UC Davis Creative Writing graduate student Cristina Fries is one of the 12 winners of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. It is given by PEN American, an organization that offers a wide range of support to writers.
Ken White (B.A., history and English '72, Cred. '73) has two new books out, with more on the way. "12 Days of Central Valley Christmas," the second of a trilogy of children's Christmas books, and "Touchstones: Life and Times of Modesto," a nonfiction book about White's hometown, were both published in 2017. "Twas the Night Before Christmas … in Modesto" will be released in November 2018. White is also writing "Beautiful Day," set at UC Davis in 1969 and a sequel to his first novel, "Getaway Day." Follow him on Facebook. Listen to a Feb. 7 interview with White on Capitol Public Radio's “Insight with Beth Ruyak" about his play, "Migrant Mother."
When it came to choosing a major, the possibilities were wide open for Avery Hom. Avery grew up near Seattle and entered UC Davis as a freshman with junior-level status thanks to Washington’s Running Start program. Instead of finishing out his junior and senior years in high school, Avery attended community college through the program while also earning credit towards his high school graduation.
Graduates of the UC Davis English department’s creative writing program have scored back-to-back wins of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. Winners have a short story collection published by the University of Georgia Press.
September 2017 - UC Davis College of Letters and Science faculty, former faculty and graduates will be a part of several exhibitions at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco during the coming months.
The 2017–2018 Creative Writers series at UC Davis will showcase writers exploring their Native American, African American, Sri Lankan and Hmong heritage as well as LGBTQ and feminist issues.
For the 11th year, faculty in the Creative Writing Program at UC Davis will open the academic year with a reading in the UC Davis Arboretum. The event on the Wyatt Deck takes place Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Angela Morales (English, ’91) has won a Pen America Literary Award for her book of essays The Girls in My Town. The autobiographical essays are about growing up in Los Angeles.
Investigative reporter Matthias Gafni (B.A, English/rhetoric and communication, ’98), who got his journalism start at The California Aggie, was a lead writer in a series of articles on the Ghost Ship fire that won the East Bay Times the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. Gafni is one of two UC Davis alumni on the East Bay Times staff. Angela Ruggiero (B.A., communication/Italian, ’10), has contributed to the paper’s continuing Ghost Ship coverage.
UC Davis College of Letters and Science graduate programs in political science and English have jumped to the top 20 in the 2018 U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) graduate program rankings, released on March 14, 2017.
