Salons - Left Coast Writers

An Evening with Lonely Planet: Alison Bing

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: An Evening with Lonely Planet: Alison Bing

Monday, January 2, 2012 || 7pm
Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera ||www.bookpassage.com

If you have a thirst for literary adventure, don’t miss our first salon of 2012.

The New Year takes off with a look at the world as we spend an evening with Lonely Planet, the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world.

The company, now owned exclusively by BBC Worldwide, was founded by Maureen and Tony Wheeler in 1973 when they published Across Asia on the Cheap.Originally called Lonely Planet Publications, the company changed its name to Lonely Planet in July 2009 to reflect its broad travel industry offering and the emphasis on digital products. As of 2010, it publishes about 500 titles in 8 languages, as well as TV programs, a magazine, mobile phone applications and websites.

Lonely Planet author, Alison Bing, will be our guide as we explore the globe, travel writing, and the literary landscape … Lonely Planet style.

Literary Salon: Peter Lang

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: Peter Lang, Social Media Strategist and CEO of Uhuru Network

Monday, December 5, 2011 || 7pm
Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera ||www.bookpassage.com

Wondering about websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and so on and how they can possibly help you get the word out about your work? We’ve asked Social Media Strategist and CEO of Uhuru Network, Peter Lang, to come to the Bay Area for the second time this year (he was also at the Book Passage Travel Food and Photography Conference) to share his knowledge and demystify the social media and online worlds for you.

Peter is co-founder, CEO and lead strategist of Uhuru Network. He is also a co-creator and English author at Tricksfacebook.com, a multilingual tech blog focused on Facebook; co-creator and photographer for Stylishlyme.com, a personal fashion / travel blog; and co-creator of the LingoYou educational project, which uses blogging in high schools to connect and create a global conversation between two schools with different languages.

He built his first computer at the age of 10. By the time he graduated with a Degree in International Business and a Certificate in Finance, this dynamic young business consultant and new media strategist had already created a marketing department for one of the largest logistic brokers in the U.S., worked with the World Trade Organization as a lobbyist for a major growers’ association, and served as Operations Director for an up-and-coming educational and environmental non-profit. He served as President of his college fraternity and studied strategic marketing, international logistics, and international management at the ESCE (Ecole Superieure du Commerce Exterieur) in Paris. As an assistant in the computer lab for his college Engineering Department, he created servers, built networks, advised on all upgrades and conversions, and trained faculty and students on the equipment for 7 labs housing hundreds of computers.

“I believe we’re in the midst of the biggest opportunity since the industrial revolution,” says Peter. “My goal is to take away the stress and fear of social media. The internet is an outstanding resource for people and information. I love removing barriers so that clients can address it professionally, responsibly, fearlessly and with curiosity and spontaneity. Networks bring people closer together. They facilitate opportunities and help us find people with similar ideas and passions. That’s power. They increase our capabilities and our reach. They remind us that we are not alone.”

Today, he brings his far-ranging travels and experience to bear in his work teaching and advising in the areas of new technology and social media strategy. Through Uhuru Network, Peter and his team are designing communication experiences and tools centered on what their partners hope to achieve with a focus on strategy, content development, graphic design, and online skill development. Peter Lang is changing lives, supplying businesses with the tools to navigate the rapidly changing netscape and teaching young and old a whole new “LANGuage.”

Literary Salon: Jasmin Darznik

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: Jasmin Darznik, Author of The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother’s Hidden Life

Monday, November 7, 2011 || 7pm
Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera ||www.bookpassage.com

Please join us for an evening with one of our favorite writers: New York Times best selling author, Jasmin Darznik, who got her start right here at Book Passage in Corte Madera.

Jasmin’s first book, The Good Daughter : A Memoir of My Mother’s Hidden Life, was published in January 2011 by Grand Central. It was a New York Times Bestseller and will be published in thirteen countries. The book has just been released in paperback.

Jasmin is an award-winning essayist and short story writer whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and other publications.

She was born in Tehran, Iran, grew up in Marin County, and received her Ph.D. in English from Princeton University. She is a professor of English and creative writing at Washington and Lee University and has also taught Iranian literature at the University of Virginia. As a 2011-2012 fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, she’s now at work on a novel set in 1960s Iran.

The Good Daughter was first conceived in a Book Passage workshop led by Linda Watanabe McFerrin. She counts the aforementioned Linda Watanabe McFerrin as her best teacher, ever.

For more about Jasmin and her book you can visit www.jasmindarznik.com

Here’s what reviewers are saying about The Good Daughter.

“An eye-opening account that disturbs with its depiction of the place
of women in Iranian society, but warms the heart in its portrayal of
their gritty endurance.”—Kirkus

“Riveting.” —Vogue

“Superb … riveting … a moving tribute.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Literary Salon: Laurie McLean

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: Laurie McLean, Agent

Monday, October 3, 2011 || 7pm

Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera ||www.bookpassage.com

Get the scoop on the latest trends in publishing and what agents are looking for these days from our October speaker, Laurie McLean.

