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, AUGUST 21, 2-4: BOOK GROUP,BLACK NARCISSUS
We return to Rumer Godden, this time to Black Narcissus, to the heights of Nepal. Beginning work in the orchards and opening a school and a dispensary for the mountain people, the small band of Sisters are dependent for help on the English agent Mr Dean.
But his charm and insolent candor are disconcerting. When he says bluntly "This is no place for a nunnery", it is as if he already knows their destiny. Read this in preparation for the film version October 25 and 27.
"A very remarkable novel indeed. One in a thousand." OBSERVER
But his charm and insolent candor are disconcerting. When he says bluntly "This is no place for a nunnery", it is as if he already knows their destiny. Read this in preparation for the film version October 25 and 27.
"A very remarkable novel indeed. One in a thousand." OBSERVER
SATURDAY, SEPT 14, 1-4: QIGONG AND THE WRITING PROCESS
Writing can be a powerful tool for self discovery and so can Qigong (Chee-gong). Use the knowledge of cultivating your body's energy to deepen your writing practice. Body pain or fatigue, mind fatigue, writer’s block, and spiritual dryness can hinder the use of our talents. Learn to synchronize with your energy, keeping your body healthy and your inspiration flowing! Sara Valerio, Qigong Instructor and writer, will teach you simple movements and exercises. Nicki Orser, M.A. in Creative Writing, will lead the writing segments of the class. “Every person is a writer, and every writer deserves a safe environment in which to experiment.” (more information at nickiorser.com)
REGISTER AT TURTLEMOONQIGONG.COM or CALL SARA AT 707-527-6459
Fee: $25
REGISTER AT TURTLEMOONQIGONG.COM or CALL SARA AT 707-527-6459
Fee: $25
SUNDAY, SEPT 15, tba: RIVER LA MOREAUX WORKSHOP
She returns with another of her popular Inner Geographies classes. Details to follow.
To see the variety of classes she teaches, go to
innergeographies.com/
She'll pick one for this Sitting Room event.
To see the variety of classes she teaches, go to
innergeographies.com/
She'll pick one for this Sitting Room event.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT 18, 2-4: BOOK GROUP, ALICE MCDERMOTT
The Ninth Hour, McDermott's eighth novel, is about an order of nursing nuns and the needy families, elderly shut-ins, disabled invalids and strapped widows they care for in a predominantly Irish Catholic neighborhood of Brooklyn. Who cares about nuns? Read this book, and you will. The Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor are not the cruel knuckle-rappers that dominate parochial school fiction. They are distinct, opinionated individuals underneath their impersonal habits. Despite their vision-blocking bonnets, they see everything, including the ugly side of humanity.
SATURDAY, SEPT 21, 2-4: PREPARING YOUR ESSAY FOR OUR "READERS BEYOND BORDERS" PUBLICATION
We cancelled the 2019 Annual Publication to encourage more people to contribute to the same theme for 2020. Do you need suggestions for selecting a book? Or for shaping your commentary? We will have ideas to guide you. If you have started a draft, bring it as well for feedback. Ever helpful Karen Petersen offers solutions.
For general background, go to Publications page.
For general background, go to Publications page.
SUNDAY, SEPT 22, 2-4: GODDEN'S WRITINGS ON INDIA SALON
Rosemary Manchester invites us to wear saris and beads as she leads a salon on Rumer Godden's writings taking place in India. These include Kingfishers Catch Fire, The River, The Peacock Spring, Coromandel Sea Change, Cromartie vs. the God Shiva, and short stories. One of her favorite axioms came from an Indian proverb that says , "Everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person".
SATURDAY, SEPT 28, 2-4: TRIBUTE TO TONI WOFFORD MORRISON
What more can we say? Let us gather to celebrate and honor one of the greatest writers of our lifetime. Bring your memories.
SATURDAY, OCT 5, 10-4: NATIONAL ARCHIVES MONTH OPEN HOUSE HERE AND AT SANTA ROSA LIBRARY
This will be Sonoma County's first participation by way of an Archives Crawl. We will be sharing a table with the Women’s Suffrage Celebration committee at the Forum Room of the Santa Rosa Public Library, AND we are excited to hold an OPEN HOUSE right here at The Sitting Room, from 10 to 6. Come by if you want to help out or just to enjoy the Archives + some tea and scones. Eloise van Tassel and Mara Patino have updated (literally, with dates for each author) the list of our holdings to hand out to all interested.
