Gayle Brandeis is the author of Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write (HarperSanFrancisco) , Dictionary Poems (Pudding House Publications) and The Book of Dead Birds: A Novel (HarperCollins), which won Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for Fiction in Support of a Literature of Social Change. Her second novel, Self Storage, will be published by Ballantine in 2007. Gayle’s poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies (such as Salon.com, The Nation, The Mississippi Review, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency) and have received several awards, including the QPB/Story Magazine Short Story Award, a Barbara Mandigo Kelley Peace Poetry Award, and a grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. Her essay on the meaning of liberty was one of three included in the Statue of Liberty’s Centennial time capsule in 1986. In 2004, the Writer Magazine honored Gayle with a Writer Who Makes a Difference Award. Gayle holds a BA in “Poetry and Movement: Arts of Expression, Meditation and Healing” from the University of Redlands, and an MFA in Creative Writing/Fiction from Antioch University. She has taught and spoken at universities, public schools, libraries, community centers and writing conferences around the country. She lives in Riverside, CA with her husband and two children.
Karen Wilson, Storyteller, Musician, Teaching Artist
Karen Wilson is a performer (Singer-Storyteller), teaching artist and scholar, with over 30 years experience. Through songs and music, she recreates the realities of African people. Wilson’s publication, “Know Your Neighborhood: People and Places in East Harlem,” reinforces the importance of diverse cultures within a community. “A Tribute to Blueswomen: Beauty and the Blues,” was created for and premiered at the Hudson River Museum in 1997 and performed throughout the New York City area. Wilson is a frequent presenter at museum programs, educational seminars, festivals, and libraries. She bases her performances, including “The Long Walk to Freedom,” on solid historic research as well drawing on her socio-ethnic experience. Karen is currently a doctoral candidate in US History at the University of California, Riverside, and holds an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University (NYC).
