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Riverside Public Library’s Humanity Series is back! Join Inlandia Institute in partnership with Riverside Public Library for a four-part spin around the Inland Empire with local writers Larry Burns, Nikia Chaney, Rebecca K. O’Connor, Teresa Rhyne, Susan Straight, Douglas McCulloh, Isabel Quintero, and Casandra Lopez.

This series is free and open to the public, but registration is required: https://tinyurl.com/HumanitiesHour202

“A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image.” ― Joan Didion

The scheduled speakers will offer insights, observations, and tools for writing about the location we call home – Inland Southern California.

January 5: Larry Burns and Nikia Chaney

January 19: Rebecca K. O’Connor and Teresa J. Rhyne

February 2: Susan Straight and Douglas McCulloh

February 16: Isabel Quintero and Casandra Lopez

Susan Straight was born in Riverside, California, where she still lives with her family. Her memoir, In the Country of Women (Catapult Books, 2020) was a national bestseller. It was a Best Book of the Year by NPR and CodeSwitch, longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and a Finalist for the Clara Johnson Prize for Women’s Literature. Her new novel, Mecca, will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in March 2022.

Douglas McCulloh is an artist, writer, and senior curator at the California Museum of Photography. His work has been shown nationally and internationally in more than 250 exhibitions including Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City; Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles; Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans; and Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Riverside Public Library’s Humanity Series is back! Join Inlandia Institute in partnership with Riverside Public Library for a four-part spin around the Inland Empire with local writers Larry Burns, Nikia Chaney, Rebecca K. O’Connor, Teresa Rhyne, Susan Straight, Douglas McCulloh, Isabel Quintero, and Casandra Lopez.

This series is free and open to the public, but registration is required: https://tinyurl.com/HumanitiesHour202

“A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image.” ― Joan Didion

The scheduled speakers will offer insights, observations, and tools for writing about the location we call home – Inland Southern California.

January 5: Larry Burns and Nikia Chaney

January 19: Rebecca K. O’Connor and Teresa J. Rhyne

February 2: Susan Straight and Douglas McCulloh

February 16: Isabel Quintero and Casandra Lopez

Isabel Quintero is an award-winning writer and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She lives and writes in the Inland Empire of Southern California. Gabi, A Girl in Pieces (Cinco Puntos Press) her first YA novel, was the recipient of multiple awards. She is the author of the chapter books, Ugly Cat and Pablo and Ugly Cat and Pablo and the Missing Brother (Scholastic, Inc.). She earned her B.A. in English with a concentration in literature and he M.A. in English Composition from California State University, San Bernardino.

Casandra Lopez is a Chicana and California Indian (Cahuilla/Tongva/Luiseño) writer who has received support from CantoMundo, Bread Loaf and Jackstraw. She’s been selected for residencies with the School of Advanced Research and Hedgebrook. Her chapbook, Where Bullet Breaks was published by the Sequoyah National Research Center and her poetry collection, Brother Bullet, is forthcoming from University of Arizona. She’s a founding editor of As/Us: A Space For Women Of The World and teaches at Northwest Indian College.