Events - Left Coast Writers

Workshop: Expanding Travel Writing to Fiction with Linda Watanabe McFerrin

Expanding Travel Writing to Fiction Workshop
with Linda Watanabe McFerrin
Saturday, February 7th, 2015, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera, CA 94925
$140 (includes copy of Dead Love)

You love writing beautifully about place, but as markets shrink, you might want to stretch your horizons. The great news is that, in an age where navigating the globe has never been more important, fabulous settings—along with super dialog—have become one of the keys to the best fiction, both speculative and reality-based. So leap into this bold new travel writing terrain.

Join award-winning travel writer and novelist, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, in a workshop designed to show you how to take your writing about place to a whole new dimension that is out of this world. Exciting info on craft, exercises, and work on your individual projects are all part of this day-long adventure.

Students will receive a complimentary copy of Dead Love (with slipcover) on the day of class.

Poet, travel writer, and novelist Linda Watanabe McFerrin (www.lwmcferrin.com) is a contributor to numerous newspapers, magazines and anthologies. Her novel, Namako: Sea Cucumber, was named Best Book for the Teen-Age by the New York Public Library. In addition to (more…)

WRITING SEXY STUFF
with Linda Watanabe McFerrin
Saturday, January 24th, 2015, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera, CA 94925
$120

Does having to write sexy stuff make you a little nervous? It’s time to overcome your trepidation. 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. Whether you write commercial or literary fiction, poetry, screenplays, plays, creative nonfiction or even journalism, there are times when you want to be able to subtly articulate the sensual/sexual realm of experience with greater finesse, humor and originality. 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.

Award-winning poet, travel writer, and novelist, Linda Watanabe McFerrin has also served as the editor for eight literary anthologies and a California guidebook. Linda has judged the San Francisco Literary Awards, the Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence and the Kiriyama (more…)

Book Launch: Places in Time by Maxine Rose Schur

LEFT COAST WRITERS BOOK LAUNCH: Places in Time: Reflections on a Journey 2nd Edition by Maxine Rose Schur

Saturday, February 14th, 2015 || 7pm
Book Passage-Corte Madera|| 51 Tamal Vista Dr. Corte Madera ||
www.bookpassage.com

For years readers have delighted in Maxine Rose Schur’s award-winning travel essays. Now, all the tales of her unusual honeymoon are gathered in one illustrated volume. Whether camping in the center of Paris, dangling off a Panamanian tramp steamer, or hitching across Australia, her tales are funny, exciting and tender.

Maxine Rose Schur set out to see the world. With high spirits and little money, she traveled not only far geographically, but emotionally, toward the hearts of others. She faced the violent grief of a Mexican sheriff, celebrated a wild elopement in Turkey and was initiated into a mysterious daily ritual with an Iranian forest ranger. Looking back, she tempers her youthful encounters with mid-life wisdom, capturing the spirit of all those she met, and evoking cherished places in time.

If you’re looking for travel writing that blends gentle insight with delicious surprise, fasten the seatbelt on your armchair and come along.

Maxine Rose Schur is a children’s book author and travel journalist. Her essays have appeared in numerous publications including The Los (more…)

Literary Salon: Tom Christensen

LEFT COAST WRITERS® LITERARY SALON: Tom Christensen, Author, Editor and Translator and author of 1616: The World in Motion

Monday, February 2nd, 2015 || 7pm
Book Passage-Corte Madera|| 51 Tamal Vista Dr. Corte Madera ||
www.bookpassage.com

Sometimes we get surprised. You will be tonight when Tom Christensen makes an exciting, albeit unexpected salon appearance. Perhaps you saw the profile in yesterday’s paper. If not, you’ll get to meet the well know author, editor and translator this evening.

Thomas Christensen has published more than twenty books as author, editor, or translator. His two most recent books, 1616: The World in Motion and Landscape with Yellow Birds (a translation of the poetry of José Ángel Valente), were both nominated for Northern California Book Awards. 1616 was given a starred review and named one of the best history books of its season by Publishers Weekly. He was a senior editor at North Point Press and executive editor of Mercury House Publishing. Under his direction, Mercury House was nominated for a Carey-Thomas Award for excellence in publishing. He received a special award for dedication to translation (more…)

On Sunday, January 18th from 12-2pm, join Left Coast Writers® Live on FCCFREE RADIO’s popular show, Lilycat on Stuff. Lilycat’s guest on Sunday will be Left Coast Writer® Richard Voorhees, author of Shooting Genji.

Shooting Genji is a noir romance that careens from the Crash of 1929 in New York to the early Talkies in Hollywood. As a young rube, the story’s protagonist falls from a ladder, leaving him practically blinded by daylight. Nature makes it up to him, though, by giving him shockingly good night vision. Countless shady careers beckon, including working for whiskey smugglers, Wall Street cons, and Hollywood scoundrels. All-too-late he discovers he’s still the guy in the dark; but there’s hope yet. An alluring lady from Shanghai could be his undoing or his salvation.

