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Announcements

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Hawaii Book & Music Festival and 5th Annual Mokule’ia Writers Retreat 🗓

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Hawaii Book & Music Festival: May 6-7, 2017 The Mokulē‘ia Writers Retreat: May 7-12, 2017 Join me this month for two terrific events for writers events in Hawaii. The Mokulē‘ia Writers Retreat is an annual gathering that brings three dozen writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, and memoir to the North Shore of O‘ahu for a week of intimate workshops and coaching. The retreat is high-level and professional — but also low-key and tuned in to the beauty of the surroundings. It fosters an exchange in two directions — between islanders and mainlanders, published writers and budding writers, Native Hawaiian artistry and mainland publishing. With the Waianae Mountains as a backdrop and the open ocean in front, participants break bread with colleagues, gather in daily workshops, salute the morning sun in yoga, write privately in the shade of ironwood trees, and wander along the beach. They even dance some hula. The theme, nā wahi ho‘oulu, acknowledges that a sacred spot like this will inspire the assembled to explore other places — whether in the heart, in memory, or in the moment.

Workshop: Writing Sexy Stuff with Linda Watanabe McFerrin and Laurie McAndish King

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Saturday, January 21st, 2017 || 10am-4pm Book Passage-Corte Madera|| 51 Tamal Vista Dr. Corte Madera || www.bookpassage.com If you have trouble steaming up the page or even your life, this is the workshop for you. Spend a day learning the techniques for adding spicy, sensual, and sometimes funny sizzle to your work and your days. The class is full of quick free-writes and entertaining exercises that will have you moving from comfort to erogenous zones in no time. A careful investigation will also reveal that you can receive Dominican College credit for this workshop. The workshop will be held on Saturday, January 21st, from 10am-4pm at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, CA, 94925.  Sign up here. Poet, travel writer, novelist and Left Coast Writers® founder Linda Watanabe McFerrin (www.lwmcferrin.com) is a contributor to numerous newspapers, magazines and anthologies. She is the author of two poetry collections, past editor of a popular Northern California guidebook and a winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. Her novel, Namako: Sea Cucumber, was named Best Book for the Teen-Age by the New York Public Library. In addition to authoring an award-winning short story collection, The Hand of Buddha, she has co-edited several anthologies, including the Hot Flashes: sexy little stories & poems series. Her latest novel, Dead Love (Stone Bridge Press, 2009), was short-listed as a finalist in the 2007 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Competition and was a Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Superior Achievement in a Novel in 2009. Linda has judged the San Francisco Literary Awards, the Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence and the Kiriyama Prize, served as a visiting mentor for the Loft Mentor Series and been guest faculty at the Oklahoma Arts Institute. A past NEA Panelist and juror for the Marin Literary Arts Council, she has led workshops in Greece, France, Italy, Ireland, Central America, Indonesia and the United States and has mentored a long list of accomplished writers and best-selling authors toward publication.  Laurie McAndish King grew up in rural Iowa, studied science and philosophy at Cornell College, and has

Small Business Saturday with Left Coast Writers 🗓

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Saturday, November 26th, 2016 Small Business Saturday: Meet the Authors from Left Coast Writers® Small Business Saturday has been gaining momentum each year to the point where it has now become the day for customers to discover the independent merchants in their community. (Forget Black Friday and Cyber Monday; they are so over!). This year, we decided to celebrate the day by introducing authors from one of our favorite writing communities, Left Coast Writers®. These are authors who, for the most part, have written and celebrated their work through programs at Book Passage and have learned the ins and outs of being a small business with the help of this bookstore. Meet these creative writers and find out more about Left Coast Writers®, Path to Publishing and books in general. We’ll have representatives from our programs available to answer your questions and authors on hand to entertain you. 10:00 – 12:00: Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Dead Love Left Coast Writers® Founder Linda Watanabe McFerrin (www.lwmcferrin.com) is the editor and author of award winning poetry, travel essays and fiction (Namako, The Hand of Buddha, and Dead Love).       Joanna Biggar, That Paris Year Joanna Biggar is a writer, teacher and traveler whose articles and essays have appeared in hundreds of publications. She is also a poet and novelist and the co-founder and editor of Wanderland Writers.

