Cris Mazza

Cris Mazza is the author of 14 books, including novels, short fiction and a memoir. Her works include the critically notable Is It Sexual Harassment Yet? and psychological novels of place, Girl Beside Him and Waterbaby. Many of Mazza's books take place in San Diego and the surrounding county, including Homeland, Trickle-Down Timeline, Indigenous: Growing up Californian, and her new novel Various Men Who Knew Us as Girls, which looks at prostitute-slave trafficking in Southern California.

Mazza's first novel, How to Leave a Country,won the PEN / Nelson Algren Award for book-length fiction. Some of her other titles include Your Name Here: ___; Dog People; and Indigenous / Growing Up Californian. A native of Southern California, Cris Mazza grew up in San Diego County. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from San Diego State University and an MFA in writing from Brooklyn College. She has taught at Mesa College, Miramar College, and UC San Diego and is now a professor in and director of the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

For more info, visit:http://www.cris-mazza.com/


 

Featuring:

Judy Patacsil

Judy Patacsil, co-author of Filipinos in San Diego, is a counselor at Miramar College, where she chairs the Miramar College Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and where she founded the Filipino American Student Association. Patacsil co-wrote the companion guide for Silent Sacrifices, a documentary which addresses the struggles of immigrant Filipinos and their American-raised children, and provides a forum for open dialogue to find solutions. Other co-authors for Images of America: Filipinos in San Diego include Rudy Guevarra Jr. and Felix Tuyay.

As a founding member, she is actively involved in the San Diego chapter of the Filipino-American National Historical Society, whose mission is to research, disseminate and celebrate Filipino-American history. Patacsil completed her master’s degree in counseling with an emphasis in multicultural competency from San Diego State. A licensed psychotherapist, she worked in mental health care and SDSU Psychological Services before joining Miramar College in 1992.