A Room of One's Own

What do young women care about? Have they heard of feminism, and do they relate to it? These are just two of the questions journalist Nona Willis Aronowitz and photographer Emma Bee Bernstein set out to answer in Girldrive. In October 2007, Aronowitz and Bernstein took a cross-country road ... (more)trip to meet with the 127 women profiled in this book. Girldrive is a regional chronicle of the struggles, concerns, successes and insights of young women who are grappling--just as hard as their mothers and grandmothers did--to find, define, and fight for gender equity.

Footsteps (published by Plain View Press) is the story of two Kenyan sisters coming of age in the 1980s and 1990s, when the HIV/AIDS epidemic is becoming critical. Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, author and long-time activist against female genital mutilation (FGM) declares Footsteps to be “a richly detailed ... (more)picture of the challenges and hardships confronting indigenous village peoples in contemporary Kenya." Johnson was a Peace Corps teacher in rural Kenya from 1982 through 1984. She is a resident of Madison, Wisconsin and has spent the last twelve years teaching English as a Second Language in its public schools. She believes it is the cultural pluralism to which she is exposed on a daily basis that feeds her passion to comprehend and appreciate the enormous variety that makes up our human family.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "The River Wife" by Jonis Agee.Get your copy at Room and save 10%!!

Herrera teaches at UC-Riverside.

His collections include Facegames, Night Train to Tuxlta, and the children's book Calling the Doves.

Herrera is also an award winner! His achievements include the Ezra Jack Keats Award, the Americas Award and the Focal Award.

Join us as local poet Andrea Potos and Washington poet Terry Martin do a reading!

Potos is the author of Yaya's Cloth. She is the winner of the Sow's Ear Poetry Review Prize, judged by Marge Piercy!!

Martin is the author of The Secret Language of Women, a collection of powerful poems where the ... (more)sublime is housed within the domestic: kitchens are cathedrals, and the "geometry" of rituals sustained by women teach us how to sing. Even as she acknowledges the transience and fragility of all things, Martin finds constancy in the patience of boulders, and locates hope in the brilliant firelight of the firefly.

Martin's book will be available the night of the reading.

Fundraiser/drag show/queer musicians...you don’t want to miss it! ALL AGES! (mature audiences)
$5 OR $2 with 3 food donations

ome join us drag it up at the Neighborhood House! The community center has long been a part of the Vilas community. They provide so many services for Madison community members, ... (more)so we decided that it’d be a perfect opportunity to use the space to open up our drag performances to a much broader audience - plus, we love that the show’s benefits will go towards such a great cause!

The NARAL Book Club - "Pro-Choice Pages" will meet to discuss "How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America" by Cristina Page.

E-mail Samantha at eventsnaral@gmail.com for more info.

($10 donation suggested in NARAL email)

Patricia Clason, RRC, is the owner and director of the Center for Creative Learning LLC and Accountability Coaching Associates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First to receive the Registered Corporate Coach designation from the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches and a professional speaker for over 25 ... (more)years, Patricia offers practical wisdom in her presentations.

She is featured in the book series, Speaking of Success: World Class Experts Share Their Secrets.

Organized twice annually by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Gallery Night offers a unique opportunity to meet artists where they make and/or exhibit their work. Museums, galleries and other businesses throughout the city will participate, treating visitors to receptions, tours, demonstrations ... (more)and more.

Room will be featuring mixed-media prints by Hilary Berg that explore the whimsical and haunting imagery of nature and dreams, plus metal and stone jewelry by Rachel Rosenblum. (5-9pm!)

For more info visit www.mmoca.org.

Judy Norsigian, co-founder and executivedirector of the Our Bodies Ourselves series, will be giving a talk and signing for the newest book in the series- OBO Pregnancy and Birth.

This event is FREE and open to the public.

Judy Norsigian, co-founder and executivedirector of the Our Bodies Ourselves series, will be giving a talk and signing for the newest book in the series- OBO Pregnancy and Birth.
This event is FREE and open to the public.

Catherine Friend lives and farms in Minnesota. She is the author of a memoir, "Hit By A Farm" and several novels for children and adults.

As consumers are becoming more and more concerned about what happens to their food before it hits the table. In "The Compassionate Carnivore", Friend tackles the ... (more)carnivore's dilemma, exploring the contradictions and questions surrounding the bewildering choices facing today's more conscientious meat eaters.

Kao Kalia Yang is a writer from the Hmong community who lives with her family in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the founder of Words Wanted, an agency dedicated to helping immigrants with writing, translating, and business services.

