The Writer In Residence program began in 2012 as a five-year pilot grant in partnership with PG&E. The CSUB WIR grant funding from PG&E ended in 2017. Since 2017, it has been privately funded by a sole benefactor. The program has had a collaborative selection process between our Walter W. Stiern Library and sometimes the English Department. Ideally, we strive to invite authors who have a connection to Bakersfield and CSUB. Here is a bit more detail about the WIR program…
2024 Writer in Residence: Lily Hirsch
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: Lily Hirsch.
Lily E. Hirsch is a Visiting Scholar at California State University, Bakersfield, and serves as the book review editor of the Journal of Musicological Research. She is the author of the books A Jewish Orchestra in Nazi Germany: Musical Politics and the Berlin Jewish Culture League (University of Michigan Press in 2010), Music in American Crime Prevention and Punishment (University of Michigan Press in 2012), Anneliese Landau’s Life in Music: Nazi Germany to Émigré California (Eastman Studies in Music in 2019), Weird Al: Seriously (Rowman & Littlefield in 2020; expanded in 2022), Insulting Music: A Lexicon of Insult in Music (Palgrave, 2022), Can’t Stop the Grrrls: Confronting Sexist Labels in Music from Ariana Grande to Yoko Ono (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023), and Taking Funny Music Seriously (University of Indiana Press, 2024). She has also published numerous articles in academic journals, newspapers, and magazines, as well as attempts at humor in Slackjaw, Belladonna, and Frazzled.
Hirsch is a musicologist by training, with a Ph.D. from Duke University, and has lived in Bakersfield since 2010.
In the Spring semester, our WIR author showcases a novel and/or authored publication in the Walter W. Stiern Library Dezember Reading Room. Usually, the author reads a specific passage, opens the floor for discussion with the audience, and provides a brief background on their journey as an author. Book signing at the end of the event is often included but not required.
Our invited WIR author will also provide a Writing Workshop one or two days after the showcase mentioned above, to 15 participants from approximately 10:00 am - 3:00 pm on Friday or Saturday in the Walter W. Stiern Library with lunch provided. This workshop can be tailored to the author's preferences. The showcase event and workshop are free and open to the public.
Invited WIR authors are provided a stipend for their WIR experience including travel and lodging to and from Bakersfield. We also provide access to a private study room on the 4th floor of the library during their one-year residency.
Linked here are past WIR [csub.libguides.com]
