The Diana & Simon Raab Writer-in-Residence Series

Wednesday, March 1, 2017 / 7:00 PM MultiCultural Center Theater FREE This year’s Diana and Simon Raab Writer-in-Residence is internationally renowned poet Yusef Komunyakaa. He is the author of seventeen books of poetry, including Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems (1994), winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Komunyakaa's other works include Warhorses (2008); Taboo: The Wishbone Trilogy, Part 1 (2006); Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999 (2001); Talking Dirty to the Gods (2000); and Thieves of Paradise (1998), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His most recent collections of poetry include The Chameleon Couch (2011), Testimony: A Tribute to Charlie Parker (2013), and Emperor of Water Clocks (2015). He is the author of Gilgamesh: A Verse Play (2006), and, in collaboration with composer T.J. Anderson, the opera libretto Slip Knot.

Mary Karr (The Liars’ Club, The Art of Memoir) Wednesday, February 10 / 7:00 PM UCSB Corwin Pavilion FREE This year’s Diana and Simon Raab Writer-in-Residence is best-selling memoirist, poet and essayist Mary Karr. Her most recent publication, The Art of Memoir, features excerpts from her favorite memoirs and anecdotes from fellow writers' experiences. The Art of Memoir breaks down the key elements of great literary memoir and expands our concepts of memory and identity, illuminating the cathartic power of reflecting on the past.