Driven to tell her family's story after her grandmother's death, "The ... (more)Latehomecomer" is Yang's tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them all together. Beginning in the 1970s, as the Hmong were being massacred for their collaboration with the United States during the Vietnam War, Yang recounts the harrowing story of her family's captivity, the daring rescue undertaken by her father and uncles, and their narrow escape into Thailand where Yang was born in the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp. When she was six years old, Yang's family immigrated to America, and she evocatively captures the challenges of adapting to a new place and a new language. Through her words, the dreams, wisdom, and traditions passed down from her grandmother and shared by an entire community have finally found a voice.

Join us for a forum/discussion/fundraiser with the editor of one of your favorite feminist magazines!

Debbie Rasmussen is the editor of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, a print magazine devoted to feminist analysis and media criticism. Bitch features critiques of TV, movies, magazines, advertising, ... (more)and other elements of pop culture.

More info to come!

bitchmagazine.com

"Open Line" is a high energy political satire.

Annette Majoris is a late-night radio host spinning her wheels in flyover land. Her big personality and gorgeous voice have only gotten her so far and she desperately needs a hook. One slow night she decides to take it to the next level-just throw it ... (more)out there-what if the Vietnam War never happened? What if it was a government-concocted nightmare? A mind-control experiment of grand proportions? When the lines light up like a Christmas tree, she knows she's hit on something special, but even she can't imagine how far this will take her.

Ellen Hawley is also the author of the novel "Trip Sheets". She has edited a writers' magazine, co-edited a gay and lesbian community newspaper, and worked as a freelance writer. Hawley currently lives with her partner in Cornwall.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "Whipping Girl" by Julia Serano.

Contact Marissa at assiramnes@yahoo.com for more info.

Purchase your book club selection at Room and get 10% off!!

This month the Hussies will be discussing "Whipping Girl" by Julia Serano. Contact Marissa at assiramnes@yahoo.com for more info.Purchase your book club selection at Room and get 10% off!!

Ambassador Krueger and his wife and coauthor will be with us to sign copies of their book From Bloodshed to Hope in Burundi: Our Embassy Years During Genocide(University of Texas Press, $26.00 hc) and to share some of their experiences with us.

This month the group will be discussing "Female Chauvinist Pigs" by Ariel Levy.
For more information e-mail eventsnaral@gmail.comBuy your book club selection at Room and get 10% off!!

This month the Hussies will be discussing "Better For All the World" by Harry Brunius.Contact Marissa at assiramnes@yahoo.com for more info.Purchase your book club selection at Room and get 10% off!

This month the Hussies will be discussing "Black Girl White Girl" by Joyce Carol Oates.For more Hussies information contact Marissa at assiramnes@yahoo.comPURCHASE YOUR BOOK CLUB SELECTION AT ROOM AND GET 10% OFF!!

This is a new one for the book group and an early selection from Fowler's books - to get readers in on the ground floor. all are welcome to the discussion.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "The Cleft" by Doris Lessing.For more book club information e-mail Marissa at assiramnes@yahoo.comPURCHASE YOUR BOOK CLUB SELECTION AT ROOM AND GET 10% OFF!!

SET IN MADISON!! David Schwartz is a UW graduate and bases his new novel at the University of Wisconsin, Madison!

You can find out more about David HERE, HERE, and HERE!

This month the Hussies will be discussing "Run" by Ann Patchett. For more book club info e-mail Marissa at assiramnes@yahoo.comPurchase your book club selection at Room and get 10% off!!!

Patti Digh (pronounced “dye”) has written two business books on global leadership and diversity, and her comments have appeared on PBS, and in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, the New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, and London Financial Times, among other national and international publications. ... (more)Patti speaks around the world on diversity, global business, and living intentionally.

She has dedicated her life to educating herself and others on the personal and societal costs of exclusion and discrimination.

Patricia Cumbie writes fiction, essays and creative nonfiction for teens and adults.Her writing has appeared in the Emrys Journal, Hurricane Alice, Snake Nation, Third Coast and also in the anthologies The Leap Years and Stories from Inside the Mirror

Join us for the Wisconsin Book Festival! Barry Levenson and Mary Bergin will read from and sign their books on Wisconsin food! Barry Levenson is the founder of the Mustard Museum in Mt. Horeb! He will be presenting "Habeas Codfish: Reflections on Food & the Law"(and bringing the mustard!). www.mustardmuseum.comMary ... (more)Bergin of Madison writes about and photographs Wisconsin more than anywhere else. That means she stays relatively close to home when doing much of her work, which includes a weekly and syndicated travel column that began in 2002. The author of the new Hungry for Wisconsin: A Tasty Guide for Travelers and Sidetracked in Wisconsin: A Guide for Thoughtful Travelers worked for newspapers for 30 years before becoming a full-time freelancer. Freedom tastes better than wealth, she has decided, and riches sometimes can be measured in mileage. Follow Mary's work at www.mary-bergin.com and www.roadstraveled.com.

