C.L. Cardinale

C.L. Cardinale has a Ph.D. in English Literature from UC Riverside. Her dissertation, “Through the Eyes”: Reading Deafened Gestures of Look-Listening in Twentieth Century Narratives examines the ways in which women writers—from Virginia Woolf to Monique Truong—address the failure of language to talk about trauma, illness, war and the body. Interested in the juxtaposition of voice, body and sign language, C.L. writes lyrical nonfiction with her left hand and pursues academic endeavors with her right. She has edited for Lettered Press, served as Graduate Director of Composition at UCR, and chaired an international humanities conference. Currently, she actively advocates for art in public schools by writing fine arts script for volunteer docents and leads hands-on art lessons in the classroom. You may find her dressed as Pippi Longstocking, leading scavenger hunts through The Exploratorium, or pouring pinot noir on Treasure Island. Often, however, she synaesthetically mingles sense and memory in her current analysis of Proust, and grows watermelon in a sandbox with her three and nine year old in San Francisco’s east bay.