"The Literature of California, Volume I," a new, annotated collection of California writing from Native American Beginnings through 1945, is now available from the University of California Press. Edited by UC Davis English faculty member Jack Hicks and prominent state novelists James D. Houston, Maxine Hong Kingston and Al Young, the 633-page anthology was coordinated from the University of California, Davis. "The Literature of California" is praised by California State Librarian and leading literary scholar Kevin Starr as "more than an anthology. It suggests a vast public work, a Golden Gate Bridge of intellectual and imaginative materials. Here in this anthology, to paraphrase Joan Didion, can now be found one of California's best ideas on itself." "We wanted to make a sophisticated, fully inclusive 21st century gathering of the treasures of California literature on the state's sesquicentennial," lead editor Hicks notes, "for both the lay public and students and scholars -- from the Indian trickster Coyote down to Steinbeck's Joad family in 'The Grapes of Wrath.'" Volume II (from World War II to the present) is scheduled for publication in early 2003. In compiling the anthology, the editors used ten major libraries, employed numerous UC Davis undergraduate and graduate students, and enjoyed fiscal support from multiple campus sectors. The mammoth and widely praised result will be the subject of three major book-launch events around the state: o Nov. 16, 7 p.m., at the Santa Monica Public Library. o Jan. 20, 2 p.m., at the San Francisco Public Library. o Late January, a reception hosted by the California State Assembly at the state capital, details to be announced.