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/.
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 Using historical documents and interviews with patients, Downey reconstructed the story of this unique institution and its role in women's health.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.
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.