News; support ThinkHouse by voting; Stories on Stage; Living Library; Heyday Books call for subs due 6/1; New book column at Sac Press

Dear friends, here we are deep into May, a month of celebrations galore. Don’t forget to celebrate your love for writing and/or reading by participating in some of these excellent upcoming events and opportunities! Be well… ~ Kate

 

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Check this out: Our friend Rebecca Morrison (of Eskimo Pie fame) was aptly recognized in the Sacramento Bee for her work on behalf of poetry: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/21/4504071/she-holds-nurturing-of-poetry.html

 

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SUPPORT THINKHOUSE COLLECTIVE IN GROWING!

 

ThinkHouse Collective, a local co-working space (of which yours truly is a member), strongly supports the literary arts in our community. The Collective is applying for a $250k grant from Chase & Living Social. ThinkHouse needs 250 votes to qualify, so please vote for ThinkHouse & ask your friends to vote for ThinkHouse too. Thanks! https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/pledge/105955-jannamarlies

 

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UC DAVIS Alums Read: Stephan Clark’s short story collection “Vladimir’s Mustache” and Melanie Thorne’s novel “Hand Me Down”

 

May 24, Thursday, 7:00pm to 8:30pm, 126 Voorhies

 

Free and open to the general public.

 

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A period and a book signing.

 

Melanie Thorne earned her MA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Davis, where she was awarded the Alva Englund Fellowship and the Maurice Prize in fiction. Her website is http://melaniethorne.com/

 

Stephan Clark’s short stories have been published in numerous magazines, including Ninth Letter, Cincinnati Review, Witness, and LA Weekly; been nominated for a Pushcart Prize; short-listed for the Fish Publishing Historical Fiction Prize; and given special mention in Drunken Boat’s inaugural Pan Literary Awards contest, among other honors. His website is http://stephanclark.net/

 

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STORIES ON STAGE features JOYLAND: A HUB FOR SHORT FICTION

 

Friday, May 25th

 7:30 PM

 

Sacramento Poetry Center

1719 25th St

Doors open at 7PM

$5

 

**Check out the lovely new Stories on Stage website at http://valeriefioravanti.com/SoS/ **

 

Stories on Stage continues its third season featuring stories from the magazine Joyland: A Hub for Short Fiction. Writers featured from the magazine are Zoe Ferraris and Erica Lorraine Scheidt. This month’s performers are popular SoS regulars Gay Cooper and Eric Baldwin.

 

Zoë Ferraris moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the First Gulf War to live with her then-husband and his family, a group of Saudi-Palestinian Bedouins. Her novels FINDING NOUF and CITY OF VEILS are national bestsellers and have sold in 30 countries. FINDING NOUF also won the LA Times Book Award and an Alex Award. A third novel, KINGDOM OF STRANGERS, will be out in June 2012. “Tarantella” is her first short story to appear in over a decade and was inspired by her time spent in southern Italy. She has an MFA from Columbia University and currently lives in San Francisco. Her website is www.zoeferraris.com.

 

Erica Lorraine Scheidt is a writer and a teaching artist living in Berkeley, California. Currently an Artist in Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts, Erica’s working on her second novel for young adults, tentatively titled A Girl Like Me. Her first novel, Uses for Boys, is due from St. Martin’s Press in early 2013. A longtime volunteer at 826 Valencia, Erica is also a board member of ISIS, a nonprofit dedicated to sex education for young people.

 

Eric Baldwin’s Shakespeare roles include Macbeth, Henry V, Romeo, Bottom and Shylock. Other favorites: Henry in The Fox, Joe Pitt in Angels in America, Biff in Death of a Salesman, Pale in Burn This, Lee Atwater in ATWATER: Fixin to Die, Richard Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross, Barry Champlain in Talk Radio, Ralph Clark in Our Countrys Good (Backstage West Garland Award) and Hally in MASTER HAROLD. Eric was last seen in True West at Capital Stage and Smudge at KOLT Run Creations. He can soon be seen as Prospero in The Tempest at Murphys Creek Theatre this July.

 

Gay Cooper is originally from Knoxville, TN, where she performed in community and regional theaters, as well as appearing in commercials and industrial films.  She was also an announcer with the local NPR station. In Sacramento, she has acted with Big Idea Theater, KOLT Run Creations, Resurrection Theater, California Stage, & Thistle Dew Dessert Theater.  She was most recently seen as French Fries in “Talking With” and Miss Poppengul in “Moonlight and Magnolias.”

