Projects
Inlandia’s mission to recognize, support, and expand literary activity in all of its forms in the Inland Empire means the Institute focuses particularly on projects that deepen people’s understanding and appreciation of the Inland Empire.
Inlandia
The project that gave birth to the Inlandia Institute, the anthology entitled Inlandia: A Literary Journey through California’s Inland Empire, was the first expression of this goal. For the first time, the voices of the region were gathered together in a collection that revealed the diverse, vital, and often raw dynamics of a land being discovered, settled, developed, and exploited on the edges of the urban core of Southern California.
Dream Street
Dream Street is a startling and sometimes brutal account of the housing boom that fueled the Inland Empire’s economic engine and was the model for home building throughout the entire sunbelt. It is an inside look at the industry behind the sub-prime mortgage crisis that kicked off the nation’s deepest recession since the Great Depression. The voices of Dream Street haunt us with stories of disenfranchisement and despair, hubris and hope.
No Place for a Puritan
Feared and romanticized throughout the ages, the desert has a hold on our imagination that is never more evident than in the literature it has inspired. From Mary Austin’s meditations in The Land of Little Rain to Joan Didion’s acerbic cast of characters in Play It As It Lays, the desert’s seemingly barren landscapes have provided rich ground for writers to explore.
Making Waves
The links between the women’s movement and environmental activism is at the heart of Making Waves: Inland Empire Women’s Environmental Oral History. The nine women included in the project literally changed the destiny of the Inland Empire and are case studies in how a community can shape its own future.
The Inlandia Literary Laureate
Inlandia Institute Literary Laureate Program celebrates the region’s most accomplished literary artists and encourages public awareness of inland southern California’s literary arts in all their forms.
