Twenty-Five

Playwright and fiction writer VERENA ANDERSON was a dedicated part-time instructor who was the progenitor for FirstDraft magazine, the predecessor of Acorn Review Literary Journal.

Poet, Creative Writing instructor, and beloved colleague, JUDY BARKLEY was an editor and production assistant for Cowles Mountain Journal, which showcased the poetry, fiction, and literary nonfiction of California community college faculty.

Still a currently tenured English Department faculty member, poet and literary essayist, SYDNEY BROWN, served as former LAF co-ordinator and Creative Writing Program co-ordinator, and is principally responsible for building the LAF's gravitas in the last decade.

DR. ORALEE HOLDER, former Department Chair, was a fierce supporter of the Creative Writing Program who always took an active role in our annual Festival, including walking the length of the campus to promote it,  introduce honored literary guests, and even participate, herself, as a reader. She has been instrumental in the growth of the LAF.

Poet, playwright, novelist, fiction writer, author KAMLA "KAMAL" KAPUR taught Creative Writing and forged the first drama writing workshops for the Creative Writing Program. Kapur is internationally recognized and, in India, highly acclaimed for her writings and plays. 

Playwright, poet, and composer, GEORGE KIRAZIAN, was a charter faculty member, early English Department Chair, and co-founder of Grossmont College’s first literary magazine, Talon.

Poet JOE MEDINA, Grossmont College’s Puente Project founder, and loyal advocate of all things literary arts, bringing fiction writer Daniel Reveles to Grossmont College for the author's very first  literary reading. Medina also originated the annual Celebration of Banned Books reading and, over the years, was a supportive presenter at many LAF events. 

Fiction writer and poet STEPHANIE MOOD, much loved for many years as the Department’s Short Fiction Writing workshop instructor,  is the charter coordinator of the Creative Writing Program and founder deluxe of the Literary Arts Festival. Here tireless and inventive efforts to produce the Festival raised the bar on literary events on our campus.

Grossmont College English Department.

His tenure lasted only a few years, but poet LLOYD NORWOOD was an active part of the San Diego literary scene in his time and  primarily responsible in 1974 for creating our first fall semester readings series, which featured writers and poets Ai, Michael McClure, Diane Wakoski, W. S. Merwin, Carl Rakosi, Sherril Jaffe, and future U.S. Poet Laureate, Philip Levine.

During his time as Department Chair, Creative Writing faculty member GARY PHILLIPS pioneered and led our Creative Writing Program’s first Novel Writing workshop while remaining  an indefatigable advocate for the growth of the Literary Arts Festival. Since then, the Novel Writing course has remained one of our bread-and-butter workshops.