non-fiction
June 21, 2009
- At the historic King Edward Hotel in Toronto this morning, I told the more than 200 guests at the Ben McNally/ Toronto Globe & Mail literary brunch that two things impressed me most about Canadians:1.) their sweaters (they laughed, but I meant it); and 2.) that Canadians never seem stressed out. "Don't they serve coffee up here?" I asked.At the book signing that followed, several ...
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May 6, 2009
- It isn't usually the case, when you walk into an art gallery, that you find the artist whose work is being exhibited on the softly lit walls sitting quietly nearby, nodding a welcome to you. But Nicholas Kirsten-Honshin had decided, that morning I visited Sedona, Arizona, to walk the two-and-a-half blocks down from his studio to the Golden Lotus Gallery, and spend some time shepherding visitors ...
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April 6, 2009
- Word of Mouth Bay Area TOUR EVENTS April 16 Orinda Books On Story and Story Telling Jessica Barksdale Inclan Frances Dinkelspiel Susan Freinkel Michelle Richmond Brenda Webster April 26 Clayton Books Author Festival Jessica Barksdale Inclan Catherine Brady Maria Espinosa May 7 Bookshop West Portal MC: Elizabeth Stark & Joan Gelfand Catherine Brady Dana Fredsti and Cynthia ...
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February 13, 2009
- You know those days when writing feels like a stone? It's too heavy to carry, like all the images in your mind, all the dialog and small moments between characters? It could be used for violence, if you had a mind for that, or to build something useful. The writing stone could be set down, in favor of something lighter. It could be picked up and mined for its precious qualities. When ...
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February 7, 2009
- Last night I went Los Angeles Eco Village to hear Chris Carlsson speak about his new book Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclers, and Vacant lot Gardeners are Inventing the Future. Carlsson has long been a leading figure in the California underground/counter-culture. If you want to know about the California underground, check out Carlsson's website and the book: ...
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January 26, 2009
- On Read Street, we've been discussing this topic: Are you monogamous? Not that kind of monogamy — I mean reading habits. Do you read one book at a time? Or do you have two or more going at once — say, a novel, a nonfiction book and a collection of short stories?Alison Morris, a Publishers Weekly blogger, has identified several species of polygamists. They include: the Whimsical, who dips in ...
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January 13, 2009
December 2, 2008
- In response to my last post, I received an interesting e-mail from a young writer (I was hoping I was still a "young" writer...sigh). I tried to answer his questions as helpfully as I could, but one was interesting enough that I thought I'd post it here with some thoughts and see if any one else has something to add. He wanted to know if I thought George Orwell, were he pitching Animal ...
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November 29, 2008
- For readers and book buyers interested in new works that are written to support post-election civic conversations and actions this Philadelphia indie bookstore's recent newsletter highlighting several titles that fit this niche may be of interest:http://www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes/an_american_awakening_and_othe/I am observing several signs that we may be seeing the early edge of a new ...
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November 12, 2008
- As I worked on a book proposal for a nonfiction book that I would like to write it became obvious to me that I needed to better hone what the book is about. It is not a broad subject. Rather it is narrowly focused on the Americans who volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War of the mid 1930s and follows their lives from being young men and women to now. I did a number of interviews while ...
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