Laurie McLean joined the Larsen Pomada Agency in 2005 following a 20-year stint as the CEO of a successful Silicon Valley public relations agency. Laurie was able to switch gears in 2002 to immerse herself in writing. She penned three manuscripts, and if that wasn’t enough, decided that the life of a literary agent would be the perfect complement to her duties as a writer of fantasy and romance.

Laurie has been writing professionally since high school—first as a journalist, then as a public relations agent. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the State University of New York and a Master’s Degree at Syracuse University’s prestigious Newhouse School of Journalism.

Laurie specializes in adult genre fiction (romance, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, westerns, horror, etc.) plus middle-grade and young adult children’s books.

For more on Laurie, check out her blog at www.agentsavant.com.

Literary Salon: Spud Hilton

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: Spud Hilton, San Francisco Chronicle Travel Editor

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 || 7pm

Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera || www.bookpassage.com

Back from those summer travels? Maybe it’s time to write about them. And what better way to find out how than during a relaxing evening with Spud Hilton.

Spud Hilton is the travel editor of The San Francisco Chronicle, where in the past 10 years he has written about, reported on and been hopelessly lost in destinations on five continents. His attempts to divine, describe and defy the expectations of places — from Havana’s back alleys to Genoa’s churches to the floor of a hippie bus in Modesto — have earned five Lowell Thomas Awards, and have appeared in more than 60 newspapers in North America, several of which are still publishing. Spud also writes the Bad Latitude travel blog at SFGate.com, and is working on a book. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Ann, and he plays cornet in an early New Orleans traditional jazz band.

Our Tuesday night salon (Monday is Labor Day) will be a super intro to this talented writer and editor. Writers who want to spend more time with Spud can sign up for an evening with him at Book Passage in the Ferry Plaza where they will learn how to “chart their story’s course.”

Literary Salon: Kelly Booth

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: Kelly Booth, Creative Director at Weldon Owen Publishing

Monday, August 1, 2011 || 7pm

Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera ||www.bookpassage.com

Let’s get wildly creative. Kelly Booth, Creative Director at Weldon Owen Publishing will show us how.

A life-long traveler, Kelly Booth was once told by a Cuban Santeria that her work would be translated into many languages—a prediction that came true. As an award-winning Creative Director at Weldon Owen Publishing in San Francisco, a large number of the books she helps to create are published and distributed internationally. The global phenomenon Show Me How, a visual how-to guide, has been translated into more than 25 languages and sold in over 30 different countries including China, Turkey, and Brazil.

Flip through that book, and you might spot an illustrated version of Kelly showing you how to samba dance in Rio’s Carnival, or throw knives in Pen and Teller’s Las Vegas show. Those are two examples of the experiences she collects anytime her lust for adventure lures her into another pungent, frozen, dangerous, or dazzling locale. The mountains of northern Peru turned up an especially surprising episode involving a witch doctor—Kelly’s account of that incident was anthologized in A Woman’s Path: Women’s Best Spiritual Travel Writing.

Always drawing inspiration from those far flung explorations, Kelly now leads a talented ensemble of artists and designers who collaborate closely with authors and editors to create visually compelling books and digital editions on a wide range of topics such as sex, fashion, science, and zombies—though thankfully, not usually at the same time. Some of the team’s recent bestselling titles include Parenting Magazine’s The Happiest Mom, and Field & Stream’s Total Outdoorsman Manual.

A graduate of the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, Kelly is also an accomplished fine artist who has served as Artist-In-Residence with the US Department of the Interior at Buffalo National River, and at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley California. Her art works have been shown internationally, at venues such as SFMOMA Artist’s Gallery, Art House Co-op in Brooklyn, New York, and GRID 09 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Literary Salon: Sheldon Siegel

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: Sheldon Siegel, Author of Perfect Alibi

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 || 7pm

Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera ||www.bookpassage.com

It’ll be a thrilling evening as mystery writer Sheldon Siegel takes the stand to share his observations about writing that keeps us on the edge of our seats and about the state of the book business, which is not without its own twists and turns.

A native of Chicago, Sheldon Siegel earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois in 1976 and graduated from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley in 1983. He has been in private practice in San Francisco for over twenty years and specializes in corporate and securities law with the firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP. Perfect Alibi is the seventh novel in his series of critically acclaimed, best-selling courtroom dramas featuring San Francisco criminal defense attorneys Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez. His books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into eight languages.

In Perfect Alibi Mike and Rosie are again called to defend a would-be murderer, this time the boyfriend of their teenage daughter, Grace, who could be the young man’s perfect alibi. However, there are many skeletons in the boy’s family closets and some of those boney fingers are pointing at him.
Sheldon lives in Marin County with his wife, Linda, and twin sons, Alan and Stephen.

He is co-chair for the Mystery Writers Conference at Book Passage, July 21-24, 2011.

Don’t forget: Left Coast Writers get a conference discount!

If you want to bring a friend to this event, just let us know and we will be happy to add them to the guest list.

Literary Salon: Roger Housden

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: Roger Housden, Author of Saved by Beauty: Adventures of an American Romantic in Iran

Monday, June 6, 2011 || 7pm

Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera || www.bookpassage.com

We invite you to step out and into the “creative pause,” a chance to relax and listen in on the secrets of writing, travel, discovery, beauty and engaging the heart with one of our favorite philosopher-writers: Roger Housden.

