California Writers Club- Marin
Branch
Special Centennial Event
Sunday October 18, 2009, 1 to 5 p.m.
Book Passage, Corte Madera
$45.00*
Tickets available now through
Book Passage
To reserve, call 415-927-0960 ext 1, go to www.BookPassage.com
or visit the store.
SCHEDULE:
1:00 - 2:30 p.m - Open Buffet with Wine
1:30 - 3:00 p.m. - Agent Pitches
2:00 - 4:30 p.m. - Author Perform with the Band
4:00 p.m. - Raffle Posting
4:30- 5:00 p.m. - Author Book Signings (Some authors may sign throughout the day.)
As the California Writers
Club celebrates its 100th Year Anniversary, and Marin branch as a 10
year charter with CWC, join us as we host your favorite authors in
an afternoon celebration of music, food and wine, readings and books,
agent interviews and more.
Kathi Kamen Goldmark (author of And
My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You, Chronicle Books 2002, and
founder of The Rock Bottom Remainders) and Sam Barry,
(member of Rock Bottom Remainders, and author of How To Play
the Harmonica: And Other Life Lessons Gibbs Smith 2009), along
with a host of your other favorite authors (listed below in alphabetical
order) as they read from each other’s works and join the band,
Los Train Wreck, to sing a song or two.
*Admission price of $45** includes
great music, a buffet lunch with wine,
a $15 Book Passage gift certificate, 3 minute pitches to agents and
a great raffle.
Peter Beren is a literary agent who
also serves as a publishing consultant to authors and publishers.
Formerly the Publisher of Sierra Club Books, Vice-President, Publishing
at Palace Press International and founding Publisher of VIA Books,
and a Contributing Editor to the Boston Phoenix, he has
more than 30 years experience in the publishing industry. He is also
the author of many magazine articles, and five books, including,
The Writers Legal Companion (with Brad Bunnin).
Tony Broadbent was born in Windsor, England,
and was an art student in London in the late Sixties (from ‘Revolver’
to ‘Let It Be’). He then worked as copywriter and creative
director at some of the best advertising agencies in London, New
York, and San Francisco, before opening his own agency. He's now
living in Mill Valley and is a consulting brand strategist, planner,
and ideator for clients in the U.S. and Europe. Tony is the author
of The Smoke and Spectres in the Smoke, a series
about Jethro, a cat burglar and jewel thief, in the austere world
of 1947 post-war, black-market-riddled England.
David Corbett’s crime drama, Blood
of Paradise, was nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, and a Shamus
for Best Paperback Original, and chosen one of the Top Ten Thrillers
& Mysteries of 2007 by The Washington Post. He has a number of
other works, including The Devil’s Redhead, widely
praised, and nominated for both the Anthony and Barry Awards for
Best First Novel of 2002, and Done for a Dime, which was
named a New York Times Notable Book, and was nominated for the Macavity
Award for Best Novel of 2003.
Katherine Cowles, Cowles Ryan Literary Agency,
is an east coast literary agent, now living in San Francisco (and
loving it). She has helped numerous writers on their way to becoming
successful, published authors, and remains dedicated to that cause.
She has been involved in publishing her entire career. Her industry
connections and relationships are wide and deep. For more than a
decade she was at the center of New York publishing at Simon and
Schuster and Doubleday, beginning with contracts and moving through
fiction and non-fiction acquisitions, then eventually leading her
to a position as Associate Publisher and Vice President at Simon
and Schuster.
Patricia Volonakis Davis’s debut work,
Harlot's Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece,
(Harper Davis 2008), dubbed a “My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets
Under the Tuscan Sun” received wide acclaim as an inspiring
woman’s empowerment story and placed as finalist in the 'Multi-Cultural
Non-Fiction Category' of the National Best Book Awards 2008, sponsored
by USA Book News. She is the editor-in-chief of Harlot's
Sauce Radio, a popular non-partisan e-magazine and podcast on
the web.