Left Coast Writers at Litquake San Rafael 2016 🗓

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Saturday October 8, 2016 1:45pm – 2:45pm In Her Shoes 1344 4th Street San Rafael, CA 94901 SF/Bay Area Lit lovers: Left Coast Writers will  be part of the LITCRAWL in San Rafael on Saturday, at In Her Shoes on 4th Street. Please join LCW founder Linda Watanabe McFerrin, as moderator, and a great group of Left Coast Writers for Writing on the Edge. Tell your friends and come early! Readings from the best of Left Coast Writers: Writing on the Edge with Todd Crawshaw, Laurie McAndish King, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, MJ Pramik, and Jonathan Taylor. San Francisco’s literary legacy has always held a strong North Bay connection, dating back to the Beats, Jack London, and Mark Twain.  Litquake San Rafael returns to the downtown 4th Street corridor of cafés, restaurants, and shops, featuring Bay Area writers in this day-long series of free readings and open-mic events. FREE Click here for the complete schedule.

Workshop: Writing Sexy Stuff with Linda Watanabe McFerrin

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Saturday, February 13th, 2016 || 10am-4pm Book Passage-Corte Madera|| 51 Tamal Vista Dr. Corte Madera || www.bookpassage.com Treat yourself or a loved one to something extra-special for Valentine’s Day.If you have trouble steaming up the page, this is the workshop for you. Spend a day with poet, travel writer and novelist Linda Watanabe McFerrin loosening up and learning the techniques for adding spicy, sensual, and sometimes hilarious sizzle to your work. The class is full of quick free-writes and entertaining exercises that will have you moving from comfort zones to erogenous zones in no time. Linda’s workshops have ushered may a writer into the award circle and bestseller spotlight. She’s the founder of Left Coast Writers® and co-editor of the Hot Flashes: Sexy Little Stories and Poems series. The workshop fee includes, champagne, chocolate, and copious creativity. A careful investigation will also reveal that you can receive Dominican College credit for this workshop. The workshop will be held on Saturday, February 13th, from 10am-4pm at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, CA, 94925.  Sign up here. Poet, travel writer, novelist and Left Coast Writers® founder Linda Watanabe McFerrin (www.lwmcferrin.com) is a contributor to numerous newspapers, magazines and anthologies. She is the author of two poetry collections, past editor of a popular Northern California guidebook and a winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. Her novel, Namako: Sea Cucumber, was named Best Book for the Teen-Age by the New York Public Library. In addition to authoring an award-winning short story collection, The Hand of Buddha, she has co-edited several anthologies, including the Hot Flashes: sexy little stories & poems series. Her latest novel, Dead Love (Stone

Wandering in Cornwall reading at A Great Good Place for Books

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Reading with Wanderland Writers at A Great Good Place for Books, Authors of Wandering in Cornwall: Mystery, Mirth, and Transformation in the Land of the Ancient Celts Wednesday, January 20th, 2016 || 7pm A Great Good Place for Books|| 6120 LaSalle Avenue Oakland, CA 94611 || http://www.ggpbooks.com/ It’s another Wanderland Writers celebration. Wine, snacks, readings, and a brand new book in the Wandering series. This time Wanderland Writers venture deep into Cornwall, exploring its castles, its contrast. They find, of course, its legacy of Camelot, the lingering shadows of Arthurian legend, tragic love, magic, and Merlin. They also find its sorrows, buried deep in its history like the now closed mines, where the windswept moors and jagged coasts made everyday events of shipwrecks, isolation, and cave-ins. Yet, as workshop leaders Joanna Biggar and Linda Watanabe McFerrin and their fellow travelers discover, that is not the whole story. They also encounter the wonderful and hospitable Cornish, with their enchanting accents, their delightful yarns, their humor, their endurance. They wander, bicycle, hike and kayak to explore hills, waterways, villages and moors in search of the spirit of artists and writers who have come before them to leave an imprint on this untamed land. “Wandering in Cornwall is a beguiling collection of stories and poems about the extreme west of England. Everything that makes Cornwall so special is here: pasties, clotted cream artists, smugglers, the South West Coast Path and even the thieving seagulls. Readers who know Cornwall will be inspired to return and newcomers to this land of myth and legend will vow to see it for themselves.” —Hilary Bradt MBE, Co-founder of Bradt Travel Guides “Careful, reader. This book is a delight, no doubt about it. But now I have to go to Cornwall.” —Tim Cahill, Author of Jaguars Ripped My Flesh and Hold the Enlightenment

