April 9th is SUSIE BRIGHT Day at Book Passage

Saturday, April 9th is Susie Bright day at Book Passage in Corte Madera. If it ain't marked so on your calendar, it oughta be! At 4:30 pm, Susie will be teaching a class — "The Real Story: Closely-Held Secrets & Memoir Writing." And at 7:00 pm, Susie will be in conversation with Bay Area journalist David Gans discussing her new book, Big Sex Little Death: A Memoir (Seal Press, $24.95). These two back-to-back events are not to be missed.

Ever wondered why there’s no female voice as bold, erotic, unflinching, and revealing as Norman Mailer, Henry Miller, or Philip Roth? There is. And it belongs to the Bay Area writer and literary provocateur Susie Bright.

Her just published book, Big Sex Little Death, is a revealing and at-times intimate coming-of-age story. It's also an explosive memoir that’s pure Susie: bold, free-spirited, unpredictable — larger than life, yet utterly true to life. From fearful Irish Catholic Girl Scout to gun-toting teenage revolutionary to "The Avatar of American Erotica"(NY Times) — Bright’s life story is shaped as much by America’s sexual awakening as the national sexual landscape was altered by Bright herself.

Novelist Tom Perotta has said, "Susie Bright is a one-woman counterculture, a teenaged socialist revolutionary turned Reagan-era sexual freedom fighter. In this lively, bittersweet memoir, she recounts a life full of political and erotic adventures and betrayals, a life at once deeply subversive and totally American, defined as it is by the idea that people should be free to express and pursue their own visions of happiness, no matter how uncomfortable it makes the prigs and scolds among us."

The approach Susie Bright took to writing her memoir will be explored in "The Real Story: Closely-Held Secrets & Memoir Writing." A memoir reflects our intimate lives — the thrills, the losses, the secrets. Even small moments can tell a profound story. Memoir-writing is cathartic — as well as a revelation to edit and to market. Those who take the challenge we think will find unparalleled insight.

As your guide and editor, Susie Bright will start you on intimate writing exercises that point the way to what you’re digging for. She will show you how to write freely, edit ruthlessly, and be truly prepared to share a page with the world. Book Passage is offering a 10% discount on purchase of Big Sex Little Death with class registration.

"The best-named writer in America, Susie Bright has written a witty, wise, and enlightening memoir." — Erica Jong. Besides Big Sex Little Death, Susie Bright is the bestselling author and editor of 30+ books including such national bestsellers, Full Exposure and The Sexual State of the Union — as well as The Best American Erotica and Herotica series, which ushered in women’s erotic publishing. She also the host of Audible’s In Bed With Susie Bright, the beloved and longest running sex education show in the history of broadcasting. A progenitor of the sex-positive movement, Bright taught the first university course on pornography while appearing in films like Bound and The Celluloid Closet. She is also a regular contributor at Salon.com.blogged by thomas gladysz