Race as Context: BIPOC California Writers on How Race Informs Writing—May 16th PANEL

We are so excited to wrap up our 2020-2021 speaker series with a unique opportunity for members to join in this timely discussion. Panelists are California BIPOC writers from many vantage points including: 

• A Millenial with his first complete manuscript. 
• Authors with years of experience helping others in their craft. 
• A recent award-winning MFA graduate newly arrived to California. 
• A mid-career writer publishing fiction prose for the first time. 
• And, San Francisco’s 7th Poet Laureate, whose work and life have shone like a high beacon illuminating the country from here in the Bay. 

Please come enjoy an illuminating conversation between Alex Sato, Gabriel Campbell, Jhon Valdes Klinger, and Kim Shuck, moderated by member Ellen McBarnette. This diverse and talented group of writers and poets will share their perspectives on race as context, and inspire discussion and exploration for others.

Ellen McBarnette is a CWC Berkeley member and active in the Afrosurrealist Writers Workshop of Oakland and the Women’s National Book Association SF Branch. She participates in several critique groups in the Bay. Her short story, “Negrita” will appear in Midnight and Indigo in October 2021. She lives in Hayward with her partner Ben and their cat Java. Learn more about Ellen at about.me/ellenmcbarnette.

Jhon Valdes Klinger is an Afro-Latinx writer born in Colombia and raised in New York. He holds an MFA from The New School. His work has been published in the 12 Street Journal, Ipstori App, Monsters of the Bronx, and most recently, in Acentos Review. He lives in Berkeley, where he teaches writing.

Kim Shuck served as the 7th poet laureate of San Francisco. Shuck is solo author of seven books, editor or assistant editor of a handful of anthologies, and appears in a few dozen anthologies edited by other people. Kim has won some writing awards including a PEN Oakland Censorship Award. Shuck’s most recent book is Whose Water? from Mammoth Publications. Learn more about Kim at KimShuck.com.

Gabriel Campbell graduated with a minor in Creative Writing. He has completed his first novel, Love, Legends, and Legacies, Book One of The Keita Daze and is seeking representation. He is a member of several Bay Area writing groups, including the Afrosurrealist Writers Workshop, Cyborg Central and Bay Area Young Writers. He lives in Oakland.

Alex Sato’s short stories and novels are often placed in Northern California where he’s lived for his entire life. His preferred genres are horror, fantasy and sci fi. To recover his humanity from revising dry software manuals during the day, Alex writes gijutsu (技術)-phantasia and techno-phantasia at night. His work-in-progress, a gamelit novel, draws inspiration from quantum physics and supernatural yokai of Japanese myth. He is a member of the CWC Tri-Valley chapter and a moderator for the East Bay Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers group. He co-hosts the Livermore Public Library Writers Meetup. Learn more about Alex at QuantumKatana.com.