COME ONE, COME ALL to help us Celebrate the Joy of Shared Reading…

By Lynn Henriksen, President WNBA-SF

 …and the chance to win delicious raffle prizes donated by several neighborhood merchants, including Pacific Catch, Max’s, Ciao Bella, Izzy’s, and Book Passage. We’ll also toast our 10 sister chapters around the country with a wee bit o’ the bubbly and sparkling water.

Three superb novelists are the main attraction, of course, for our 3^rd annual National Reading Group Month event at Book Passage in Corte Madera on Thursday, October 15^th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

I promise you that the evening will be spirited, informative, and entertaining with Tanya Egan Gibson, C.W. Gortner, and Kathi Kamen Goldmark front and center. C.W. Gortner will bring you insight into his intriguing and highly adventurous historical novel, The Last Queen, and what’s next from him. Kathi will read about one fabulous character (her health-food-obsessed mom, Betty) from both a fictional and a nonfiction perspective. Kathi warns, “Bring your own wheat grass juice.” Tanya will moderate the evening, read, and talk about writing her critically acclaimed debut novel, How to Buy a Love of Reading, where you’re sure to fall in love with reading all over again. We aren’t suggesting the love of reading is something to be bought, but we know you’ll be inspired to buy these authors’ praise-worthy books.

      Many thanks to our partners for this event: Book Passage for their steadfast support of authors,  books, and writing; and Whole Foods Market of Mill Valley for providing specialty foods. 

 ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Tanya Egan Gibson’s debut novel, How to Buy a Love of Reading, was release in May, 2009. She was born and raised on Long Island’s south shore, the“Egg”-less side of the island Fitzgerald didn’t write about. She earned a B.A. in English from Cornell University and an M.A. from the University of Washington. She began writing How to Buy a Love of Reading ten years ago, while teaching high school English. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two children.

Kathi Kamen Goldmark is the author of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You, a novel; co-author of The Great Rock & Roll Joke Book, and Mid-Life Confidential: the Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude; and has contributed essays to several anthologies—including Feed Me! (edited by Harriet Brown). With her husband, Sam Barry, she writes a monthly aspiring-writer-advice column in BookPage called “The Author Enablers.” A 2007 San Francisco Library Laureate and winner of the 2008 National Women’s Book Association award, Kathi is the founder and a member of the all-author rock band the Rock Bottom Remainders, president and janitor of “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” Records, Author Liaison for many high-profile literary events—including Book Group Expo and the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library annual Laureates Dinner—and the producer of the nationally-distributed radio show West Coast Live.  

C. W. Gortner is the author of The Last Queen (Ballantine Books). This book takes a look at the life of Juana of Castile, the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country’s throne, and it is highly praised by Publisher’s Weekly. Half-Spanish by birth, Gortner holds an M.F.A. in writing, with an emphasis on historical studies, from the New College of California and has taught university courses on women of power in the Renaissance.  He was raised in Málaga, Spain, and now lives in California.  He is currently at work on his next book, which is about Catherine de Medici and will be released by Ballantine Books in 2010.  Visit him at www.cwgortner.com.

REVIEWS OF AUTHORS’ BOOKS:

Our own Elisa Southard showered this praise on Goldmark, “The novel, And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You by Kathi Kamen Goldmark, was written with a lot of style. Goldmark explored family issues with wonderful rhythm, compassion, and humor, as the protagonist, Sarah Jean Pixlie, gets her big break in the country music scene. And if you love Northern California, this is a local read that will take your imagination far.”

My reviews for Gibson and Gortner:

Captivating Throne of Passion, Juana la Loca of Spain: Juana’s courage, strength, and passion amazed me as The Last Queen came of age so vividly under C.W. Gortner’s admirable pen. This historical novel is fraught with crushing battles of power and chilling intrigue throughout the courts of her parents, Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, and of her husband, Philip of Flanders, as the Infanta of Spain attempts to take her rightful place on the thrown she inherited from her mother.

My soul was struck as I witnessed…click here for complete review.

Can’t buy me love, no, no, no, no: I would characterize Tanya Egan Gibson’s delicious debut novel, How to Buy a Love of Reading, as love stories between three couples even though ‘love story’ isn’t the premise of her book. Or is it?  But these love stories come with a twist, wherein the power of choice prevails as the characters literally rewrite their stories, their lives, and their fate. Actually there are three tales of love within two parallel stories.

In this is complex novel Gibson’s characters are very much…click here for complete review.

Women’s National Book Association Names Rock Bottom Remainder Founder 2008 WNBA Award Recipient

Kathi Kamen Goldmark to receive award in ceremony planned for November 8, 2008.

The Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) has named author, musician and Rock Bottom Remainders founder Kathi Kamen Goldmark recipient of its 2008 WNBA Award. A reception in her honor will take place on Saturday, November 8th at 4:30PM in San Francisco.

Dedicated to promoting literacy, a love of reading and women’s careers in the world of books, the Women’s National Book Association presents the WNBA Award every other year to honor a living American woman who derives part or all of her income from books and the allied arts and who has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the responsibilities of her profession.

Past WNBA Award recipients include Eleanor Roosevelt, Patricia Schroeder, Nancy Pearl and, in 2006, Dr. Perri Klass, the pediatrician-author, who was recognized for her role as medical director of Reach Out and Read, a internationally recognized literacy program for children.

You are invited to a

WNBA-SF Mixer

Network & Nosh

Thurs., Sept. 4, 7 p.m.

hosted by

Kepler’s Books & Magazines

1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, 650-324-4321

WNBA 2008 Pannell Award Winner

Come Mix & Mingle

wine and hors d’oeuvres reception for WNBA-SF members and guests

Rsvp president at wnba-sfchapter.org by Sept. 1

Please join us for our kick-off event of WNBA-SF 2008/09 year for a WNBA-SF Mixer on Sept. 4, 7 p.m. at Kepler’s Book Store in Menlo Park. This is a membership networking opportunity as well as a celebration of Kepler’s Books receiving the Pannell Award from WNBA. The Lucile Micheels Pannell Award is given annually since 1983 to bookstores that excel in contributing to their communities in ways that bring books and young people together. The 50-year-old bookstore closed for a month in 2005, but a combination of community support and revitalized in-store strategies brought the business back to life. Refreshments will be served on the red carpet in the newly renovated Kids Korner and members of the Kepler’s staff will be on hand to discuss the world of words with WNBA-SF members and guests. A wine and hors d’oeuvres reception for WNBA-SF members and guests is being provided by Kepler’s Books. RSVP to president at wnba-sfchapter.org by Sept. 1 to allow us to adequately prepare for all of our guests attending this event.

WNBA-SF Board Meeting: All WNBA-SF members are welcome to join us for our WNBA-SF Board meeting which will be held at Kepler’s at 6 p.m. before the Mixer. Contact Mary at president at wnba-sfchapter.org for a copy of the agenda, or if you have something to add to the agenda.