Creative Nonfiction seminar at 826 Valencia

I always enjoy an excuse to visit 826 Valencia, and this event was no different. The panel talked with and entertained questions by about 50 attendees. No ravishingly new information, which was actually nice. 

The panel of speakers, all being quite interesting characters:

Stephen Elliott, author of the memoir My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up, named best book of 2006 by The San Francisco Chronicle. Elliott was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford and is currently a member of The San Francisco Writer’s Grotto. He is also the founder of the Progressive Reading Series, which helps authors raise money and participate on behalf of progressive candidates across the country.

Po Bronson, author of five books, including the social documentary What Should I Do With My Life? His work has appeared in The New York Times, Time, and The Wall Street Journal. Bronson is also a founder of The San Francisco Writer’s Grotto, a cooperative workspace for writers and filmmakers.

Steve Almond, author of a novel, two collections of short stories, and two works of nonfiction, including the soon-to-be-released Not That You Asked, self-described as a collection of “rants, exploits, and obsessions.”
Mary Roach, author of Stiff:The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, a New York Times bestseller. Roach has also published many articles in GQ, Vogue, and The New York Times Magazine. She currently writes a humor column in Reader’s Digest and is a contributing editor for Discover magazine.

Beth Lisick, author of several stories, poems, and essays, including the New York Times nonfiction bestseller Everybody Into The Pool. She has also written, directed, and starred in a number of short films, including the internationally acclaimed Diving for Pearls. Lisick co-organizes the Porchlight Storytelling Series in San Francisco.

Alex Vernon is the author of two memoirs, most succinctly bred (2006) and The Eyes of Orion: Five Tank Lieutenants in the Persian Gulf War (1999; Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Book Award), and two books of literary criticism, Soldiers Once and Still: Ernest Hemingway, James Salter, and Tim O’Brien (2004) and the edited collection Arms and the Self: War, the Military, and Autobiographical Writing (2005). He teaches a variety of 20th century American literature courses, writing courses, and Creative Nonfiction at Hendrix College.