Roger Housden is the author of some twenty books, including the best-selling Ten Poems Series. All his books, whatever the subject – poetry, art, a journey through Iran or India – share a common aim: to inspire himself and others to question the way we live, encouraging us, before we die, to live into the best that we are. One of his recent works, Seven Sins For a Life Worth Living, is an unusual reflection on the nature of pleasure, including the pleasure of doing nothing – “the creative pause” – and the pleasure of not being perfect. His book on Iran, Saved by Beauty: Adventures of an American Romantic in Iran, has been called “a pilgrimage, a prayer, a heartfelt reminder, a poet-traveler’s window into the eternal soul of Iran …” (Jack Kornfield, best-selling author of A Path With Heart and After the Ecstasy, The Laundry).

Roger’s work has been featured many times in The Oprah Magazine, in The New York Times, and in the Los Angeles Times. He now lives in Marin County and runs periodic classes on Spiritual Memoir in the Bay Area.

“I grew up in the cleft of a Cotswold valley on the edge of Bath, England. Living in the shadow of an ancient stone circle, I always felt us to be creatures with one foot in this world and one in another, less visible one. To weave these two realms – this gritty world of action and the world of silence, imagination, and being – into one cloth, rich with meaning, is what I feel we are here for. Poetry, art, meditation and also travel have given me a language for this experience of a life deeply felt, and also an entry directly into it.”

—Roger Housden, Author of Saved by Beauty: Adventures of an American Romantic in Iran

If you want to bring a friend to this event, just let us know and we will be happy to add them to the guest list.

Literary Salon: James Patterson

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: James J. Patterson, noted musician, Co-Founder of Alan Squire Publishing and Author of Bermuda Shorts

Monday, May 2, 2011 || 7pm

Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera || www.bookpassage.com

We’re ecstatic about a VERY SPECIAL guest publisher and author visiting from Washington D.C. and hope you will join us for a lively evening of humor and celebration. In honor of James Patterson’s visit, we will be opening the salon to your special guests … just let us know (leftcoastwriters@aol.com) who you want to add to the guest list.

James J. Patterson grew up with a foot planted in each of two worlds — one in Washington DC, the Capital of the Empire as he calls it, and one in rural Ontario, where his Canadian mother insisted the family spend their summers. His father, one of the wizards of 20th Century newspaper publishing, introduced him to the city’s wheels of money and power, which he would later navigate as an entrepreneur, starting his first business at 20. But those Canadian summers introduced him to a different world – one where a cedar strip boat was better than any car, and where the ghosts of those who’d previously inhabited the family’s island house floated out over the water of Lovesick Lake. It is those two worlds that blend in Bermuda Shorts, a collection on what it means to be a man, an artist, an iconoclast, a patriot, and a lover, as the 20th Century rolls over into the 21st.

In clothing, Bermuda Shorts are casual formal wear – and in this collection of essays, Bermuda Shorts is the perfect metaphor for James J. Patterson’s fundamentally serious but playful literary style. Patterson writes like the love child of Henry Miller and Mary Karr, with all the contradictions that implies —a philosopher who thinks best over a glass of fine wine; an ex-Catholic still
haunted by the image of the Crucifixion; an irreverent political satirist whose patriotism flies the flag of another iconoclast, Thomas Paine.

A life long student of history, philosophy and politics, Patterson has managed country bands, delivered newspapers, adapted Sherlock Holmes short stories for radio plays, and published a highly regarded sports magazine. As a singer-songwriter, Patterson was half of the political satire folk music duo, The Pheromones, one of the first acts to be featured on MTV and one of the last bands to play on American Bandstand. With the Pheromones, he toured the US for over fifteen years.

Alan Squire Publishing (Patterson’s independent press) also published Oakland author Joanna Biggar (That Paris Year).

Trust us: You will NOT want to miss this evening.

Literary Salon: Scott James

LEFT COAST WRITERS LITERARY SALON: Scott James, New York Times Columnist and Author of Soma and The Sower

Monday, April 4, 2011 || 7pm
Book Passage || Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Drive, Corte Madera || www.bookpassage.com

Laurie McAndish King fills in as host for Linda Watanabe McFerrin at the April salon when Scott James, New York Times columnist and author of SoMa and The Sower shares “Insights From the Front Lines of Publishing.”

There seem to be game-changing headlines about writing every day: ebooks, blogels, print-on-demand, pay walls, DIY. How do you sort it all out? Scott James has worked with both mainstream publishers and the latest technologies that allow writers to reach readers directly. James will share his experiences in both realms, plus offer a frank discussion about the opportunities and challenges in this time of transition in the publishing world. (more…)

An Evening with Lonely Planet: Alison Bing

Literary Salon: Jasmin Darznik

Literary Salon: Laurie McLean

Literary Salon: Spud Hilton

Literary Salon: Kelly Booth

Literary Salon: Sheldon Siegel

Literary Salon: Roger Housden

Literary Salon: James Patterson

Literary Salon: Scott James

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