Nonfiction Readings with Charles Hood and Dan White (2020 Catamaran Writing Conference)

Dan White is the author of The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind and Almost Found Myself on the Pacific Crest Trail (Harper Collins), an NCIBA bestseller and Los Angeles Times “Discovery” selection, and Under The Stars: How America Fell In Love With Camping (Henry Holt & Co.), which Cheryl Strayed described as “the definitive book on camping in America.” His writing has been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal,McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Outside,Poets & Writers, Catamaran literary magazine and the Washington Post. He has an MFA in nonfiction from Columbia University, where he was a Dean’s Fellow and taught in the Undergraduate Writing Program. Dan was a Steinbeck Fellow at the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University. He has taught writing at Columbia University and San Jose State. Before pursuing his MFA, he worked as the city reporter for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Charles Hood grew up in Atwater beside the Los Angeles River. He has been a bird guide in Africa, a translator in New Guinea, and a National Science Foundation Artist-in-Residence in Antarctica. He is the author of many books and essays including A Californian’s Guide to the Birds among Us. Charles has received numerous fellowships and writing awards, and his most recent artist-in-residence positions were with the National Science Foundation in Antarctica and with Playa Arts in Oregon. He has also been a visiting professor in England, Mexico, and Papua New Guinea. Hood is currently a research fellow with the Center for Art and Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art as well as a teacher of writing and photography at Antelope Valley College in the Mojave Desert.

Spark and Sustain Your Creativity with Joan Staffen (2020 Catamaran Writing Conference)

Joan Rose is a writer, artist, and creative coach dedicated to assisting others rediscover their purpose, stay on their life path, and complete their creative projects. A facilitator of the Julia Cameron’s Artist's Way for fifteen years, she helps her clients recover, visualize, plan, and actualize their dreams. She is the author of Swimming the Inner Ocean (memoir and story) and Catching You, Catching Me, Catching Fire, (a book of poetry), and more recently the Book of Pendulum Healing, published in 2019 by Red Wheel/Weiser. For more information please see her website at www.joanrosestaffen.com and her video trailer, “Swimming the Inner Ocean.” Currently, she lives and works in an intentional artist community, the Tannery Arts Lofts in Santa Cruz, CA where she helps with marketing, events, and classes for the “Catamaran Literary Reader” and is the facilitator for the “Retreat” at the Catamaran Writers Conference.

Beyond the Snapshot with Neal Snidow (2020 Catamaran Writing Conference)

Neal Snidow has been a public school teacher and private writer for many years. He grew up in Virginia, Nebraska, and Southern California and graduated from high school in Redondo Beach in 11966. He earned a BA in English at the University of California, Riverside, and an MA at the University of Virginia, where he was a Danforth Fellow. He currently teaches, writes, and photographs in Magalia, California.

Fiction Readings with Josip Novakovich and Lisa Fugard (2020 Catamaran Writing Conference)

Josip Novakovich emigrated from Croatia to the United States at the age of 20. He has published a dozen books, including a novel, April Fool's Day (in ten languages), five story collections (Infidelities, Yolk, Salvation and Other Disasters, Heritage of Smoke, and Tumbleweed) and three collections of narrative essays as well as two books of practical criticism. His novel, Rubble of Rubles, is scheduled for publication in 2021. His work was anthologized in Best American Poetry, the Pushcart Prize and O. Henry Prize Stories. He has received the Whiting Writer's Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, the Ingram Merrill Award and an American Book Award, and in 2013 he was a Man Booker International Award finalist.

Lisa Fugard is the author of Skinner’s Drift, a New York Times Notable Book and a runner up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Her novel was also a finalist for the LA Times First Fiction Award. Her short stories have been published in numerous literary journals, Outside, the British Council’s NW 15: The Anthology of New Writing, featured on Selected Shorts and anthologized in a Houghton Mifflin Harcourt text book of world literature for high school students. She has also had numerous travel articles in the New York Times.

Novel as the Problem Child with Karen Joy Fowler (2020 Catamaran Writing Conference)

Karen Joy Fowler is the author of six novels and three short story collections. Her 2004 novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel, Sarah Canary, won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, was listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, and her collection What I Didn’t See won the World Fantasy Award in 2011. Her most recent novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, won the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction and was short-listed for the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

Poetry Readings with Joseph Millar and Susan Browne (2020 Catamaran Writing Conference)

Susan Browne’s poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, The Sun, Subtropics, The Southern Review, Superstition Review, Rattle, SWWIM, New Ohio Review, B O D Y, American Life in Poetry, Love’s Executive Order, and 180 More, Extraordinary Poems for Every Day. Her first book of poetry, Buddha’s Dogs (Four Way Books), was awarded the Intro Prize. Her second book of poetry, Zephyr (Steel Toe Books), won the Editor’s Prize. And winner of Catamaran’s 2019 Poetry Prize. Other awards include prizes from the Chester H. Jones Foundation, the National Writer’s Union, the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and the River Styx International Poetry Contest. She received a fellowship from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and her work has been nominated for three Pushcart Awards. She also has a word/music CD: Swearing, Smoking, Drinking,& Kissing (with Kim Addonizio).

Joseph Millar’s first collection, Overtime, was a finalist for the 2001 Oregon Book Award. His second collection, Fortune, appeared in 2007, followed by a third, Blue Rust, in 2012. His latest collection Kingdom was released in February of 2017. He has won fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in such magazines as DoubleTake, TriQuarterly, The Southern Review, APR, and Ploughshares. Millar teaches in Pacific University's low-residency MFA Program and in North Carolina State's MFA Program in Creative Writing.

Advice for Writers - Jane Smiley in Conversation (2020 Catamaran Writing Conference)

Jane's talk will focus on advice for writers and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Jane is the author of 14 novels, 5 young adult novels, 2 short story collections, and 5 nonfiction books. She will discuss writing her different books, and the daily ups and downs of her creative process.

Jane Smiley’s novel A Thousand Acres won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992, and her novel The All True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton won the 1999 Spur Award for Best Novel of the West. She has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1987. Her novel Horse Heaven was short-listed for the Orange Prize in 2002, and her latest novel, Private Life, was chosen as one of the best books of 2010 by The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post.

Sculpting Your Poem with Zack Rogow (2020 Catamaran Writing Conference)

Zack Rogow is the author, editor, or translator of more than twenty books or plays. His most recent poetry collection is Irreverent Litanies from Regal House Publishing. His co-authored play Colette Uncensored had a staged reading at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and ran in London, San Francisco, and Portland. Zack’s blog, Advice for Writers, has more than 200 posts. He serves as a contributing editor to Catamaran Literary Reader and has judged the Catamaran Poetry Prize for the last three years. His website is zackrogow.com

2015 Winter Issue Readings at the Colligan Theatre

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Champion Poet Patricia Smith reads at the Catamaran First Anniversary Party.

T.C. Boyle has published over 20 books, including twelve novels and eight short story collections. Dan White's first book was 'The Cactus Eaters'. His newest book, 'Under the Stars', was publish in 2016. In this video Dan White interviews T.C. Boyle about 'The Extinction Tales' and humanity's relationship with nature.