up against the con­fines of official narratives and connect with the growing silenced masses.”—Genny Lim, author of Paper Gods and Rebels

 

“Literary artists who otherwise would be below the radar of exposure have PEN Oakland to thank for relentless cultural activism on our behalf.”—Eugene B. Redmond, founding editor, Drumvoices Revue

 

“Lyrical insight and the arc of human thought for a new and possible world create this amazing anthology.”—Nina Serrano, host of KPFA’s Open Book: Poet to Poet

 

About the Editors

Judith Cody

Judith Cody is an award-winning poet and composer. Her publications include Vivian Fine: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood Press) and a collection of poetry titled Eight Frames Eight. Cody has also edited several publications, including the first Resource Guide on Women in Music and a NASA division history.

 

Kim McMillon

Kim McMillon has over twenty years of experience producing theatre in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1987, Ms. McMillon wrote, produced, and directed Voyages, A Multi-Media Excursion Into Reincarnation at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Playhouse. She is currently enrolled in a doctoral program at UC Merced’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Art. In the Spring of 2014, Ms. McMillon in collaboration with UC Merced’s Office of Student Life and Center for the Humanities produced the UC Merced Black Arts Movement Conference 50 Years On.

 

Claire Ortalda

Claire Ortalda is the editor of several books, including The Other Side of the Closet (IBS Press) and Financial Sanity (Doubleday). Her fiction and poetry has been widely published in literary journals and anthologies. She is the winner of Georgia State University and national Hackney Fiction Prizes, among other awards.

 

Publication Date:        October 6, 2014

ISBN:                          978-0-615-96797-4

Paperback:                   6×9, 200 Pages

Price:                           $18.00

Distributors:                Ingram and Baker & Taylor or direct from Publisher

Publishers:                   Heyday and PEN Oakland Publications