Verna Dreisbach, of Dreisbach Literary Management,
is an award winning published author who has been featured in books,
literary journals, magazines, and newspapers. Her Seal Press anthology,
Why We Ride, is due for publication spring 2010. Verna is the founder
and president of Capitol City Young Writers, a national non-profit
organization that supports and encourages creative writing in aspiring
youth. Verna represents both fiction and non-fiction authors, a variety
of fiction including commercial and literary, with a particular interest
in books with a political, economic or social context. With over
13 years as a police officer, Verna also has a genuine interest and
expertise in the genres of mystery, thriller and true crime.
Tanya Egan Gibson is the author of How to
Buy a Love of Reading (Dutton, May 2009), a novel about nouveau
riche parents who try to cure their teenage daughter's hatred of
books by commissioning a custom-written novel for her and dubbing
themselves the Medicis of Long Island. Hailed as "a fresh and
funny new voice in the world of fiction" by Mark Childress (Crazy
in Alabama and One Mississippi), Tanya is an alumna of Squaw
Valley Community of Writers and a founding member of CWC Marin.
Deborah Grabien is a cook, guitar player, cat
rescuer, and all-around rocker chick. She also writes a little: the
Haunted Ballad series, six stand-alone novels, and the JP
Kinkaid Chronicles for St. Martins Minotaur, the first of which,
Rock & Roll Never Forgets, was released to unanimously
great reviews in July 2008. The second, While My Guitar Gently
Weeps, hits shelves September 2009. Her fiction and commentary
have appeared in anthologies and magazines. In her spare time (!),
she's consulting music editor for Green Man Review. Deborah honestly
believes you're never too old to rock and roll.
David Harris is a journalist and author, reporting
stories throughout the United States as well as in Central and South
America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, for the last
thirty-five years. Well known for his role as an anti-war activist
during the Vietnam War and jailed for opposing the Draft, he’s
published many books, including Shooting the Moon: The True Story
of an American Manhunt Unlike Any Other, Ever, and The Genius
- How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created An NFL Dynasty.
Ivory Madison Madison is the CEO and founder
of Red Room (redroom.com),
the premier social networking site for authors, readers, and the
publishing industry. Madison also founded the Red Room Writers
Society and was named “Best Writing Coach” by San
Francisco Magazine. Trained as an attorney, she is the only person
to be both editor-in chief of her school’s law review and to
have written Batman. Madison’s feminist-mafia-noir-superhero
graphic novel, Huntress: Year One, was
published by DC Comics in February 2009. The book hit #10 on Amazon
for several minutes, and was hailed as “the best graphic novel
of the decade” by a random fan on twitter.
Gil Mansergh is the FM radio host (KRCB’s
Word by Word: Conversations With Writers, and KRSH's
"Cinema Toast"). He is also a film columnist, New
York Times affiliated movie blogger, and prolific writer featured
as a "Freelance Success" in Writer’s Digest Magazine.
With psychology degrees from Stanford, CSUSF and Indiana, Gil is
also a respected "book doctor" who has written or co-written
over 60 books, manuals, and curriculums.
Logan and Noah Miller are identical twin brothers,
whose film, Touching Home, was made as a dedication to their homeless
father who died in a jail cell. Their memoir, Either You’re
In Or You’re In the Way, published in April 2009, and
a national bestseller, is the heartwarming and amazing tale of how
without a dime to their names, nor a single meaningful contact in
Hollywood they managed to write, produce, act, and direct a feature
film in under a year, starring four-time Academy Award-nominated
actor, Ed Harris, and a cast and crew with 11 Academy Awards and
26 nominations.
Janis Cooke Newman is the author of the Bay Area
Bestseller, Mary, a historical novel about Mary Todd Lincoln.
Mary was a Finalist for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize,
chosen as Best Historical Fiction of 2006 by USA Today,
and a Booksense Year-End Highlight. Newman is also the author of
The Russian Word for Snow, a memoir about adopting her son
from a Moscow orphanage. Her writing has appeared in numerous anthologies,
including Secret Lives of Lawfully Wedded Wives and four
Travelers' Tales editions. She is a member of the SF Writers
Grotto, where she teaches classes in creative writing.
