WEALTH OF IDEAS

The community is invited to participate in the activities at Cosumnes River College for Black History Month during the month of February. The kickoff event will be Monday, February 4, 12:00 noon in the Recital Hall with keynote speaker Dr. Joycelyn Moody . Dr. Moody is the Sue E. Denman Distinguished Chair in American Literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Editor-in-Chief of the African American Review . She was educated at Spring Hill College, University of Wisconsin – Madison, and University of Kansas. She has held faculty positions in the United States, Zimbabwe, and South Africa and has been a recipient of numerous awards, including the NEH, the Mellon Faculty Grant, Royalty Research Fund Fellowship and many others. She has published widely on issues of multiculturalism in America, the portrayal of black women in nineteenth century literature, and on slave narratives. Her Keynote address is going to

Frank Graham and Jordan Reynolds were the featured readers at Sacramento Poetry tonight. See more coverage of the event posted on my poetry blog Chisiya Echoes.

Karen Dempster has announced that The African Theatre Ensemble will be presenting the Canadian premiere of “Have You Seen Zandile?”, "a much-loved story based on the childhood memories of South African playwright Gcina Mhlophe. The stellar cast includes Toronto’s multi-talented d’bi Young as the child Zandile and one of Nigeria’s most acclaimed actors Joke Silva as her grandmother and Olivia Duodu who plays Zandile’s friend, Lindiwe." Below is the full schedule for the play : Dates, Times and Locations: Wednesday January 30 PREVIEW – 8pm - Workman Theatre (1001 Queen St. W.) Thursday January 31 Afternoon Performance – 1:30 pm – Workman Theatre (1001 Queen St. W.) OPENING NIGHT – 8pm – Workman Theatre (1001 Queen St. W.) Friday February 1 Afternoon Performance – 1:30pm – Workman Theatre (1001 Queen St. W.) Evening Performance – 8pm - Workman Theatre (1001 Queen St. W.) Saturday February 2 Evening Performance – 8 pm – Workman Theatre (1001 Queen St. W.) Monday Fe

"The solicitous affection prescribed in my case would have surely deterred my friends from bringing me anything so dangerous as a blank paper and making it available to this mind of mine which persists in excreting syllables." This statement by Gunter Grass's character in The Tin Drum is revealing of how writing feels sometimes. In the hands of Grass, statements like this are priceless. Let's hear some writing advice from the character Herr Osker: " You can begin a story in the middle and create confusion by striking out boldly, backward and forward. You can be modern, put aside all mention of time and distance and, when the whole thing is done, proclaim...that you have finally, at the last moment, solved the space-time problem. Or you can declare at the very start that it's impossible to write a novel nowadays, but then, behind your own back so to speak, give birth to a whopper, a novel to end all novels". This quote is from the same book, The Tin Dru

Dr. Jairos Kangira of Namibia Polytechnic has written a capitivating review of Memory Chirere's Tudikidiki , a collection of short stories. You can find the full text of the review in The Herald. Excerpt: New year present from Chirere! Reviewed by Dr Jairos Kangira MEMORY Chirere’s second book — Tudikidiki — is a New Year’s present. Reason: save for the multi-authored collections by Zimbabwean Women Writers, the short story in the Shona language is almost non-existent. The poem and novel heavily dominate the space and yet the short story in English is on a massive rise in Zimbabwe. Tudikidiki is heavily influenced by Chirere’s first book, a collection of short stories in English called Somewhere In This Country. Here as in the first book, the stories are short. Reading, you remember Flannery O’Connor: A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. Chirere reading from Tudikidiki at the African

Tonderayi Chiyindiko, Cultural Affairs and Communications Officer of Alliance Francaise de Harare-ZIMBABWE just informed me that their center is starting a new season of arts workshops on January 14. See their menu below: -MBIRA -MARIMBA -MODERN DANCE -PERCUSSIONS -HIP-HOP -TRADITIONAL DANCE Let's quote from Tonderayi's message: "These workshops will be conducted by experienced and talented facilitators.All workshops last for 8 weeks and are conducted twice a week i.e. 2 sessions per week. Each session is 2 hours. Phone on 263-4-704795 or 263-4-704801 and speak to Nyarai or Tonderai for registration and any other information you may require about this and other activities that we have lined up for this year at Alliance Francaise. A bientot Tonderai Chiyindiko Cultural Affairs and Communications Officer Alliance Francaise de Harare-ZIMBABWE"

Sacramento poets spent an evening with Oscar Bermeo and Barbara Jane Reyes of Oakland, California. Reyes read from her latest publication Poeta en San Francisco , while Bermeo shared works from his chapbook Anywhere Avenue. He also read a couple of poems by Octavio Paz. Barbara Jane Reyes, reading from Poeta en San Francisco. PROFILE (from author's web page) Barbara Jane Reyes was born in Manila, Philippines and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her undergraduate education at UC Berkeley, and her MFA at San Francisco State University. She is the author of Gravities of Center (Arkipelago, 2003) and Poeta en San Francisco (Tinfish, 2005), for which she received the James Laughlin Award of the Academy of American Poets. Reyes is a recent Pushcart Prize nominee, and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous publications, including 2nd Avenue Poetry, Asian Pacific American Journal, Boxcar Poetry Review, Chain, Crate, Interlope, New American Writing, Nocturne

I have opened a new place for literary discussions called Moments in Literature . The necessity for this forum is to open space for me to share with readers the exciting moments I discover as I read different novels. I have already posted some thoughts on Valerie Tagwira's Uncertainty of Hope , and I am moving on to Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd . There is no specific criteria for choosing the works other than my random selections of what to read in a given month. Often when I read, there are those moments I discover (more like epiphanies)in the book which are worth sharing with others. The website will run in series format (covering one author at a time).