“Delightful fun with a surprisingly warm heart.”
—Kirkus Reviews (more…)

Ferry Plaza Book Party: Sisterhood in Sports by Joan Steidinger

LEFT COAST WRITERS FERRY PLAZA BOOK PARTY: Sisterhood in Sports:How Female Athletes Collaborate and Compete by Joan Steidinger

Monday, January 12th, 2015 || 6pm
Book Passage || San Francisco
1 Ferry Building, San Francisco ||www.bookpassage.com

Also at the Ferry Plaza for San Francisco friends and fans:

Sisterhood in Sports: How Female Athletes Collaborate and Compete tells the stories of female athletes in a variety of sports. Their natural tendency to use talking as a primary form of communication is essential to their experiences and successes in sports. Women and girls tend to have BFFs, collaborate during periods of stress, express empathy for one another, worry about themselves and others, and desire to have fun in sports, which makes their experiences of sports and competition different from their male counterparts. Female strengths are grounded in both mind and body, and they take these strengths onto the court, field, and track.

There are now dozens of studies showing how the female brain and hormones operate quite differently than those of men. Joan Steidinger uses real stories to show that women and girls compete at very high levels, but also have a different view of their teammates and opponents, one based on relationships and communication, that impacts performance both on and off the field. They enjoy and revel in sisterhood, even as they (more…)

Book Launch: Sisterhood in Sports by Joan Steidinger

LEFT COAST WRITERS® BOOK LAUNCH: Sisterhood in Sports:How Female Athletes Collaborate and Compete by Joan Steidinger

Saturday, January 10th, 2015 || 7pm
Book Passage-Corte Madera|| 51 Tamal Vista Dr. Corte Madera ||
www.bookpassage.com

Join us in Corte Madera as Left Coast Writers® celebrates the publication of Joan Steidinger’s new book. Sisterhood in Sports: How Female Athletes Collaborate and Compete tells the stories of female athletes in a variety of sports. Their natural tendency to use talking as a primary form of communication is essential to their experiences and successes in sports. Women and girls tend to have BFFs, collaborate during periods of stress, express empathy for one another, worry about themselves and others, and desire to have fun in sports, which makes their experiences of sports and competition different from their male counterparts. Female strengths are grounded in both mind and body, and they take these strengths onto the court, field, and track.

There are now dozens of studies showing how the female brain and hormones operate quite differently than those of men. Joan Steidinger uses real (more…)

Literary Salon: C.W. Gortner, Author of The Tudor Vendetta with Special Guest Host Patricia Bracewell

LEFT COAST WRITERS® LITERARY SALON: C.W. Gortner, Author of The Tudor Vendetta with Special Guest Host Patricia Bracewell

Monday, January 5th, 2015 || 7pm
Book Passage-Corte Madera|| 51 Tamal Vista Dr. Corte Madera ||
www.bookpassage.com

We open the year with a very special salon featuring a presentation by bestselling historical novelist C.W. Gortner. He’ll be sharing details about his literary experience and the skill of blending real life and storytelling. Our guest host for the evening is longtime Left Coast Writer® and internationally acclaimed historical novelist Patricia Bracewell.

C.W. Gortner is the international bestselling author of six historical novels, including the Spymaster trilogy. His most recent novels areThe Tudor Vendetta and The Queen’s Vow. In March 2015, his novel Mademoiselle Chanel, about the iconic fashion designer, will be published by HarperCollins. Raised in Spain and a long-time resident of the Bay Area, (more…)

Location, Location, Location Workshop
with Linda Watanabe McFerrin
Saturday, December 6, 2014, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera, CA 94925
$120

All the world is a stage, and so is the narrative that frames your characters. Whether it’s poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction, a well-conveyed sense of place is key. Jump on a magic carpet to other places and times in this one-day workshop.

Poet, travel writer, and novelist 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 Californiaguidebook 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 (more…)

On Sunday, December 21st from 12-2pm, join Left Coast Writers® Live on FCCFREE RADIO’s popular show, Lilycat on Stuff. Lilycat’s guest on Sunday will be Left Coast Writer® Joan Steidinger.

Joan Steidinger, Ph.D., is a Certified Consultant through the Association of Applied Sports Psychology and on the United States Olympic Committee’s Sport Psychology Registry. She has written columns online for PsychologyToday.com and SFGate.com. She has worked as a sports psychologist for close to 30 years with offices in Mill Valley and San Francisco. In the 1990s, she was a competitive ultrarunner and competitive Ride and Tie participant. You will see her running the trails of Mt. Tam in Mill Valley, California where she lives with her husband, JP, and two goldie dogs, Spencer and Parker.

Sisterhood in Sports: How Female Athletes Collaborate and Compete tells the stories of all kinds of female athletes in a variety of sports. Their natural tendency to use talking as a primary form of communication is essential to their experiences and successes in sports. Women and girls tend to have BFFs, collaborate during periods of stress, express empathy for one another, worry about themselves and others, and desire to have fun in sports, which makes their experiences of sports and competition different from their male counterparts. Female strengths are grounded in both mind and body, and they take these strengths onto the court, field, and track.

There are now dozens of studies showing how the female brain and hormones operate quite differently than those of men. This book reveals the (more…)

Workshop: Expanding Travel Writing to Fiction with Linda Watanabe McFerrin

Workshop: Writing Sexy Stuff with Linda Watanabe McFerrin

Book Launch: Places in Time by Maxine Rose Schur

Literary Salon: Tom Christensen

Left Coast Writers® Live: Richard Voorhees on LIlycat on Stuff

Ferry Plaza Book Party: Sisterhood in Sports by Joan Steidinger

Book Launch: Sisterhood in Sports by Joan Steidinger

Literary Salon: C.W. Gortner, Author of The Tudor Vendetta with Special Guest Host Patricia Bracewell

Workshop: Location, Location, Location with Linda Watanabe McFerrin

Left Coast Writers® Live: Joan Steidinger on LIlycat on Stuff

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