Summer Arts pick: Armen Bacon and Mark Arax in a Fresno State public reading

I envy the Summer Arts students of Armen Bacon and Mark Arax. I know firsthand their passion for words. Their course, “Writing from Life: Creative Ways to Tell Your Stories,” teaches “how to make memories into memoirs, ideas into essays, and life into literature.”

There’s a strong Fresno connection here, of course, when it comes to Bacon and Arax, who will offer a public reading at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 20, at the John Wright Theatre. Both are prominent names on the local literary scene.

Bacon will read essay excerpts from her debut memoir, “Griefland: An Intimate Portrait of Love, Loss, and Unlikely Friendship,” and her newest work, “Daring to Breathe.” She also was a longtime columnist for the Fresno Bee. In my favorite columns of hers, I admired her compassion, empathy and ability to navigate that sometimes fuzzy border between the personal and the public.

As for Arax — who was a longtime reporter for the Los Angeles Times — the best word I can find to describe his prose is that he makes you feel ensconced in whatever subject he’s writing about. I’m currently submerged in his latest, “The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California.” It’s the kind of book that can forever change your attitude toward a place, particularly if you live in it; as I drove back to Fresno from the Bay Area the other day, I found myself gaping at the gargantuan ways humans (and particularly politicians and farmers) have altered my environment. (Also, my relationship with almonds has gotten more complicated, and I will likely think of Arax every time I walk past the new Resnick Student Union building at Fresno State. Which will be a lot of times, considering it’s next to my office.)

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As for those lucky students of Bacon and Arax, you’ll have a chance to hear their work at the second set of Student Showcases for Summer Arts. (The “Writing from Life” showcase is 2 p.m. Saturday.)

Here’s a list of all the showcases. Admission is free:

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FRIDAY, JULY 22

4 p.m. – ​Dance and Identity with Urban Bush Women Student Showcase – John Wright Theatre, Speech Arts Building
7:30 p.m. – ​Creating Digital Worlds in Game Engines​ for Film, ​Virtual Production, and Entertainment – Speech Arts 172 (TV Studio)​, Speech Arts Building. (This showcase involves interactivity, standing, and moving from station to station. Audience members will be escorted into the studio in small groups in intervals beginning at 7:30 p.m.)

SATURDAY, July 23

11 a.m. – ​Off the Wall: Alternative Print Methods and Forms and ​Master Painting Class Student Showcases – John Wright Theatre, Speech Arts Building

2 p.m. – Writing from Life: Creative Ways to Tell Your Stories Student Showcase – John Wright Theatre, Speech Arts Building

4 p.m. – Hollywood Swashbuckling & the Art of Victorian Swordplay Student Showcase – John Wright Theatre, Speech Arts Building

7:30 p.m. – From Bomba to Timba: ​Afro-Caribbean Jazz in the 21st Century – Concert Hall, Music Building

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