Confronting loss and loneliness in “If You Have to Go”
Loneliness, while inherently isolating, is also a universal experience. This dichotomy lies at the heart of poet Katie Ford’s newest collection, “ If You Have to Go.” Dominated by a crown of 39 sonnets — each linked by the repetition of the last line of a poem as the first...
UC Riverside to host 42nd-annual Writers Week
Writers Week, California’s longest-running free literary event, will return to the University of California, Riverside, for its 42nd installment Feb. 4-5 and Feb. 11-16, 2019, featuring 22 writers across the two-week span. The conference will open with a reading and Q&A with renowned novelist Margaret Atwood. Atwood, whose prolific career...
Deconstructing the indestructible ‘Luke Cage’
“How do you show that he’s bulletproof?” asks artist and University of California, Riverside professor John Jennings, while discussing Marvel superhero Luke Cage. “You have to shoot him. You have to have a black man during the Black Lives Matter movement shot every episode to prove that he’s bulletproof. And...
UCR poet wins 2018 American Book Award
There was a time when Rachelle Cruz, M.F.A. ’12, had all but given up on getting her poetry collection published. A 10-year labor of love, she recalled sending out “ God’s Will for Monsters” 20-25 times before taking a two-year break from her attempts. As a last-ditch effort, Cruz submitted...
Rolling out the ‘Red Carpet’
Walk into the Culver Center of the Arts, and you’ll immediately find yourself immersed in the new, large-scale exhibition by Yunhee Min and Peter Tolkin. Three gigantic, undulating swathes of red fabric extend toward the entryway, inviting viewers to walk directly onto the massive artwork before arching sharply up toward...
Rare camera collection goes to Calif. Museum of Photography
The California Museum of Photography has received a robust donation of American field view cameras, filling a significant gap in the museum’s collection. Donor Larry Pierce, a mineralogist and majority owner of Phoenix-based Fiberquant Analytical Services, gifted his collection of more than 500 cameras, as well as hundreds of related...
Nalo Hopkinson enters Neil Gaiman’s ‘Sandman Universe’
Author will pen “House of Whispers,” a new comic series rooted in Afro-Caribbean culture
UCR ARTS celebrates new name, purpose
The newly renamed arts institution will bring enhanced programming and scholarship to downtown Riverside
Graphic Novel Adaptation of “Kindred” Nominated for Eisner Award
John Jennings discusses the challenge of transforming the beloved classic into a best-selling graphic novel.
ARTSblock exhibition features public’s work alongside artist’s
The Culver Center will host an exhibition featuring photography submitted by the community in conjunction with installations by Xavier Cázares Cortéz
Exhibition explores 20th Century through the lens of dust
A peculiar photograph leads to an examination of modernity, war, and ruin in “A Handful of Dust”
Capturing life’s little moments
Joe Leavenworth, graduate of UCR’s MFA in Visual Art, continues to make his mark as a photographer on both the East and West Coast
New poetry collection explores life’s questions, great and small
RIVERSIDE, Calif. ( www.ucr.edu) — How do you encapsulate several decades of your life? That was the question for Maurya Simon, professor emerita in the Department of Creative Writing and professor of the Graduate Division at the University of California, Riverside, while putting together her newest book, “ The Wilderness...
A mother’s greatest nightmare: Susan Straight broaches school shootings
As of March 8, there have been 14 school shootings so far this year. Since the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., 756 copycat threats have been made targeting schools across the country. For author Susan Straight — and many others around the nation...
“Fictive Kin” questions how we view the everyday
A new exhibition showcasing the photography of contemporary artists Sarah Conaway, Annette Kelm, and Kim Schoen will debut at the Culver Center of the Arts at UCR ARTSblock on Feb. 24. Much information in our daily lives is consumed through visual cues, like billboards blinking by on a highway, with...