The Week @ Book Passage

Among Bay Area bookstores, Book Passage in Corte Madera has one of the most active schedules going of author events, readings, classes and other literary happenings. In fact, it’s not uncommon for more than one or two author talks to take place at the store on just about any given day. Additionally, many of these events have a local connection. Looking at the week, here are three events Patch.com readers won’t want to miss.

Cara Black reads from Murder at the Lanterne Rouge
-- Wednesday, March 7 at 7:00 pm

The latest book in Cara Black’s bestselling Aimée Leduc series is Murder at the Lanterne Rouge (Soho Crime). As the author’s many fans know, the acclaimed series is set in Paris, and it’s the next best thing to a trip to the City of Lights. “So authentic you can practically smell the fresh baguettes and coffee,” states bestselling author Val McDermid. “Transcendently, seductively, irresistibly French” adds Alan Furst. “Wry, complex, sophisticated, intensely Parisian.... One of the very best heroines in crime fiction today,” writes Lee Child.

Cara Black is the author of eleven previous books in the Aimée Leduc series, all of which are available from Soho Crime. She's a San Francisco Library Laureate, and a Macavity and three-time Anthony award-nominee. Black lives in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco with her husband and son, and visits Paris frequently.

Richard Blair discusses California Dreaming
-- Friday, March 9 at 7:00 pm

For over forty years, Inverness photographer Richard Blair has traveled the state observing its beauty as well as the relics that mark its history. The result is California Dreaming (Color & Light Editions), a book for lovers of large format black and white photography. San Francisco Chronicle art critic Kenneth Baker says, "Were I forced, upon moving out of state, to choose one book by which to remember California's landscape and the photography it has inspired, Inverness camera ace Richard Blair's would be the one."

Richard Blair got an early start in landscape photography when he was park photographer in Yosemite in the early 1970’s. Since then he has explored the state extensively and recorded his travels with large format photography. His work was included recently in an exhibit on Bali at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Carol Edgarian reads from Three Stages of Amazement
-- Saturday, March 10 at 11:00 am

Join Book Passage for coffee or tea as Carol Edgarian talks about her recent novel, Three Stages of Amazement (Scribner). Set in San Francisco, Three Stages of Amazement takes readers on a spellbinding journey across a landscape of national unease, when the fragility of one marriage reflects the tenuous state of the American Dream. Lena Rusch and her husband, Charlie Pepper, still believe they can have it all — love, sex, marriage, children, career. But when life delivers surprises and tests, they must face, for the first time in their lives, real limitation.

Carol Edgarian is the author of the bestselling novel Rise the Euphrates and co-editor of The Writer's Life: Intimate Thoughts on Work, Love, Inspiration, and Fame. She is the co-founder, editor, and publisher of Narrative, an online literary magazine she runs with her husband, writer Tom Jenks. They live in San Francisco.

MORE INFO: Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., in Corte Madera. Call (415) 927-0960 or visit www.bookpassage.com for details.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore Wins an Oscar

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (from 2011) won the Oscar for Best Animated Short at Sunday's Academy Awards. Above, we’ve embedded the complete book-loving film. This 15-minute short is the first made by Moonbot Studios, a fledgling animation shop in Shreveport, Louisiana. For their efforts, Moonbot’s founders (who include acclaimed author and illustrator William Joyce) received an Oscar! Congratulations. We love Willam Joyce!

Book Passage: The Week(end) Ahead

Among Bay Area bookstores, Book Passage in Corte Madera has one of the most active schedules going of author events, readings, classes and other literary happenings. In fact, it’s not uncommon for more than one or two author talks to take place at the store just about every day. Additionally, many of these events have a local connection. Looking to the weekend, here are three events Patch.com readers won’t want to miss.

Richard Mason reads from History of a Pleasure Seaker
-- Saturday, February 25 at 1:00 pm

From the acclaimed author of The Drowning People (“A literary sensation” — The New York Times Book Review) and Natural Elements (“A magnum opus” — The New Yorker) comes an opulent, romantic, coming-of-age drama set at the height of Europe’s belle époque, written in the grand tradition with a lightness of touch that is wholly modern and original. Richard Mason’s History of a Pleasure Seeker (Knopf) is a portrait of the senses, a novel about pleasure and those who are in search of it; those who embrace it, luxuriate in it, need it; and those who deprive themselves of it as they do those they love.

Born in South Africa, Mason was ten years old when he moved to England with his parents. His first novel, The Drowning People, was published during his first year at Oxford, and it has since been translated into 22 languages. Mason has written three more novels. Mason set up the Kay Mason Foundation, in memory of his sister, who died when he was a child. The aim of the foundation is to make the best education available for young people in South Africa. The foundation has the patronage of Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Karen Kondazion presents The Whip
-- Saturday, February 25 at 7:00 pm

Karen Kondazian talks about The Whip (Hansen Publishing Group), a historical novel and a tale of revenge inspired by the true story of Charlotte “Charley” Parkhurst (1812-1879), who lived most of her extraordinary life as a man in the Old West. As a young woman in Rhode Island, she fell in love with a runaway slave and had a child. He was lynched and her baby killed. Dressed as a man, she went to California to track down the killer. Here, she became a renowned stagecoach driver, killed an outlaw, and had a secret love affair. In 1868, she became the first woman to vote in California (as a man). Her grave lies in Watsonville. The event will begin with the screening of a related short film, Stage Coaches of the West.

