Before your first visit, please read our Parking requirements. Also check our WORKSHOPS for writers for even more events! Unless noted, no RSVP required. ALL ARE WELCOME!
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2-4: book group, the monkeys
Susan Minot's first novel was widely acclaimed. As Kirkus reviews noted, "You can hear the voices of the masters--the descriptive economy of Hemingway, the imaged delicacy of Virginia Woolf, and, above all, the informing echo of J.D. Salinger (darkness and breakdown lurking just under a middle-class things-as-usual surface)--in these spare, carefully wrought, and often moving stories. A rather well-off family in Massachusetts with seven children (the ""monkeys"" of the title) has a father who drinks too much, a mother who dies in a car accident, and a future that somehow must be lived."
wednesday, feb 26, 10-12: writing workshop series starts with nicole zimmerman
WRITING FROM MEMORY OR IMAGINATION with Nicole R. Zimmerman Wednesdays, Feb. 26 – April 1, 10am – noon. This workshop series focuses on generative writing with the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) method, which uses prompts and positive group reflection to bolster your writing practice. Participants will find a safe environment in which to experiment, learn craft, and develop each unique voice. All genres and experience levels welcome. Nicole is a 2019 recipient of Creative Sonoma’s Discovered Awards for Emerging Literary Artists, has an MFA in Writing, and is certified to lead AWA workshops. $120.00 for the series; no drop-ins.
Size is limited to 12. To find out more or to reserve a space: https://www.nicolerzimmerman.com/workshops/.
Size is limited to 12. To find out more or to reserve a space: https://www.nicolerzimmerman.com/workshops/.
saturday, feb 29, 2-4: lynn downey book
In 1927, Downey's grandmother entered a tuberculosis sanitarium in Fairfax for women patients only. Founded by a physician concerned women were not getting equal access to treatment, Arequipa was partly funded by Phoebe Hearst and other socialites. It was unusual in accepting working-class and African American patients. Using historical documents and interviews with patients, Downey reconstructed the story of this unique institution and its role in women's health. Downey is known for several books on Levi Strauss, the man and the company, as well as Arizona's Vulture Mine and Vulture City. She is also exploring the history of dude ranches. Come hear about a time when TB was a major public health issue.
Writing Workshop with Patti Trimble
new inquiry, new listening
Saturdays 2-5 p.m., March 7, April 4, May 2
How many conversations—personal, political, social—do we hold in our intelligent creative minds? How do our doubts and certainties, facts and fictions, lyric imaginations and deep concerns live, in reality, side by side? And when we write, how do we dignify the real relationship of things? In three free workshops we'll address the complexity of writing today. And we'll write together, merging genres and finding language to braid whatever: personal experience and expertise, uncertainty, imagination, world events, facts, fiction. With practices for thoughtful inquiry and for listening through for the power of personal revelation and wisdom. Join us for one or three. No charge and all levels welcome.
Patti Trimble's lyric poems, essays, and stories have appeared in journals and collections, recordings, museum catalogues, art performances, theater, science/literature/writing textbooks, and spoken-word performances in the US and Europe. She lives in Petaluma and Sicily and she's facilitated writing workshops in universities and on hillsides. www.pattitrimble.com
Patti Trimble's lyric poems, essays, and stories have appeared in journals and collections, recordings, museum catalogues, art performances, theater, science/literature/writing textbooks, and spoken-word performances in the US and Europe. She lives in Petaluma and Sicily and she's facilitated writing workshops in universities and on hillsides. www.pattitrimble.com
saturday, march 14, 2-4: susan swartz and barbara baer, journalists turn to fiction
Long time journalist, author, radio commentator and public speaker, Susan Swartz is new to fiction but intimately familiar with the challenges women face as we get older. Laughing in the Dark takes you along on the roller coaster year in three women’s lives as they navigate infidelity, the latest in California dying styles, and the absurdities of aging together, saved by their credo, ”Friendship is the best medicine.” Swartz has said the difference between journalism and fiction is like the difference between a red snapper and a mermaid.
In Barbara Baer’s The Ice Palace Waltz, two Jewish immigrant families—rough and ready westerners and smooth ‘our crowd’ New Yorkers—come together in a family saga amid the financial and political turmoil of early 20th century America. Barbara, also a journalist and small press publisher, bases her multi-generational saga on remembered stories from her family and much research. She doesn’t think fiction falsifies fact, but rather adds more ingredients to a recipe that deepens the flavors.
wednesday, march 18, 2-4: book group, sally fields
Sally Fields, In Pieces, reveals a personal history, darkened by abuse and illuminated by grace, that she has never shared before. She relates a challenging and lonely childhood, the craft that helped her find her voice, and a powerful emotional legacy that shaped her journey as a daughter and a mother. Written by the actor over seven years, without the aid of a ghostwriter (a crutch often used by celebrity authors), this somber, intimate and at times wrenching self-portrait feels like an act of personal investigation — the private act of a woman, now 71, seeking to understand how she became herself, and striving to cement together the shards of her psyche that have been chipped and shattered over the course of her life.
SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2-4: EXPERIENCES THAT SHAPE US: INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR LANDSCAPES
April is Poetry Month and we celebrate with readings by local writers. In "Beside the Well," poet Donna Emerson takes us from wells, woods, meadows, and horses, rooted in her family homestead of western New York to music, ocean, and earth in her current California, sharing time-stopping moments of intimacy. Ron Thomas offers an intoxicating coming-of-age story “I Want To Walk You Home” full of dysfunction, chaos, and humor that will remind readers what it's like to meet love head-on. Jodi Hottel’s poetry chapbook, “Out of the Ashes”, reflects her personal experience during the 2017 Tubbs fire and its aftermath and the journey to healing and renewal.
