Deena Metzger and Naomi Newman

Black Mountain Circle and the Mesa Refuge present a reading and conversation with Deena Metzger.

 

 

 

Perhaps never before in the history of humankind has the disparity between Indigenous mind and Western mind been more on the pulse of what we must pay attention to in order to insure our survival. Deena Metzger has written a novel in which two people, who are from each side of this polarity, begin a loving relationship.

 

Deena Metzger, most recently author of A Rain of Night Birds, is a radical thinker on behalf of the natural world and planetary survival, a teacher of writing and healing practices for 50 years, and a writer and activist profoundly concerned with peacemaking, restoration, and sanctuary for a beleaguered world. Her work examines the tragic failure of contemporary culture and provides guidance for personal, political, environmental and spiritual healing. Her novel La Negra y Blanca won the 2012 Oakland Pen Award for Literature. Eden is most recognized for her image in Hella Hamid’s photograph in 1977 sometimes referred to as “The Warrior,” in which Metzger stands naked, post-mastectomy, in a celebratory pose.

 

Naomi Newman co-founded of A Traveling Jewish Theatre, where she worked as playwright, director, and actress for 34 years, winning awards in each field. Previously, she sang on the concert-stage, acted in television and had a psychotherapy practice. For her contributions to the cultural life in the Bay Area, she has received a Tikkun Award, Mill Valley Creative Achievement Award, and Theatre Bay Area’s Community Leadership Award.