Kondazian's career as an actor, writer and producer is as diverse as it is long. At the age of eight she was chosen to be one of the children on Art Linkletter's "Kids Say the Darndest Things." Later, she attended San Francisco State College (as it was then called), and went on to stage work opposite Ed Harris in Sweet Bird of Youth (which she also produced), Richard Chamberlain in Richard II, and Stacy Keach in Hamlet. She won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in The Rose Tattoo (in which her work as actor and producer so impressed Tennessee Williams that they became friends and he gave her carte blanche to produce any of his work in his lifetime). Kondazian has also appeared in over 50 television shows and films.

Sunday morning story time with Christopher Smith
-- Sunday, February 26 at 11:00 am

This Sunday, and just about every Sunday throughout the year (except during the Summer), local singer-songwriter Christopher Smith performs at Book Passage. Smith has been writing acoustic music and performing in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years. Why so popular for so long? Because Smith writes well-crafted story songs that aim for the heart. Fusing elements of humor and sadness, his songs feature characters that are quirky, vulnerable and unforgettable. Smith is especially popular with toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners who gather round to hear him play. 

And adults too.

MORE INFO: Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., in Corte Madera. Call (415) 927-0960 or visit www.bookpassage.com for details.

The Week Ahead @ Book Passage

Among Bay Area bookstores, Book Passage in Corte Madera has one of the most active schedules going of author events, readings, classes and other literary happenings. In fact, it’s not uncommon for more than one or two author talks to take place at the store just about every day. Additionally, many of these events have a local connection. Looking to the week ahead, here are three events you won’t want to miss.

Sebastian Junger talks about War
-- Monday, February 20 at 7:00 pm


Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm, turns his attention from man’s struggle with nature to man’s struggle with man. In War, Junger turns his empathetic eye to the reality of combat — the fear, the honor, and the trust among men whose survival depends on their absolute commitment to one another. His on-the-ground account follows a single platoon through 15 months in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley.

Junger is an American author, journalist and documentarian most famous for the best-selling book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, which was made into a feature film in 2000 starring George Clooney and Mark Walhberg. He also self-financed and directed a documentary movie Restrepo (2010). It was nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Due to the expected popularity of this event, priority seating will be allotted to those who purchase a copy of Junger’s book from Book Passage.

Meredith Maran & Johnny Symons present
-- Thursday, February 23 at 7:00 pm

Meredith Maran will read from her just released novel, A Theory of Small Earthquakes (Soft Skull Press), and filmmaker Johnny Symons will show a brief clip from his award-winning 2002 film, Daddy and Papa, and together they’ll discuss the challenges and joys of portraying non-traditional families in books and film.

Maran’s earlier books include Class Dismissed: A Year in the Life of an American High School, A Glimpse into the Heart of a Nation and Dirty: A Search for Answers Inside America's Teenage Drug Epidemic. Her new book, a debut novel, has been praised by publications ranging from Reader’s Digest to Vanity Fair. Marin writer Anne Lamott called it "A smart, sexy, funny, wrenching, delicious story of lust and trust and love and family."

Symon is an Emmy-nominated documentary film and video maker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His film Daddy and Papa (2002), about the personal, cultural, and political impact of gay men raising kids, premiered at Sundance, won more than 15 major festival awards, and aired nationally on PBS. His other documentary credits include 1995’s The Celluloid Closet for HBO.

Eve Ensler & Isabel Allende in conversation
-- Friday, February 24 at 7:00 pm

Activist Eve Ensler sits down with writer Isabel Allende to talk about activism, women and girls, and the power of stories. The event is described thus: “Eve will blow you away and Isabel will get you through it. And together they will fill you with hope.” The event also includes a sneak peak at Ensler's latest theatrical work, the stage adaptation of Emotional Creature, which will premiere at Berkeley Rep this June.

The former Louise Brooks-bobbed Ensler is the Tony Award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. Her most recent book is I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World (Villard). Allende is a Chilean writer and now longtime resident of Marin. She is the author of  The House of the Spirits, an international bestseller which was made into a film, and more than a dozen other works. Allende’s books have been published in more than two dozen countries. In 1998 she was awarded the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, and in 2011 she was given the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

This event is a benefit for V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. It takes place at Dominican University of California, Angelico Hall, in San Rafael. Tickets are $35.00 and include a copy of Ensler’s book I Am an Emotional Creature. A book signing follows the presentation.

MORE INFO: Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., in Corte Madera. Call (415) 927-0960 or visit www.bookpassage.com for details.

