Lectures and Class Recordings

Lecture: Four Extraordinary Women: “Marguerite Duras: Imagining a Life,” Part 1, August 31, 2005

Bobbie Louise Hawkins lecture Marguerite Duras: Imagining a Life, the first lecture in a four part series called Four Extraordinary Women. Hawkins talks about the life and writing of Duras, focusing on the book, The Lover. She also talks about autobiography as fiction and the writing process. Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

Lecture: Four Extraordinary Women: “Ruth Draper: A Singular Cast of Characters,” Part 2, September 21, 2005

Bobbie Louise Hawkins presents a lecture on the life and work of performer Ruth Draper and performs some excerpts from Draper’s work. Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

Lecture: Four Extraordinary Women: “On Being Right, Being Wrong, and Being Camille Paglia,” Part 3, October 19, 2005

Bobbie Louise Hawkins presents a lecture on the life and work of performer Camille Paglia. Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

Lecture: Four Extraordinary Women: “Colette: Earthly Paradise,” Part 4, November 30, 2005

Bobbie Louise Hawkins presents a lecture on the life and work of performer Colette. Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

A wide ranging discussion of writing fiction across cultures, personally and within narratives; how that fiction can be received; objectivity; and our currently multimedia-ed, overpopulated world.

Summer Writing Program, Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

A panel of four women writers from the Beat Generation discuss their own work and influences as well as the context and history of the Beat Generation, and their role within that context.

Summer Writing Program, Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

A short lecture by Bobbie Louise Hawkins followed by a longer lecture by Hettie Jones. Hawkins’s lecture, “The quality of attention,” focuses on finding one’s voice as a writer and the necessary tools to do so. Jones’s lecture, “Writer as witness,” focuses on her life as a writer, mother, social activist and teacher.

Summer Writing Program, Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

Hawkins discusses the writings of Werner Heisenberg and his uncertainty principle, Louis Zukofsky on defining poetry, Ysaye Barnwell’s views of the effect of singing on the physical human body, Paul Valery, Michael Ondaatje from his book Coming Through Slaughter, and Charles Olson on verticality.

Summer Writing Program, Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

First half of a class with Anne Waldman and Bobbie Louise Hawkins speaking on New American Poetry, including the theory and techniques of writing poetry, focusing on taking on other identities and voices as a writer. They read and discuss passages from a variety of writers including Gary Snyder, Robert Graves, and Jerome Rothenberg. They discuss experimental writing techniques such as using the roots of words in order to generate new ideas and the role of the artist in society. Hawkins leads a performance exercise. (Continued on next audio recording)

Summer Writing Program, Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

Second half of a class with Anne Waldman and Bobbie Louise Hawkins speaking on the theory and techniques of writing poetry, focusing on taking on other identities and voices as a writer. They read and discuss passages from a variety of writers including Gary Snyder, Robert Graves, and Jerome Rothenberg. They discuss experimental writing techniques such as using the roots of words in order to generate new ideas. Hawkins leads a performance exercise. This half concludes the student performance exercises. (Continued from previous audio recording)

Summer Writing Program, Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

A writing class by Bobbie Louise Hawkins from 1978 at the Naropa Institute. In this class, Bobbie explores an interdisciplinary approach to pedagogy following the motto, “Education is teaching someone how to learn for the rest of their lives.” Bobbie does not discuss writing explicitly, but rather reads from various works, both literary and critical to create an atmosphere of independent exploration in learning. This is class 1 of 3.

Summer Writing Program, Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado

In this class, Hawkins takes an interdisciplinary approach to the pedagogy of writing by exposing the students to a variety of writings both fictive and critical following the motto that ‘education is teaching someone how to learn for the rest of their lives.’ The discussion includes William James and experience, Colette and autobiographical writing, and reading selections from Colette’s Earthly paradise. The class ends with a free-ranging conversation among the class participants. This is class 2 of 3.

Summer Writing Program, Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado