Events Info

APRIL 27 through 30

All events held on the Grossmont College campus. Events are free of charge and open to the public. For directions to Grossmont College and a campus map showing the location of the LAF venues, see "Directions" or visit the LAF homepage.

Calendar At-a-Glance

Click the dates or events in the calendar below to link to more information about each, or scroll further down the page.

Apr 27	Jason Schneiderman 11am, Griffin Gate	New Voices 6pm, PVAC

Apr 28	Why Lit Matters 12:30pm, PVAC	Ivy Pochoda 2pm, Griffin Gate

Apr 29	Phillip B. Williams 9:30am, Griffin Gate	Aaron Burch 2pm, Griffin Gate

Apr 30	Deborah Taffa 2pm, Room 26-220

MONDAY, APRIL 27

11AM-12:20 PM • Griffin Gate

^{poet/essayist} Jason Schneiderman

a gold star beside a face, Jason Schneiderman, in a gold circle

Poet and essayist Jason Schneiderman is the author of five poetry collections, most recently Self Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire (Red Hen, 2024), as well as a book of essays Nothingism: Poetry at the End of Print Culture (University of Michigan Poets on Poetry, 2025), and the craft book Teaching Writing Through Poetry: An Introduction to Poetic Form (Bloomsbury, 2025). He is Professor of English at CUNY’s BMCC in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

A book cover, Self Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire, by Jason Schneiderman, with an astronaut in space with wings and a fire in the background Jason Schneiderman is the author of five books of poetry: Self Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire (Red Hen Press 2024), Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award; Hold Me Tight (Red Hen Press 2020); Primary Source (Red Hen Press 2016), winner of the Benjamin Saltman Prize; Striking Surface (Ashland Poetry Press 2010), winner of the 2009 Richard Snyder Publication Prize from Ashland Poetry Press and a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award; and Sublimation Point (Four Way Books 2004), a Stahlecker Selection. In addition to editing the anthology Queer: A Reader for Writers (Oxford UP 2016), he has authored a prosody manual Teaching Writing Through Poetry: An Introduction to Poetic Form (Bloomsbury 2025), and of a book of essays, Nothingism: Poetry at the End of Print Culture (University of Michigan Poets on Poetry 2025). Schneiderman's poetry and essays have appeared in numerous print and online journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, Poetry London, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, and others.

He has received fellowships and awards from Yaddo, The Fine Arts Work Center, The Hermitage, The Fulbright Foundation, and the Poetry Society of America. He is co-host of the podcast Painted Bride Quarterly Slush Pile and has been a guest host for The Slowdown. He is also an editor at Painted Bride Quarterly, and a former Poetry Editor for Bellevue Literary Review.

A self-described military brat, Schneiderman spent his childhood moving frequently, both, in the U.S. and around the world. Having been writing poetry since the age of 16, he attended the University of Maryland on scholarship and studied in Russia for a year. After earning his MFA from New York University, he later received a fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and a PhD from the Graduate Center of CUNY. On writing and reading poetry, Schneiderman regards it as an emotionally resonant coded language the reader deciphers. He and his husband often use the term “think-feel” to articulate the manner in which thought is innately emotional. Poetry, he says, is a medium in which this can be explored.

Jason Schneiderman is now a Professor of English at the CUNY’s BMCC and teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

The "Americans and the Holocaust" Exhibit, April 14 through May 21

A photo of immigrants and refugees on a harbor looking at the Statue of Liberty, gold and white text against a dark blue background

This event is offered in collaboration with Grossmont College Librarian Nadra Farina and the Americans and the Holocaust traveling exhibit, which is sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association. Based on extensive new research of that period, this traveling exhibit addresses important themes in American history, exploring the many factors that influenced decisions made by the U.S. government, the news media, organizations and individuals as they responded to Nazism. Besides Jason Schneiderman, the exhibit also features historical novelist and memoirist Jennifer Coburn, the author of The USA Today bestseller The Girls of the Glimmer Factory (Sourcebooks Landmark 2025), and Cradles of the Reich Sourcebooks Landmark 2023). Visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to learn more about this important traveling exhibit.