The Week Ahead @ Book Passage

Among Bay Area bookstores, Book Passage in Corte Madera has one of the most active schedules going of author events, readings, classes and other literary happenings. In fact, it’s not uncommon for more than one or two author talks to take place at the store just about every day. Additionally, many of these events have a local connection- that's because Book Passage is a true community center. Looking to the week ahead, here are three events readers won’t want to miss.

Amy Franklin-Willis reads from The Lost Saints of Tennessee
-- Monday, February 13 at 7:00 pm

Here is what Pat Conroy, the author of Price of Tides, had to say about The Lost Saints of Tennessee (Atlantic Monthly). “The gifted novelist, Amy Franklin-Willis, has written a riveting, hardscrabble book on the rough, hardscrabble south, which has rarely been written about with such grace and compassion. It reminded me of the time I read Dorothy Allison’s classic, Bastard out of Carolina.” If such high praise intrigues, then don’t miss this exceptional debut.

Now a resident of Northern California (she married her college sweetheart, who hails from the Bay Area), Amy Franklin-Willis is an eighth-generation Southerner born in Birmingham, Alabama. She received an Emerging Writer Grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation in 2007 to complete The Lost Saints of Tennessee.

Literary Luncheon with Lisa See
­­-- Wednesday, February 15 at 12:00 noon

At this special literary luncheon, acclaimed novelist Lisa See discusses her new novel Dreams of Joy (Random House), which is now out in softcover. Devastated after discovering the shocking truth about her mother and father, Joy (a character from See’s 2009 novel Shanghai Girls) flees to China to find a new life (and her real father) – and Pearl, realizing what has happened, sets out for Mao’s China, resolved to find her daughter.

Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Flower Net (an Edgar Award nominee), The Interior, and Dragon Bones, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year. She lives in Los Angeles and is a Bay Area and Book Passage favorite.

Book Passage hosts literary luncheons with celebrated authors at its Corte Madera store. These events are catered by Insalata’s Restaurant of San Anselmo. The ticket price of $55 includes lunch and a signed book. Call Book Passage to reserve.

Katherine Boo talks about Behind Beautiful Forevers
-- Friday, February 17 at 7:00 pm

From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo comes Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Random House), a work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the 21st century’s great cities, Mumbai, India. At times, it’s hard to believe this is nonfiction (David Sedaris calls it “as rich and beautifully written as a novel”) – but it is, a true account of garbage pickers and petty thieves, of families and teenagers and their daily struggles and hopes which grow in the muck of almost unbelievable poverty. In its review, the New York Times described this remarkable book as “a true-life version of Slumdog Millionaire without the Bollywood ending.”

Katherine Boo spent three years among the residents of Mumbai’s Annawadi slum, a sprawling settlement of hundreds of tin-roof shacks in the shadow of the city’s International Airport. She is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a former reporter and editor for The Washington Post. Boo’s reporting has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur “Genius” grant, and a National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. For the last decade, she has divided her time between the United States and India. This is her first book.

MORE INFO: Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., in Corte Madera. Call (415) 927-0960 or visit www.bookpassage.com for details.

Guest blogger: Kalpana Mohan

The Book Passage blog welcomes Kalpana Mohan as a guest blogger. Kalpana is a local writer and regular patron of the store.

I'm a Book Passage stalker; I've commuted to Book Passage for a dozen years now all the way from Saratoga and every minute of my three hour drive has been worth it; I've made wonderful friends; my family has spent days reading at BP just because we all love to read. I'm part of Left Coast Writers and every time I walk into BP, it's a reminder about why I left the high-tech world. It's a reminder about why I do what I do, a reminder of how I love to write.

I'm really looking forward to talking to Katherine Boo when she reads at Book Passage on February 17th. I'm reading Boo's new book, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, and I'm thinking about all the things it would have taken this writer – who did not speak the language or know the culture – to immerse herself in that alien world of grinding poverty. I have never been to that world even though I was born and raised in India. But I have been on the other side. I have looked at the slums from those high-rise hotels that she refers to in her book. I've never had the courage to walk into such a slum for I have been conditioned, since the day I was born, to ignore those slums, to pretend that they did not exist in my world and to be indifferent to the life teeming under those corrugated tin roofs. Oh, yes, our maid, our driver and our plumber belonged to them, but we didn't think of how and where they lived – unless they didn't report for work.

I can see how Behind the Beautiful Forevers will be a touchstone for nonfiction that will change the world. We need more such non-fiction work that will inspire the action to bring about systemic change in India. I hope I'll be able to do the same through my writing, even if it's in far less gritty ways than Boo.

I would love to share information with you about my blog – SARiTORIAL: Unfolding An Indian Icon – in which I write about India, the old and new. In it, I write about things, places and ideas that are specific to India and Indians in the diaspora. The stories are many. Every story, I promise, will make readers pause and reflect. I really do think that the stories I'm narrating are as universal as they are unique.

A few months ago I wrote about Aiyyelu, a renowned silk costume maker in the South Indian coastal city of Chennai who, at 82 (no one, not even Aiyyelu, knows exactly how old he is), doesn't need to wear glasses to thread his needle. His exquisite silk costumes are mailed around the world for classical Indian dance performances. Read about him at http://www.bit.ly/Aiyyelu.

On January 30th morning, on the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's death, I wrote about my day at his home, Sabarmati Ashram in India's Ahmedabad, and linked that to my experience of listening to Gloria Steinem's lecture at Stanford on January 26th. Check it out at http://bit.ly/gandhisteinem. And, just last week, when I found out that Starbucks was filtering into India, it became grounds for a venti post. Why? India grows coffee. India could teach Starbucks a thing or two about beans. The South Indian degree coffee is unmatched. Why not let this old coffee culture be? Why does India need yet another multi-national corporation? Read more about my frustration at http://bit.ly/degreecoffee.

I hope readers will subscribe to my blog and send me their thoughts and suggestions. I'd be thrilled if readers could pass the word and the link along to a relative, a colleague, a friend, a Facebook friend, an adversary, a Frenemy...anyone, really, who will find it interesting. Readers across the generations and across all cultures, follow me on my journey at SARiTORIAL.

About The Author: Kalpana Mohan enjoys writing about parenting, ethnic issues and lifestyle. Her stories have appeared in Better Homes and Gardens, Business Week Online, FamilyFun Magazine, USA Weekend Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Bay Area Parent, India Currents and other print and online publications.

The Week Ahead @ Book Passage

Among the Bay Area’s many bookstores, Book Passage in Corte Madera has one of the most active schedules going of author events, readings, classes and other literary happenings. In fact, it’s not uncommon for more than one or two author talks to take place just about every day. And what's more, many of these events have a local connection. Looking to the week ahead, here are three events readers won’t want to miss.

Pam Houston talks about Contents May Have Shifted
-- Monday, February 6 at 7:00 pm

Pam Houston is the author of two collections of linked short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness, a bestseller which was the winner of the 1993 Western States Book Award and has been translated into nine languages, and Waltzing the Cat which won the Willa Award for Contemporary Fiction. She has also authored a book of essays and a novel and is the Director of Creative Writing at U.C. Davis, as well as the Director of the Tomales Bay Workshops.

Her new novel, Contents May Have Shifted (Norton), tells the story of Pam, who is stuck in a dead-end relationship; one day, this fearless narrator leaves her metaphorical baggage behind and finds freedom in the air. Plane ticket in hand, she flies around the world and finds new reasons to love life in dozens of far-flung places.

Adam Johnson presents The Orphan Master’s Son
-- Wednesday, February 8 at 7:00 pm

San Francisco author Adam Johnson has been receiving a good deal of attention lately for his new novel, The Orphan Master’s Son (Random House). His book has been favorably reviewed in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times and elsewhere, and last week he was on the PBS NewsHour talking about what is fast becoming one of the big books of the season.

The Orphan Master’s Son follows a young man’s journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world’s most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea. Part dystopian thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love found, The Orphan Master’s Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and lastly love.

Lysley Tenorio reads from Monstress
-- Thursday, February 9 at 7:00 pm

Monstress (Ecco), by Lysley Tenorio, introduces a bold new writer who explores the clash and meld of disparate cultures. In the National Magazine Award-nominated title story, a has-been movie director and his reluctant leading lady travel from Manila to Hollywood for one last chance at stardom, unaware of what they truly stand to lose. In "Felix Starro," a famous Filipino faith healer and his grandson conduct an illicit business in San Francisco, though each has his own plans for their earnings. And in “Help,” after the Beatles reject an invitation from Imelda Marcos for a Royal Command Performance, an aging bachelor attempts to defend her honor by recruiting his three nephews to attack the group at the Manila International Airport. (The last story is based on actual incidents.)

Born in the Philippines, Tenorio is a graduate of UC Berkeley and a former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. He currently lives in San Francisco, and is an associate professor at Saint Mary’s College of California.

MORE INFO: Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., in Corte Madera. Call (415) 927-0960 or visit www.bookpassage.com for details.

Faculty Additions - Cara Black, Tony Broadbent, David Cole, George Fong, Lisa Gallagher, Al Giannini, William C. Gordon, Seth Harwood, Arthur Kerns, John Lescroart, D.P. Lyle, Tim Maleeny, Kirk Russell, and Jacqueline Winspear join the 2012 Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference

Just announced! Cara Black, Tony Broadbent, David Cole, George Fong, Lisa Gallagher, Al Giannini, William C. Gordon, Seth Harwood, Arthur Kerns, John Lescroart, D.P. Lyle, Tim Maleeny, Kirk Russell, and Jacqueline Winspear to join the faculty of the 2012 Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference, July 19-22 in Corte Madera, California.

Cara Black
Cara Black frequents a Paris little known outside the beaten tourist track, a Paris she discovers on research trips and interviews with French police, private detectives and café owners. Cara is a San Francisco Library Laureate and a member of the Paris Sociéte Historique in the Marais. Her nationally bestselling and award nominated Aimée Leduc Investigation series, which includes Murder in the Latin Quarter, Murder in the Marais, and Murder at the Lanterne Rouge, has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Hebrew. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, a bookseller, and their teenage son. Read more >>

Tony Broadbent
Broadbent is the acclaimed author of the Jethro books, The Smoke and The Spectres in the Smoke, about a cat burglar and jewel thief, in post World War II England. The third book in the series, Shadows in the Smoke will be published in August. Read more >> 

David Cole
David has divided his time between publishing, writing, and marketing, cultivating experience in every aspect of the book publishing business. He founded Bay Tree Publishing in 2002. Read more >>

George Fong
Fong is Director of Security with ESPN and former Supervising Agent for the FBI.

Lisa Gallagher
Lisa is a literary agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. As former Senior Vice President & Publisher of William Morrow, Lisa became known as an indefatigable author advocate who helped nurture the careers of many writers. She was lucky enough to work with numerous New York Times bestselling authors, including Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Dennis Lehane, Elmore Leonard, Gregory Maguire, Christopher Moore, James Rollins, and Neal Stephenson. Read more >>

Al Giannini
Giannini is a San Mateo County District Attorney.

William C. Gordon
Gordon’s novel, The Chinese Jars, is a mystery set in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the early 1960s. He is also the author of King of the Bottom, The Ugly Dwarf, Duelo en Chinatown, and the forthcoming The Halls of Power. Gordon is an attorney with a law office in Sausalito, a father, photographer, and world traveler with his wife, author Isabel Allende. Read more >>

Seth Harwood
Harwood grew up in the Boston area and graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is the author of Jack Wakes Up, This is Life, and his latest novel, Young Junius, billed as "The Wire meets Cambridge, MA in 1987" and picked by George Pelecanos as one of his best books of 2010. Read more >>

Arthur Kerns
Following graduation from college, Kerns did a stint with the US Navy amphibious forces, and then joined the FBI with a career in counterintelligence and counter terrorism. Retiring from the FBI, he became a consultant with the Director of Central Intelligence and the Department of State. His lengthy assignments took him to over 65 countries. He is the author of The Riviera Contract and The Past is Never Dead. Read more >>

 

John Lescroart
A New York Times bestselling author whose books have been translated into 16 languages in more than 75 countries, Lescroart is the author of numerous crime novels and courtroom mysteries. His books include Treasure Hunt, A Plague of Secrets, The Hunt Club, Damage, and The Hunter. Read more >>

 

D.P. Lyle
Lyle is a physician and the author of Howdunit Forensics, a definitive reference guide for writers. He is also the author of Forensics and Fiction, Hot Lights, Cold Steel, Royal Pains: First, Do No Harm, Royal Pains: Sick Rich, and more Forensics and Fiction, which will be published this spring. Read more >>

Tim Maleeny
Maleeny is the author of the acclaimed Cape Weathers series, including Stealing The Dragon, Beating The Babushka, and Greasing
The Piñata. His latest book is Jump. Tim's short fiction has won the prestigious Macavity Award and appears in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen, Crimespree Magazine, and the anthologies Death Do Us Part, Uncage Me, and Thriller 2. Read more >>

Kirk Russell
Kirk's early novels feature the head of an undercover California Fish and Game team. His latest novel, A Killing in China Basin, begins a new crime series set in San Francisco, featuring homicide inspector, Ben Raveneau, and his partner Elizabeth la Rosa. Read more >>

Jacqueline Winspear
Conference co-chair Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the acclaimed Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, An Incomplete Revenge, Among the Mad, A Lesson in Secrets, and the latest Elegy for Eddie. Read more >>  

Register >>

Join us on Facebook, Twitter, and BookPassage.com for updates on upcoming additions to the Conference faculty.

Faculty Additions - Annie Barrows, Shirin Yim Bridges, Ying Compestine, Summer Dawn Laurie, Laurie McLean, Amy Novesky, Kathryn Otoshi, Julie Romeis, Lissa Rovetch, and Pam van Hylckama Vlieg to Join the 2012 Book Passage Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference

We are ecstatic to announce the addition of Annie Barrows, Shirin Yim Bridges, Ying Compestine, Summer Dawn Laurie, Laurie McLean, Amy Novesky, Kathryn Otoshi, Julie Romeis, Lissa Rovetch, and Pam van Hylckama Vlieg to the faculty of the 2012 Book Passage Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference, June 14-17 in Corte Madera, California.

Annie Barrows
Barrows’ collaboration with her late aunt Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, has been a perennial New York Times bestseller, published in 25 countries and selling well over one million copies. Barrows is also a prolific author of children's literature. The first book in her children’s series Ivy and Bean was published in 2006 and was an ALA Notable book for 2007; it was followed by many others, with the latest, Ivy and Bean Button Factory to be published this April. Her 2008 stand-alone children’s novel, The Magic Half, was described by School Library Journal as “a delightful tale brimming with mystery, magic, and adventure.”

