“FERTILE GROUND:
A LANDSCAPE OF VOICES”

Welcome to Fresno, the land of fertile soil and prolific writers and artists. The Convention theme captured the agricultural, literary, and artistic past and present of the San Joaquin Valley. In addition to highlighting poets and authors from the Valley, the program included an exciting line-up of key speakers:

• Firoozeh Dumas, highly acclaimed author of Funny in Farsi, A Memoir of Growing up in America.
• Jane Hirshfield, winner of the 70th Academy Fellowship for poetic achievement by the Academy of American Poets.
• Billy Collins, the 2001 U.S. Poet Laureate and finalist for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize.
• Anchee Min, Chinese born author of Red Azalea and Katherine, stories of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution.
• David Mas Masumoto, author, columnist, and organic peach and grape farmer in south Fresno.

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