Literature
Winter Reads 2024
Cozy up this winter with these great reads from our library. These novels range from fantasy to mystery to romance and are perfect for cold weather. Check out UCB Overdrive for more!
Donna Tartt
V. E. Schwab
Matt Haig
Lisa See
Helene Tursten
Sally Rooney
Evan Friss
Dolly Alderton
Louisa May Alcott
Native-American Heritage Month 2024
Get ready to dive into Native American Heritage Month with these must-read books! From epic legends to fresh voices, these stories celebrate the culture, history, and heart of Native communities. Check out more at UCB Overdrive.
Nick Medina
Zitkala-Sa
Heid E. Erdrich
Vanessa Lillie
Jessica Johns
Alicia Elliott
Celebrating Indigenous People’s Day with Local Poetry
This October, the Literatures community in the UC Berkeley Library wants to acknowledge that Berkeley sits on the territory of xučyun (Huichin (Hoo-Choon), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo (Cho-chen-yo) speaking Ohlone people, the successors of the historic and sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. For more information on UC Berkeley’s stance, take a look at Centers for Educational Justice & Community Engagement’s statement on Ohlone Land.
To celebrate that history, here are a few excerpts from different California Indigenous peoples including Ohlone as well as Chowchilla- or Coast Miwok poets that this Literatures group enjoys. We encourage you to read the full poems and check out the authors’ collections.
November 1980
November
and up near Eureka
the highway has tumbled
with what may be
the last earthquake
of the year; offshore
Jade green water
chops holes in the yellow
sandstone cliff.
[…]
and up near Eureka
the highway has tumbled
with what may be
the last earthquake
of the year; offshore
Jade green water
chops holes in the yellow
sandstone cliff.
[…]
– Wendy Rose. For full poem see “Three California Indian Poems,” Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 2, no. 2 (Winter 1980): 158.
For more of Rose’s poetry, take a look at Lost Copper (1980, UC Library Search)
For more of Rose’s poetry, take a look at Lost Copper (1980, UC Library Search)
Old Territory, New Maps
You plan an uncomplicated path
through Colorado’s red dust,
around the caustic edge of Utah’s salt flats
a single night at a hotel
in the Idaho panhandle. Our plans change.
It’s spring, we are two Indian women along
together and the days open:
sunrise on a fine long road,
antelope against dry hills,
heron emerging from dim fields.
You tell me this is a journey
you’ve always wanted to take.
You ask me to tell you what I want.
[…]
through Colorado’s red dust,
around the caustic edge of Utah’s salt flats
a single night at a hotel
in the Idaho panhandle. Our plans change.
It’s spring, we are two Indian women along
together and the days open:
sunrise on a fine long road,
antelope against dry hills,
heron emerging from dim fields.
You tell me this is a journey
you’ve always wanted to take.
You ask me to tell you what I want.
[…]
– Deborah A. Miranda. For full poem, take a look at Zen of La Llorona (UC Library Search) or poetryfoundation.org.
For the Living
Standing high on this hillside
the wind off the Pacific
forming the language of grasses
and escarpment eternally speaking
the sea birds far out
on their planes of air
gather and squander
what the short days encompass
[…]
– Stephen Meadows . For full poem check out the anthology The Sound of Rattles and Clappers (UC Library Catalog) or take a look at Meadows’ recent book Winter Work (UC Library Search).
Memory Weaver
Grandmother weave me a story
The memories she pulls out of me sting like poison. Her little fingers nimbly poke the top of my scalp, as if she was carefully choosing each memory to set on top of her loom.
The silence is deafening as Grandmother Dreamweaver works on my unusual request. She is the protector of dreams, not a keeper of memories. Yet, she understands what I have asked of her.
[…]
– Yulu Ewis. For full poem, see News from Native California, Berkeley. 32,.no. 3 (Spring 2019): 24 on Ethnic News Watch. For additional poetry, take a look at Dream Weaver and the Coyote-Man’s Tale (soon to be in the UC Berkeley Library).
