CREATIVITY FLOWS FROM FRESNO STATE
Fresno State News, CA
Nov 15 2006
Faculty members and students – past and present – at California State
University, Fresno continue to win awards and critical praise for
their literary and visual arts achievements.
Fresno State alumnus Brian Turner is the most recent honoree. He
received a literary fellowship from the Santa Fe, N.M.-based Lannan
Foundation, which recognizes authors "of distinctive literary merit
who demonstrate potential for continued outstanding work."
The fellowship provides the resources for an individual to focus for
a year on writing. Turner works part-time as an instructor at Fresno
City College.
Turner, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1994 from Fresno
State and master’s of fine arts at the University of Oregon, wrote
"Here, Bullet," a collection of poems published in 2005 about his
Army infantry service in Iraq.
Since publication, "Here, Bullet" (Alice James; $14.95) has won a
Beatrice Hawley Award, the Northern California Award for Poetry,
the Maine Literary Award for Poetry and the PEN Center USA Literary
Award in Poetry.
Other recent creative arts accomplishments with links to Fresno State:
Favorable reviews greeted publication in October of Dr. Lillian
Faderman’s "Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics,
and Lipstick Lesbians" (Basic Books; $27.50) co-authored with Stuart
Timmons. Faderman, an English professor, has written several other
books on lesbian/gay history. This book was named New York Times
Notable Books of the Year. Her previous book, "Naked in the Promised
Land," received the Judy Grahn Award for nonfiction, and a Lambda
Literary Award for memoir.
Steven Church, an assistant professor of English, won the Colorado
Book Award in Creative Nonfiction for "The Guinness Book of Me"
(Simon & Schuster; $23). Church is at work on two books: one based
on the legacy of the 1983 TV drama "The Day After" and what he calls
"a sort of travel and work memoir" chronicling his journeys and time
spent as a tour guide at Arizona’s Meteor Crater and a Rocky Mountain
gold mine. He recently had a short story accepted for publication by
the new literary magazine, Avery.
Dr. Lisa Weston, an English professor, won first and second place
in the Creative Photography competition at the Big Fresno Fair for
what she describes as "found collages" (material from all over that
changes as things happen to it). and changes every day as torn down,
posted or painted over, and weathered by exposure to the elements).
"She took the photographs in London while on sabbatical earlier
this year.
Fresno State graphic design student Mario Garza is the author of
"Stuff on My Cat" (Chronicle Books, $9.95), a book of photos from
his Web site that features patient or lazy cats with things piled
on top of them. The Web site originated with photos of Garza’s plump
feline and soon was attracting submissions from other cat owners with
similar pictures. Garza operates his own graphic design studio/screen
printing shop.
The Canadian Historical Association awarded a Certificate of Merit
in Regional History to Dr. Isabel Kaprielian for her book, "Like
Our Mountains: A History of Armenians in Canada" (McGill-Queen’s
University Press; $59.95). Kaprielian is a professor of history who
specializes in Armenian and immigration history. The citation says
Kaprielian’s "research base is formidable, drawing upon a strong
collection of primary documents, extensive interviews and a wide
range of secondary sources." The book has won praise for both its
scholarship and general-audience appeal.
Former English faculty member Howard Hendrix’s sixth novel, "Spears
of God" (Del Rey/Random House; $14.95) is scheduled to be published
Nov. 28. The new book is a thriller about trying to control meteorites
that may hold secrets about human evolution. Hendrix has scheduled
readings and signings in several California bookstores, including
the Barnes & Noble in Fresno from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 27.