Stephanie Kuehnert got her start writing bad poetry about unrequited love and razor blades in eighth grade. In high school, she discovered punk rock and produced several D.I.Y. feminist 'zines. Stephanie received her MFA in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago. Her debut novel, I Wanna Be Your ... (more)Joey Ramone, a raw, edgy emotional tale about growing up punk and living to tell. was released by MTV Books in July 2008. It has been hailed as "a wonderfully written and evocative story of a mother and daughter parted by circumstance and joined by music" by Irvine Welsh, "acidly incisive and full-out entertaining" by Booklist, and "...an empowering new twist on a girl's coming of age..." by the Los Angeles Times.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "Almost Moon" by Alice Sebold(author of the "Lovely Bones").
Purchase your book club selection at Room and get 10% off!!For more info e-mail Marissa at assiramnes@yahoo.com

Giving voice to a population rarely acknowledged in writings about the South, Sweet Tea collects life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the southern United States. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as "backward" or "repressive," suggesting ... (more)that these men draw upon the performance of "southernness"--politeness, coded speech, and religiosity, for example--to legitimate themselves as members of both southern and black cultures. At the same time, Johnson argues, they deploy those same codes to establish and build friendship networks and to find sexual partners and life partners.

Traveling to every southern state, Johnson conducted interviews with more than seventy black gay men between the ages of 19 and 93. The voices collected here dispute the idea that gay subcultures flourish primarily in northern, secular, urban areas. In addition to filling a gap in the sexual history of the South, Sweet Tea offers a window into the ways that black gay men negotiate their sexual and racial identities with their southern cultural and religious identities. The narratives also reveal how they build and maintain community in many spaces and activities, some of which may appear to be antigay. Ultimately, Sweet Tea validates the lives of these black gay men and reinforces the role of storytelling in both African American and southern cultures.

About the Author
E. Patrick Johnson is chair, director of graduate studies, and professor in the Department of Performance Studies and professor of African American studies at Northwestern University. He is on tour in 2008, giving live performances of "Pouring Tea," a one-man-show based on the interviews collected for Sweet Tea.

Reviews:
"Interjecting apt questions only occasionally, the author allows his subjects to speak for themselves, which they do articulately, colloquially (a glossary is included), and graphically. . . . [A] very good book."--Library Journal

A Nota Bene selection of The Chronicle of Higher Education

"This fascinating . . . oral history subverts countless preconceptions in its illustration of black gay subcultures thriving in just about every imaginable rural and religious milieu in the South. . . . The courage and honesty of Johnson's interviewees humble, and readers will find much to treasure in the stories."--Publishers Weekly

"Sweet Tea is an amazing book. Engaging from the very start, it is well written and thought provoking throughout. There were times I simply could not put it down."--E. Lynn Harris, New York Times bestselling novelist

"A variety of biases, oversights, and material circumstances have conspired to push the narratives of southern black gay lives to the margins. Sweet Tea makes a monumental achievement by getting these stories out into the world. Every subsequent, serious engagement with the topic will have to address Johnson's work. This book is certain to be consulted, referenced, and discussed for many years to come."--John Howard, author of Men Like That: A Southern Queer History and Concentration Camps on the Home Front: Japanese Americans in the House of Jim Crow

Local author Maureen Seaton will read from her new autobiography!

Eli Brown discusses and signs The Great Days. This event is free and all are welcome.

This engaging memoir follows the life and career of circus performer Tiny Kline (1891-1964) from the burlesque house to the circus tent, and on to Disneyland and the silver screen. While working for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Kline became well known for her signature "slide for life" ... (more)stunt, an "iron jaw" act in which she slid to the ground while dangling from trapeze rigging by her teeth. Kline renewed her spectacular acrobatics at the age of seventy when she played Tinker Bell in the "Fantasy in the Sky" fireworks show at Disneyland. In that same year, she also began writing her life story. Janet M. Davis is an associate professor of American Studies and History at the University of Texas, Austin and the author of The Circus Age: Culture and Society Under the American Big Top.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "Bitter Sweets" by Roopa Farooki.Purchase your book club selection at Room and get 10% off!!

Santa takes a break to visit and read the new children's holiday story, "Priscilla & the Great Santa Search" by Nathaniel Hobbie, illustrated by Jocelyn Hobbie. Photos and signed bookplates will be free, courtesy of the publisher (Little, Brown) and include a Priscilla picture frame for your 'op' with ... (more)Santa.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamont.
Purchase your book club title at Room and get 10% off!!

You're invited to join DIESEL, A Bookstore in Brentwood as we host the Book Launch Party for George Mastras and his thrilling new novel, Fidali's Way! ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
George Mastras has worked as a criminal investigator for the public defender service, a counselor at a juvenile correctional facility, ... (more)and a litigator in New York and Los Angeles. After ten years of practicing law, he quit his job, sold his belongings, and spent several years backpacking around the globe and trekking in the Himalayas, Karakorams, and Hindu Kush. Since returning to the United States, he has worked as a screenwriter and has written for several television series, including The Evidence, The Dresden Files, and currently the Emmy Award-winning drama Breaking Bad, for which he was nominated for a Writers Guild Award in 2008. Born in Boston, he is a graduate of Yale, UCLA Law, and Outward Bound. He was awarded the competitive Disney-ABC Writing Fellowship for Television Drama in 2005. He lives in Los Angeles.

Karen Dawn founded the animal advocacy media watch DawnWatch.com. As a spokesperson for the animal rights movement she has appeared on MTV and hosted talk shows on major radio stations. Her opinion pieces have been published in leading newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. This ... (more)is her first book.Brought to you in cooperation with the Alliance for Animals

Karen Dawn founded the animal advocacy media watch DawnWatch.com. As a spokesperson for the animal rights movement she has appeared on MTV and hosted talk shows on major radio stations. Her opinion pieces have been published in leading newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. This ... (more)is her first book.Brought to you in cooperation with the Alliance for Animals

In her lifelong search for wholeness, Carolyn North has been a medieval scholar, a midwife in India, a Gospel singer and a writer of novels. She founded the food-recovery program DAILY BREAD, built the first rice-strawbale house in the United States and has created several Permaculture gardens in Northern ... (more)California. Currently, she is exploring ways in which improvisational singing, especially in ensemble, can be used for healing. She believes that whatever generates beauty and deep pleasure has healing power, and that if our intention is clear and loving enough, together we can save our species from self-destruction.You can find out more about Carolyn at the following websites:www.ecstaticrelations.comwww.healinginprovisations.net

The Madison Public Library will be hosting popular children's book author Patricia Polacco! Her newest book, "In Our Mothers' House" explores a household with two moms!
This new book will be on sale AT THIS EVENT ONLY! It will then be on sale to the public in May.

The most complex of emotions is explored in stunning photographs that will melt hearts. The many sides of love are shown through captured moments - pets and pals and parents; giggles, tears, and surprise; a leap across a field; a hug when one needs it. Simple poetic captions give readers starting places ... (more)to think and talk about the people and the things they love - and examine its many meanings. Poignant and joyful, tender and true, Shelley Rotner and Deborah Carlin present this most intimate of emotions in all its wondrous ways.
Deborah Carlin is a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. This is her first book for children.
Shelley Rotner is the co-author and photographer of more than 30 books for children on topics ranging from twins to grandparents to food to ADD. Her boooks include Every Season (Roaring Brook, spring 2007).

In her lifelong search for wholeness, Carolyn North has been a medieval scholar, a midwife in India, a Gospel singer and a writer of novels. She founded the food-recovery program DAILY BREAD, built the first rice-strawbale house in the United States and has created several Permaculture gardens in Northern ... (more)California. Currently, she is exploring ways in which improvisational singing, especially in ensemble, can be used for healing. She believes that whatever generates beauty and deep pleasure has healing power, and that if our intention is clear and loving enough, together we can save our species from self-destruction.You can find out more about Carolyn at the following websites:www.ecstaticrelations.comwww.healinginprovisations.net

The UW English Department is presenting a reading by Patrick Somerville!Somerville grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, went to college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and later earned his MFA from Cornell University. He has taught creative writing and English at Cornell, Auburn State Correctional ... (more)Facility, and The Graham School in Chicago.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "Women Who Run With the Wolves" by Clarissa Estes. Purchase your book club selection at Room and get 10% off!

Gerda Lerner is one of the founders of the field of women's history and African-American history and is a former president of the Organization of American Historians. Lerner has played a key role in the development of women’s history curricula at Long Island University (1965-1967), at Sarah Lawrence ... (more)College from 1968 to 1979 (where she established the nation's first Women's History graduate program), at Columbia University (where she was a co-founder of the Seminar on Women), and since 1980 as Robinson Edwards Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is a professor emerita of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a visiting scholar at Duke University.

Join us as Iowan author Lovely reads from his debut novel!Stephen Lovely graduated from Kenyon College and attended the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he taught literature and fiction writing. He has worked as a unit clerk in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the University of ... (more)Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, as an administrator in the University of Iowa's Interdisciplinary Program in Literature, Science & the Arts, and as an accountant in the UI Center for Media Production. He is the winner of the 2004 Dana Award for the Novel and a 2006-7 James A. Michener/Copernicus Society of America Award.

Join us for the first Room Book Club Meeting! We will be discussing Christopher Barzak's new novel, "The Love We Share Without Knowing" and then having a LIVE phone Q & A with the author!!You get 10% off your copy of the book club selection when you buy it at Room!

Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to welcome Kathy Ireland to the store to discuss and sign her new book Real Solutions for Busy Moms: Your Guide to Success and Sanity. This event is free and everyone is encouraged to attend!About the Book:Kathy Ireland communicates with moms every day: online, ... (more)at the grocery store, at church, at speaking engagements, and on her company website. She is grateful that her conversations don't center around beauty tips or requests for autographs or advice on how to dress. Rather, she has the honor of hearing from real women who struggle with balancing the responsibilities of marriage, raising children, managing a household or career or both, and finding any time left to take care of themselves.As the involved mom of three very active children, the supportive wife of an emergency room doctor, and a dynamic businesswoman, Kathy knows of these struggles firsthand. She credits her strong faith in God and her parents' love and support for any success she has today and dedicates her days to finding the solutions that can make life easier for busy moms in all phases of life. As she tackles the tough financial concerns families feel today and many other issues, Kathy offers empathy and encouragement. She shares stories from her own life and wisdom she has gained through her years from teenager with a paper route to successful supermodel to mom to entrepreneur with a dream for big business.About the Author:
Supermodel turned supermom and entrepreneur, Kathy Ireland lives in Santa Barbara where she is a supportive wife to her doctor husband, and mother of three children.

Agate Nesaule is the winner of an American Book Award. She was born in Latvia and grew up in the turmoil of World War II. A professor emerita of English and women's studies at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, she lives, writes and gardens in Madison.

D. C. A. Hillman earned an M.S. in bacteriology and an M.A. and Ph.D in classics from the University of Wisconsin. His research has been published in the academic journal Pharmacy in History. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife and children.

Bernice Mennis lives in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York and has taught for over twenty years in a low residency, student centered, interdisciplinary college Vermont College of Union Institute & University.
For twelve years she taught Composition and literature in Great Meadows and Washington Corrections ... (more)Facilities as part of Skidmore College's University Without Walls.

WENDELL SMITH introducing, reciting, and reading from MAXIMUM SECURITY WARD AND OTHER POEMS by RAMON GUTHRIE (1896-1973) one of the most truly original American poets of our century.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present local author, Marin resident and 2007 banjo champ John Pedersen, as he discusses and signs his first novel, Scroll and Curl. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend!About the Book:
When the old time string band "Sweet Evening ... (more)Breeze" leaves Saratoga Springs, New
York on their two week tour of the east coast, fiddler Dan Munroe thinks that his only
headache will be controlling his band-mates tendencies for excess. That is until he
buys a unique fiddle at a sidewalk sale in New York and hears the story of the previous
owner’s entanglement with the underworld of the 1930's. After he gets the special fiddle
appraised by a reclusive dealer in Pennsylvania, dangerous and mysterious forces suddenly curl
and swirl through his life.About the Author:
As the grandson of a noted Heldeberg Mountain fiddler and a master luthier, John Pedersen portrays the touring string band life based on
hard-won first-hand knowledge about the shifting nature of relationships and the
dynamics of people on the road whose main connection to each other is the music.
Also, running a retail music store, doing repairs and buying and selling rare instruments
have given him insight into the eclectic and occasionally bizarre world of instrument
buyers and collectors and their motivations. The patrons of the store, run by John and his
wife, range from limos full of rock stars to the lowliest of street people and everyone in
between. As a musician John has won many fiddle contests, playing in the “old time”
style, as well as the California State Old Time Banjo championships in 2007.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "Frida" by Barbara Mujica.Everyone is welcome to attend Shameless Hussies meetings!Purchase your book club selection at Room and get 10% off!!

Join us as local author Dwight Allen reads from his new novel!Dwight Allen is author of the highly praised story collection "The Green Suit" and a novel entitled "Judge". A graduate of Lawrence University and of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was a Teaching-Writing Fellow, Allen ... (more)was on the editorial staff of The New Yorker for close to a decade. His short stories and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Join us as four contributors to the anthology "Eating Her Wedding Dress" read their poetry.Andrea Potos, Katrin Talbot, Eve Robillard and Angela Rydell will be presenting!

Join us as bestselling local author Jane Hamilton reads from her new novel, "Laura Rider's Masterpiece"!

Join us for a reading by Terri Severson from her new book "A DIY Life".

Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Valerie Laken has lived and worked in Moscow, Prague, Krakow, Madison, and Ann Arbor. She received an MA in Slavic Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, the Chicago Tribune, Michigan Quarterly ... (more)Review, the Alaska Quarterly Review, the Antioch Review, and Meridian. Her honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize, two Hopwood Awards, and an honorable mention in the Best American Short Stories.Dream House is her first novel.

Room's new book club will be meeting to discuss "Man Walks Into a Room" by Nicole Krauss.
This book club will be focusing on contemporary fiction. New members are welcome! E-mail room@chorus.net for more info or just show up!
Purchase the book club title at Room and get 10% off!

Join us for the release of the groundbreaking new book The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece by Marguerite Rigoglioso. Dr. Rigoglioso will explore the“rape by gods”and supernatural conception stories from Greek history and myth in a startling new way that places virgin priestesses at the core ... (more)of Western civilization.Marguerite Rigoglioso, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in humanities and a
master's in philosophy and religion from the California Institute of Integral
Studies (CIIS), as well as a bachelor's degree from Vassar College. She teaches
pioneering courses in women and religion at CIIS, Dominican University,
and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.

Big Sid's Vincati: The Story of a Father, A Son, and the Motorcycle of a LifetimeWhen Matthew Biberman’s father suffered a near-fatal heart attack and gave up his will to live, Matthew impulsively promised his father that together they would build a Vincati—the grand-daddy of all motorcycles, half ... (more)Vincent and half Ducati. One had never been built in North America. This challenge, Matthew realized, was exactly what his father would need to rejoin life. BIG SID’S VINCATI: The Story of a Father, a Son, and the Motorcycle of a Lifetime tells the poignant story that followed from one brief conversation in a hospital room. If anyone could build a Vincati, Matthew knew his father, “Big Sid”, could do it. He was a legend among bikers. McQueen, Leno, anybody really serious about bikes had sought out Big Sid. But now Sid was old, busted up and broke. Long ago Matthew had seen it all coming, and his response was to escape his father’s blue-collar existence becoming a professor of English who taught the highest of high culture—Shakespeare. As adults, father and son rarely spoke and the two men seemed fixed on separate paths. Then what began as a farewell visit at the hospital where Sid lay at the edge of death changed everything. Picking up where Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance left off, BIG SID’S VINCATI mixes step-by-step motorcycle construction with the moving story of a father and son reconnecting over a shared passion. This memoir follows the Bibermans as they not only build their legendary Vincati but also reconstruct their relationship, one motorcycle part at a time. Matthew Biberman grew up in Norfolk, and much of the story takes place in the Hampton Roads area. He teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Louisville. Reading and Book Signing: Thursday, May 14 at 7 p.m.

Carol Chase Bjerke has been a self-employed artist and teacher since 1976 and is currently an instructor of book arts and photography at the University of Wisconsin School of the Arts at Rhinelander and the Center for Photography at Madison. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally and is in numerous ... (more)private and public collections, including the Kohler Art Library in Madison, the Special Collections in the Golda Meir Library at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "I'll Fly Away" by Wally Lamb.Purchase your copy at Room and get 10% off!!

Moondancer Drake is a Milwaukee resident and will be reading from her debut novel, "Ancestral Magic", a multicultural lesbian paranormal romance.

Bring your knitting project and join hostess Patty Poisson for an informal evening of chatting, knitting and tea. Exquisite tea is generously provided by Danielle Beaudette of The Cozy Tea Cart in Brookline. (www.thecozyteacart.com). Please note that the group is open to all experienced knitters. They ... (more)meet on the 2nd Monday each month.

This month we will be discussing "Ordinary Wolves" by Seth Kantner. Purchase your copy at Room and get 10% off! Everyone is welcome to join!

Favorite local author Michael Perry (Truck: A Love Story and Population 485) will be presenting his newest book, "COOP: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting"!

This is the regular meeting of the Classics Group. Reading choice for June: "Three Daughters of Madame Liang" by Pearl Buck. New readers are always welcome to join!

Join us as local author and UW professor Judith Leavitt reads from her newest book that explores the changing role of expectant fathers.

Tricia Currans-Stevens is a professor of English at Briar Cliff University and editor of the Briar Cliff Review.
She will be reading from her novel, "The River Road".

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to have Jules and Jill Elmore as they discuss and sign The Family Chef. This event is free and everyone is invited!

This month the group will discuss "Woman's World" by Graham Rawle. Purchase your copy at Room and get 10% off!Everyone is welcome to attend book club meetings!

Please join us for a reading of "Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Stories" by Carol LaChapelle.Several contributors to the book are Madison residents and will be joining Carol to share their stories!Visit www.carollachapelle.com for more author information

Michael Schuler is Parish Minister at the First Unitarian Society of Madison. He will be reading from his book, "Making the Good Life Last: Four Keys to Sustainable Living".

THIS MONTH THE HUSSIES WILL BE DISCUSSING "THE BOOK THIEF" BY MARKUS ZUSAKPurchase your copy at Room and get 10% off!

Celebrated children's book author Ann Whitford Paul will be giving a workshop at A Room of On'es Own Bookstore on the unique practice of writing picture books. Ann is the author of 19 award-winning picture books, as well as a brand new guide to the art and craft of creating them. Aspiring authors of ... (more)all ages are welcome to take advantage of this unique opportunity! This event is free and open to the public. Visit Ann Whitford Paul's website here.

Celebrated children's book author Ann Whitford Paul will be giving a workshop at A Room of On'es Own Bookstore on the unique practice of writing picture books. Ann is the author of 19 award-winning picture books, as well as a brand new guide to the art and craft of creating them. Aspiring authors of ... (more)all ages are welcome to take advantage of this unique opportunity! This event is free and open to the public. Visit Ann Whitford Paul's website here.

Playwright Maryann Lesert's work has appeared in The Art of the One-Act and Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2007. Lesert currently teaches writing at Grand Rapids Community College in Michigan. "Base Ten" is her first novel.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present local attorneys Janelle Orsi & Emily Doskow to the store to discuss and sign their new book, The Sharing Solution: Save Money, Simplify Your Life, and Build Community.
Sharing, that good ole virtue we learned as kids can help us live more sustainably, ... (more)save money, time and, ultimately, sharing helps build stronger communities. But in order for sharing to do all of that, we must know how to share and how not to share. In The Sharing Solution, Janelle and Emily put their legal skills and their infectious visionary spirit to work and the result is a lively and practical guide, full of tips and resources to help anyone and everyone create a sharing arrangement. The book is replete with tools, step-by-step instructions and sample written agreements to allow anyone - young or old, rich or poor - to share a car with a neighbor, form a childcare co-op, join a co-housing community, start a tool-sharing group, and integrate sharing into a host of other realms of life.

Dina Elenbogen is an award winning poet and writer. Her poetry, essays and stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines including Bellevue Literary Review, Prairie Schooner,
and the Anthology Where We Find Ouselves: Jewish Women around the World Write about Home
(SUNY, 2009). Dina's first ... (more)poetry collection, "Apples of the Earth", was published in 2006. Her poetry travels from Midwest to middle eastern landscapes, from the world of motherhood to social activism.

Lucille Lang Day's new book of poems is The Curvature of Blue; Alicia Ostriker enthuses about it, "Intelligence enjoying itself, awareness at play, attentiveness dancing through life's minefields smiling at itself in its new black car. . . a wonderful book and I feel lucky to have read it." Lucille Day ... (more)has published four previous books of poetry, including Infinities, Wild One, and Self-Portrait with a Hand Microscope, her first, for which she won the Joseph Henry Jackson Award. She is the founder and director of Scarlet Tanager Books, a literary press in the Bay Area. Roz Spafford's new book of poems is Requiem, winner of the 2008 Gell Poetry Prize, with a foreword by Carl Dennis: "All the poems in Requiem may be read as attempts to confront the presence of death in our lives. . . What is remarkable about this steady focus, which offers no easy consolations, is that it leads to a book that is more challenging than it is querulous or elegiac. . . a book that confronts our limitations in a way that makes us feel larger rather than diminished." Spafford has been a writer, teacher, and activist for the last three decades. She wrote book reviews and a newspaper column of media and cultural criticism called 'Mediations' for much of that time. Her poetry and fiction have been widely published in literary magazines.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "The Thirteenth Tale". Everyone is welcome to attend and, if you buy your copy at Room, you will get 10% off!

