The week ahead at 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 readers won’t want to miss.

Barry Kraft reads from the poetry of Philip Larkin
-- Tuesday, August 7 at 7:00 pm

Shakespearean actor Barry Kraft reads from The Complete Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) of Philip Larkin. Regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the 20th century and called "the saddest heart in the post-war supermarket," Larkin (1922–1985) wrote of diminished expectations in work marked by a glum accuracy about emotions, places, and relationships.

Barry Kraft has been a professional actor for 45 years. He has acted in all 38 of Shakespeare's plays, playing more than 100 roles in 85 full productions. In addition to many seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he has had seasons with San Diego’s Old Globe, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespearean, and our own Marin Shakespeare.  Barry is also a dramaturg, guest lecturer and, of course, a poetry lover.

An Evening with Andrew McCarthy
-- Friday, August 10 at 8:30 pm

Andrew McCarthy is a busy guy. An actor (St. Elmo's Fire, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero), director, and travel writer – he is recognized in the field as a two-time Lowell Thomas Award winner who has, as well, been twice cited for “notable” work in the Best American Travel series. McCarthy is also a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler. And if that is not enough, last year he helped edit, with Don George, Lights, Camera... Travel!: On-The-Road Tales from Screen Storytellers (Lonely Planet).

Andrew McCarthy will be in conversation with local travel writer Don George. McCarthy and George are on the faculty of the 21st Annual Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference, which takes place August 9-12 at Book Passage. This event is part of the Conference. Tickets are $10.00 for the public, free for conference participants.

An Evening with Susan Orlean
-- Saturday, August 11 at 8:30 pm

Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. She is the author of seven books, including My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award–winning film Adaptation. Her most recent book is Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend (Simon & Schuster). She lives with her family and her animals in upstate New York (with occasional stints in Los Angeles and in New York City).

Susan Orlean will be in conversation with local travel writer Don George. Orlean and George are on the faculty of the 21st Annual Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference, which takes place August 9-12 at Book Passage. This event is part of the Conference. Tickets are $10.00 for the public, free for conference participants.

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. If you can't attend an event and would like a signed copy of an author's book, please place your order using one of the above links and note "signed copy" in the comments field.

Behind the Scenes at the 2011 Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference - Register for 2012

by Lavina Spalding
visit Lavina's Blog at www.lavinaspalding.com

Around midnight on Saturday, I sat in a piazza under a perfectly full moon listening to my new friend Pam Mandel strum a ukulele. On my left, legendary travel writer Don George crooned "I Will Survive," while across the table, San Francisco Chronicle travel editor Spud Hilton plucked at his own ukulele. On my right, award-winning photographer Liza Gershmann used my iphone to search for lyrics to an Indigo Girls' tune, and World Hum's Jim Benning sang a Death Cab for Cutie song. Together, we belted out "Rocket Man," "The Rainbow Connection," and "It Had to Be You." Our coda was "Summertime"--the perfect song to end the perfect evening.

You really should've been there.
Let me rephrase that: you really could have been there.

This was no private party for the travel-writing elite or some secret society of travelerati. It was the annual Book Passage Travel and Food Writing & Photography Conference in Corte Madera, California--open to anyone and hands down the most exciting writing event I've ever attended. Consider this: there's no application process, no previous publishing credits required. No judgment, ego, or cliques, and absolutely no limit to the connections you can make.


I spent four days in Corte Madera. During that time, I discussed the origin of my name with Andrew McCarthy over lunch; sipped absinthe with the hilariously irreverent David Farley; laughed in the afternoon sun with travel-writing God Tim Cahill; discussed travel journaling books with Phil Cousineau; drank wine with Dame Georgia Hess; hung around with Travelers' Tales co-founder Larry Habegger; bonded with veteran conference attendees Abbie Kozolchyk, Jill Robinson, and Marcy Gordon, spilled lemonade on Jeff Greenwald before he released seven live snakes into the audience; overshared about my personal life with AFAR executive editor Julia Cosgrove; and debated the literary merits of the words "slut" and "whore" with Spud Hilton. And in the process, I made friends. So many wonderful new friends.

And next year you can do the same.

On day one, novelist/poet/travel writer Linda Watanabe McFerrin addressed the conference attendees. "Park your shrinking violet at the door," she instructed. This was it--the best chance you might ever get to network with people whose words you may have only read in the pages of National Geographic Adventure; your opportunity to clink glasses with Lowell Thomas award winners, to make an impression on someone who could literally change your life.

Janice Cooke Newman also spoke, introducing herself as "the poster girl" for the BP conference; once an unpublished attendee, she was now on faculty and the author of two award-winning books, as well as numerous articles published in The LA Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Backpacker.

The conference isn't free (or even cheap, for that matter), but for what you get, it's an uncommonly good deal. Moreover, I'm here to tell you it's worth it. Even at twice the cost, it would be worth it.

Admittedly, I'm not a fledgling writer. I've written two books and edited one, I contribute regularly to Yoga Journal, and I've published in a number of magazines and online. I'll confess that my main objective in attending the conference wasn't to learn, but to put faces to the online names I knew by heart. I wanted to meet some of my travel-writing heroes, and I did. In fact, I did more than meet them.

I sang karaoke with them.

But guess what: it turns out I did learn. A lot.

In four days, I learned everything I ever wanted to know about writing for newspapers, pitching stories, and structuring a travel story. I learned how to get a foot in at magazines like AFAR and Sunset. I learned what editors appreciate (gratitude, honesty, focus) and what they detest (press trips, plagiarism, staycations). I even learned how to improve my website. As you can tell from my photos, I did not attend any of the photography classes. I wish I had, so I could have learned to take a picture that did justice to this extraordinary conference.

Next year.

On Sunday afternoon, Don George and I were talking for a few minutes in the parking lot, discussing the previous night--the full moon, karaoke, wine, camaraderie, and finally, that amazing ukulele singalong.

"It was magic," Don said. "Wasn't it?"

Yes, I agreed. It was.

And this is mostly what I learned--that when you take the leap and invest in your passion; when you trust that it'll be worth it, it will be more than worth it.

It will be magic.

###

Register for the 2012 Conference >>

August 9-12, 2012
51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA 94925
(San Francisco Bay Area)

This year's participants will spend four event-filled days in beautiful Northern California writing, workshopping, networking, and perfecting their craft with an internationally acclaimed faculty featuring prize-winning journalists, authors and photographers including Susan Orlean (staff writer at The New Yorker and author of The Orchid Thief, Rin Tin Tin); Andrew McCarthy (Actor, director, and Lowell Thomas Award-winning travel writer); Spud Hilton (Travel Editor at the San Francisco Chronicle); Pauline Frommer (internationally syndicated travel expert and host of The Travel Show with her father Arthur Frommer).

View the complete faculty list >>

Conference Coordinator: Kathryn Petrocelli
(800) 999-7909, ext. 239
Email the coordinator

Register >>

SUSAN ORLEAN, STAFF WRITER AT THE NEW YORKER, AND ACTOR
AND TRAVEL WRITER ANDREW MCCARTHY
JOIN THE FACULTY OF THE 2012 BOOK PASSAGE
TRAVEL WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS CONFERENCE

The 21st Annual Conference in the San Francisco Bay Area

For Travel Writers and Photographers

This year's participants will spend four event-filled days in beautiful Northern California writing, workshopping, networking, and perfecting their craft with an internationally acclaimed faculty featuring prize-winning journalists, authors and photographers including Susan Orlean (staff writer at The New Yorker and author of The Orchid Thief, Rin Tin Tin); Andrew McCarthy (Actor, director, and Lowell Thomas Award-winning travel writer); Spud Hilton (Travel Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle); Pauline Frommer (internationally syndicated travel expert and host of The Travel Show with her father Arthur Frommer). View the complete faculty list >>

Book Passage Bookstore proudly announces the 21st annual Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference. Travel writers, photographers, essayists, bloggers and food and cookbook writers from around the globe will convene at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, just a short drive across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, August 9-12, 2012.

Publishers, magazine editors, photographers, travel essayists, food writers, restauranteurs and guidebook writers will share invaluable insider advice on how to hone your craft, find an agent and get your work published.

There will be many opportunities for faculty and participants to talk, laugh, and exchange ideas in workshops, lunches, and at evening events. Participants and faculty will dine together outdoors in the glorious summer weather the first evening, while subsequent evenings will allow for optional excursions to an array of outstanding dining options for which the Bay Area is so well known.

Alumna, and now widely-published travel writer and photographer, April Orcutt says, "Don George, John Flinn, Larry Habegger, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Lynn Ferrin, Robert Holmes and other instructors at the conference taught me skills I used in my stories and photographs which have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, Denver Post, Montreal Gazette, other newspapers and three anthologies (including the cover photos of one book).”

The 2012 conference faculty will include agents: Kimberley Cameron (Kimberley Cameron and Associates), Amy Rennert (The Amy Rennert Agency), Andy Ross (Andy Ross Agency); photographers: Robert Holmes (three-time winner of Travel Photographer of the Year from the Society of American Travel Writers), Andrea Johnson (award-winning photographer and video producer), Jeff Pflueger (New York Times, National Geographic), Stuart Schwartz (photographer specializing in people photography for advertising and corporate clients); food and culinary pros: Dianne Jacob (judge for the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals), Shelley Lindgren (Wine Director/Owner for SPQR in San Francisco),  Jessie Poshepny (Trione Vineyards & Winery),  (Peter Schaf and John Troia (international absinthe experts); authors, journalists and editors: Jim Benning, Cara Black, Julia Cosgrove, Phil Cousineau, Andrew Evans, David Farley, Chris Gray Faust, Pauline Frommer,  Grace Fujimoto, Don George, Peter Greenberg, Larry Habegger, Georgia Hesse, Spud Hilton, Sarah Juckniess, Irvin Lin, Pam Mandel, Oksana Marafioti, Andrew McCarthy, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Loren Mooney, Susan Orlean, Robert Reid, Michael Shapiro, Julia Flynn Siler

The cost of the four-day Conference is $635. Optional 30-minute private consultations are available for $95. For complete details, a full schedule, faculty list, accommodations, or to register, please visit the Conference homepage on the Web at http://www.bookpassage.com/travel-writers-photographers-conference. You may also contact Conference Coordinator, Kathryn Petrocelli, by phone at (415) 927-0960 ext. 239, or email bpconferences@bookpassage.com.

Elliott Hester, author of Plane Insanity and Adventures of a Continental Drifter, says, "Before signing up for the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference, I had never published a travel article. After soaking up information from the conference faculty, I went home and applied what I'd learned. Thanks to Book Passage, I've written more than 100 articles and two travel memoirs, one of which became a bestseller."

Join the conference on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/bookpassage.travel.conference

Join the conference on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/bp_travel

Book Passage has served the Bay Area for more than 30 years, providing the community with an array of author events, writing and language classes, and highly-respected, annual conferences. A New York Times-reporting bookstore, Book Passage offers a wide variety of books ranging from children’s literature to travel guides, from top-selling fiction to mystery novels, and the business continues to work diligently with community and nonprofit organizations. Book Passage has two stores, one in Corte Madera and a second in the San Francisco Ferry Building.

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.

Susan Orlean's Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend

One of the most popular books at Book Passage this Holiday season is Susan Orlean's Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend (Simon & Schuster, $26.99). It is the story of a dog – a very special dog, as those who attended Orlean's earlier Book Passage event were fascinated and delighted to find out.

Rin Tin Tin was the name given to a puppy found on a WWI battlefield that went on to star in more than twenty films. Extraordinarily popular in the 1920's, Rin Tin Tin was a major movie star, reportedly won an Academy Award, and helped save Warner Brothers from bankruptcy. The dog’s name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherds featured in later films, books, comics, and radio and television programs.

Orlean’s book traces the legacy of not only an entertainment icon, but also a cultural icon which helped shape the changing role of dogs in American society, including military service. In her book, Orlean puts it this way: “I knew I loved the narrative of Rin Tin Tin because it contained so many stories within it: it was a tale of lost families, and of identity, and also of the way we live with animals; it was a story of luck, both good and bad, and the half turns that life takes all the time. It was a story of war as well as a story of amusement. It was an account of how we create heroes and what we want from them. It laid out, through the story of Rin Tin Tin, the whole range of devotion – to ideas and to a companion – as well as the pure, half-magical devotion an animal can have to a person.”

