> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Award-winning writers come to SMC
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/award-winning-writers-come-to-smc/
- Published: 2006-02-25T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:18:25.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Pico, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

It’s going to be a literary month at Santa Monica College. The SMC’s spring literary series begins March 2 and will feature several up-and-coming writers, including the award-winning Jonathan Safran Foer, author of “Extremely Loud” and “Incredibly Close” and the best-selling “Everything is Illuminated.”

Currently in its third year, the SMC literary series has brought to campus such acclaimed authors as Khaled Hosseini, author of the best-selling “The Kite Runner.” The series is free and seating is on a first-arrival basis. The lineup is: I Thursday, March 2 at 11:15 a.m.: James Ruland, who will talk about “Love, Lucky Pants & Literary Fiction.” The award-winning Ruland will read from his debut short story collection Big Lonesome. Ruland is creative director at an advertising agency, a freelance correspondent for National Public Radio, an adjunct English professor, and the host of “Vermin on the Mount,” an irreverent reading series. His work has appeared in several literary publications and he has won several awards and fellowships, including one from the National Endowment for the Arts. His talk will be held in Art Lecture Hall 214 on SMC’s main campus, 1900 Pico Blvd.

I Thursday, March 16 at 11:15 a.m.: Cecile Pineda, who will talk on “Dreams, Visions & Other Realities.” Pineda, who has been called “an author of powerful imagination and intellect,” has received the Gold Medal of the Commonwealth Club of California, as well as the Sue Kaufman Prize of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She will read from her novels Frieze, Face and Fishlight: A Dream of Childhood, as well as from a work in progress. Her talk will be held in Art Lecture Hall 214 on SMC’s main campus, 1900 Pico Blvd.

I Thursday, March 23 at 11:15 a.m.: Brad Listi, who will speak on “Attention. Deficit. Disorder.,” which is also the title of his new book published by Simon and Schuster. Listi, who teaches creative writing at SMC, is receiving excellent reviews for his novel. His appearance will be in Business Building Room 111, 1900 Pico Blvd.

I Sunday, April 23 at 3 p.m.: Jonathan Safran Foer, who will speak on “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” the title of his new novel, which has been chosen as the 2006 “Santa Monica City-Wide Reads” book. Foer’s earlier novel, Everything is Illuminated, was named Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and received the National Jewish Book Award, New York Public Library Young Lions Prize, and the Guardian First Book Prize, and was made into a film starring Elijah Wood. His appearance will be in the SMC Pavilion, 1900 Pico Blvd.

The series is sponsored by the SMC Associates, a private organization that funds speakers and special programs on campus, and the SMC English department. In addition, Foer’s appearance is being cosponsored by the Santa Monica Public Library.

For information, call (310) 434-4303\. Families for Peaceful Tomorrows talk 9-11 and more

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 25, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/022506.pdf?ref=smdp.com)