Using three different forms, these three writers share what shapes us, life transitions that create new outcomes. Varied experiences and varied voices come together to create a textured afternoon. All welcome!
Using three different forms, these three writers share what shapes us, life transitions that create new outcomes. Varied experiences and varied voices come together to create a textured afternoon. All welcome!
SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2-5: POETRY: MAYA KHOSLA, ELLERY AKERS, PATTI TRIMBLE, ROSA LANE
We extend our celebration of Poetry Month with a reading by four distinguished local poets: Maya Khosla, Sonoma County Poet Laureate, Patti Trimble, our Writer in Residence, Ellery Akers, award winning poet and artist who will read from her new collection, Swerve: Environmentalism, Feminism, and Resistance, and Rosa Lane whose recent book, Chouteau’s Chalk, won the 2017 Georgia Poetry Prize. Copies of their books will be available for sale.
DREAMS: A SOURCE FOR POETRY & PROSE
Salon and workshop with Meredith Sabini
Saturday, May 16, 1-4 p.m.
Ever considered writing a poem or short story based on a dream? Would you enjoy hearing “dream poems”? We’ll begin by listening to examples from women poets like Louise Bogan, Jane Hirschfield, Marie Howe, Maxine Kumin, Mary Oliver, Linda Pastan, Liz Rosner, Lynne Sharon Schwartz, as well as the presenter’s. Then we’ll experiment writing dreams into various poetic and prose. You’ll discover that in the House of Creativity, dreams and poetry live down the hall from one another. Bring several dreams—fresh or old, long or short—and a notebook.
Meredith Sabini is a widely published author of poetry, essays, and professional articles. She founded and directs the Dream Institute of Northern California.
RSVP to J.J. Wilson, boxcar@sonic.net or 707-795-9028. Sliding scale: $15-$45. (No one will be turned away for lack of funds)
Meredith Sabini is a widely published author of poetry, essays, and professional articles. She founded and directs the Dream Institute of Northern California.
RSVP to J.J. Wilson, boxcar@sonic.net or 707-795-9028. Sliding scale: $15-$45. (No one will be turned away for lack of funds)
SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2 PM: oUR VERSION OF MEMORIALS
Remembering Women Artists and Activists who have recently died always turns out to be a surprisingly stimulating and cheerful experience. We read from the women to get their voices out into the room and speculate on their influence . Among artists we can celebrate are Mary Oliver, Heidi Toffler, Vonda McIntyre, Judith Krantz, Tony Morrison, and Ann River Siddons, Johanna Wesley, and Elizabeth Wurtzel. Activists include Juanita Abernathy, Marcia Bristo, and Kitty Tucker. You may know of others to share.
All welcome. No reservations necessary.
For more information, call J.J. Wilson at 795-9028 after May 1.
All welcome. No reservations necessary.
For more information, call J.J. Wilson at 795-9028 after May 1.
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2-5: SITTING ROOM BIRTHDAY PARTY AND PUBLICATION LAUNCH
Please note the change to Saturday when we have more parking available. And there is another change being introduced: anyone of whatever gender with a new book (within the past year or so) is welcome to come “set up shop” at our Circle of Author Tables. Copies of our finally published READERS WITHOUT BORDERS will also be proudly displayed to hand out to the authors and sold for a pittance to would-be readers.
You may remember last Summer’s performance of “The Penelope Poems” with our Writer in Residence, Patti Trimble. This year she will once again bring musicians and spoken word to the Sitting Room backyard, with a first glimpse of her current work-in-progress. “I've been working on a prayer to Earth, a kind of song of Earth. As a former science writer I'm aware every day of the immensity of environmental change, unfathomable, disorienting. And simultaneously, as a poet and lover of pathways and woods, I am pulled into wonder: at the privilege of being on and of this planet; thoughts of beauty, connection, grief, weather, water.” Don’t miss it!
Don’t worry — we’ll still have the so-special CAKE and Punch and strawberries too. For once, this is not a potluck. We treat you.
You may remember last Summer’s performance of “The Penelope Poems” with our Writer in Residence, Patti Trimble. This year she will once again bring musicians and spoken word to the Sitting Room backyard, with a first glimpse of her current work-in-progress. “I've been working on a prayer to Earth, a kind of song of Earth. As a former science writer I'm aware every day of the immensity of environmental change, unfathomable, disorienting. And simultaneously, as a poet and lover of pathways and woods, I am pulled into wonder: at the privilege of being on and of this planet; thoughts of beauty, connection, grief, weather, water.” Don’t miss it!
Don’t worry — we’ll still have the so-special CAKE and Punch and strawberries too. For once, this is not a potluck. We treat you.
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1:30: wEST'S tHE FOUNTAIN OVERFLOWS
In The Fountain Overflows, a 1957 best seller, Rebecca West transmuted her own volatile childhood into enduring art. This is an unvarnished but affectionate picture of an extraordinary family, in which a remarkable stylist and powerful intelligence surveys the elusive boundaries of childhood and adulthood, freedom and dependency, the ordinary and the arcane. Readers used to West's serious writing were surprised by her humor. Rosemary Manchester leads the discussion with reference to the realities of West's childhood.
saturday, june 27, 1:30: A REBECCA WEST POTPOURRI
Meredith Sabini will be giving an overview of the other two novels in West’s planned trilogy: This Real Night and Cousin Rosamund. And there will be time allotted to her extensive and successful journalism too, with excerpts from her account of the Nuremberg Trials and even some glimpses at her 1150page (!) Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (said to be one of Bill Clinton’s favorite books). Come learn why we should continue to read West, a British journalist, critic, and novelist who died in 1983.