Diesel, A Bookstore in Malibu is totally stoked to host an afternoon with award-winning journalist and surfer Jaimal Yogis as he discusses and signs his memoir, Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea.Fed up with suburban teenage life, Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more ... (more)than a copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His journey is a coming-of-age saga that takes him from communes to monasteries and the icy New York shore. Equal parts spiritual memoir and surfer's tale, this is a chronicle of finding meditative focus in the barrel of a wave and eternal truth in the great salty blue.Join us!

Calling all D&D geeks, World of Warcraft addicts and other gamers, come meet Ethan Gilsdorf, author of "Fantasy Freaks & Gaming Geeks." Check out his website and enter his 'The Great Geek Giveaway! Contest.
www.ethangilsdorf.com

The quirky and funny story of a woman in upstate New York who marries a man from China whom she barely knows. They don't share a language or a culture, but together they discover what matters most-a story of taking risks, culture clash, and the journey to real love.

This month the Hussies will be discussing, "Daphne" by Justine Picardi. Purchase your copy at Room and get 10% off!

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to have local author Dylan Landis as she discusses and signs Normal People Don't Live Like This. This event is free and all are welcome! Normal People Don't Live Like This will be published Sept. 8 by Persea Books. It is a debut collection of ten linked stories—praised ... (more)by Janet Fitch, Elizabeth Strout and Lisa Glatt— about the hidden lives of a teenager and her mother, and how they struggle to negotiate emotional damage and open themselves to love. The girl, Leah, yearns for belonging and worships the most delinquent girls at school, while her mother, Helen, secretly rents a welfare hotel room that she obsessively decorates. The stories – quirky and darkly humorous -- mostly center on Leah, but they're also about the disturbing, sometimes transformative lives of the girls and women she knows. These stories have appeared in anthologies such as Do Me: Tales of Sex & Love from Tin House; Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003; Women on the Edge: Writing from Los Angeles; and Bestial Noise: The Tin House Fiction Reader, among others, and in literary magazines such as Tin House, Bomb, the Santa Monica Review and others. All were written while she lived in LA, from 2000 to 2008.

The quirky and funny story of a woman in upstate New York who marries a man from China whom she barely knows. They don't share a language or a culture, but together they discover what matters most-a story of taking risks, culture clash, and the journey to real love.

In At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream, Wade Rouse relates, with his trademark tongue-in-cheek humor, his courageous decision to follow a dream of the simple life. Leaving cultured urban living behind, Wade strikes out with his partner Gary for the back woods of lower Michigan where his ... (more)spirit, sanity, relationship, and Kenneth Cole pointy-toe boots are sorely tested with humorous and humiliating frequency.

For nearly a dozen years the UW Press has been publishing lesbian and gay memoir and autobiography in the unique and award-winning Living Out series. The latest and most ambitious volume in the series, Gay American Autobiography: Writings from Whitman to Sedaris, presents a panoramic portrait of gay ... (more)male life writing, including the work of towering figures such as Henry James and Henry David Thoreau while also offering the testimony of tattoo artists and academics, composers and drag queens, turn-of-the-century transvestites and soldiers attempting to come out in the army. Join editor David Bergman and senior acquisitions editor Raphael Kadushin to celebrate Coming Out Week with a fascinating and insightful look back at how gay men have defined and lived their lives throughout the last 150 years.

This month the Hussies will be discussing "No One Belongs Here More Than You" by Miranda July.Everyone is welcome to attend book club meetings and if you purchase your book club selection at Room, you'll get 10% off!

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pumped to present former Diesel employee and local high school English teacher Nina LaCour in celebration of her first novel, Hold Still!!
Nina LaCour grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her first job was at fourteen in an independent bookstore, and she has since ... (more)worked in two others. She has tutored and taught in various places, from a juvenile hall to a private college. She now teaches English at an independent high school, and lives in Oakland, California.

IRENE PEPPERBERG returns to sign and discuss ALEX AND ME: HOW A SCIENTIST AND A PARROT DISCOVERED A HIDDEN WORLD OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE newly published in paperback.

Ginnah Howard taught high school English for 27 years, five of which were spent teaching in Edgerton, WI while living in Madison. She now lives in Gilbertsville, NY. Her work has appeared in Water~Stone Review, Portland Review, Permafrost, Phoebe, Ballyhoo, Descant 145 and elsewhere. Several of her stories ... (more)have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has been awarded residencies at the MacDowell Colony, BlueMountainCenter, Ucross, Saltonstall, and Hedgebrook.

Jennifer Kitchell has a Ph.D. in geology, and has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and won a teaching award at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Novelist Fred Leebron has called her writing "evocative and often lyrical, the setting evoked masterfully in what can only be described as ... (more)a joy to read." This is her first novel.