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BookWoman

5501 A105 N. Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78751
United States

512-472-2785; bookwomanaustin.rr.com

New/Used: Not set

Web site: http://www.ebookwoman.com/

Events: http://www.ebookwoman.com/NASApp… (updated February 14)

Description: BookWoman is celebrating her 34th year, and is currently the only feminist bookstore in Texas. BookWoman is a full service independent bookstore serving the reading and resource needs of all women, their friends, families, and children. We stock unique merchandise celebrating the diversity of our lives with a great selection of classic and cutting edge women's writing.

Added by: lomartin.  Contacted: Not contacted.  Venue ID: 3949

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Past events

Old Age in a New Age with Beth Baker (April 26 at 12:00pm)
Beth Baker , Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes.
In her book, OLD AGE IN A NEW AGE : The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes (Vanderbilt University Press, 2007), Beth Baker tells the story of a new generation of visionary advocates and practitioners who are transforming both the culture of nursing homes and the way we view aging. She takes readers ... (more)on a journey into some of the best places in America for elders to live. In these remarkable places, people have a say in their everyday lives, enjoy an environment that looks and feels like an ordinary home, live with dignity, purpose -- even fun -- and find comfort in close relationships with caregivers. She shares surprising lessons from this emerging culture change movement.

Eldercare, in many ways, is a woman's issue. The majority of people who live and work in long-term care are women, as are family caregivers. (Visit her website, www,bethbaker.net, to learn more about the book.)

Beth Baker, a long-time freelance journalist, has written about this topic for Ms. Magazine, The Washington Post and AARP Bulletin. This is her second book.
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It’s A Jungle Out There (May 14 at 7:00pm)
Amanda Marcotte , It's a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments.
For all of you humming “I Will Survive” while watching the political debacles gracing the evening news, when getting an earful from your Limbaugh-loving brother-in-law, or as you're ducking into the bathroom to avoid the date espousing the wisdom of those Mars versus Venus books, this book is for ... (more)you.

It's a Jungle Out There gives all you smart, independent women out there the funny pranks, witty comebacks, and stalwart sources of strength you need in these trying times. With her tongue firmly in cheek and her middle finger struck straight up in the air, Amanda Marcotte (of Pandagon.net) takes you on a tour through the perils that await any feminist who must navigate day-to-day life in the U.S., from the abstinence-only classrooms to the glass-ceiling of the office world.

Drawing on her personal experiences of dealing with anti-feminists—from her years of blogging about feminism and living in the woman-unfriendly state of Texas—Marcotte brings her wit and distinct lack of patience to the topic of surviving while feminist. She doles out priceless advice along the way on how not only survive but also thrive, and even how to carve out a space for your feminist self in these oft-times hostile environments.

Amanda Marcotte was raised in Alpine, a small town in West Texas. She attended St. Edward’s University where she majored in English Literature, graduating at the top of her class. While working for UT Austin dealing with financial aid, she founded a blog called Mouse Words, which consisted mostly of musings on music and feminism. Amanda won the Koufax award for Best New Blog of 2004 for Mouse Words, and shortly after she went to work on another popular blog, Pandagon. She has also written for AlterNet and the Washington Post’s PostGlobal forum.
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Tisa Bryant reading + signing (May 16 at 7:00pm)
Tisa Bryant (ed.) , Unexplained Presence.
By remixing stories from European and American novels and films to zoom in on the black, female and queer presences within them, Tisa Bryant ruminates on the sublime power of history to shape culture in the subconscious of both the artist and the reader/viewer. Hailed by The San Francisco Chronicle ... (more)as a work which breaks through traditional modes of cultural criticism, Unexplained Presence: "...reenters cultural artifacts to open up these symbolically loaded but structurally silenced or backgrounded characters and motifs. What is most remarkable is how Bryant transforms these elisions into acts of imagination, restoring or reconfiguring partially glimpsed subjects via fleet and surprising sentences that traverse the distance between representation and meaning."

As a writer, poet, and radical cineaste, Tisa Bryant’s work often traverses the boundaries of genre, culture and history, splicing, juxtaposing and threading seemingly disparate elements from personal history, film, and observations as a global citizen, into multi-layered texts that demand new forms.

Tisa Bryant was born on a U.S. Air Force base during the Vietnam War, and raised in Boston & Plymouth, MA. Her work has appeared in Clamour, Blithe House, Children of the Dream, and is forthcoming in Beyond the Frontier and What Is Not Said. Her first chapbook, Tzimmes was published in 2000. Her first book, Unexplained Presence (Leon Works, 2007), is a collection of original, hybrid essays.
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Susan DeMarco: Swim Against the Current (June 19 at 7:00pm)
Jim Hightower , Swim against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow.
"We all need some inspiration from time to time to remind us of what we’re fighting for, not just against. Hightower and DeMarco provide it in these pages ..." (DailyKos.com)

The stories of Swim Against the Current are gathered from Hightower and DeMarco’s travels all over the country, watching, ... (more)supporting, or joining various efforts to make positive political and social change. They found literally hundreds of these stories, and a whole book could have been written of Austin stories alone.

They give us an entertaining and insightful look at making a living while staying true to one's values, as well as an irreverent and uplifting look at how individuals and companies can be both successful and socially responsible. Disproving the notion that a business must operate solely to improve its bottom line, they share inspirational stories from a variety of industries including international banking, real estate development, medical services, and environmentally safe, sustainable farming. Hightower and DeMarco include portraits of progressive community organizations, activists and individuals-such as the Granny Peace Brigade, the Rev. Rich Cizik, Granny D, and pharmacist Chris Johnson from Austin -who have bucked the system, made a difference and realized richer, happier lives.

Susan DeMarco is a writer, former radio talk-show host, public-interest activist, and longtime Hightower partner-in-crime.
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Open: Love, Sex and Life in an Open Marriage (June 21 at 7:00pm)
Jenny Block , Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage.
Jenny Block is your average girl next door, a suburban wife and mother for whom married life never felt quite right. She operates from the assumption that most couples who are curious about or engaged in open marriages are in fact more like her—normal people who question whether monogamy is right for ... (more)them; good people who love their spouses but want variation; capable parents who are not deviant just because they choose to be honest about their desires and sexuality.

In Open, Block paints a down to earth picture of how an open marriage can work, and specifically why it works for her and her husband. In dissecting other people’s strong reactions to her choice, she explores the question of why cheating is more socially acceptable than open marriage.

