The history of Joaquin Miller Park is deeply intertwined with the California Writers Club, which was formed by civic-minded literary figures who would gather on the land when it belonged to poet Joaquin Miller. CWC, which formed in Oakland in 1909 and was incorporated in 1913, was instrumental in the city’s purchase of Miller’s land to create our unique and spectacular city park.
In the 1930s, the CWC helped bring the WPA to Oakland to build various projects, including the Woodminster Theatre and Cascade, which were dedicated in 1941. They planted the “Writers Memorial Grove” to commemorate California Writers who’d met on the lands, including Robert Louis Stevenson, John Steinbeck, and founding members George Sterling and Ina Coolbrith.
In 2021 the Berkeley Branch of the CWC inaugurated a Writer in Residence program at Joaquin Miller Park. The first of their members to receive this honor is Kristen Baumgardner Caven, a prolific writer and creative who is known in Oakland for her play for her 2020 Virtual Oaktoberfest, The Dirndl Diaspora, The Zorgos Project, and her cartoon history of the successful 1990 student strike at Mills College. Caven is the former president of the Oakland Tech PTSA and CWC Berkeley, and won the Jack London Award for service in 2017. As writer in residence, Caven will work weekly in different spaces in the park. You can follow Kristen’s blog, Walkin’ With Joaquin, and attend her literary events.
During her residency, Caven will also work on turning her song, Joaquin Miller Went Walkin’, into a children’s book to help kids connect with the spirit of Joaquin Miller and the Park’s ecosystem. You can support Caven’s work with a donation to the California Writer’s Club or FOJMP.
Join the CWC each October for a gathering of living writers reading historic writers at “A Blanket and a Basket of Chow.” Learn more about the California Writers Club at www.cwc-berkeley.org.