Books

Nothingism: Poetry at the End of Print Culture. University of Michigan Press, 2025.			Teaching Writing Through Poetry. Bloomsbury Academic, 2025.
Self Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire: Poems. Red Hen Press, 2024.			Hold Me Tight: Poems. Red Hen Press, 2020.
Primary Source: Poems. Red Hen Press, 2016.			Queer: A Reader for Writers. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Striking Surface: Poems. Ashland Poetry Press, 2010.			Sublimation Point: Poems. Four Way Books, 2004.

Poems

"A Beautiful House with a Hot Tub and Pool." Poets.org 2025. https://poets.org/poem/beautiful-house-hot-tub-and-pool
Three Poems ("A Story in Translation," "The Speake in this Poem," and "You Can Be the You in This Poem"). The Night Heron Barks Fall 2021. https://nightheronbarks.com/fall-2021/jason-schneiderman/ [Note: "You Can Be the You in This Poem" is a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee.]
Two Poems ("Ars Poetica I" and "Ars Poetica II"). EOAGH: A Journal of the Arts no. 7 (2011). https://eoagh.com/two-poems-by-jason-schneiderman/
Two Poems ("The Last Ace of Base Enthusiast," and "Little Red Riding Wolf.") The Account Magazine Spring 2019. https://theaccountmagazine.com/article/schneiderman-19/
"Stories About Love / Wedding Poem for Ada & Lucas." Poets.org 2017. https://poets.org/poem/stories-about-love-wedding-poem-ada-lucas
"Sublimation Point." Poetry Foundation 2004. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49213/sublimation-point
"Dramaturgy." Poetry Daily 8 February 2022. https://poems.com/poem/dramaturgy/
"Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire." Zocolo Public Square 29 May 2020. https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/jason-schneiderman-poem-portrait-icarus-country-on-fire/

Essays

"Nothingism: A Poetry Manifesto." Essay. The American Poetry Review vol. 48, no. 2 ((March/April 2019). https://aprweb.org/poems/nothingism-a-poetry-manifesto

Reviews

Hoelker, Max. "Poetry Can Be a Window to the Soul, Or Give It Wings to Fly, for This Well-Read Poet." (Review of Self Portrait of Icarus, by Jason Schneiderman." Hilltop Views 19 April 2025. https://www.hilltopviewsonline.com/31148/life-and-arts/poetry-can-be-a-window-to-the-soul-or-give-it-wings-to-fly-for-this-well-read-poet/
March, Thomas. “A Review of Sublimation Point by Jason Schneiderman." Painted Bride Quarterly 11 May 2011. https://pbqmag.org/a-review-of-sublimation-point-by-jason-schneiderman-thomas-march/
Schmidt, Christopher. "Striking Surface by Jason Schneiderman." Lambda Literary Review 9 June 2011. https://lambdaliteraryreview.org/2011/06/striking-surface-by-jason-schneiderman-2/
Spang, Bruce. "Self Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire, by Jason Schneiderman." Gay and Lesbian Review November/December 2024. https://glreview.org/article/never-made-sense-of-it/

Interviews

Adams, Kim and Saronik Bosu. "Nothingism: A Discussion with Jason Schneiderman." Audio interview. New Books Network 5 May 2025. https://newbooksnetwork.com/nothingism
Carey, Brainard. "Jason Schneiderman." Audio. Museum of Non-Visible Art (Yale University) 26 January 2018. https://museumofnonvisibleart.com/interviews/jason-schneiderman/
Corral, Eduardo C. “First Book Poets In Conversation: Thomas Heise and Jason Schneiderman." Boxcar Poetry Review March 2007. https://www.boxcarpoetry.com/007/conversation_th_js.html
Leuzzi,Tony. "Jason Schneiderman." The Brooklyn Rail June 2020. https://brooklynrail.org/2020/06/books/JASON-SCHNEIDERMAN-with-Tony-Leuzzi/
Muzyka, Yana. "'Voxel': Eight Questions for Jason Schneiderman." Ashbery Land: American Culture and Poetry in the Internet Age 21 November 2025. https://ashberyland.com/2025/11/21/voxel-eight-questions-for-jason-a-schneiderman/
Zucker, Rachel. "Episode 95: Jason Schneiderman." Commonplace 22 June 2021. https://commonplace.today/commonplace-podcast/episode-95-jason-schneiderman