The book also tells the story of the American soldier – one time Oakland resident Lee Duncan, and his special relationship with the orphaned pup whom he found and called Rinty and brought to world fame. Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend is the poignant story of man’s love for man’s best friend. Recently, Susan Orlean took time to answer a few questions from Book Passage staffer & film buff Thomas Gladysz about her bestselling book.

Thomas Gladysz: In your book, you write about the Rin Tin Tin figure which sat on your grandfather’s desk which you admired as a youth. When and how did the idea of writing about Rin Rin Tin come to you as an adult and as a writer?

Susan Orlean: I hadn’t thought about Rin Tin Tin for decades. Then I was working on a story about animals in Hollywood for the New Yorker, and Rin Tin Tin’s name came up, as it inevitably does when you look into that particular subject. I was astonished by how powerful the memory was, and by how many memories rushed back the minute I was reminded of him. When I discovered that his story was far more complex than I had imagined – that he wasn’t merely a television character but in fact a real dog with a long and intricate history, I was fascinated – and immediately convinced that I had to write a book about him.

Thomas Gladysz: Rin Tin Tin was found as a puppy on a WWI battlefield. What was special about the relationship between Rin Tin Tin and the American soldier, Lee Duncan, who became the dog’s original owner & trainer?

Susan Orlean: The bond between devoted owners and dogs is universal. In the case of Lee and Rin Tin Tin, they were almost inseparable from the time they first came together, when the puppy was just a few days old. That gave them an extraordinary connection, as did Lee’s focus on training the dog and spending so much time with him. But there was something else – something that’s impossible to define, that made their connection so intense.

Thomas Gladysz: Lee Duncan was raised in an orphanage in Oakland, and visited there later in life with his famous canine. Does the Bay Area play a significant part in Lee Duncan’s life?

Susan Orlean: Lee’s years in Oakland molded him for life. He was only in the orphanage for four years, but they were formative ones, and even after his mother reclaimed him and took him back to southern California, he remained permanently fused to his memory of his days in Fred Finch. It was central to his character and his emotions. He visited Fred Finch many times throughout the remainder of his life, returning to Oakland as often as he could.

Thomas Gladysz: The early films which feature Rin Tin Tin – especially the silent films – are very entertaining. Rin Tin Tin himself had real charisma, and great athletic ability. Do you think Rinty was in any sense an actor?

Susan Orlean: Yes! He performs not just as a dog responding to commands but as if he had a sense of what he was trying to portray. I don’t think you can teach that; I think the dog had to have had a sense of being observed, of needing to put his heart into his behavior. Once you seen those early films, you can’t help but think he was an actor.

Thomas Gladysz: Your book takes readers through nearly 100 years of history and culture while examining the enduring appeal of Rin Tin Tin. Why do you think the dog, as a character and as a symbol, lasted so long? Could there be a Rin Tin Tin today?

Susan Orlean: Rin Tin Tin has lasted for several reasons. The people who were drawn into his life were unusually committed to the bigger idea of keeping his story alive, rather than what would have been easy — cash in and move on. And he connected with a need and desire the public has had to believe in a heroic character. Could we still feel that today? We’re in the post-heroic period these days, but we may be moving past that. The idea of a hero, of rising above circumstance, braving the risks, being selfless — those are eternal, and even if the last few decades of skepticism and disappointment have made it harder to believe in that, I think people will always want something to dream about. Maybe we’re ready to embrace Rin Tin Tin as that figure once again.

Thomas Gladysz: Finally, there have been many Rin Tin Tins. Do you have a favorite?

Susan Orlean: The dog who starred in the television series was the most beautiful of the Rin Tin Tins, and he was the dog I imprinted on as a kid, so that’s my favorite Rin Tin Tin to gaze at and pine for. But the first Rin Tin Tin is the most charismatic of them all, and his life was so amazing that it’s hard not to be awed by him. And he could jump over the moon.

Fans of Susan Orlean will be pleased to learn that the acclaimed writer has agreed to participate in the 21st annual Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference, which will takes place August 9th through August 12th in Corte Madera. Watch this blog and the Book Passage website for details.