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 The collection contains correspondence with other prominent poets and writers, typescripts of published and unpublished literary works, and talks given at various conferences.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.
Leslie Scalapino Papers, 1959-2011 (MSS 668)
Extent: 51.2 Linear feet (120 archives boxes, 3 flat boxes, 2 card file boxes and 2 map case folders), + 111.103 GB of digital files
Digital Content
Selected materials from the collection have been digitized, or are native digital files.
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.
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.
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