 

Stories on Stage has a new website, which you can visit here or you can visit our blog.

 

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TIME TESTED BOOKS PRESENTS: LIVING LIBRARY: UPCOMING EVENTS!

 

Monday, May 28th, 7:00pm

Anthropologist/Author Adrienne Pine :

Working Hard, Drinking Hard: On Violence and Survival in Honduras

 

On May 28th, noted scholar and activist–and researcher, professor, lecturer, anthropologist–Doctor Adrienne Pine will speak on the situation in the Central American country of Honduras since the coup in 2009, when the Honduran military removed then-president Manuel Zelaya. Dr. Pine is an Assistant Professor at American University in Washington, DC, and travels frequently to Honduras. She is the author of Working Hard, Drinking Hard: On Violence and Survival in Honduras, and she’ll be signing copies of the book at Time Tested Books on Monday, May 28th, at 7:00pm. (Dr. Pine will also be giving a more in-depth lecture in the Common House of Sacramento’s Southside Park Cohousing on Tuesday, May 29th, at 7:00pm–but make sure you come to TTB event if you want to get a copy of her book.)

 

More info here

 

This event is FREE & everyone is invited.

 

Coming in June:

                        6/8   – Anthony Swofford discussing & signing copies of his new memoir

                        6/17 – Sacramento Living Library with George Raya

                        6/21 – Poetry reading with Trina Drotar & Brendan Constantine

                        6/28 – Christian Kiefer on his brand-new novel!

 

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HEYDAY BOOKS ~ CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS ~ Due June 1, 2012

 

Heyday Books <https://heydaybooks.com/>  is looking for first-rate fiction or nonfiction written by an emerging author.

 

Friends and family of the late Santa Cruz author James D. Houston have established a fund

to honor his memory and further his legacy. Known as a masterful writer in both fiction and

nonfiction genres, Houston was also a dedicated teacher and passionate promoter of

emerging authors. The James D. Houston Legacy Award will support publication of books

by writers who reflect Houston’s humane values, his thoughtful engagement with life, and

his literary exploration of California, Hawaii, and the West.

 

The James D. Houston Award–winning manuscript will be published by Heyday, a 501(c)(3)

nonprofit publisher, in the fall of 2013, and the writer whose manuscript is chosen will

receive a $5,000 advance.

 

The following are examples of the types of manuscripts we are looking for: novels, literary

memoirs, creative nonfiction (book length or collection of essays), and short story

collections. Manuscripts must be finished; no in-progress work will be accepted (however,

please consider submitting in the future). The editorial committee especially favors works

by emerging writers (this would be his or her first or second published book). Works with a

California focus would play best to Heyday’s strengths.

 

To submit a manuscript for consideration, please include the following:

 

 a cover letter (concrete ideas and opportunities for the promotion of your book

would be appreciated);

 

 a summary and outline (especially for collections of shorter pieces) of the project,

including estimated word count(s);

 

 a CV, especially listing previous publications;

 

 a full manuscript (double-spaced, standard font and font size).

 

Please send materials as a single PDF file with the subject “Houston Award submission” to

sylvia@heydaybooks.com.

 

Submissions are due by June 1, 2012. There is no entry fee. Finalists will be notified by

September 1, 2012. Decisions on publications will be made collegially by Heyday’s publisher,

Malcolm Margolin, by the Houston family represented by Houston’s wife Jeanne Wakatsuki

Houston, and by friends of the late author.

 

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New column, Book Talk, to be featured at Sacramento Press later this month! Contribute!

 

Since you are a Sacramento area writer, editor, publisher, or literary agent (or other interested party), you might find this of interest.  The reviewed books will be by local writers or published by local presses or generated by local literary agents or from outside the area but still of interest to the readers.

 

The basic information has been included below.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

 

Book Talk will run monthly at Sacramento Press, and feature reviews of books primarily by local writers of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, plays, etc.  The column will appear on the last Tuesday of each month, beginning in May.  There are currently two books that will be featured in the innaugural column.  Book Talk, however, to be successful, needs books to review.  If writers in the Sacramento area have a recently released or soon-to-be-released book available for review, they should contact SacramentoBookTalk@gmail.com

The focus is on local writers and will include reviews of traditionally published, self-published, and chap books.

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