College of Arts and Humanities 2023 Holiday Gift Guide

Students, faculty, and alumni of the Fresno of the College of Arts and Humanities, along with The Press at California State University, Fresno, have created some exciting products that would make fantastic gifts this holiday season!

Dead in Long Beach, California, A Novel by Benita Blackburn book over features a red background with palm trees in a full color square in the middle.

“Dead in Long Beach, California” by Venita Blackburn (faculty)

Blackburn’s third book (and debut novel) is a form-shifting and soul-crunching chronicle of grief and crisis, a marvel of page-turning self discovery that explores the depths of humankind’s capacity for harm and healing.

Pre-order online from Farrar, Straus and Giroux via Macmillan

Benjamin Boone Caught in the Rhythm album cover with green, blue and grey painting of human-like figures and a yellow painted backdrop with album text on top.

“Caught in the Rhythm” album by Benjamin Boone (faculty)

With RIchard Lloyd Giddens, Jr. (faculty), Max Hembd (lecturer), Phil Sarkisian and Kevin Person, Jr. (students).

Jazz All-Stars Greg Osby, Ambrose Akinmusire, Kenny Werner and Ben Monder, accompany renowned poets such as Edward Hirsch, Tyehimba Jess and Faylita Hicks on Benjamin Boone’s most recent exploration of the intersection between music and poetry.

Available as a physical CD with booklet at Origin Records, or any streaming service, including Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music.

The Rendering by Anthony Cody book cover is in black and red lettering over a white background with black paint strokes overlapping.

“The Rendering” by Anthony Cody (alumni)

Cody’s second poetry collection considers climate change and the possibility of wholeness within the Anthropocene. Through a series of visual poems centered on ecology, the book confronts the history of the Dust Bowl and its residual impacts on our current climate crisis.

Buy online from Omnidawn Publishing via the University of Chicago Press.

Currents by Pilar Christiana Graham book cover with eclectic black and white illustrations of sun, stars and treesin four panels on a brown book cover.

“Currents” by Pilar Christiana Graham (alumni)

Graham’s debut poetry collection explores the land, sea, and sky found within traditional Chinese landscape paintings. The poems stretch toward the unexpected, moving feverishly toward dreams, myth, and madness.

Buy online from Tourane Poetry Press via Amazon.

Samantha and Jackie's Bedtime Toolbox book cover. The illustrated cover includes an yellow dog with a red color and two little girls with purple and pink pajamas next to a wooden toolbox with blankets and other miscellaneous items

“Samantha and Jackie’s Bedtime Toolbox” by Betsy A. Hays (Author, faculty) and Lucca A. Lorenzi (Illustrator, alumni)

Inspired by a cherished bedtime tradition with the author’s daughters, Samantha and Jackie’s Bedtime Toolbox empowers readers to solve their own problems, strengthen their resilience and set themselves up for success.

Buy online from Amazon.

Wax by Padraig Hogan has an illustration of a candle burning at both ends on a white background.

“Wax” by Padraig Hogan (alumni)

Hogan’s debut story collection depicts a material world seemingly in rebellion against its hapless protagonists, where even the natural world is in on the plot. The hard, sharply crafted tales for weird and troubled times offer a painful and comic take on earthly predicaments.

Buy online from Querencia Press via Bookshop.

On Display Poems and Poeman by Gbriel Ibarra book cover. The faded background photo shows a black baseball bat propped in the corner of a room.

“On Display” by Gabriel Ibarra (alumni)

Winner of the Alta California Prize, as selected by the poet Francisco Aragón, Ibarra’s debut poetry chapbook is a bilingual collection of heart-wrenching moments that transform imagination, memory and rerun instances into art.

Buy online from Gunpowder Press.

“Western Armenian Music: From Asia Minor to the United States” by Hachig Kazarian (The Press at California State University, Fresno)

Armenian Series #18 – “Western Armenian Music: From Asia Minor to the United States” examines the many facets of Western Armenian music and how it has been neglected due to the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and its deleterious effects upon the Armenian people.

By online from Abrilbooks.com

A rock hammer is layed over a green rock-textured background with "The Blameless" by Ryan Kenedy text in grey and black.

“The Blameless” by Ryan Kenedy (alumni)

Kenedy’s debut novel traces two braided narratives of revenge and redemption, asking the question: Who are the victims and who are the perpetrators? The book examines the ambiguities wrought by violence.

Buy online from the University of Wisconsin Press.

“Death Marches Past the Front Door – Clara and Fritz Sigrist-Hilty: Swiss Eyewitnesses to the Armenian Dante-Inferno in Turkey (1915-1918)” by Dora Sakayan

Armenian Series #20 – Shortly after they arrived in Turkey, the Armenian deportations began and thousands of Armenians were marched past their front door. For three years, the couple witnessed “the lapsing of human lights down there in the steep gorge” while they lived their everyday life in their little house on the remote hillside.

Buy online at Abrilbooks.com

This book cover features a black a white desert scene with a small prickly tree in front of a digial yellow, magenta and purple orb that somewhat resembles the sun. "Under a Future Sky" by Brynn Saito is in clean letter with same colors as the sun.

“Under a Future Sky” by Brynn Saito (faculty)

Saito’s third poetry collection takes readers on a journey with her father to the desert prison at Gila River where, over 80 years ago, her grandparents met and made a life together, opening a dialogue between past and present.

Buy online from Red Hen Press via Bookshop.

“In Front of the Eyes of the World: The Memoirs of Setrak Timourian” (The Press at California State University, Fresno)

Armenian Series #19 – “In Front of the Eyes of the World: The Memoirs of Setrak Timourian” gives the reader a fascinating and detailed story of the life of Setrak Timourian. Born in 1860 in Kayseri, Timourian documented his life, the life of his family and his many adventures.

Buy online from Abrilbooks.com

Unbrained by Brenna Womer book cover with black background and a flower plant illustrated with pink and red flowers pointing downwards

“Unbrained” by Brenna Womer (faculty)

Womer’s fourth book is a cross-genre collection examining what the poet Layli Long Soldier calls “unbrained things,” interrogating ownership, indulging appetite, and pressing through the softness of fur and fat to the hot core of animal innocence.

Pre-order online from Flowersong Press.

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Main image credit: Adobe Firefly generative AI image.