18 Years of Literary Excellence
Red Hen Press will celebrate its 18th anniversary at the Westin Hotel in Pasadena on November 11, 2012 with its annual champagne luncheon. 
The event will highlight Red Hen’s rich tradition in the literary community with the help of noted speakers Dana Gioia, Jane Smiley, and
Kay Ryan. The event will also feature remarks from Managing Editor Kate Gale, performances from local school children, a silent auction and raffle, and the unveiling of Red Hen’s new fall releases.
Time:
Sunday, November 11, 2012
11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location:
Westin Pasadena’s Fountain Ballroom
191 N. Los Robles Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101
Tickets and tables available soon!
About the special guests:
Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed poet and former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He has published three full-length collections of poetry including Interrogations at Noon which won a 2002 American Book Award, in addition to eight chapbooks. An influential critic as well, Gioia’s 1991 volume Can Poetry Matter?was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award and is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture. Gioia has written two opera libretti and is an active translator of poetry from Latin, Italian, and German. His first new poetry collection in over a decade, Pity the Beautiful, is out May 2012.
Jane Smiley is a novelist and essayist whose novel A Thousand Acres won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992. Her novel The All True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton won the 1999 Spur Award for Best Novel of the West. Her novel Horse Heaven was short-listed for the Orange Prize in 2002. She has contributed to a wide range of magazines, and her latest book is Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel, a history and anatomy of the novel as a literary form (Knopf). She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Kay Ryan is an accomplished poet who published her first major book of verse, Strangely Marked Metal (1985), at the age of forty. Since then, she has published seven additional volumes of poetry, including The Best of It: New and Selected Poems (2010). She received B.A. (1967) and M.A. (1968) degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. From June 2008 to June 2010, she was the sixteenth Poet Laureate of the United States. Her additional publications include Flamingo Watching (1994), Elephant Rocks (1996), and Say Uncle (2000), among others. Since 2006, she has served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Red Hen Press has published over 300 titles since its inception in 1994, created three prestigious literary awards, begun four reading series each in Los Angeles and New York, and assisted thousands of underserved schools throughout Los Angeles County. This anniversary event proudly marks Red Hen’s third year of operating in Pasadena.
Proceeds from this event will help Red Hen continue its tradition of literary excellence by supporting its operations and programs, including the press’s work in local schools.
Tables will soon be available for between $1,000 and $5,000; individual tickets are $110.
Please continue to check back for updates regarding when tickets and table will be on sale. If you have any questions, please contact Chris Konish at anniversary@redhen.org.
For information about last year’s 17th Anniversary Event, please view the event’s press release here.
Witness one courageous fourth-grader from Cleveland Elementary School in Pasadena read his original work at last year’s event:
