Descriptive Summary
Scope and Content of Collection
Biography
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Publishing Rights
Restrictions
Descriptive Summary
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Leslie Scalapino Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0668
Physical Description:
52 Linear feet
(120 archives boxes, 3 flat boxes, 4 card file boxes and 2 map case folders)
Date (inclusive): 1959-2011
Abstract: Papers of Leslie Scalapino, Bay Area poet, scholar, experimental prose writer and founding editor of O Books, an Oakland,
California publisher. The collection contains correspondence with other prominent poets and writers, typescripts of published
and unpublished literary works, and talks given at various conferences. The papers also include production materials for books
published by O Books; sound and video recordings of spoken word events and play performances; and miscellaneous biographical
material including interviews, photographs, and reading announcement flyers.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of Leslie Scalapino, Bay Area poet, scholar, experimental prose writer and founding editor of O Books, an Oakland,
California publisher. The collection contains correspondence with other prominent poets and writers, typescripts of published
and unpublished literary works, and talks given at various conferences. The papers also include production materials for books
published by O Books; sound and video recordings of spoken word events and play performances; and miscellaneous biographical
material including interviews, photographs, and reading announcement flyers.
Accession Processed in 2008
Arranged in eleven series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) PUBLISHED WORKS BY SCALAPINO, 3) PLAYS BY SCALAPINO, 4) ESSAYS WRITTEN BY
OR ABOUT SCALAPINO, 5) COLLABORATIONS, 6) OTHER WRITINGS, 7) TALKS GIVEN BY SCALAPINO, 8) O BOOKS, 9) SOUND RECORDINGS, 10)
VIDEO RECORDINGS, and 11) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS.
Accession Processed in 2011
Supplements to the first accession; primarily correspondence, notebooks, and writings by Leslie Scalapino, as well as O Books
manuscripts. The bulk of the materials date from 1989 through 2010.
Arranged in five series: 12) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 13) CORRESPONDENCE, 14) WRITINGS, 15) WRITINGS ABOUT SCALAPINO and 16)
O BOOKS.
Accession Processed in 2015
Additional biographical materials, correspondence, and memorial materials including readings and tributes. Of note are additional
manuscripts for
That They Were at the Beach - Aeolotropic series and
Crowd and not evening or light.
Arranged in six series: 17) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 18) CORRESPONDENCE, 19) WRITINGS, 20) WRITINGS ABOUT SCALAPINO, 21) O
BOOKS and 22) MEDIA.
Accession Processed in 2019
Additional correspondence, photographs, writings and digital media. Of note are supporting material for Scalapino's play,
Goya's L.A. and
The Tango as well as dozens of sound and video recordings of Scalapino's poetry readings, interviews and other live performances, primarily
on digital media.
Arranged in four series: 23) CORRESPONDENCE, 24) WRITINGS, 25) PHOTOGRAPHS, and 26) DIGITAL MEDIA.
Biography
Leslie Scalapino was born in Santa Barbara, California, in 1944 to singer Dee Jessen and political science professor Robert
Scalapino, founder of UC Berkeley's Institute for Asian Studies. Because of her father's academic focus in the politics of
Asia, Scalapino traveled throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe at an early age. Her later work reflects some influence from
these travels including meditation on Zen writing and Tibetan philosophy. In the 1960s, she attended Reed College, graduating
in 1966. Her graduate studies in writing continued at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a M.A. in English
(1969), after which she began to focus on writing poetry.
Scalapino's work evokes radical reaction to the human condition beyond the traditional means of expression. Her work is metaphorically
often compared to Gertrude Stein and the experimental poetry associated with the Language poets. Unbound by a single format,
she published poetry, fiction, critical essays, and plays. Her work has been published in many poetry and academic journals
since the 1970s, and she participated in numerous conferences, including the Page Mothers Conference held at UCSD in 1999,
that explored innovative writing by American women. Her long poem titled
Way won the Poetry Center Award, the Lawrence Lipton Prize, and the American Book Award in 1989.
In 1986, Scalapino founded O Books, which operated out of Oakland, as a publishing outlet for younger and emerging writers,
but also for prominent writers such as Alice Notley, Robert Grenier, Fanny Howe, Carla Harryman, and Tom Raworth. Her self-published
works with O Books include
Crowd and Not Evening or Light: A Poem (1992) and
War and Peace 3 (2007) with Judith Goldman. As a press, O Books has published nearly a hundred contemporary poetry books.
Scalapino served as a faculty member at San Francisco State University, Mills College, University of California, San Diego,
California College of the Arts in San Francisco, the San Francisco Art Institute, the Naropa Institute, and Bard College.
Leslie Scalapino died on May 28th, 2010. A memorial was held for her on July 1st, 2010 at The Green Dragon Temple, Green Gulch
Farm in San Francisco.
From Cohen, Alicia, "Leslie Scalapino 1947 -, "
Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, 1st ed. (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001), 647-648.
Preferred Citation
Leslie Scalapino Papers, MSS 668. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 2006, 2011, 2014, 2018.
Publishing Rights
Publishing rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Restrictions
Original sound and videorecordings throughout the collection are restricted. Digital media in Series 22 and 26 is restricted.
Researchers may request listening/viewing copies be produced in advance.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Women poets, American
American poetry -- 20th century
Scalapino, Leslie -- Archives
Hejinian, Lyn -- Correspondence
Davies, Alan, 1951- -- Correspondence
Shein, Keith -- Correspondence
Levy, Andrew, 1962- -- Correspondence
Grenier, Robert -- Correspondence
O Books -- Archives
Silliman, Ronald, 1946- -- Correspondence