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PEN Center USA
PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN International, a literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unified under the PEN America umbrella as the PEN America Los Angeles office. PEN Center USA was founded in 1943 and incorporated as a nonprofit association in 1981. As of 2018, much of PEN Center USA's programming continues out of the PEN America Los Angeles office, including the Emerging Voices Fellowship, PEN In the Community writing residencies and guest speaker program, and the PEN Presents conversation series. History The organization was established in 1943. In 1952 PEN International granted it the right to become PEN Los Angeles Center, able to set up its chapters. In 1981 it was incorporated as a non-profit organization. In 1988 it requested a name change, and eventually, it was renamed to PEN USA Center West. On March 1, 2018, PEN Cen ...
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Non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or social benefit, as opposed to an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a Profit (accounting), profit for its owners. A nonprofit organization is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. Depending on the local laws, charities are regularly organized as non-profits. A host of organizations may be non-profit, including some political organizations, schools, hospitals, business associations, churches, foundations, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be Tax exemption, tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an enti ...
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Chris Abani
Christopher Abani (born 27 December 1966) is a Nigerian American author. He says he is part of a new generation of Nigerian writers working to convey to an English-speaking audience the experience of those born and raised in "that troubled African nation". Biography Abani was born in Afikpo, Ebonyi State, located in the southeastern region of Nigeria. His father was Igbo, while his mother was of English descent. Abani published his first novel, ''Masters of the Board'', in 1985 at the age of 16. It was a political thriller, the plot of which was an allegory based on a coup that was carried out in Nigeria just before it was written. He was imprisoned for six months on suspicion of an attempt to overthrow the government. He continued to write after his release from jail, but was imprisoned for one year after the publication of his 1987 novel ''Sirocco.'' During this time, he was held at the infamous Kiri Kiri prison, where he was tortured. After he was released from jail this ...
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Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston (; born Maxine Ting Ting Hong; October 27, 1940) is an American novelist. She is a professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a B.A. in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese Americans. Kingston has contributed to the feminist movement with such works as her memoir '' The Woman Warrior'', which discusses gender and ethnicity and how these concepts affect the lives of women. She has received several awards for her contributions to Chinese American literature, including the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1981 for '' China Men''.This was the award for hardcover "General Nonfiction".From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Awards history there were several nonfiction subcategories including General Nonfiction, with dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories. Kingston has received significant criticism for reinforcing racist st ...
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Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Ellen Kingsolver (born April 8, 1955) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet. Her widely known works include '' The Poisonwood Bible'', the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and '' Animal, Vegetable, Miracle'', a nonfiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. In 2023, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the novel '' Demon Copperhead''. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments. Kingsolver has received numerous awards, including the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award 2011 and the National Humanities Medal. After winning for ''The Lacuna'' in 2010 and ''Demon Copperhead'' in 2023, Kingsolver became the first author to win the Women's Prize for Fiction twice. Since 1993, each one of her book titles have been on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. Kingsolver ...
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Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books
The ''Los Angeles Times'' Festival of Books is a free, public festival celebrating the written word. It is the largest book festival in the United States, drawing approximately 150,000 attendees annually. The festival began in 1996 and is held on the penultimate weekend of April, hosted by the University of Southern California. It features vendors, authors, and publishers. Among the events are panel discussions, storytelling, and performances for children, as well as the ''Los Angeles Times'' book prize ceremony. It is well regarded as a celebration of American culture through literature. Highlights Pre-2009 In a C-SPAN interview, festival co-founders Narda Zacchino explained that she and her colleague Lisa Cleri Reale were discussing other book festivals around the country one day, to which Zacchino stated that the Los Angeles Times, where they both worked at the time, might have enough publicity to pull one off so long as there was enough effort put into it. With a smal ...
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Alex Espinoza
Alex A. Espinoza (born May 31, 1964) is an American former professional football quarterback who played for one season with the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He went to college at Iowa State after transferring from Cal State-Fullerton. During the strike shortened season of 1987 he was picked up as an undrafted free agent to serve as a backup quarterback by Kansas City and played in only one game. He compiled 69 yards on 9 out of 14 attempts with two interceptions and five rushing yards in his lone NFL game, a 42–0 loss at Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ... in his lone NFL year. External linksStats from NFL.com 1964 births Living people American football quarterbacks Cal State Fullerton Titans football players Frankfur ...
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Bruce Bauman
Bruce Bauman is an American writer. He is the author of the novels '' Broken Sleep'' (2015) and ''And The Word Was'' (2006). His work has appeared in the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Salon'', ''BOMB'', ''Bookforum'', ''Dart International Magazine'', and '' Black Clock''. He has previously been awarded the City of Los Angeles Award in literature (2008-2009), a Durfee Foundation grant, and an UNESCO/Aschberg award. Career Bauman formerly taught in CalArts's MFA Creative Writing Program and School of Critical Studies. He served as the senior editor for the literary magazine '' Black Clock'' for 13 years, from its inception to its end in 2016. Personal life Born in Brooklyn and raised in Flushing, Queens, Bauman currently lives in Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles ...
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Jerry Stahl
Jerry Stahl (born September 28, 1953) is an American novelist and screenwriter. His works include the 1995 memoir of addiction ''Permanent Midnight''. A 1998 film adaptation followed with Ben Stiller in the lead role. His works include memoirs, short stories, TV, films, and Novels. He wrote novels including ''Bad Sex On Speed'' (2013), ''Happy Mutant Baby Pills: A Novel'' (2013), and a short story ''Love Without: Stories'' (2007). Stahl has worked extensively in film and television. He married Zoe Hansen on August 20, 2023. Early life Stahl grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His family is Jewish. His father, David Henry Stahl, immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union; he served a term as Attorney General of Pennsylvania and was later appointed as a federal judge. David had previously worked as a coal miner. At the age of 16, Stahl was sent to a boarding prep school near Philadelphia. He attended Columbia University. Post-college he traveled, living in Greece—i ...
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Aimee Bender
Aimee Bender (born June 28, 1969) is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her surreal stories and characters. She is a 2011 recipient of the Alex Awards. Biography Born to a American Jews, Jewish family, Bender received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at San Diego, and a Master of Fine Arts from the creative writing MFA program at University of California at Irvine. While at UCI she studied with Judith Grossman and Geoffrey Wolff. She received ArtsBridge scholarships and worked with mentor Keith Fowler to create writing programs for K-12 students in Orange County, California. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Southern California where she served as Director of the USC PhD in Creative Writing & Literature from 2012 to 2015. In the past, she taught a class in surrealist writing at the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA Extension Writers' Program and was a senior artist at the non-profit theater worksho ...
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Cynthia Bond
Cynthia Bond (born 24 April 1961)''Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997''. Texas: Texas Department of State Health Services. Microfiche. Retrieved May 7, 2025. is an American author and actress. Her debut novel ''Ruby'' spent six consecutive weeks on the ''New York Times'' Bestseller list, and was chosen as a selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0. She was born in Hempstead, Texas, and now lives in Los Angeles, California. Bond won a journalism scholarship to Northwestern University she then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Bond was a PEN Rosenthal Fellow for Emerging Writers. Bond is also on staff at the Paradigm Malibu Adolescent Treatment Center. Early life Cythia Dale Bond was born in Hempstead, Waller County, Texas. Her parents are Zelma Marshall (nee Harris) and Horace James Bond. Professional work Bond founded The Blackbird Collective in 2011 to, according to their website, "create a nurturing, supportive environment for writers" with an emphasis ...
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Maggie Nelson
Maggie Nelson (born 1973) is an American writer. She has been described as a genre-busting writer defying classification, working in autobiography, art criticism, theory, feminism, queerness, sexual violence, the history of the avant-garde, aesthetic theory, philosophy, scholarship, and poetry. Nelson received a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2012 Creative Capital Literature Fellowship, a 2011 NEA Fellowship in Poetry, and a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in Nonfiction. Other honors include the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism and a 2007 Andy Warhol Foundation/Creative Capital Arts Writers Grant. Life and career Nelson was born in 1973, the second daughter of Bruce and Barbara Nelson. She grew up in Marin County, California. Her parents divorced when she was eight. In 1984, Nelson's father died of a heart attack. She moved to Connecticut in 1990 to study English at Wesleyan University, where she was taught by Annie Dillard. After college, she lived in New York ...
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Percival Everett
Percival Leonard Everett II (born December 22, 1956) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and Distinguished professor, Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. He has described himself as "pathologically ironic" and has explored numerous genres such as western fiction, mysteries, thrillers, satire and philosophical fiction. His books are often satirical, aimed at exploring race and identity issues in the United States. He is best known for his novels Erasure (novel), ''Erasure'' (2001), ''I Am Not Sidney Poitier'' (2009), and The Trees (Everett novel), ''The Trees'' (2021), which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. His 2024 novel ''James (novel), James'', also a finalist for the 2024 Booker Prize, Booker Prize, won the Kirkus Prize, the National Book Award for Fiction, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. ''Erasure'' was adapted as the film ''American Fiction (film), American Fiction'' (2023), written and directed by Cord Jefferso ...
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