THE
LEARNING CURVE Winter/Spring 2010
Art History, Archaeology, Astronomy, History, Literature, Philosophy, Music
Tucson's Literary Presence
From the oral tradition of the Native Americans with its songs and legends to its contemporary, award-winning authors, Tucson has always had a powerful literary presence.
In 1995, Barbara Kingsolver wrote:
“Since I moved to this neighborhood of desert (foothills of the Tucson Mountains), I’ve learned I have other writers for neighbors. Unlike the toads, we’re shy - we don’t advertise our presence.... In fact, I found out I’d joined a literary community when my UPS man (I fancy him a sort of manly Dorothy Parker in uniform) began giving me weekly updates. Visitors up at Silko’s had been looking out for wild pigs, and Mr. Abbey had gone out in his backyard and shot the TV again.... What is it that draws creators to this place? Low rent, I tell my friends, but it’s more than that. It’s the Southwest: a prickly land where mountain lions make bets with rabbits, and rabbits can win. Where nature rubs belly to belly with subdivision and barrio, and coyotes take short cuts through back alleys.”
Get to know some of Tucson’s major literary celebrities through their written treasures in this eight week exploration of local writers.
Week 1: An Introduction to Tucson as Literary Mecca
Discover the major writers who live and write in Tucson now or are frequent visitors continually inspired by our city. Poet Laureate Billy Collins loves Tucson and visits often. We will read selections from his most recent best-seller, Ballistics (2008)
Week 2: Barbara Kingsolver
Selections form High Tide in Tucson (1995) and poetry from Another America (1992)
Week 3: N. Scott Momaday
Selections from Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn (1968)
Week 4: Featured Writer: Demetria Martinez Selections from Breathing Between the Lines (1997) and The Devil’s Workshop (2002)
Week 5: Leslie Marmon Silko
“Yellow Woman” from The Storyteller (1981)
Week 6: Ofelia Zepeda
Selections from Where Clouds are Formed (2008)
Week 7: Jan Cleere
Selections form Amazing Girls of Arizona: True Stories of Young Pioneers (2008)
Week 8: J. A. Jance
Selections form After the Fire (2004) and Damage Control (2008)
Tucson Session:
When: Wednesdays, Jan 13 - Mar 3, 9:30-11:30am
Where: The Hampton Inn, 5950 N. Oracle Road
Cost: $155 (8 sessions - includes extensive reading packet)
Oro Valley Session:
When: Fridays, Jan 15 - Mar 5, 9:30-11:30am
Where: Resurrection Lutheran Church, 11575 N. First Avenue
Cost: $155 (8 sessions - includes extensive reading packet)
Instructor: William A. Fry, Ph.D., a founding member of the Learning Curve faculty, taught literature and writing at a Maryland college for more than thirty years. He served as Chair of the Literature Department and developed a series of literary travel-study tours, both domestic and international. This award-winning instructor and scholar was named Outstanding Professor for the State of Maryland in 1987 and received Professor of the Year Award in 1990.
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