Media

"NEH Reading and Conversation Series: Jason Schneiderman and Ellen Bass." YouTube, uploaded by Red Hen Press, 26 May 2021.
"Cultivating Voices Live New Books Showcase." YouTube, uploaded by Cultivating Voices Video Archive 14 September 2025.
"Jason Schneiderman." YouTube, uploaded by Bridgewater International Poetry Festival 16 November 2020.

6:30-7:20 PM • PVAC

NEW VOICES ^{student reading}

a gold star and a sigil inside a circular gold frame

This popular showcase of writing talent is curated from this semester’s Creative Writing Program workshops and classes. Students are selected by their writing instructors to perform original works of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama, and hybrid forms.

A magazine cover, Acorn Review Literary Magazine, with a round, abstract painting of light yellow clouds and a full Moon over red and orange jagged mountains Copies of the latest issue of Acorn Review, Grossmont Colleges student-produced literary journal, will be available for sale at the event. Find out more about Acorn Review, including submissions guidelines and opportunities for editorships on the Acorn staff, at ^{grossmont.edu/}acorn.

To learn more about the Grossmont College Creative Writing Program, visit us at ^{grossmont.edu/}cwp.

TUESDAY, APRIL 28

12:30-1:50 PM • PVAC

WHY LITERATURE MATTERS ^{student / faculty panel}

HOSTED BY JULIE CARDENAS AND SARAH STELIGA

This annual, student-favorite event features a panel of Grossmont College students and faculty sharing moving and powerful personal accounts of the role literature has played in their journeys, advocating the relevance of literature and its potential to inspire change, cultivate humanity, and serve us in, both, personal and global ways.

Learn more about Grossmont College’s English degrees and workshops at ^{grossmont.edu/}english.

2-3:20 PM • PVAC

^{fiction writer & essayist}IVY POCHODA

^{Photo by Darran Tiernan}

a gold star beside a face, Ivy Pochoda, set inside a gold ring

Raised in Brooklyn, New York and now living in Los Angeles, American novelist Ivy Pochoda is the critically acclaimed author of seven novels, including These Women (Ecco 2021), a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The Edgar Award, the California Book Award, The Macavity Award, and the International Thriller Writers Award; and Sing Her Down (Picador 2024), which won the LA Times Book Prize. Pochoda is also a 2018 winner of Strand Critics Award for Best Novel and the Prix Page America in France.

an illustrative book cover, Ecstasy, by Ivy Pochoda, of a person with colorful snakes Her work often delves into themes of female violence, societal judgment, and mythology. Her latest novel, Ecstasy (G.P. Putnam's Sons 2025), was considered one of the most-anticipated horror books of 2025. A horror reimagining of playwright Euripides’s Greek tragedy, The Bacchae, Ecstasy explores themes of empowerment, desire, and what happens when women reject the roles set out for them.

Pochoda was a former professional U.S. squash player from 1998 to 2007. She joined Women's International Squash Players Association full-time in 1998, leading Harvard to national championships for four years. In 1999, she ranked 38th in the world and, in 2013, was inducted into the Harvard Hall of Fame. In transitioning to writing, Pochoda drew parallels between the discipline of sports and the discipline of storytelling. In 2011, she received her MFA in fiction writing from Bennington College, where she was James Merrill House Writer in Residence.

Ivy Pochoda now leads a creative writing workshop in Skid Row, Los Angeles, where she helped found Skid Row Zine. She is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California Riverside Palm Desert low-residency MFA program.