Read more >> 

Shirin Yim Bridges
In addition to being head goose at Goosebottom Books, Shirin wrote all six books in Goosebottom’s first series, The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Real Princesses, which includes Agrippina Atrocious and Ferocious, Hatshepsut of Egypt, and Artemisia of Caria. She is also the author of The Umbrella Queen and Ruby's Wish. Shirin has lived in many countries around the world, as is reflected in her writing — Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and England.

Read more >> 

Ying Compestine
Ying is the author of YA and Middle Grade novels Revolution is Not a Dinner Party and A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts, as well as children's books including Crouching Tiger, The Runaway Wok, and Boy Dumplings. She has visited schools throughout the US and abroad, sharing with students her journey as a writer, how her life in China inspired her writing, and the challenges of writing in her second language.

Read more >> 

Summer Dawn Laurie
Summer is an independent children’s book editor with ten years’ experience at Tricycle Press and Chronicle Books. After ten years working in-house at children's book publishers, most recently as senior editor at Tricycle Press, the kid's division of Ten Speed Press, and previously at Chronicle Books for Children, Laurie decided to head out on her own. Over the years, she has edited more than 50 published books, ranging from board books to picture books, middle-grade novels to non-fiction.

Laurie McLean
Laurie is a literary agent with the Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency. Laurie specializes in middle grade and young adult children's fiction. Laurie is also the Dean of the newly created San Francisco Writers University.

Read more >> 

Amy Novesky
Amy is an independent children's book editor, creative director, and co-founder of Ever After Studio, a children's book production company. She is the author of Me, Frida and Elephant Prince. Amy is a former editor with Chronicle Books in San Francisco, where she acquired award-winning picture books. Currently she works with writers and publishers to produce children’s books of all kinds. In addition, she is the creative director for Paper Hat Press, a company that creates customizable children’s books and keepsakes. She also frequently teaches writing workshops at Book Passage.

Read more >> 

Kathryn Otoshi
Kathryn is an award-winning writer and illustrator, whose books have won the E.B. White Read Aloud Honor, the Nautilus Gold Award, and the Mom's Choice Award. Her books include Zero, One, Simon and the Sock Monster, What Emily Saw, and  Marcello the Movie Mouse.

Read more >> 

Julie Romeis
Julie is Children's Editor at Chronicle Books. Julie has taught and presented at universities around the country, including in the prestigious Columbia University Publishing Course.

Read more >> 

Lissa Rovetch
Lissa is the author of Ook the Book and the Hot Dog and Bob chapter book series, and she is the illustrator of There Was a Man Who Loved a Rat and Other Vile Little Poems. Lissa founded the monthly group for children's writers and illustrators, Kid Lit Salon, which has been meeting at Book Passage since 2008.

Read more >> 

Pam van Hylckama Vlieg
Pam is a prolific book blogger at Bookalicious and Hicklebee's Books.

Join us for the 6th Annual Book Passage Children’s Writers & Illustrators Conference. The Conference will cover all aspects of writing and illustrating for children—from developing ideas to honing skills to finding a publisher. Students will work closely with other writers and illustrators, as well as with agents, editors, and publishers. The conference is designed to meet the differing needs of those who create for different age groups.

Students choose an area of emphasis for the morning sessions, such as writing for picture books, early readers, young adult books or illustration, and then work with a teacher in a workshop setting. In the afternoon, students choose from panels of common interest, such as working with editors, working with agents, marketing and promotion. There will be many opportunities for faculty and students to talk, laugh, and exchange ideas in classes, lunches, and at evening events.

Register >>

Check out the conference Facebook page, the conference Twitter feed, and BookPassage.com for upcoming announcements and additions to the Conference faculty.

Brian McMullen, Art Director and Editor at McSweeney's, Joins the Faculty of the 2012 Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference

Book Passage is excited to announce the addition of Brian McMullen to the faculty of the 2012 Book Passage Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference, June 14-17 in Corte Madera, California.

Brian McMullen
McMullen is a writer and artist who lives in Bayview, San Francisco. He is an art director at McSweeney's, where he edits and designs books for McSweeney's McMullens, an imprint of Dave Eggers' McSweeney's. Brian will be accompanied by two new McSweeney's McMullens titles: The Night Riders by Matt Furie and Benny's Brigade by Arthur Bradford, with pictures by Lisa Hanawalt.

Read more >>  

Join us for the 6th Annual Book Passage Children’s Writers & Illustrators Conference. The Conference will cover all aspects of writing and illustrating for children—from developing ideas to honing skills to finding a publisher. Students will work closely with other writers and illustrators, as well as with agents, editors, and publishers. The conference is designed to meet the differing needs of those who create for different age groups.

Students choose an area of emphasis for the morning sessions, such as writing for picture books, early readers, young adult books or illustration, and then work with a teacher in a workshop setting. In the afternoon, students choose from panels of common interest, such as working with editors, working with agents, marketing and promotion. There will be many opportunities for faculty and students to talk, laugh, and exchange ideas in classes, lunches, and at evening events.

