BOOKS
PAGE TURNERS
A look at recently published works by UCR faculty, staff, and alumni
“The Pink Hotel”
By Liska Jacobs ’15
MCD
July 2022, 336 pages
Tensions rise between the anxious staff and eccentric wealthy guests as newlyweds Keith and Kit Collins find themselves confined within Beverly Hills’ opulent Pink Hotel while wildfires rage across the Los Angeles hillsides. Jacobs’ searing social satire explores class, greed, and love amid certain disaster.
Jacobs earned an MFA in creative writing and writing for the performing arts.
“This Story Will Change: After the Happily Ever After”
By Elizabeth Crane
Counterpoint
August 2022, 272 pages
Crane’s life is suddenly and unexpectedly changed forever when she and her husband separate after 15 years. Chronicling events as they unfold, her memoir crafts an evolving portrait of transformation, possibility, and the practice of healing at the end of her marriage.
Crane is an adjunct assistant professor in the UCR Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA program.
“Amir Zaki, Building + Becoming”
By Corrina Peipon, Amir Zaki, Walter Benn Michaels, and Jennifer Ashton
DoppelHouse Press
April 2022, 272 pages
Suspended landscapes, rocks, carvings, and hyperrealist California beach architecture fill the pages of Zaki’s latest monograph, covering over 20 years of photographic work while exploring the history of landscape and modern photography in California.
Zaki is a professor of art.
“Making Silent Stones Sing”
By Susan Cummins Miller ’71, ’73, ’78
Finishing Line Press
February 2022, 38 pages
Miller’s latest poetry collection captures the former geoscientist’s contemplation of, discoveries in, and wisdom gained from the changing landscape of the desert West, exploring themes of wonder, joy, loss, love, and the healing power of solitude and silence.
Miller earned a bachelor’s degree in history and geology and a master’s in geology.
“South Flight”
By Jasmine Elizabeth Smith ’19
University of Georgia Press
February 2022, 104 pages
Winner of the Georgia Poetry Prize, Smith’s debut poetry collection centers on two lovers separated after the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. Through letters, the couple hold imagined conversations with blues musicians and the ghosts of Greenwood, exploring the history of resistance, migration, and community in Black Oklahoma.
Smith earned an MFA in creative writing and writing for the performing arts.
“Rude Talk in Athens: Ancient Rivals, the Birth of Comedy, and a Writer’s Journey through Greece”
By Mark Haskell Smith
The Unnamed Press
August 2021, 203 pages
Though thousands of years old, Aristophanes’ comedic plays still resonate with audiences today. Smith explores how comedy in ancient Greece challenged the patriarchy, the military, and the powers that be, both then and now.
Smith is an adjunct associate professor in the UCR Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA program.
Return to UCR Magazine: Summer 2022