Bibliopolítica: A Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library
At the intersection of Chicana/o/x Studies, Digital Humanities and Library History, Bibliopolítica: A Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library chronicles the history of one of the first Chicana/o/x collections, the Chicano Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
Bibliopolítica shares the stories of trailblazing library workers, students and community members who worked to preserve and make Chicana/o/x resources available. Featuring photographs, ephemera, archival documents, and oral histories, Bibliopolítica offers an original digital collection of primary sources and is the first audiovisual history of this special place that helped redefine what libraries could be.
Bibliopolítica takes its name from a book of the same title that Richard Chabrán and librarian colleague Francisco García-Ayvens published in 1984, BiblioPolítica: Chicano Perspectives on Library Service in the United States. In 2024, it remains one of the few titles dedicated to the discussion of Chicana/o/x librarianship. Bibliopolítica: a Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library adds to this important conversation, but it is only the beginning of a much needed longer and more detailed history of the Chicano Studies Library and the contributions of Chicana/o/x library workers.
You can explore the digital exhibit, listen to recorded oral histories, browse digitized archival items, or explore on your own path.
Co-curated by Amanda Belantara – Assistant Curator at New York University Libraries, Lillian Castillo-Speed – former Chicano Studies Library Coordinator, now Head Librarian of the Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley, and Richard Chabrán – former Chicano Studies Library Coordinator, Team Leader Latino Digital Archive Group.
Digitization of archival items by Chrissy Huhn and UC Berkeley Library IT and Oral history recordings at Berkeley by Pablo Gonzalez and Angelica Garcia. See additional credits.
Fum d’Estampa Press
“Our objective is to bring what we think are great stories and literature to the English-speaking world and let the readers decide for themselves.” – Douglas Suttle
Fum d’Estampa Press was founded in 2020 by translator Douglas Suttle to bring exciting, different Catalan language literature to an English speaking audience. Though small, the press quickly established itself as an ambitious publisher of high quality titles. Since then, they have been long- and short-listed for some of the most important literary prizes in the UK and abroad, and have recently started to publish fantastic literature in translation from languages other than Catalan.
Catalan authors include Montserrat Roig, Joan Fuster, Guillem Viladot, Jordi Cussà, Bel Olid, Joaquim Ruyra, Jacint Verdaguer, Laura Alcoba, Maica Rafecas, Jordi Larios, Almudena Sánchez, Adrià Pujol, Oriol Ponsatí-Murlà, Raül Garrigasait, Oriol Quintana, Joan Maragall, Jordi Llavina, Marina Porras, Jordi Graupera, Llorenç Villalonga, Jaume Subirana, Ferran Soldevila, Narcís Oller, and Rosa Maria Arquimbau.
Among the translators are Alan Yates, Ronald Puppo, Louise Johnson and Peter Bush, Tiago Miller, and Mara Faye Lethem.
While its editorial offices are based in Vilafranca del Penedès, south of Barcelona, it prints its books in the south of England, and stores its physical books in Scotland. Ebooks are also available.
Here are a few of their books held by the UC Berkeley Library:
Visit the publisher’s site to view all available titles.
African Short Stories Prize Short List
This year’s short list for the Caine Prize for African Writing is rather phenomenal. Here’s the list with access to most of the stories full text:
- Tryphena Yeboah (Ghana) for ‘The Dishwashing Women’, Narrative Magazine (Fall 2022) – magazine website
- Nadia Davids (South Africa) for ‘Bridling’, The Georgia Review (2023) – magazine website
- Samuel Kolawole (Nigeria) for ‘Adjustment of Status’, New England Review, Vol. 44, #3 (Summer
2023) – pdf of story from Project Muse - Uche Okonkwo (Nigeria) for ‘Animals’, ZYZZYVA (2024) – magazine website
- Pemi Aguda (Nigeria) for ‘Breastmilk’, One Story, Issue #227 (2021) – excerpt on magazine website
The Judges–pictured below–have released a few statements about the submissions and a few of their thoughts on the range in the official press release.
