Category: Alumni Stories

To Tell the Truth … To Be Seen: Poet Javier Zamora (’12) on Unaccompanied

Published date November 29, 2018

UC Berkeley alumnus Javier Zamora (’12) published his first book of poetry, Unaccompanied, in 2017. Fleeing a civil war and gang violence in El Salvador, Zamora’s parents immigrated to the United States when he was two, leaving him with his grandparents until his own migration, alone, at age nine. The poems of Unaccompanied explore that family history, its larger contexts,...

Daniel Gumbiner nominated for National Book Award

Published date September 27, 2018

Department alum Daniel Gumbiner has been longlisted for the National Book Award in fiction for his novel, The Boatbuilder. The National Book Foundation, which presents the National Book Awards, writes: “In Daniel Gumbiner’s The Boatbuilder, a twenty-eight-year-old man who has moved easily through the world sustains a concussion with lingering effects, opening a door to opioid addiction and quickly leading to...

Viet Thanh Nguyen: Going Public

Published date April 6, 2018

The author, scholar, and MLA member Viet Thanh Nguyen spoke with the MLA’s executive director, Paula Krebs, in October 2017, after he had been awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship. His debut novel, The Sympathizer, won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in fiction. PAULA KREBS: Congratulations on winning a MacArthur. Do you have plans? VIET THANH NGUYEN: I run a blog called...

A Way of Reaching Back: Mai Der Vang (’03) on the poetry of Afterland

Published date December 11, 2017

In 2017, UC Berkeley English alumna Mai Der Vang (’03) published her first book of poetry, Afterland, which recounts the Hmong exodus from Laos after U.S. forces abandoned their Secret War, and subsequent refugee experiences of Hmong exiles and their descendants in the United States. The book was selected by Carolyn Forché as the winner of the 2016 Walt Whitman...

From Walden to Winnie

Published date March 2, 2017

Kathryn Aalto (Cal English, ‘92) is the best-selling author of The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh: A Walk through the Forest that Inspired the Hundred Acre Wood (Timber Press), described by the Washington Post as a “lovely book” that “provides two great pleasures: a visit to the actual wild spots that inform the fictional Pooh world and a chance to slip into...

‘America Dancing’: an interview with Megan Pugh (PhD, ’12)

Published date April 28, 2016

Last November, a delightful present arrived in my departmental mailbox: America Dancing: from the Cakewalk to the Moonwalk (Yale University Press), by graduate alum Megan Pugh (PhD, ’12). America Dancing rewrites the history of dance in this country by drilling deep into revealing moments of artistic innovation, and it does so with a tap-dancer’s panache and a poet’s gift for...

Alumni Stories: Megan Bradshaw (’09)

Published date December 8, 2015

When it comes to our alumni, the richness and diversity of the stories they study during their time on campus is mirrored in their lives after they leave Cal. The Alumni Stories series seeks to share these stories. This piece is from Megan Bradshaw (’09). A brief snapshot: I graduated with a BA in English Literature from Berkeley in 2009, with minors in Spanish and French. I...

The Perennial Student

Published date November 17, 2014

Karen Leibowitz was a graduate student in the department from 2001 to 2008 and returned as a post-doctoral fellow during the 2010-2011 school year. She is now a food writer who has published in The New York Times, Food & Wine, Lucky Peach, and Modern Farmer as well as a partner in restaurants including Mission Chinese Food and Commonwealth in San Francisco and Mission Cantina in New York City.

Alumni Stories: Sylvia Gonzales Discusses her Passion for Teaching

Published date July 20, 2013

On average, the English Department graduates between 300 and 400 majors every year–in 2012-13, the specific number was 375. These people go on to a variety of surprising and exciting careers. In this new series, we ask alumni to talk to us about where English has taken them.

Cartesian Centaurs: Christopher Fan Muses on the Close Relationship between Cycling and Literature

Published date July 11, 2013

A reflection on the surprisingly close relationship between bicycles and books during the first half of the 20th century.

Alumni Stories: Whitney Magruder Talks about the Ups and Downs of Editing

Published date June 25, 2013

On average, the English Department graduates between 300 and 400 majors every year–in 2012-13, the number was 375. These people go on to a variety of surprising and exciting careers. In this new series, we ask alumni to talk to us about where English has taken them.