Diane Frank Resumé

EDUCATION:

M.A. English/Creative Writing Concentration, San Francisco State University.

B.A. with Honors in English Composition and Psychology, Magna Cum Laude, Syracuse University.

Teaching Credential: Language Arts and Literature, The California Community Colleges.

PUBLICATIONS:

  • Entering the Word Temple (1st World Library, Fairfield, Iowa, 2006).
  • Blackberries in the Dream House (1st World Library, Fairfield, Iowa, 2003) – Winner of the Chelson Award for Fiction in 2003, Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
  • The Winter Life of Shooting Stars. (Blue Light Press, Fairfield, Iowa, 1999) – Two Pushcart Prize Nominations.
  • The All Night Yemenite Café. (Dark River Press: Davenport, Iowa, 1993).
  • Rhododendron Shedding Its Skin. (Blue Light Press: San Francisco, California, 1988).
  • Isis: Poems by Diane Frank. (Project Press: Los Angeles, California, 1982).
  • Eclipsed Moon Coins: Twenty-Six Visionary Poets, Editor (Blue Light Press, Fairfield, Iowa, 1997).

Magazine publications in The Cimmaron Review, Briar Cliff Review, Yellow Silk, Voices International, The Contemporary Review, The Christian Science Monitor, OnTheBus, Museweek, Rattle, The MacGuffin, Kumquat Meringue, Poetrybay, The Urbanite, Gallery Works, Antenna, Syracuse Poems, Night Roses, Alchemy, Worksheet, Maelstrom, The Cutting Edge, The Iowa Source, and more.

Anthology publications: 2007 Long Island Sounds Anthology, The Dry Land Fish (1st World Library, Fairfield, Iowa, 2004); Voices on the Landscape: Contemporary Iowa Poets (Loess Hills Press, 1996); The Book of Eros: Arts and Letters from Yellow Silk (Harmony Books, 1995); Eclipsed Moon Coins: Twenty-Six Visionary Poets (Blue Light Press, 1997).

EMPLOYMENT:

SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY. College of Extended Learning – OLLI Program. 2007 - present.

I teach Poetry Writing Workshops and Memoir Workshops, using techniques of poetry and fiction in the creation of personal narratives. A fiction workshop is planned for future semesters.

DIRECTOR, ON-LINE POETRY WORKSHOP, CHIEF EDITOR, BLUE LIGHT PRESS. 1991 - present.

I lead an on-line poetry workshop at the graduate level in eight week sessions. Each workshop has a theme, and helps each writer take a significant step in their skill as a poet and the understanding of what makes a contemporary poem work. Blue Light Press is known for poetry that is imagistic, emotionally honest, and pushes through the imagery to a deeper level of insight.

POET IN THE SCHOOL, Middle School and K-8 Programs. 2004 - present.

I lead a poetry workshop for 8 to 10-year-old poets at Brandeis Hillel Day School in San Francisco and a workshop for middle school students in the Gate Program at Crittenden Middle School and Graham Middle School in Mountain View. With both groups, I publish a chapbook of their writing.

DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL WRITING, MIU, Fairfield, Iowa. Associate Professor, 1985 to 2002. MIU is a small experimental university that blends Eastern and Western philosophy. I taught Poetry Writing, Advanced Poetry Writing, Creative Non-Fiction, Scriptwriting for Multi-Image and Video Production, and Book Writing and Marketing to graduate and undergraduate students.

CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO. English Department. 1985 to 1988.
I taught basic English and writing courses to freshman and sophomores at City College and worked in the Writing Lab. My students were mainly immigrants, refugees, and educationally disadvantaged students from inner city schools.

SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY. Department of Educational Technology. 1985-1988.
I taught "Scriptwriting for Multi-Image and Video Production" to graduate students.

STEP Intergenerational Writing Program, San Francisco, California, 1984-1985.
San Francisco poet Tom Centolella and I gave workshops in retirement homes and convalescent hospitals throughout San Francisco and at Edgewood School, a live-in school for abused children. This program brought children without parents and seniors without family together through poetry.

VISTA VOLUNTEER: Middle School Teacher. I taught Creative Writing and Mathematics in Los Angeles.

DOCUMENTARY MULTI-IMAGE AND VIDEO SCRIPTS

"Japanese Ink Painting" - Written for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"Footsteps of the Buddha" - Written for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"Images of Shiva" - Written for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"Photographs of the Himalayas" - Solo Exhibit by Diane Frank, Unity Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa. Fifty photographs and thirty-three prose poems.

"Fiestas of San Juan Nuevo" - Documentary written for the Maxwell Museum in Arizona.

"Fiestas of the Azorean Islands" - Written for the Oakland Museum.

"Shapes of '88" - Written for Levi-Strauss Corporation.

AWARDS, READINGS, MEMBERSHIPS:

Phi Beta Kappa * Chelson Award for Fiction * Nominated for two Pushcart Prizes.

Whiffen Poetry Prize, Syracuse University.

Cressey Book Award in Poetry.

Cellist with San Francisco Sinfonietta Orchestra.

National Federation of State Poetry Societies Poetry Prize.

Radio, Television and Bookstore readings include: KPFA, KRON, KCRB, WUKY, WVIK, A Clean Well- Lighted Place for Books, Open Secret, Borders Books, Barnes & Noble, Joseph Beth Books, Books Inc., Readers Books, Copperfield's, Milk and Honey, East West Books, Gateways, Dutton Brentwood Books, Poets at 8:00, Café Paradiso, Cover to Cover Bookstore, Kepler's, Laurel Book Store, The Valona Deli, The Monticello Inn, Chassman & Bem, Crickets, Syracuse University, Noe Valley Poetry.

Founding Director of Noe Valley Poetry, a major reading series in San Francisco.

Director of the "Poets at 8:00" Reading Series in Fairfield, Iowa.

Guest Poet/Critic for the Iowa State Poetry Society Convention.

Writer in Residence at Clackamas Community College in Oregon.

Visiting Poet at the University of Vermont.

CLIENT LIST

Levi-Strauss, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Oakland Museum, The Maxwell Museum of Arizona, Pacific Telephone, Wilderness Travel, Nightingale-Conant, Vital Images, Hawthorne Communications, Inc., California Casualty Insurance Company, The Pacific Asia Travel Association, PackageNet, The City of Vacaville, Ariel Essential Oils, Amrita Aromatherapy, Pelican Pure Water, Polar Dreams, Communications Research, Ad-Lib Publications, Fujitsu, Panatech Interface, Communications Research.

ADDITIONAL INTERESTS:

Contra dancing, playing cello, swing dancing, foreign and art films, ecology, hiking, and international travel.