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California Uncovered:
Stories for the 21st Century

Edited by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni,
William E. Justice, and James Quay

384 pages (5.5 x 8)
Trade Paper, ISBN: 1-890771-97-X, $15.95

Published in Collaboration with the California Council for the Humanities

They come from the shores of Vietnam, across the Mexican border, from Afghanistan fleeing the war, or maybe they were born here. They are Californians. Every moment California moves further away from the traditions and myths it was founded upon and the clichés that others have perpetuated. Every moment, new voices emerge—Khaled Hosseini, Dao Strom, Greg Sarris, Yxta Maya Murray, Laila Halaby—names that recall all the nations of the world, all here now, inscribing other countries and other times into the texture of this experiment called California.

As the centerpiece of the California Stories Uncovered program of the California Council for the Humanities, this literary anthology blends the fresh new voices of this state with established California writers like Joan Didion and John Steinbeck. The program, which promotes reading and writing about California’s changing face among Californians of all ages, launches in April 2005 and will feature widely promoted discussion groups, school programs, and author events statewide.

In poems, excerpts from novels, interviews, stories, and personal essays, the writers found in this anthology stretch the boundaries of genre to create a startling portrait of the state. California Uncovered is a sincere look at the puzzles and paradoxes that make California what it is. It is an attempt to draw us all together in the common cause of understanding.

For more information about the California Stories Uncovered campaign, please visit www.calhum.org.

Reviews:

"The selections remind us of both the delicacy and the diversity of what we like to call, sometimes rather too reflexively and too buoyantly, the California experience. …California Uncovered is often celebratory but never resorts to cheerleading. …Indeed, the editors plainly prefer courage and candor to pretty scenes and sentiments."—Los Angeles Times

"This book gets California right."—Stockton Record

"Clinging to the western edge of North America, Californians have attempted, since the founding of the state, to extend its frontier—at least culturally. Nowhere is that spirit more apparent than in California Uncovered."—Santa Cruz Sentinel

About the Editors:

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is the award-winning author of The Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart, Queen of Dreams, and many other books.

William E. Justice studied Russian literature at the University of Kansas and is currently the acquisitions editor at Heyday Books.

James Quay has served as the executive director of the California Council for the Humanities since 1983.