SATURDAY, OCT 12, 2-4: A GODDEN MISCELLANY SALON
Rumer Godden's books for children are still widely read and admired in England. She won the country's Whitbread prize for children's literature, and had many stories portrayed on television, with her assistance.
We are learning so much more about her versatility. J. J. Wilson will lead a salon on Godden's work overall. We'll see children's books, yet expand the discussion well beyond into her full oeuvre.
SUNDAY, OCT 13, 2-4: SACRED DEITIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT
Sakhmet, Lady of Slaughter
Jacqueline Thurston’s presentation will be drawn from the ideas and images in her book, “Sacred Deities of Ancient Egypt” and will be illustrated with her photographs, many of which have never before been reproduced. She will explore themes from her book such as “Ferocity and the Feminine” and include anecdotes about this project, which took on a life of its own, as such pursuits often do. Copies of her beautiful book will be for sale and for signing. All are welcome; no rsvp needed. Our thanks to Meredith Sabini for setting this up.
WEDNESDAY, OCT 16, 2-4: BOOK GROUP, THE RIVER
Another Rumer Godden, with the movie to follow in November. Harriet is between two worlds. Her sister is no longer a playmate, her brother is still a child. The comforting rhythm of her Indian childhood - the noise of the jute works, the colourful festivals that accompany each season and the eternal ebb and flow of the river on its journey to Bay of Bengal - is about to be shattered. She must learn how to reconcile the jagged edges of beginnings and ends.
"So intense, so quietly demanding of attention, that at the time there will be nothing in your thoughts but a small girl in India, and the people and places that were her world" SATURDAY REVIEW
"So intense, so quietly demanding of attention, that at the time there will be nothing in your thoughts but a small girl in India, and the people and places that were her world" SATURDAY REVIEW
SATURDAY, OCT 19, 4-6: DIANE ROMAINE NOVEL
Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Sonoma State University, Diane Romaine retired to live in In Guanajuato, Mexico. She enjoys teaching beginning Lindy Hop, taming the four scaredy-cats that scramble over her garden wall, and walking hillside goat trails. Even more, she has used her experiences to write her novel, The Trumpet Lesson," just published. Kirkus Reviews deems it “An arresting novel about tightly wound secrets and the art of letting go of them.”
Let's give her a special welcome as she returns to Sonoma County to discuss her book and the process of creating it.
Let's give her a special welcome as she returns to Sonoma County to discuss her book and the process of creating it.
SUNDAY, OCT 20, 2-4: GODDEN'S MONASTIC WRITINGS SALON
Meredith Sabini will help us understand Godden’s fascination with women’s monastic orders. Interested in the Catholic Church, and eventually converting, many of her later novels portray clergymen and women favorably. Like Black Narcissus, Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy and In This House of Brede focus on women in religious communities.
Diana Rigg starred in a multi-part TV call In This House of Brede for the BBC.
Oct 25 and 27, SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE, BLACK NARCISSUS
The Sonoma Film Institute at SSU features the movie based on Rumer Godden's haunting novel. She was not pleased with the results, but cinema critics disagreed. The noted team of Powell and Pressburger use Technicolor and cinematography to great effect. Details of the showing to follow. Terry Ebinger will introduce the film and lead a discussion after both showings.
Friday showing is at 7, Sunday at 4.
For location and parking, go to: https://sfi.sonoma.edu/
NOV 1 AND 3, SONOMA FILM INSTITUTE, THE RIVER
Jean Renoir's movie of the Rumer Godden novel was very influential and considered one of his greatest works. Godden worked with Renoir and was very pleased with the results. It won the Venice Film Festival in 1951. Eleanor Nichols will introduce the Friday showing only.
Friday showing is at 7, Sunday at 4.
For location and parking, go to: https://sfi.sonoma.edu/
Friday showing is at 7, Sunday at 4.
For location and parking, go to: https://sfi.sonoma.edu/