Workshop: Making a Scene with Linda Watanabe McFerrin

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Making a Scene Workshop with Linda Watanabe McFerrin Saturday, December 12th, 2015, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Location: Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera, CA 94925 $120 Register here In this one-day workshop, you’ll learn to balance setting, character, and dialogue to create stellar scenes. Some of the exercises have given birth to award-winning work by past participants. Bring your laptop and/or paper and pen and discover how a good writer takes center stage on the page and holds it. Poet, travel writer, and novelist Linda Watanabe McFerrin (www.lwmcferrin.com) is a contributor to numerous newspapers,

Workshop: Building Character with Linda Watanabe McFerrin

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Saturday, November 14th, 2015 || 10am-4pm Book Passage-Corte Madera|| 51 Tamal Vista Dr. Corte Madera || www.bookpassage.com Character-driven—it’s one way to ensure that your writing is compelling. But how do you create characters that captivate a reader? Digging up all you’ll need to know to create characters that jump from the page can be as complicated as a covert operation. So let’s put on our best sleuthing attire and gather the info on our protagonists, antagonists, confidantes, love interests and assorted supporting characters. This workshop includes plenty of in-class exercises and amusing tips on craft. Bring pages to read and work on. A careful investigation will also reveal that you can receive Dominican College credit for this workshop. The workshop will be held on Saturday, November 14th, from 10am-4pm at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, CA, 94925.  Sign up here. Poet, travel writer, novelist and Left Coast Writers® founder Linda Watanabe McFerrin (www.lwmcferrin.com) is a contributor to numerous newspapers, magazines and anthologies. She is the author of two poetry collections, past editor of a popular Northern California guidebook and a winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. Her novel, Namako: Sea Cucumber, was named Best Book for the Teen-Age by the New YorkPublic Library. In addition to authoring an award-winning short story collection, The Hand of Buddha, she has co-edited several anthologies, including the Hot Flashes: sexy little stories & poems series. Her latest novel, Dead Love (Stone Bridge

Litquake San Rafael 2015

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Litquake San Rafael | Sunday, Oct. 11th Downtown San Rafael | 10am-7:15pm Litquake is upon us again and we have a number of Left Coast Writers shaking things up in San Rafael this year. LCW Founder, Linda Watanabe McFerrin will be reading with Laurie McAndish King, Debbie Goelz, Mary Brent Cantarutti, and Toni Picininni to answer the question “Erotic Relationships: What Makes the Heart Grow?” amid a dazzling array of exotic, erotic lingerie at Pleasures of the Heart. (http://www.litquake.org/…/erotic-relationships-what-makes-h…). Cyra McFadden (“The Serial”) will serve up “The Morning After: Stories of Dish and Revenge”. Book Passage co-owner and author Bill Petrocelli will tell “Tales Worth Telling”.

Southern Sampler Artists Colony 2016!

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Southern Sampler Artists Colony presents: The Heart in Art, 2016 Charleston, South Carolina April 20 – 27, 2016 Words . . . Images . . . Music Inspiring ties and friendly tides of the South Carolina Lowcountry Want to experience the real Charleston, celebrate belonging with new and old friends, discover the Gullah culture, bask in creative renewal, and feel the sand between your toes? Join us! Heartfelt Workshop Experiences: Writers Workshops Workshops are taught by award-winning author, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, as well as individual consults on your literary and creative projects. McLeod Plantation Gain a fresh historical perspective of the Lowcountry, from the cultivation of indigo to sea island cotton and lives of freed slaves. We’ll also tie-dye with indigo, plantation style, and invent our own fifty shades of blue! Threads that Bind Create a SSAC indigo quilt with Sharon Cooper-Murray, aka The Gullah Lady. Yes, we’ll use the fabric dyed at McLeod Plantation! The quilt will be dedicated to the spirit of the twelve people who gathered at Emanuel AME Church to study the scripture and whose congregation led the world in forgiveness. Music Café Evening We’ll clap; sway and feel the spirit moving. Praise Be to a celebration of music, food, wine, and most of all company, in the historic home of Charleston friends. SSAC Anthology Launch Gala Raise a glass to Charleston & the South, A Sampler of Stories . . . Poetry . . . Recipes & Art, and get ready to dance. In addition to classic swing tunes, Mary Edna

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