2023 Writer in Residence: Donna Barba Higuera
We invite you to join us in the Dezember Reading Room of the Walter W. Stiern Library to welcome this year's Writer in Residence guest author: Newbery Award winner Donna Barba Higuera.
Donna Barba Higuera is the New York Times best selling author of Middle Grade and picture books that reinvent history, folklore, and or her own life experience into compelling storylines. Born and raised in Kern County, she is also a CSUB Alumna and currently lives in Washington State with her husband, four kids, three dogs, and a
2022 Writer in Residence: Alan Salazar
About the Author
I have worked in several different areas in my life. I have been a Native American consultant/monitor, a traditional storyteller, a spiritual adviser, a traditional paddler of Chumash canoes, a preschool teacher and a juvenile institution officer. I have also been a journeyman plaster since I was a young man and have been around construction most of my life. My family has traced our family ancestry to the Chumash and Tataviam village of Ta'apu, now known as Simi Valley and the Tataviam village of Pi'ing near Castaic, Ca. We are Ventureno Chumash and Tataviam. My ancestors were brought into the San Fernando Mission starting in 1803. And I still continue to actively protect my ancestors village sites and tribal territories, which include the Malibu area.
I have been actively involved with several Native American groups. I am a founding member of the Kern County Native American Heritage Preservation Council and the Chumash Maritime Association. I am a member of the California Indian Advisory Council for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. I have been a community advisor with the Ventura County Indian Education Consortium for over 18 years. And I am currently a member of the Environmental Review Board for the city of Malibu.
As a member of the Chumash Maritime Association I helped build the first working traditional Chumash plank canoe in modern times and have paddled in this plank canoe for over 17 years. I have also been involved with teaching youths about Native American cultures for 20 years.
I have been involved with protecting Native American cultural sites for 20 years. I have been a consultant/monitor on sites in Ventura, LA, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties. I am one of the few consultant/monitors that has taken college classes in archaeology and has worked as a field archaeologist, to help me better understand the field. I have monitored on large pipelines covering 40 miles with numerous sites, highway widening were multiple ancient burials were found and large construction sites were you eat a lot of dust and find very few artifacts.
I have also, worked as a Juvenile Institution Officer for approximately 20 years at Juvenile Facilities in Santa Barbara and Bakersfield, Ca. At the Juvenile centers, besides supervising young people, I dealt with people in difficult situations on a daily basis. Counseling at risk youth was a large part of my job. Motivating and inspiring troubled youth is something I have strived to do most of my adult life.
Even today it is not easy being a proud California Native American. Misinformation about my tribes is still out there. And we have many obstacles still to overcome. But, I was raised to be proud of my Native American heritage. I take pride in being a positive role model and a respected Elder. I pride myself on being someone that has a positive relationship with many of our Native leaders and Native peoples in California. And I take my responsibilities as an Elder very seriously.
https://mynativestories.com/bio.html
About the Author
Page Lambert’s writing is found inside monumental sculptures at the Denver Art Museum, online at Huffington Post, and in dozens of anthologies about the West. Nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, she designs and teaches graduate writing courses for the University of Denver's professional creative writing program. Recently published works include poems “Reclamation” (Summer/Winter 2020, Langscape Magazine/Terralingua), “Alone at Pranzo’s” (Summer 2020, Ocotillo Review/Kallisto Gaia Press), essays “Not for Sale” (Langscape Magazine, 2018), “The Rural West” (The Light Shines from the West, Fulcrum Books, 2018), and “Deerstalking” (Memoir Magazine, Guns and People Issue, 2018).
Author of the memoir In Search of Kinship (Fulcrum Publishing), hailed by the Rocky Mountain News when it was released as one of the summer’s hottest reads, and the novel Shifting Stars (a Mountains and Plains Book Award finalist) by Tor/Forge Publishing, her essays and poems are found in dozens of anthologies, including the Willa award-winning Writing Down the River, and West of 98: Living and Writing the American West. Other awards include two Fellowships for Literary Excellence from the Wyoming Arts Council, “Best Essay of the Year Award” from the Colorado Authors’ League; and the Orlando Nonfiction Award from A Room of Her Own Foundation, and the 2015 Writer’s Studio Best Fiction Award.
Lambert has been leading outdoor adventures and writing workshops for twenty-four years, sometimes working in partnership with organizations such as True Nature Journeys, The Women’s Wilderness Institute, the Grand Canyon Field Institute, and the Aspen Writers’ Foundation. In 2006, Oprah’s O magazine featured her River Writing Journeys for Women as “One of the top six great all-girl getaways of the year.”
Co-founder of Women Writing the West, Lambert is a member of the International League of Conservation Writers, an advisor for the Rocky Mountain Land Library, and a senior associate with the Children & Nature Network. She writes the blog All Things Literary/All Things Natural from her Colorado home in the mountains west of Denver.
Reyna Grande is the author of the bestselling memoir, The Distance Between Us, (Atria, 2012) where she writes about her life before and after illegally immigrating from Mexico to the United States. The much-anticipated sequel, A Dream Called Home (Atria), was released on October 2, 2018. Her other works include the novels, Across a Hundred Mountains, (Atria, 2006) and Dancing with Butterflies (Washington Square Press, 2009) which were published to critical acclaim. Reyna has received an American Book Award, the El Premio AztlánLiterary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. In 2012, she was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards, and in 2015 she was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. https://reynagrande.com/
Founding/managing editor of Rabid Oak, poet Matthew Woodman will read from his work. His poems and stories appear in Sonora Review, Oxidant/Engine, S/WORD, Sierra Nevada Review, and Oblong, and he has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions. Links to his publications can be found at: https://matthewwoodman.com/publications/.
Brendan Constantine is a nationally recognized poet based in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in many of the nation’s poetry standards, including Prairie Schooner, Ploughshares, Poem-a-Day, Virginia Quarterly, Rattle, Field, Smartish Pace, and Chautauqua. New work can be found in Public Pool and the American Journal of Poetry.
His first book, ‘Letters to Guns’ (2009 Red Hen Press), is now taught in schools across the country. His most recent collection is ‘Dementia, My Darling’ (2016 Ren Hen Press) and draws upon his work with the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project.
Mr. Constantine has received grants and commissions from the Getty Museum, James Irvine Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. A popular performer, Brendan has presented his work to audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on NPR's All Things Considered, KPFK's Inspiration House, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. He holds an MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts and currently teaches creative writing at the Windward School.
Author and professor Brian Evenson,selected as the 2016 Walter W. Stiern Library PG&E Writer in Residence, will read from his workon Tuesday, May 10that 7:00 p.m. in the Dezember Reading Roomat StiernLibrary on the CSU Bakersfield campus. This event is free and open to the public.Mr. Evenson is the fifth author to be named to the PG&E-funded writing mentorship.Previous authors were Angie Chau, Richard Collins, Marissa Silver, and John Hampsey. PG&Ehas beena longtime corporate friend of the Stiern Library and provided itwith a substantial grant in 2012 to start the program, which is free to local writers who have a fiction or memoir project they are working on.
John Hampsey, the 2015 Walter Stiern Library PG&E Writer in Residence, will present a reading in the Dezember Reading Room on Thursday, May 7, at 7 p.m. Dr. Hampsey is the author of the poignant boyhood memoir Kaufman’s Hill, and numerous works of fiction. He will be signing books at the event. Three autographed copies will be presented as door prizes. Light refreshments will be served.