As a head’s up, next is the Caine Prize 25th anniversary. There should be some exciting events!
Cheers,
Bee
Exciting new faculty pub on Heterosexuality and the American Sitcom
To my delight, I get to announce that Prof. Grace Lavery has a new book titled Closures: Heterosexuality and the American Sitcom (cover figured here).
At UC Berkeley, Lavery teaches courses (course catalog) on topics such as “Literature and Popular Culture” as well as special topics courses and research seminars examining representations of sex, sexuality, and gender.
Lavery’s new book is a phenomenal study looking at the idea of heterosexuality in the U.S. American sitcom. More specifically, the book “reconsiders the seven-decade history of the American sitcom to show how its reliance on crisis and resolution in each episode creates doubts and ambivalence that depicts heterosexuality as constantly on the verge of collapse and reconstitution.”
You can access and download the book online through the UC Library Search.
Speculative Fiction: Hugo Award Winners in 2024!
To my delight, the Hugo winners have been announced. Check out the full list of categories, short lists, and winners on the Hugo Awards website. On my side, I’ve read the short stories (i.e., less than 7,500 words) and now am making my way through the novelettes (i.e., 7,500 to 17,500 words). I am enjoying myself immensely.
This year’s novel (i.e., 40,000 words or more) winner is Emily Tesh’s 2023 Some Desperate Glory (Tor Books pub., UC Library Book Search).
T. Kingfisher’s 2023 A Fairy Tale Transformed: Thornhedge (Tor, Titan UK pub., UC Library Search) won the prize for novella (i.e., 17,500-40,000 words).
In novelettes, we’ve got Naomi Kritzer’s “The Year Without Sunshine” (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023, fulltext).
In short stories, there is Naomi Kritzer’s “Better Living Through Algorithms” (Clarkesworld, May 2023, fulltext).
In graphic novels, we’ve got the 11th volume of SAGA by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image, pub., UC Library Search).
Then, in games or interactive works, Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios, prod., website).
There is more, but this post is long enough. I encourage you to check out the full list linked at the top. And, If you have time, I hope you enjoy.
Signing off,
Bee (Lit/DH Librarian)
Prof. Elizabeth Abel Talks Odd Affinities and Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts (website) got there first, nonetheless I’m thrilled to share the news that Prof. Elizabeth Abel released Odd Affinities : Virginia Woolf’s Shadow Genealogies with the University of Chicago Press this year.
Prof. Abel (faculty page) teaches with the UC Berkeley English Department. They teach courses on Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group as well as broader overviews of 19th and 20th century English literatures. This fall, they are leading courses “Memoir and Memory” as well as on graduate readings and special study.
In Odd Affinities, Prof. Abel discusses Woolf’s influence beyond a female tradition, looking at echoes of Woolf work in four major writers from diverse cultural contexts: Nella Larsen, James Baldwin, Roland Barthes, and W. G. Sebald. Looking at those “odd affinities,” Abel looks at how “Woolf’s career and the transnational modernist genealogy was constituted by her elusive and shifting presence.”
You can access Abel’s book through the UC Library Search, where you can access it online and download the fulltext.
Booker Prize Longlist!
To my delight, the Booker Prize longlist has been announced! I’m rather looking forward to a couple long weekends reading through these.
For the list, I’ve gone ahead and included the Booker Prizes’ official links for title and authors as well then a UC Search or Berkeley Public Library link in the parenthesis.
- Wild Houses by Colin Barrett (UC Search)
- Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel (UC Search)
- James by Percival Everett (Berkeley Public Library)
- Orbital by Samantha Harvey (UC Search)
- Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Berkeley Public Library)
- My Friends by Hisham Matar (UC Search)
- This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud (UC Search)
- Held by Anne Michaels (UC Search)
- Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange (UC Search)
- Enlightenment by Sarah Perry (UC Search)
- Playground by Richard Powers (UC Search)
- The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (UC Search)
- Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (I’ll have to buy this one)
Keep in mind that you can request these books at the Oakland or San Francisco Public Libraries as well.
I hope we all enjoy!