Jessica Hagedorn received her education at the American Conservatory Theater training program. To further pursue playwriting and music, she moved to New York in 1978. Joseph Papp produced her first play Mango Tango in 1978. Hagedorn’s other productions include Tenement Lover, Holy Food, and Teenytown. Her mixed media style often incorporates song, poetry, images, and spoken dialogue. Hagerdorn is the author of the novel Dogeaters, which illuminates many different aspects of Filipino experience, focusing on the influence of America through radio, television, and movie theaters, and which earned a 1990 National Book Award nomination and an American Book Award.

Each quarter, the Living Writers Reading Series brings visiting authors and poets to UC Santa Cruz to give students an in-depth look into the world of the working writer.  Sponsored by Oakes College and the Porter Hitchcock Poetry Fund.