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.