Open challenges our notions of what traditional marriage looks like, and presents one woman’s journey down an uncertain path that ultimately proves that open marriage is a viable option, and one that’s in fact better for some couples than conventional marriage.

Jenny Block writes for Women’s Health, The Dallas Morning News, American Way, www.ellegirl.com, BeE, bRILLIANT, People Newspapers, Stone, Where, and D. She lives in Dallas, Tx.
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Poetry Reading + Signing with Usha Akella (July 8 at 7:00pm)
Usha Akella , En(compass): The Poetry Caravan Anthology.
Beginning with her first book of poems, Kali Dances... So do I, Usha Akella has had her work published in many U.S. based journals. "My first book was feminist in tone, with a tremendous urge to present the Indian context. My work is now Sufi in orientation. I find it an appropriate medium of expression. ... (more)I internalise my poetry on themes that move me unconsciously."

Usha won an Egan Memorial prize for her poem "The B.H.E.L. Vegetable Market" and founded The Poetry Caravan, in 2003, to bring poetry to Westchester homeless shelters, assisted living quarters and nursing homes. More than 30 local poets have volunteered to give poetry readings and lead workshops in these often neglected places. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins says that Poetry Caravan is “doing literary missionary work by bringing poetry into the lives of the often alienated."

Her second book, “A Face That Does Not Bear the Footprints of the World,” was released in March 2008 by Monsoon Editions at the International Rumi Conference, Calicut, India, to much acclaim from scholars and poets.

Usha Akella is a native of Hyderabad, India, and currently resides in Austin, Texas. She Mastered in English Literature from Hyderabad Central University, and was a recipient of the Supporter of the Arts Award in 2004. Usha moved to the US from India in 2003 to study at the University of Baltimore (M.A. Publications Design) where she combined courses in Creative Writing and Graphic Design.

Her poetry has ranged from feminist to Sufi oriented themes, and is described as compassionate, intense, and moving. “...Kali Dances, So Do I...” published by Authors and Writers, India Ltd., was released in 2000 to positive reviews. Since then she has given scores of readings at reputed organizations both in the U.S.A and India, and at international poetry festivals. Her work has appeared and is upcoming in many US and Indian based journals such as Borderlands, Cumberland Review, The Crab Orchard Review, The Maryland Poetry Review, Pearl, Emily Dickinson Journal, Catamaran, Muse India, Ardent! Di-verse-city, Kavya Bharati etc.
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Eternal Vigilance: Book One with Gabrielle Faust (July 12 at 7:00pm)
Gabrielle Faust , Eternal Vigilance.
Gabrielle Faust redefines darkness in the realm of Vampire Literature. Her new novel, Eternal Vigilance, has been described as “if Anne Rice went cyberpunk”... and “Haiku pumped to the max...” Set in the midst of a global war between magic and technology, mortals and vampires, in a new world ... (more)that is still struggling to be defined, Tynan must make the harrowing decision to save the world he so bitterly detests or stand and watch as humanity is destroyed by a primordial evil beyond all imagining.

Ms. Faust is currently at work on the second installment in the Eternal Vigilance series. She also continues to pursue her career as an author, illustrator and freelance journalist/entertainment critic for such publications as Fear Zone, Doorways Magazine, Darkened Horizons and Fatally Yours Reviews. She resides in Austin, Texas.
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Texas Dance Halls with Gail Folkins and Cindy Cashdollar (July 16 at 7:00pm)
Gail Folkins , Texas Dance Halls: A Two-Step Circuit (Voice in the American West) (Voice in the American West).
Wherever they've found fiddlers and dance floors, Texans have been tickled into motion. And for a century and a half they've been kicking up dust in dance halls across the state. Gail Folkins celebrates how these halls still bring people together and foster joy.

Gail Folkins, writer and English instructor, ... (more)often writes about her deep roots in the American West. Her creative nonfiction book Texas Dance Halls: A Two-Step Circuit was released in September 2007 by Texas Tech University Press. Through eighteen chapters, each set at a different dance hall, you'll meet the owners, patrons, & musicians, like Cindy Cashdollar, who keep these historic sites vibrant.

Austin-based Dobro and steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar's career has taken some surprising twists and turns that have led her to work with many of the leading artists in contemporary music including Rod Stewart, Van Morrison, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Asleep at the Wheel, Garrision Keillor, Marcia Ball, Jorma Kaukonen, Leon Redbone,
BeauSoliel, Daniel Lanois, and Redd Volkaert. Cindy's solo release, Slide Show, came out in 2003.
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Kate Veitch reading and signing Without A Backwards Glance (July 18 at 7:00pm)
Kate Veitch , Without a Backward Glance.
Kate Veitch's spellbinding first novel — first published in Australia as Listen — draws us deep into the intensely private world of contemporary family life and brilliantly illuminates the joys, sorrows and sustaining comfort that we find there. Without a Backwards Glance is the story of three siblings ... (more)abandoned by their mother on Christmas Eve. Each family member has a different way of coping with their abandonment—not necessarily healthy. What emerges is a heartfelt yet unsentimental portrait of a family undone by a mother's desire, and its struggle to find ways to keep going and keep together,
shedding light on a very difficult topic.

“Similar to Anne Tyler in her wry affection for her characters and to Anita Shreve in her aptitude for crafting compulsively readable plotlines, first-novelist Kate Veitch delivers a remarkably assured debut that is sure to find a ready audience.' – Booklist
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Book Discussion Group (August 5 at 7:30pm)
Markus Zusak , The Book Thief.
We will be discussing "The Book Thief" by Markus Zuzak.
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Kimberly Dillon Reading + Signing The Ghosts of Wolf Creek (August 17 at 2:00pm)
Kimberly M. Dillon.
When twelve-year-old Cora comes to live in her mother's Texas hometown, she has no idea she will wake up from a car accident only to see ghosts...and lots of them! Despite Cora's best attempts to make them leave, the visitors from beyond keep begging her to figure out a deep mystery involving the town's ... (more)founding fathers.

Already feeling desperately out of place, shy Cora has no idea how to handle her new reputation of being crazy. The creepy town psychiatrist only makes things worse. Will Cora's new friends, clever, funny Mikaia and handsome poetry jammer Raul, help Cora solve the mystery? Or will the town's secrets put Cora in a danger no one can
save her from?Born on Galveston Island Dec. 30, 1968, Kimberly M. Dillon has lived in Cedar Creek, Texas since 2001 with her partner Rhonda and her beautiful 4-year-old daughter Abbi Rose. Let's not forget Koko, the 1-year-old Shih Tzu, Penny, the 6-year-old mixed terrier, and many feline balls of fur that roam inside and outside the house.
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Poetry Open Mic: Queer Voices (September 11 at 7:00pm)
Debra L. Winegarten , Katherine Stinson: The Flying Schoolgirl.
Our Poetry Open Mic is Hosted by Kelly Marshall.
September’s theme is "Queer Voices.” Our featured readers are Cindy Huyser, Scott Wiggerman, Debbie Winegarten and David Meischen.

Join us every Second Thursday from 7-9pm for a Poetry Open Mic at BookWoman. We are an open-minded open mic for poetry ... (more)people of all persuasions.
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Sacred Time Management with Heather Ash (September 16 at 7:00pm)
Heather Ash , The Four Elements of Change.
Learn how to radically change your thinking about time, work, and the sacred. Do you live your days with a sense of overwhelm or un-clarity of what your purpose is? Or is each day a sweet, sacred dance of feeling into the next best action in co-creation with the Divine? Are you grounded in ... (more)your highest purpose, and supported by a clean, easy to use workspace and vision?

In this entertaining, hands-on, and practical workshop you will enter a sacred space to heal your notion of time, to plug yourself back into the power of abundance, and to gain a deep
sense of freedom and flow in every day. Live in a sacred way
AND get things done with grace and faith.

Heather Ash Amara is dedicated to sharing the most powerful tools from a variety of shamanic traditions. She spent six years apprenticing and teaching with don Miguel Ruiz, author of the Four Agreements. She is the author of The Four Elements of Change and Toltec Tarot, and co-author of Spiritual Integrity with Raven Smith.
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And On That Day Everyone Ate (September 25 at 7:00pm)
Margaret Trost.
And That Day Everyone Ate:
One Woman's Story of Hope and Possibility in Haiti by
Margaret Trost.
Following her husband's untimely death, Margaret Trost visited Haiti to heal her broken heart through service. Struggling to make sense of the extreme poverty and touched by the warmth & resilience of those ... (more)she met, she partnered with a local community and together they developed a program that now serves thousands of meals a week to those in need. On That Day Everybody Ate tells the story of her remarkable journey.

Margaret Trost is founder and director of the What If? Foundation, which provides funding for 5,000 meals a week to Haiti's children, offers educational scholarships, and supports a summer camp in Port-au-Prince. A home-based business entrepreneur and former public television producer, she lives in Northern California.
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Dissisent: Voices of Conscience with Ann Wright (October 6 at 7:00pm)
Ann Wright , Dissent: Voices of Conscience.
During the run-up to war in Iraq, Army Colonel (Ret.) and diplomat Ann Wright resigned her State Department post. She was one among dozens of government insiders and active-duty military personnel who leaked documents, spoke out, resigned, or refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt ... (more)were illegal. In Dissent: Voices of Conscience, Ann Wright and Susan Dixon tell the stories of these men and women, who risked careers, reputations, and even freedom out of loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law.

On March 19, 2003, the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Ann Wright cabled her letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin Powell, stating that without the authorization of the UN Security Council, the invasion and occupation of a Muslim, Arab, oil rich country would be a disaster. Since then, she has been writing and speaking out for peace. She fasted for a month, picketed at Guantánamo, and has been arrested numerous times for peaceful, nonviolent protest of the Bush administration's policies, particularly the war on Iraq.

Ann Wright grew up in Arkansas, and attended the University of
Arkansas, where she received a master's and a law degree. She also has a master's degree in national security affairs from the U.S. Naval War College. After college, she spent 29 years in the U.S. Army and in the Army Reserves, retiring as a Colonel. In 1987, Col. Wright joined the Foreign Service and served for 16 years as U.S. Deputy Ambassador in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan, and Mongolia. She lives in Honolulu.
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Malibu Book Group (October 8 at 7:00pm)
Upton Sinclair , Oil!.
Malibu Book Group meets to discuss Upton Sinclair's Oil!. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
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Reading + Signing Lily Hoang (October 17 at 7:00pm)
Lily Hoang.
Reading + Signing with Lily Hoang, author of Parabola
“What streams through the consciousness of a first-generation American daughter of Vietnamese immigrants? Her perspective, woven in autobiography and fantasy, expresses the deep conflict between life's realities weighed against expectations ... (more)- both internal and external. The author superimposes her story over a mix of mathematics, music, and myth . She addresses our myths of collective memory and aspiration in a style reminiscent of a good Kurt Vonnegut read, with a decidedly feminist flavor.”

Lily Hoang is a native of San Antonio. She currently live in South Bend, Indiana, where she is a Visiting Asst. Professor in English and Women's Studies at Saint Mary's College. 
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Voices of Strength: Sons & daughters of Suicide (October 19 at 1:00pm)
Judy Zionts Fox.
Reading + Signing + Discussion with Judy Fox and Mia RoldanStatistics show that there is one suicide every 16.1 minutes, and thus, six new survivors of that suicide every 16.1 minutes. In this deeply moving but practical book, the authors share the results of their survey of children of a parental suicide. ... (more)Exploring the ways their lives have been affected and addressing the emotional, psychological, and physical effects, daughters and sons of all ages, reveal their reactions. The authors link these responses to the insights of therapists, clergy, a criminal investigator, and others -- friends, classmates, work colleagues, relatives -- as they discuss what is helpful to suicide survivors and what is not. "Voices of Strength" helps survivors make sense of life's least understandable act and shows them how to heal by focusing on comfort, memories, recovery, and hopes for a productive future.

Judy Zionts Fox, RN, LSW is a registered nurse and social worker with experience in psychiatric nursing. Her mother committed suicide when Judy was seven weeks old. She is married with 4 daughters, has 11 grandchildren and resides in Austin. Mia Roldan is an elementary Special Education Teacher in Austin, Tx. She is currently studying for a master's degree in Social Work at UT Austin. Her mother committed suicide when she was twelve years old.  
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Texas Quilts and Quilters (December 6 at 1:00pm)
Marcia Kaylakie , Texas Quilts and Quilters: A Lone Star Legacy (Grover E. Murray Studies in the American Southwest) (Grover E. Murrray St.
Join 2009 Violet Crown winner Marcia Kaylakie, for a reading, signing and discussion. "It has been more than a decade since I began traveling Texas, lecturing on quilt history, displaying my own collection of antique and vintage quilts, and appraising quilts for individuals and organizations."

"Seldom ... (more)have I met a quilt without a story. I doubt that anyone who loves quilts could disagree. Quilts in themselves are works of art, but they are also pieces of history. Their stories and those of their makers should be documented and preserved. In my travels I encountered many quilts with no history left to record or stories with no quilt left to illustrate the tale told. Often, as family members began to tell me of the quilt’s provenance, they would say,”Now was this Aunt Martha or Aunt Mildred who made it? Oh, dear, I can’t remember.” Stories get lost and memories fail after two or three generations and eventually the story is lost altogether. When that happens, the quilt begins to lose meaning as well and is often parted from its family forever.

This book tells the stories of 34 quilts and their makers. It is set in the 3 perspectives of person, place and time. While the quilts may seem ordinary in many cases, their stories are often extraordinary, as are the women and man who made them. Each story is separate from the others, yet when taken as a whole, they give us a sense of life in Texas through the eyes of their makers.
Texas Quilts and Quilters is full of wonderful colorful photographs. The book is lovely and would make a great Holiday gift!
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Life is a Verb with Patti Digh (January 9 at 7:00pm)
Patti Digh , Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally.
Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionallyis part meditation, part how-to guide, part memoir, "Life is a Verb" identifies six core practices to jump-start a meaningful life. Within this framework Digh supplies 37 life stories, each followed by a 10-minute "do it now" exercise ... (more)as well as a practice to try for 37 days--and beyond.
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The Maternal is Political (January 17 at 7:00pm)
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner , The Maternal Is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change.
Celebrate the inauguration with a night for unruly mothers (and the
people who love them) at Texas's only feminist bookstore! Featuring
Shari MacDonald Strong (editor of The Maternal Is Political and senior
editor at Literary Mama magazine) and Marrit Ingman (Inconsolable)
reading selections from The ... (more)Maternal Is Political; and from the Dick
Monologues, Kristine Kovach, Liz Belile, and Sonya Feher. Come rejoice
with us over the ending of the old presidential administration, the
beginning of a promising new one, and the dawn of a new political era
in which women and mothers will be more involved, and more
influential, than ever before!
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Evelyn White discusses Alice Walker's Life & Impact (March 15 at 3:00pm)
Evelyn C. White , Alice Walker: A Life.
Evelyn C. White spent nearly a decade researching and writing Alice Walker: A Life, which the New York Times praised as “never less than fascinating.” A former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and editor of the ground-breaking Black Women’s Health Book: Speaking For Ourselves, White has ... (more)also been published in periodicals ranging from The Washington Post to Ms. magazine. White will make a special appearance at BookWoman from 3 – 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 15. The event is free and open to the public.
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Women Up on Blocks: Stories (March 24 at 7:00pm)
Mary Akers.
Reading + Signing :with Mary Akers author of Women Up On Blocks: Stories. Whether it’s a young coed who has lived her life succumbing to passion and authority, a woman struggling with the intense demands of motherhood, or a newlywed whose new mirror-filled home proves too much for her fragile psyche, ... (more)these thirteen stories—edgy and alluring—inexorably peel back the layers of the women they portray. By turns lyrical and haunting, plainspoken and frank, award-winning writer Mary Akers’ finely crafted debut collection WOMEN UP ON BLOCKS explores the price women pay when they allow the roles of wife, mother, daughter, or lover to define them. Mary Akers' work has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, The Fiddlehead, Brevity, Literary Mama, and other journals. She is a contributor to the anthology The Maternal is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change, and a co-author of Radical Gratitude and other life lessons learned in Siberia (forthcoming from Simon & Schuster UK as The Greatest Gift: Lessons Learned in Exile in Siberia). Although raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia--which she will always call home--she currently lives in western New York.
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Reading + Signing for Saffron Dreams (March 28 at 7:00pm)
Shaila Abdullah , Saffron Dreams.
Arissa Illahi, a Muslim artist and writer, discovers in a single moment that no matter how carefully you map your life, it is life itself that chooses your destiny. Arissa Illahi, a Muslim artist and writer, discovers in a single moment that no matter how carefully you map your life, it is life itself ... (more)that chooses your destiny. "Eloquently written, a must-read for any one interested in exploring the lived experiences of Muslim women in the US."--Ali Asani, PhD Shaila Abdullah is a Pakistani-American author and designer based in Austin, Texas. Her first book, Beyond the Cayenne Wall, is an award-winning collection of stories about Pakistani women struggling to find their individualities despite the barriers imposed by society. For more information, please visit www.ShailaAbdullah.com.
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Jan Beatty reading + signing Red Sugar Poems (April 21 at 7:00pm)
Jan Beatty , Red Sugar (Pitt Poetry Series).
Jan Beatty’s award winning third book of poetry is "a hard-rocking book, a gorgeous sexual book, a fearless way high up and way down deep roller-coaster book of poetry such as you never have read before..."  - Alicia Suskin Ostriker"Red Sugar is tantalizing and forbidden, but it is no peepshow.
The ... (more)poems are raw, brash, and full of pluck, yet there is tenderness
and honest emotion at the core. Jan Beatty reminds us that there
is 'nothing between us and death but one inch.' She takes us to
the edge of being and shows us our own quick mortal souls. Yes,
there's rock music and prison sex--but do not think for a moment that this
book is merely licentious. Beatty casts a broad canopy over human
desire, and within the scope of experience, she finds, too, that
we are innocent and sublime beings. A rich, rare treat, this Red
Sugar." -D. A. Powell Jan Beatty’s new book, Red Sugar, was published by the Univ.of Pittsburgh Press in 2008. Other books include Boneshaker (2002) and Mad River, winner of the 1994 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize. Beatty’s poetry has appeared in Quarterly West, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, and Court Green. Beatty has worked as a welfare caseworker & an abortion counselor. She worked in maximum-security prisons and was a waitress for 15 years. Awards include the $15,000 Creative Achievement Award in Literature from the Heinz Foundation, the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, and two fellowships from the Pa. Council on the Arts. For the past 13 years, she has hosted and produced Prosody, a public radio show on NPR featuring the work of national writers. Beatty directs the creative writing program at Carlow University where she runs the Madwomen in the Attic writing workshops.
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Reading + Signing with Bárbara Renaud González (May 3 at 3:00pm)
Barbara Renaud Gonzalez.
The golondrina is a small and undistinguished swallow. But in Spanish, the word has evoked a thousand poems and songs dedicated to the migrant's departure and hoped-for return. As such, the migrant becomes like the swallow, a dream-seeker whose real home is nowhere, everywhere, and especially in the ... (more)heart of the person left behind. The swallow in this story is Amada García, a young Mexican woman in a brutal marriage, who makes a heart-wrenching decision--to leave her young daughter behind in Mexico as she escapes to el Norte searching for love, which she believes must reside in the country of freedom. However, she falls in love with the man who brings her to the Texas border, and the memories of those three passionate days forever sustain and define her journey in Texas. She meets and marries Lázaro Mistral, who is on his own journey —to reclaim the land his family lost after the U.S.-Mexican War. Their opposing narratives about love and war become the legacy of their first-born daughter, who must reconcile their stories into her struggle to find "home." Bárbara Renaud González, a native-born Tejana and acclaimed journalist, has written a lyrical story of land, love, and loss, bringing us the first novel of a working-class Tejano family set in the cruelest beauty of the Texas panhandle. Her story exposes the brutality, tragedy, and hope of her homeland and helps to fill a dearth of scholarly and literary works on Mexican and Mexican American women in post-World War II Texas. This is the first Chicana novel to be published by UT Press. Her essays/articles have appeared in diverse anthologies and magazines, including The Nation; The Progressive; Ms. Magazine; The Los Angeles Times, and many others. Her commentaries have aired on NPR's Morning Edition and LatinoUSA.
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Sondra Ray: Rock Your World with the Divine Mother (May 7 at 7:00am)
Sondra Ray , Rock Your World with the Divine Mother: Bringing the Sacred Power of the Divine Mother into Our Lives.
In her latest book, Rock Your World with the Divine Mother: Bringing the Sacred Power of the Divine mother Into Your Life, best-selling author Sondra Ray shares her experiences with such divine mothers as Ammachi, Mother Mary, and Mary Magdalaine. This book helps initiate readers into the Divine Mother ... (more)energy, which is vital for both inner peace and world peace. By reclaiming this energy, readers bring more unity, abundance, cooperation and peace, health and joy, spiritual power, and creativity into their lives and recapture the true essence and feminine power. Join us for a signing and discussion. Sondra Ray is in Austin, Texas May 8-10 for an intensive workshop focusing on cultivating miracle consciousness in your life. More info is available at www.beayoga.com
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Siddharth Kara discusses and signs Sex Trafficking (May 13 at 7:00pm)
Siddharth Kara , Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is delighted to present Columbia University Press author and local resident Siddharth Kara to discuss and sign his new book, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. This event is free and all are welcome!About the Book:
Every year, millions of women and ... (more)children are abducted, deceived, seduced, or sold into forced prostitution, made to service hundreds if not thousands of men before being discarded. Generating huge profits for their exploiters, sex slaves form the backbone of one of the world's most profitable illicit enterprises, for unlike narcotics, which must be grown, harvested, refined, and packaged, the female body requires no such "processing" and can be repeatedly consumed. In this first-of-its-kind journey, Siddharth Kara investigates the mechanics of the global sex trafficking business across four continents and takes stock of its devastating human toll. Drawing on his background in finance and economics, Kara provides a rare business analysis of sex trafficking, focusing on the local drivers and global macroeconomic trends that gave rise to the industry after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Kara supplements his analysis with a riveting account of this unconscionable industry, sharing the moving stories of victims and revealing the shocking conditions of their exploitation. The author will donate a portion of the proceeds from this book to the organization Free the Slaves.About the Author:Siddharth Kara is a former investment banker and business executive with an MBA from Columbia University. He set aside his corporate career to pursue anti-slavery research, advocacy, and writing, and, more recently, a law degree. He currently serves on the board of directors of Free the Slaves, an organization dedicated to abolishing slavery worldwide. In 2005 he was invited to testify on contemporary slavery to the United States Congressional Human Rights Committee.
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Samiya Bashir reading from Gospel: poems (May 15 at 7:00pm)
Samiya Bashir , Where the Apple Falls.
Gospel is an ecumenical resistance song in four parts. We enter at the crossroads, tripped up by trickster deity Eshu-Elegba. A chorus of crows, led by Norse god Odin’s raven messengers Hugin & Munin*, guides us into each movement. In this passionate follow-up to 2005’s Lambda Literary Award finalist, ... (more)Where the Apple Falls, Bashir’s poems challenge truth to stare down the power of fear and paralysis. In this pull-no-punches collection Bashir lays down a road map, a portable flashlight, and a shaky-legged escort to usher the way toward recovered sight and strength. Samiya Bashir is the author of Gospel, and Where the Apple Falls, a Poetry Foundation bestseller and finalist for the 2005 Lambda Literary Award. Bashir is editor of Black Women’s Erotica 2 and co-editor, with Tony Medina and Quraysh Ali Lansana, of Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art. She has also published three chapbook poetry collections: Wearing Shorts on the First Day of Spring, American Visa and Teasing Crow. Bashir is a fellow with Cave Canem and a founding organizer of Fire & Ink, a writer’s festival for LGBT writers of African descent. She is currently an Artist in Residence with The Austin Project.
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Norm Sperling discusses and signs This Book Warps Space & Time (May 20 at 7:00pm)
Norman Sperling , This Book Warps Space and Time: Selections from The Journal of Irreproducible Results.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is excited to host an evening with Norm Sperling, editor of The Journal of Irreproducible Results, as he discuss and inscribes JIR's new anthology, This Book Warps Space and Time. This event is free and will be a total blast, so you should stop by!Here's the Editor in his ... (more)own words:
Hi! I'm Norm Sperling, the editor since 2004. I've subscribed to JIR since the 1970s. I was assistant editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, and Science Editor of AltaVista.com. I teach astronomy in universities around San Francisco, wrote the book What Your Astronomy Textbook Won't Tell You, and co-designed Edmund Scientific's Astroscan telescope. The Journal of Irreproducible Results is a science humor magazine and the new anthology, This Book Warps Space and Time, is a fast-paced frolic of humorous and quirky tidbits in science, math, academe, bureaucracy, and witty wordplay. More than 250 entries ponder and pun the practical and peculiar. JIR targets hypocrisy, arrogance, and ostentatious sesquipedalian circumlocution. JIR is a friendly escape from the harsh and the hassle. JIR makes you feel good
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Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson discuss and sign The Scavengers' Manifesto (May 21 at 7:00pm)
anneli rufus , The Scavengers' Manifesto.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson as they discuss and sign The Scavengers' Manifesto. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend!About the Book:
Call it scavenging, freeganism, or just plain affordable living. A movement is afoot, ... (more)one that marries the tenets of affordable living with green living. And with the economic downturn, scavenging is no longer just the province of treasure seekers and do-it-yourselfers. Instead, it has become a fun, creative lifestyle choice for families and individuals looking to do less with more.
Combining tips and strategies with science and philosophy, The Scavengers' Manifesto traces the evolution of scavenging — dissolving ancient prejudices that have long tainted it and reclaiming it as a wise, crucial practice in a nation that discards more than 250 million tons of trash every year.About the Authors:
Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson live the scavenging life. Almost everything in their home has been swapped, thrifted or found — that is, not bought new or full-price. Even their garden blooms with a mix of flowers, vegetables and herbs, all from seeds obtained for free.
Rufus and Lawson are also critically acclaimed authors. Rufus is best known for writing Party of One: A Loner’s Manifesto and, recently, Stuck: Why We Can’t (or Won’t) Move On. She has also written for many publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle and Salon.com. Lawson's award-winning book, Darwin and Evolution for Kids, has been published in five languages.
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Samiya Bashir reading from Gospel: poems (May 22 at 7:00pm)
Samiya Bashir , Where the Apple Falls.
Gospel is an ecumenical resistance song in four parts. We enter at the crossroads, tripped up by trickster deity Eshu-Elegba. A chorus of crows, led by Norse god Odin’s raven messengers Hugin & Munin*, guides us into each movement. In this passionate follow-up to 2005’s Lambda Literary Award finalist, ... (more)Where the Apple Falls, Bashir’s poems challenge truth to stare down the power of fear and paralysis. In this pull-no-punches collection Bashir lays down a road map, a portable flashlight, and a shaky-legged escort to usher the way toward recovered sight and strength. Samiya Bashir is the author of Gospel, and Where the Apple Falls, a Poetry Foundation bestseller and finalist for the 2005 Lambda Literary Award. Bashir is editor of Black Women’s Erotica 2 and co-editor, with Tony Medina and Quraysh Ali Lansana, of Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art. She has also published three chapbook poetry collections: Wearing Shorts on the First Day of Spring, American Visa and Teasing Crow. Bashir is a fellow with Cave Canem and a founding organizer of Fire & Ink, a writer’s festival for LGBT writers of African descent. She is currently an Artist in Residence with The Austin Project.
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Camille Alexa: Push of the Sky: Stories (June 4 at 7:00pm)
Camille Alexa.
"Camille Alexa tumbles between fantasy, romance, and science fiction with remarkable grace and style, and her ability to effortlessly create worlds and characters we've never seen before is nothing short of jaw-dropping. She is, above all, a first-rate storyteller with an imagination that is off the ... (more)charts." --John Chandler, PORTLAND MONTHLYCamille Alexa grew up in Austin, Texas, under the auspices of a professorial Caribbean father, a bohemian painter mother, and a first-generation Norwegian grandmother with the best Science Fiction collection she has seen to this day. A recovering vintage shop owner, she is now the Poetry Editor for Diet Soap, the Flash Fiction Editor for Abyss & Apex, and she writes for The Green Man Review. When not on ten wooded acres near Austin she lives in Portland, Oregon, in an Edwardian house with very crooked windows. PUSH OF THE SKY is her first book.
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Seth Grahame-Smith discusses and signs Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (June 8 at 6:00pm)
Jane Austen , Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is turning over in its grave with excitement to present Seth Grahame-Smith as he discusses and signs his sure-to-one-day-be-a-cult-classic Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!
Seth Grahame-Smith is a film & television writer/producer living in America's Heartland - Los Angeles, ... (more)CA. He's the founder of The Department of Homeland Apology, a grassroots initiative demanding an apology from President George W. Bush for the offenses of his two terms. He's also founder of the groups: Democrats for Levi Johnston, Progressives Against Progress, and Please, Steve Doocy, Commit Suicide Already. In addition to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, he is also the author of Pardon My President: Ready-To-Mail Apologies for 8 Years of George W. Bush, How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills, The Spider-Man Handbook: The Ultimate Traning Manual, and The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies.
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David Carr discusses and signs The Night of the Gun (June 16 at 7:00pm)
David Carr.
DIESEL, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to welcome David Carr as he discusses and signs The Night of the Gun: A Reporter investigates the Darkest Story of His Life. His Own.
"There may be no memoirist who has more skillfully used journalistic tools to reconstruct his own life than New York Times media ... (more)columnist David Carr in his remarkable and harrowing book, The Night of the Gun....A."
-- Jennifer Reese, Entertainment Weekly
"The Night of the Gun is in part a writerly exercise in defense and disarmament--memoir in the throes of an existential crisis. But that does not prevent it from being a great read. This is largely because, in using his reporter's chops to investigate his own past, Carr taps the very skills that propelled him to survive. His method, as much as his madness, is the story."
-- Time "The Night of the Gun is about as dark and murky as dark and murky get. And though it is one of the most eloquent accounts of the seduction and snare of addiction, what's gotten lost in the water-cooler discussion about Carr's misadventures -- including drug peddling as well as his bout with cancer -- is that this book, in its sharp, serrated prose, is a meditation on how memory works (but mostly how it doesn't), a man's obsessive effort to get at his life's true narrative using the skills he's honed as a reporter, the one piece of his life that didn't combust."
-- George Lynell, L.A. Times
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Awakening to Your Creation with Julia 'Jewls' Hanson (July 7 at 7:00pm)
Julia Hanson.
Spend an evening exploring one woman's journey of awakening to her creation.
Learn how to understand the messages given to you on a daily basis by your Angels and Guides.Jewls Hanson is a nationally recognized master healer, speaker, and channel living in Central Texas. She has studied and taught metaphysical ... (more)science for over 20 years.
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Reading + Signing :The Floating Order (July 8 at 7:00pm)
Erin Pringle , The Floating Order.
The Floating Order is a unique and innovative collection of stories. Erin Pringle's world is filled with the dreamlike, nightmarish narratives of children: children in danger, children at the mercy of their parents, children in all kinds of trouble. Children who continually rise, return, and haunt the ... (more)pages. Erin Pringle is twenty-seven years old and lives in San Marcos, Texas. She has a MFA in Creative Writing from Texas State University. Erin's work has been heavily anthologized and has been read on radio. Her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, named
a 'Best American Notable Non-Required Reading of 2007', and was short-listed for the 2007 Charles Pick Fellowship.
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Twenty-Two New Friends and Allies:Using the Tarot for Practical Spiritual Guidance (July 14 at 7:00pm)
Heather Ash , The Four Elements of Change.
Whether you are freshly curious about the tarot or your favorite deck is as well-worn as a cowgirl's jeans, this class will unveil a new way for you to apply the hidden wisdom of the tarot to guide you with a steady hand through life's ups and downs. After a brief history of the tarot, you will learn ... (more)not only how to open the door to the powerful archetypal energies of this ancient spiritual tool, but also how to use them to pop you out of stuck places, make clear, centered decisions, and guide you on your soul's purpose. You will also receive a free gift of your life and year tarot cards from HeatherAsh's Toltec Tarot deck. HeatherAsh Amara studied tarot with Vicki Noble, creatress of the MotherPeace Tarot and don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements. She is the author of The Toltec Tarot and the co-founder of The Toltec Center of Creative Intent in Wimberley, TX. Over the years she has lived and learned to love each and every tarot card, and feels like a little kid sharing her favorite toy whenever she teaches this class.
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The Weight of Silence: Invisible children of India (July 21 at 7:00pm)
Shelley Seale.
Dog’s Eye View Media proudly presents a true-life story straight from today’s headlines. Shelley Seale’s narrative non-fiction book follows the lives of just such children as those brought to life in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India depicts Seale’s ... (more)journey into orphanages and through the streets and slums of India where millions of innocent children live without families. During her three years of writing The Weight of Silence, Seale has befriended and told the stories of many such children – and has born witness to their struggles first hand. Foreword by Joan Collins.
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Thomas Middleton to sign "Saber's Edge: A Combat Medic in Ramadi, Iraq" (July 24 at 5:00pm)
Thomas A. Middleton , Saber's Edge: A Combat Medic in Ramadi, Iraq.
"Saber's Edge" is Tom's first-hand account of some of the fiercest fighting Americans have faced as well as a story of personal conflict and faith. Please join us for this special event!
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Choosing Me Before We: Every Woman's Guide to Life and Love (August 4 at 7:00pm)
Christine Arylo , Choosing ME Before WE: Every Woman's Guide to Life and Love.
At Christine's book events, she asks women to look 
at their lives and honestly answer the question, “Am I honoring the 
most important relationship in my life first — the one with 
myself?”  She’ll share insights, inquiries, and practical 
exercises that empower women to experience ... (more)the wisdom and liberation 
that becomes possible when we discover, love, and live for “me” 
instead of starting with “he” or “we.” From Publisher's Weekly Review:
This three-part guide about co-dependent relationships, settling for the wrong man and not knowing what you want begins with “Me,” showing how crucial it is to get to know yourself first because “our relationships are mirrors of ourselves.” Arylo delves a little deeper than most by being honest about how many women are in denial about relationships being fueled by the fear of being alone and feeling incomplete. In part two (“He”), the author guides the reader through a series of visualizations to identify four core qualities the reader wants in her future mate, and part three (“We”) advises on maintaining authenticity and intimacy in a relationship.
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The Priestess and the Slave (August 12 at 7:00pm)
Jenny Blackford , The Priestess and the Slave.
The Priestess and the Slave by Jenny Blackford looks at the political
turmoil of fifth century BC Greece through the eyes of two women,
one a slave and one a farmer's daughter who became a Pythia in her
fifties. The novella intertwines the stories of Perialla, the Pythia at
Delphi who was bribed by the ... (more)Spartan king Kleomenes around
491BC, and Harmonia, a slave looking after the family which owned
her, during the devastating Plague of Athens (which broke out in the
second year of the Peloponnesian War). The two women never
meet, but their very different stories echo and complement one
another.Jenny Blackford studied Classics at the University of Newcastle,
NSW, including a year of German and Sanskrit as well as four years of
Greek and Latin. At the end, she was awarded First Class Honors and
a University Medal. She has always been fascinated by prehistory
and ancient history, archaeology, ancient languages and mythology.
Her stories have appeared in places including Jack Dann’s
showcase anthology Dreaming Again and Random House’s 30
Australian Ghost Stories for Children. She is one of the judges for
the World Fantasy Awards 2009. Her website is www.jennyblackford.
com.
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The Priestess and the Slave (August 19 at 7:00pm)
Jenny Blackford , The Priestess and the Slave.
The Priestess and the Slave by Jenny Blackford looks at the political
turmoil of fifth century BC Greece through the eyes of two women,
one a slave and one a farmer's daughter who became a Pythia in her
fifties. The novella intertwines the stories of Perialla, the Pythia at
Delphi who was bribed by the ... (more)Spartan king Kleomenes around
491BC, and Harmonia, a slave looking after the family which owned
her, during the devastating Plague of Athens (which broke out in the
second year of the Peloponnesian War). The two women never
meet, but their very different stories echo and complement one
another.Jenny Blackford studied Classics at the University of Newcastle,
NSW, including a year of German and Sanskrit as well as four years of
Greek and Latin. At the end, she was awarded First Class Honors and
a University Medal. She has always been fascinated by prehistory
and ancient history, archaeology, ancient languages and mythology.
Her stories have appeared in places including Jack Dann’s
showcase anthology Dreaming Again and Random House’s 30
Australian Ghost Stories for Children. She is one of the judges for
the World Fantasy Awards 2009. Her website is www.jennyblackford.
com.
Event webpage
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A Map of Home (September 3 at 7:00pm)
Randa Jarrar , A Map of Home.
A MAP OF HOME is an enthralling, unconventional coming-of-age tale. Nidali, the quick-witted protagonist, tells her story of growing up as a Palestinian-Egyptian-Greek American-Born girl in Kuwait with a quirky mother and at-times hot-tempered father. It is hard not to see the parallels between Nidali’s ... (more)life and Randa’s. Both were born in the US but quickly swept off to live in her parents’ native land – settling in Kuwait, like many middle-class Arabs at the time. And like so many of those who came looking for a better life, fled when Saddam invaded in the 90’s. Both Randa and her character find themselves in Egypt for a brief period of time only then to move back to the US, a country where they were born but could not recall. Randa settled in Austin and to this day considers it the only place that has ever felt like home. After receiving her MFA in Ann Arbor, she is moving back to the city she is so fond of – just in time for the publication of this paperback edition.
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Mean Little deaf Queer (September 13 at 5:00pm)
Terry Galloway , Mean Little Deaf Queer: A Memoir.
When Terry Galloway was born on Halloween, no one knew that an experimental antibiotic given to her mother had wreaked havoc on her fetal nervous system. After her family moved from Berlin, Germany, to Austin, Texas, hers became a deafening, hallucinatory childhood where everything, including her own ... (more)body, changed for the worse. But those unwelcome changes awoke in this particular child a dark, defiant humor that fueled her lifelong obsessions with language, duplicity, and performance.
As a ten-year-old self-proclaimed "child freak," she acted out her fury at her boxy hearing aids and Coke-bottle glasses by faking her own drowning at a camp for crippled children. Ever since that first real-life performance, Galloway has used theater and performance—onstage and off—to defy and transcend her reality. With disarming candor, Terry writes about her mental breakdowns, her queer identity, and her life in a silent, quirky world populated by unforgettable characters. What could have been a bitter litany of complaint is instead an unexpectedly hilarious and affecting take on life. Terry Galloway is the founder of the Actual Lives writing and performance programs; a founding member of Esther’s Follies, Texas’s legendary cabaret; and the cofounder of the Mickee Faust Academy for the REALLY Dramatic Arts. Her solo theater piece Out All Night and Lost My Shoes is considered one of the foundational texts in the history of disability performance. She lives with her partner in life and art, Donna Marie Nudd, and splits her time between Austin and Tallahassee, Florida.
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Reading + Signing for The Drowning Season with Amanda Downum (September 15 at 7:00pm)
Amanda Downum , The Drowning City (The Necromancer Chronicles).
Symir--the Drowning City. Home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and
smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who'll stop at nothing to
overthrow the corrupt Imperial government. For Isyllt Iskaldur,
necromancer and spy, the brewing revolution is a chance to prove
herself to her Crown. All she has to ... (more)do is find and finance the
revolutionaries, and help topple the palaces of Symir. But the longer
she stays in the monsoon-drenched city the more intrigue she uncovers,
and the more her loyalties are strained. And as the waters rise and
dams crack, everything she's worked for may still be swept away. "If you read only one first novel this year, read this one." -
Elizabeth Bear, Hugo Award-winning author of Ink and Steel and Hell
and Earth "Downum effectively combines action, magic, police procedure and
political intrigue in this complex and striking debut." - Publishers
Weekly Amanda Downum was born in Virginia, and has since then spent time in
Indonesia, Micronesia, Missouri, and Arizona. Eighteen years ago she
was sucked into the gravity well of Texas, and hasn't managed to
escape. Yet. She currently lives near Austin, in a house with a spooky
attic, and works at a bookstore in addition to writing and
cat-herding. Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons,
Realms of Fantasy, and Weird Tales. The Drowning City is her first
published novel.
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Local Contributors discuss and sign Who's Your Mama? (September 20 at 3:00pm)
Yvonne Bynoe , Who's Your Mama?: The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present local writers Kathy Briccetti, Meilan Carter, and Jasmine Dawson as they discuss their contributions to the national anthology, Who's Your Mama?: The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers.
Kathy Briccetti has published essays, poetry, and criticism ... (more)in literary and commercial magazines. She received a Pushcart Prize nomination for an essay excerpted from her forthcoming memoir, Blood Strangers, which will be published by Heyday Books in spring 2010. She lives in El Cerrito and works in Oakland.
Meilan Carter is interested in crossing literary genres, documenting family history, and challenging language. The beauty in death, magic, and the complexities of relationships, are some of the themes that appear in her work. A writer of both fiction and creative non-fiction, Meilan recently completed her MFA in Fiction at Mills College. She is currently working on a creative non-fiction novel about the loss of her father titled The Etiquette of Death. She lives in Oakland with her husband David and son Kamau.
Jasmine Dawson is an Oakland native and received her BA from San Francisco State University and MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. She has written and published book reviews, essays, and research. She finished her novel and is currently working for the City of Oakland.
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Belinda Acosta Reading + Signing + Workshop (September 20 at 4:00pm)
Belinda Acosta , Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz: A Quinceañera Club Novel (Quinceanera Club).
Reception, Reading, and Mother Daughter Workshop.
Belinda will read from DAMAS, DRAMAS, AND ANA RUIZ
then lead a mother-daughter workshop afterwards. Details TBA. Host:La quinceańera club books de Belinda Acosta
Event webpage
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Woman of Power: Archtypes of the Divine Feminine (September 22 at 7:00pm)
Heather Ash , The Four Elements of Change.
Woman of Power: Archetypes of the
Divine Feminine for Healing and Courage.
Join us for an interactive, playful, and profound free talk with author and Toltec teacher HeatherAsh Get 24/7 guidance, nourishment, support, and new ways of being through tapping into ancient wisdom.
Event webpage
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Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory with Deborah Paredez (September 25 at 7:00pm)
Deborah Paredez , Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory.
An outpouring of memorial tributes and public expressions of grief followed the 1995 death of the Tejana recording artist Selena Quintanilla Prez. The Latina superstar was remembered and mourned in documentaries, magazines, Web sites, monuments, biographies, murals, look-alike contests, musicals, drag ... (more)shows, and more. Calling these and other acts of mourning the slain star Selenidad, Deborah Paredez explores their significance and the broader meanings of remembering Selena. She considers the performers career and emergence as a posthumous icon within political and cultural transformations in the United States during the 1990s, the decade that witnessed a Latin explosion in culture and commerce alongside a resurgence of anti-immigrant discourse and policy.
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