Register >>

 
Optional private evaluations of student work are also available.

Stay close to our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, and BookPassage.com for upcoming announcements and additions to the Conference faculty.

 

Susan Orlean added to the Faculty of the 2012 Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference

Book Passage is delighted to announce the addition of author Susan Orlean to the faculty of the 2012 Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference, August 9-12 in Corte Madera, California.

Susan Orlean
Orlean is a journalist and staff writer for The New Yorker. Her books include The Orchid Thief, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People, My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who’s Been Everywhere, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. She has contributed articles to Vogue, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Outside. Orlean lives in Columbia County, New York (with occasional stints in Los Angeles and in New York City) with her husband, her son, dog, and two chickens.

Read more >>

This four-day Conference offers an array of writing and photography workshops in the morning, a full afternoon of panels and discussions, and evenings of faculty presentations. There are optional, working field trips to explore the resources of the Bay Area.

The faculty includes publishers, magazine editors, photographers, travel essayists, food writers, restauranteurs, guidebook writers, travel bloggers, and more. There are hours of informal interaction between faculty and students at lunch and in other discussions that often last late into the evening.

There are optional writing and photography workshops on Thursday afternoon just prior to the Conference. They are available to participants for an additional fee.

Register >>

Optional private evaluations of student work are also available.

Stay close to our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, and BookPassage.com for the upcoming announcement of the complete Conference faculty.

David Corbett, Robert Dugoni, and Sheldon Siegel added to the Faculty of the 2012 Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference

Book Passage is excited to announce the addition of David Corbett, Robert Dugoni, and Sheldon Siegel to the faculty of the 2012 Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference, July 19-22 in Corte Madera, California.

David Corbett
Corbett is a skilled private investigator, having worked 15 years for the famed private investigation firm of Palladino & Sutherland. He is also a highly-talented writer of crime fiction. His novels including Do They Know I’m Running?, Blood of Paradise, Done for a Dime, and The Devil’s Redhead.

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Robert DugoniTwo-time winner of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest, Dugoni is the New York Times bestselling author of Murder One, The Jury Master, Damage Control, and Wrongful Death. Dugoni is a lawyer by training, and he practiced as a civil litigator in San Francisco and Seattle for 17 years before retiring to write full-time. His next novel The Conviction is due in 2012.

Read more >>

Sheldon Siegel
Conference co-chair Sheldon Siegel epitomizes the spirit of the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference. Siegel’s courtroom mysteries include Special Circumstances, Incriminating Evidence, Criminal Intent, Judgment Day and his newest book Perfect Alibi. Siegel is a Conference alumnus—his first book was published as a result of contacts he made at the Mystery Writers Conference.

Read more >>

The collegial atmosphere of this four-day conference attracts students and faculty from all over the country, many for repeat visits. Opportunities abound for faculty and students to talk, laugh, and exchange ideas in classes, workshops, panels, and informal lunches.


Register >>

There are optional writing workshops on Thursday afternoon prior to the Conference
that are available to participants for an additional fee. Stay close to our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, and BookPassage.com for the upcoming announcement of the complete
Conference faculty.

 

Mac Barnett and Gennifer Choldenko Join the Faculty of the 2012 Book Passage Children's Writers Conference

Book Passage is pleased to announce the addition of Mac Barnett and Gennifer Choldenko to the faculty of the 2012 Book Passage Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference, June 14-17 in Corte Madera, California.

Mac Barnett
Barnett's books include Mustache!, Billy Twitters and his Blue Whale Problem, Oh No! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World), and The Clock Without a Face. Time magazine named his picture book Guess Again!, as the #2 Picture Book of 2010. The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, the first Brixton Brothers book, was nominated for an Edgar Award in 2010. Mac’s on the board of directors for 826LA, a nonprofit writing center for students in Los Angeles.

Visit Mac Barnett's website 

Gennifer Choldenko
Choldenko is an experienced writer and an inspiring teacher. She’s won numerous honors for her work. Her book Notes from a Liar and Her Dog was a California Book Award winner. Her book Al Capone Does My Shirts was named a Newbery Honor Book. Her other books include Louder, Lili, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, Al Capone Shines My Shoes (a sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts), and No Passengers Beyond This Point. Gennifer is hard at work on the last book in the Al Capone trilogy, which is due out in 2012. A good deal of the research for the Al Capone books was accomplished while serving as a docent on Alcatraz Island.

Visit Gennifer Choldenko's website


Join us for the 6th Annual Book Passage Children’s Writers & Illustrators Conference. The Conference will cover all aspects of writing and illustrating for children—from developing ideas to honing skills to finding a publisher. Students will work closely with other writers and illustrators, as well as with agents, editors, and publishers. The conference is designed to meet the differing needs of those who create for different age groups.
 
Students choose an area of emphasis for the morning sessions, such as writing for picture books, early readers, young adult books or illustration, and then work with a teacher in a workshop setting. In the afternoon, students choose from panels of common interest, such as working with editors, working with agents, marketing and promotion. There will be many opportunities for faculty and students to talk, laugh, and exchange ideas in classes, lunches, and at evening events.

