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!
WED, FEBRUARY 20, 2-4: BOOK GROUP, HENRY GATES, JR.
As part of Black History Month, we discuss Hannah Crafts: The Bondwoman's Narrative.
As a special treat, Hollis Robbins, Phd, Dean of Arts and Humanities at SSU will come to add her expertise to the conversation.
Gates found the manuscript of the novel, believed to be the first written by an African-American woman. Once it was authenticated, he edited and published it. Research since then has identified her as Hannah Bond, a slave from North Carolina who escaped to New Jersey in 1857.
As a special treat, Hollis Robbins, Phd, Dean of Arts and Humanities at SSU will come to add her expertise to the conversation.
Gates found the manuscript of the novel, believed to be the first written by an African-American woman. Once it was authenticated, he edited and published it. Research since then has identified her as Hannah Bond, a slave from North Carolina who escaped to New Jersey in 1857.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 7-9: PEN AND INK CLUB STARTS
Thursday, February 21—April 11, 7-9:00 p.m.
Please join us for the Sitting Room "Pen and Ink Club", a writing group for new and experienced writers. All genres are welcome: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, drama. The emphasis will be on the collaborative nature of writing, learning from reading published writers and from reading each other’s work. We will meet for 8 weeks with a concluding open reading tba. The "Pen and Ink Club" is FREE and open to all. Please contact Sheila Bare (salbare@yahoo.com; 707-537-6835) for more information and to reserve your seat.
Please join us for the Sitting Room "Pen and Ink Club", a writing group for new and experienced writers. All genres are welcome: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, drama. The emphasis will be on the collaborative nature of writing, learning from reading published writers and from reading each other’s work. We will meet for 8 weeks with a concluding open reading tba. The "Pen and Ink Club" is FREE and open to all. Please contact Sheila Bare (salbare@yahoo.com; 707-537-6835) for more information and to reserve your seat.
SUNDAY,MARCH 3, 2-4: READERS WITHOUT BORDERS
This year’s anthology takes us into new territory—literally and figuratively. We focus our reading and writing on work by women from other lands and languages. Sharon Bard and Karen Petersen will begin by touring the exceptional collection of international fiction here at the Sitting room, assembled and donated by Barbara Lesch McCaffry. By special arrangement, the books from this collection will be available for checking out, for the duration of the project. We will share some of our favorite writers with you and a sampling of essays written thus far. Join us. There is no charge for this event, but please do email us at sittingroomlibrary@gmail.com to reserve your space.
SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2-5: QUILT EXHIBIT/OPEN HOUSE
Sitting Room volunteers and members of the Santa Rosa Pointless Sisters Art Quilt Group have joined forces to curate an exhibition of their work with the environment as theme. Please come by to meet the artists, have a cookie, and tour your friendly Sitting Room Library. The perfect time to (re)acquaint yourself with our space, our collections and our mission.
WED, MARCH 20, 2-4: BOOK GROUP, LITTLE WOMEN
An immediate success in 1868, this book by Louisa May Alcott continues to attract readers. It has remained in print, been made into six movies, six television series, an opera, and even Japanese anime. Greta Gerwig is directing a new film version due in 2019. Despite its being so widely read, some group members never have done so, and others look forward to revisiting the story. Why does it remain popular? Why is it not in the literary canon, but kept aside as a "girls' book"? Clarice Stasz will introduce with new scholarship on Alcott and the book.
NOTE: Some editions of the book print only Part I. Please be sure your copy includes the second part, which is different in tone.
NOTE: Some editions of the book print only Part I. Please be sure your copy includes the second part, which is different in tone.
SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2-5: MAYA KHOSLA, LOCAL LEGACIES
The Sitting Room and Poet Laureate Maya Khosla are celebrating poetry month and the conclusion of three Fall 2018 teatime events with a reading event featuring Sonoma poets. Part of Maya’s Local Legacies Project, the event will be held outdoors if weather permits, and will include plenty of time for informal exchanges before and after the readings. Refreshments will be served! The event is free and open to the public. With permissions from participants, parts or all of the celebration will be filmed.
Previous readings in the series were dedicated to the fires and evacuations, and to returning to Sonoma. The April 28th readings, will express a shift towards healing, rebuilding, renewal at personal and landscape levels, and to the ways that the ancient, astonishing post-fire rejuvenation of the natural world can create a path for healing.
Previous readings in the series were dedicated to the fires and evacuations, and to returning to Sonoma. The April 28th readings, will express a shift towards healing, rebuilding, renewal at personal and landscape levels, and to the ways that the ancient, astonishing post-fire rejuvenation of the natural world can create a path for healing.
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 10 AM-1 PM: SPRING NATURE JOURNALS
Celebrate spring with your own nature journal! See a variety of examples and develop your own unique style. Create your own pages of studies and see how much more you notice the world around you. Part outdoor exploration, sketching and note-taking, Krista Anandakuttan will introduce some of her favorite tips for drawing insects and butterflies. For all ages, beginner to experienced; Children with an adult are welcome. Please bring a journal or sketchbook, a pen and pencil. Optional: watercolors and colored pencils, and a sack lunch.
SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2 PM: MEMORIAL CELEBRATIONS
At this annual tradition we honor women writers and artists who have died since our last memorial gathering. We read from their obituaries and also from their writings, in order to get their voices out in the room. Certainly this year we will be reading poems by the late Mary Oliver (shown) – bring one of your favorites. And Francine du Plessix Gray’s death will be an opportunity to find out more about the writing of this “cultural amphibian” as she is described in the obituary. This ritual, or is it an anti-ritual?, has always turned out to be a surprisingly positive time together, healing and sometimes LOL. Please come. No need for reservations but if you have any questions, call J.J. Wilson at 707 795-9028 any time after May 1, or email her at boxcar@sonic.net.
SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2-5: BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!
What are we really celebrating at this event? Maybe mainly Persistence – not only that The Sitting Room itself has lasted so long (almost 40 years) but that the achievements of women in literature and the other arts have continued to thrive and now almost crowd us out, at The Sitting Room. There is ALWAYS room here on our birthday to celebrate Creativity and Conversation and, as we hardly need to mention, Cake. So please come by to enjoy the three Cs. No need to rsvp, no need to bring comestibles, but anything on paper is considered an appropriate birthday gift for your Sitting Room. CU there.