Brenda Novak is a New York Times bestselling
author who has three novels out this summer-The Perfect Couple,
The Perfect Liar, and The Perfect Murder,
all part of her popular Last Stand Series. She runs an annual
on-line auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com.
To date, she's raised over $770,000. Brenda considers herself lucky
to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life.
Susanne Pari is the author of The Fortune
Catcher, a novel of revolutionary Iran, which has been translated
into six languages. Her non-fiction pieces have appeared in The
New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The
Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, National Public Radio,
and Voice of America. She is the Program Director for the 25 literary
salons of Book Group Expo and teaches writing for the Afghan Women's
Writing Project. As a literary host, Susanne has conducted interviews,
panel discussions, and conversations with authors such as Amy Tan,
Khaled Hosseini, Anna Quindlen, Po Bronson, and more.
Andy Ross, Andy Ross Literary Agency,
has worked in the book business for over 37 years, and was owner
and general manager of Cody's Books in Berkeley, California, widely
recognized as one of America's great independent bookstores. This
experience has given him a unique understanding of the retail book
market, of publishing trends and most importantly, the hand selling
of books to book buyers. Andy is also the past president of the Northern
California Booksellers Association, a board member and an officer
of the American Booksellers Association, and a national spokesperson
for issues concerning independent businesses. He has had significant
profiles in the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Publisher's Weekly,
and the San Francisco Chronicle. He also is the author of a funny
and amazingly helpful blog, “Ask the Agent” on everything
to do with the world of publishing.
Kemble Scott is a writer and editor at San Francisco's
subculture e-zine, SoMa Literary Review, and editor of the San Francisco
Bay Area Literary Arts Newsletter. In the non-fiction world of television
news, he has been honored with three Emmy awards, and is an alumnus
of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His debut
novel, SoMa, became a bestseller (San Francisco Chronicle)
in the spring of 2007, and in June of 2008, SoMa was honored
as a finalist for the national Lambda Literary Award for debut fiction.
Scott published his second novel, The Sower in May 2009.
The first edition premiering as a digital book, one of three new
novels selected to launch a book e-commerce venture by Scribd.com.
Sheldon Siegel earned his undergraduate degree
from the University of Illinois in 1980, and graduated from the Boalt
Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley in
1983. He’s been in private practice in San Francisco for over
twenty years, and specializes in corporate and securities law. His
latest novel, Judgment Day, is the sixth novel in his series
of critically acclaimed, best-selling courtroom dramas featuring
San Francisco criminal defense attorneys Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez.
His books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated
into eight languages.
Ransom Stephens, Ph.D., writer, physicist, and
public speaker, is the author of over 200 articles, essays, and anthology
contributions on impossible subjects like quantum physics, parenting
teenagers, and the future of publishing. His first novel, The
God Patent, is the story of a laid-off engineer caught between
science and religion in a battle over the origin of the universe
and the existence of the soul. Suspense literature that investigates
the limits of faith and freewill, it is the #4 most-read e-novel
in the history of scribd.com.
The print version will be released in 2010. www.TheGodPatent.com
Ransom is also on the Executive Committee of litquake.org
Wendy Nelson Tokunaga is the author of the novels,
Midori by Moonlight (St. Martin's, Available Now) and the
forthcoming Love in Translation (St. Martin's, November
2009). Japan and Japanese culture have been major influences on her
life, and this is reflected in much of her writing. Her novel, No
Kidding, won the Literary/Mainstream Fiction category in Writer’s
Digest’s Best Self-Published Book Awards in 2002. Wendy signed
her two-book deal with St. Martin’s just as she was beginning
the MFA in Writing program at the University of San Francisco in
2006. Wendy is also a jazz vocalist and a Japanese karaoke singer.
She lives with her surfer-dude/musician husband Manabu and their
cat Meow on the San Mateo Coast, a short walk from the Pacific Ocean
What Better Way to Celebrate the
Centennial
of one of the best writing organizations in the country,
The California Writers Club
(*Admission is used to cover the costs
of the band, Book Passage facilities, and California Writers Club
expenses.)