Register >>
 
Optional private evaluations of student work are also available.
 
Stay close to our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, and BookPassage.com for the upcoming announcement of the complete Conference faculty.

 

Come Celebrate World Book Night with Book Passage

World Book Night is an annual celebration designed to spread a love of reading and books. To be held in the U.S. as well as the U.K. and Ireland on April 23, 2012. It will see tens of thousands of people go out into their communities to spread the joy and love of reading by giving out free World Book Night paperbacks.


Book Passage is proud to participate in World Book Night 2012. Book Passage will be a community pick-up location for book givers and we will be sponsoring a World Book Night Pick-Up Party a few days prior to the event -- find out below how you can be a giver on World Book Night, but hurry--you must register by February 1!

From the World Book Night U.S. Team:

World Book Night, through social media and traditional publicity, will also promote the value of reading, of printed books, and of bookstores and libraries to everyone year-round.

Successfully launched in the U.K. in 2011, World Book Night will also be celebrated in the U.S. in 2012, with news of more countries to come in future years. Please join our mailing list for regular World Book Night U.S. news. And thank you to our U.K. friends for such a wonderful idea!

Additionally, April 23 is UNESCO’s World Book Day, chosen due to the anniversary of Cervantes’ death, as well as Shakespeare’s birth and death.

This site exists in order to learn more about World Book Night and to keep updated on new developments – and most important, to register to be a World Book Night U.S. book giver.

Register to be a WBN 2012 Giver - Must sign up by February 1, 2012!

Click for details

The Week Ahead @ Book Passage

Among the Bay Area’s many bookstores, Book Passage in Corte Madera has one of the most active schedules going of author events, readings, classes and other literary happenings. In fact, it’s not uncommon for more than one or two author talks or other events to take place here just about every day. And what's more, many of these events have a local connection. Looking to the week ahead, here are three events not to miss.

Group Poetry Reading with Conflux Press poets
-- Sunday, January 29 at 4:00 pm

Abby Wasserman

Various Bay Area writers associated with Conflux Press will present their work. Scheduled to read are poets Karen Benke, Karla Clark, Ed Colettie, CB Follett, Janet Jennings, Melanie Maier, Beverly Momoi, Daniel Polikoff, Susan Terris & Abby Wasserman.

Each is talented, and each is multi-talented. Abby Wasserman, for instance, is a writer and artist and the former editor of the Oakland Museum of California's quarterly magazine. Her publications include The Spirit of Oakland, a multicultural history of the city, Portfolio, essays on 11 Native American artists, and Praise, Vilification & Sexual Innuendo, or How to Be a Critic: The Selected Writings of John L. Wasserman, which she edited. (The late John L. Wasserman, a much loved San Francisco Chronicle critic and entertainment writer, was her brother.) Since 2003, Wasserman has served on the Board of the O'Hanlon Center for the Arts in Mill Valley. She facilitates two writing groups at the Center while devoting most of her time to her poetry and her art.

Julia Flynn Siler, in conversation with Liz Epstein, discuss Lost Kingdom
-- Monday, January 30 at 7:00 pm

Julia Flynn Siler

Only one American state was ever a sovereign monarchy. That state is Hawaii – the subject of a new book by North Bay author Julia Flynn Siler. Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America’s First Imperial Adventure (Atlantic Monthly Press) chronicles how this Pacific nation – inhabited by a proud but vulnerable Polynesian people, was encountered, annexed and absorbed by a relentlessly expanding world power, the United States.

Siler’s 2007 bestseller, Houseof Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, travelled similar ground. It told an epic story of a "takeover proof" family-controlled company which was sold over the objections of several key family members. Siler will be in conversation with Kentfield writer Liz Epstein.

One Book One Marin 2012 Celebration with Michael David Lukas
-- Thursday, February 2 at 7:00 pm

Michael David Lukas

Book Passage, along with The Marin County Free Library, City Public Libraries of Marin County and Dominican University of California, is pleased to announce the OneBook One Marin selection for 2012 – The Oracle of Stamboul (Harper Perennial), by Oakland-born author Michael David Lukas. This special event at Dominican University in San Rafael launches a county-wide celebration with a talk and book signing by the author.

Set in 19th-century Turkey (then the Ottoman Empire), beautifully written, passionate, and fragrant with political intrigue, historical upheaval and Eastern mysticism, The Oracle of Stamboul revolves around a girl who changes the course of an empire. The book is now out in soft cover. When first published in hardback, one reviewer called it “a bold portrait of an empire precariously poised on the chasm between an old and a new world.”

Lukas – who teaches in the East Bay – has been a Fulbright scholar in Turkey, a proofreader in Tel Aviv, and a Rotary scholar in Tunisia. He brings a raconteur’s sense of story telling and a traveler’s eye for detail to this, his bestselling debut novel. For more on One Book One Marin visit www.onebookonemarin.org.