On occasion I post tidbits at the Latest News page. Overall, I don't update my website very often. Sorry to disappoint!
Why There Are Words Literary Reading Series I curate and host the Why There Are Words Literary Reading Series, which showcases the Bay Area’s best prose writers at Studio 333 in Sausalito, 7 PM, every 2nd Thursday of the month. I founded WTAW in January 2010. Come out and see what everyone's talking about. Keep up with the events at the website, where you can sign up for our monthly mailer. You can find WTAW on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Story Farm: a creative nonfiction cooperative for writers, thinkers, and other interesting animals. I'm co-founder and co-director with Graham Gremore for this creative nonfiction cooperative for writers, thinkers, and other interesting animals. StoryFarm is a member of the Incubator Program at Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco. (We're on a hiatus at this time.)
North Bay Writers Workshops. These six-week sessions take place in my home in Sonoma County or in other writers' homes in Marin. Go to this page to learn more about them and when the next session starts.
Past Events--Woefully out of date! San Francisco Writers Conference InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel.February 13-16, 2013. Lightning Poetry Critique Session with Aya de Leon, Richard Loranger, Chris Robley Friday, Feb. 14, 9-10:30 AM. The Boardroom, Mezzanine THE AGE OF THE HYBRID WRITER: Writing and Publishing Across Genres in Different Media With Aya de Leon, Lisa Marie Rice. Moderator: Brad Henderson. Friday, Feb. 14, 3:00-3:45 PM. Willard, 2 CROSS TRAINING: Using Poetry to Empower Your Prose With Aya de Leon, Brian Felsen, Mary Mackey. Moderator: Andy Jones Boardroom, M
Litcrawl. Babylon presents...Razor's Edge.Oct. 19, 2013, 8:30 pm. Muddy's Coffee House, 1304 Valencia, SF. Reading with Jorge Cino, Valerie Fioravanti, Nina Schulyer, and Lysley Tenorio.
City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. City Lights Books, San Francisco. August 25, 2013. Says host Kara Levy, editor of Joyland Magazine: If you like City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, and you like Joyland: a hub for short fiction, and you like the vague but appealing smell of cannolis in pleasant alleyways, and you like the nearness of definitive, two-hand hoagies, THIS IS YOUR EVENT, FRIEND. Reading in honor of City Lights's 60th anniversary with Helene Wecker, Michael McAllister, Caitlin Myer, Mariko Tamaki.
Sausalito Library Reading In Celebration of the Library's Remodel. June 5, 2013. 7 PM. 420 Litho St., Sausalito.
StoryFarm’s Creative Nonfiction Weekend Intensive Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco, March 16 & 17, 2013 -- 2 DAYS! 4 CLASSES! ALL NONFICTION! Flash Creative Nonfiction, Saturday, March 16 - 11 AM to 1 PM. Flash nonfiction is one of the fastest-growing genres today. What sets the brief essay apart from the longer form, besides its word count? Tightly packed language, quick scenes, concise imagery – and “burning urgency translated through each sentence, starting with the first,” says Dinty W. Moore, editor of Brevity Magazine and The Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction. How to create that “burning urgency”—how to sustain it? In this two-hour class we’ll explore the ways as you try your hand at writing your own compelling piece on flash nonfiction.
San Francisco Writers Conference InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel.February 14-18, 2013. FLASH FICTION: Telling a Compelling Story in 500 Words or Less Saturday Feb. 16, 10:00-10:45 AM. Stanford, Mezzanine
CROSSTRAINING: Using Poetry to Empower Your Prose With Brian Felsen, Andy Jones, Mary Mackey. Moderator: Brad Henderson. Saturday, Feb. 16, 3:00-3:45 PM. Stanford Room, Mezzanine
Tzara's Hat: Five Writers, Five New Works. Tristan Tzara knew something about the creative power of community and constraint. During a Dadaist rally in the 1920s, Tzara offered to create a work on the spot by pulling words at random from a hat. We applied this technique to writing flash fiction, pulling the five words that each of us contributed from a hat at timed intervals and thereupon their selection immediately incorporating them into the stories as we drafted them. Come hear the results! With fellow conspirators Daniel Levin Becker, Ethel Rohin, Janey Smith, and Olga Zilberbourg.
O'Hanlon Center for the Arts'Local Women Writers Series: Readings and Conversations.Thursday, August 16th. 7pm. I'll read with the very talented Eve Pell, Ruth Gendler, and Rebecca Wilson. This will be a fun night in Mill Valley, and I hope you'll come out and enjoy the evening. I'll love to see you there!
I'll be reading for Corium Magazine editor Lauren Becker’s East Bay on the Brain. Saturday, April 21, 7-9pm at The Layover on 1517 Franklin Street. This is a fun series, and there will be plenty of good writers that evening. Kyrsten Bean, Hugh Behm-Steinberg, Hollie Hardy, Ken Weaver.
I will also read for a brand new series called Break On Through. I’m thrilled to be part of its inaugural event. Here’s what the founder/host Marcus Banks says about it. Our focus: poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, about people who have earned for themselves a measure of happiness. Perhaps even grace and peace. We're after accounts of growth through struggle, of arriving to a stronger place on the other side. Break on through. Then tell us how you, or your characters, did so. Saturday afternoon, April 28, 2-4pm at Cafe Crush, 3943 Piedmont Ave, Oakland. With Allison Landa and John W. Evans. More info at the website.
I'll be reading flash fiction with Meg Pokrass and Stefanie Freele at the Sonoma County Book Festival September 24, 3:15 on the main stage.
Litquake is coming! Besides curating a Why There Are Words event at Litcrawl, I'll be participating that same afternoon, Oct. 15, in the first ever Words on the Waves. In Sausalito's houseboat community, I'll be on Boat #34 at 2pm, along with Marianne Rogoff, Linda Watanabe McFerrin, and Frances Lefkowitz. More details coming. Watching the blog/news page.
I've been invited to read for the O'Hanlon Center for the Arts' celebration of Bay Area women in the arts, August 4, 7 PM. I'll be reading with Marin Poet Laureate Lyn Follett and author Jasmin Darznik.
I'm an invited reader for InsideStoryTime May 19, 6:30 PM. Cafe Royale, San Francisco. Theme: "Crossed Wires." This is one of my favorite reading series in the area, the genius of James Warner and Ransom Stephens.
I'll be a panelist on writing the short story atCalifornia Writers Club Marin Branch,The Joy of Writing Short. Sunday, May 22, 2011, 2 - 4 pm, Book Passage in Corte Madera, $5 members; $10 nonmembers
An Introduction to Writing Flash Fiction: How to Write It and Why You Want To Charles Baxter says flash fiction stories “are between poetry and fiction, the story and the sketch, prophecy and reminiscence, the personal and the crowd.” Flash fiction is one of the most exciting story forms to read and write. The practice of writing these short-shorts causes you to flex your best writing muscle: precision. New outlets make this a growing market for publishing. Learn what makes these short-shorts different from other forms, and how writing them can improve your writing overall. 7 Wednesdays, 1:10–3pm Sept. 7–Oct. 19 College of Marin, Kentfield Campus, Harlan Center 161 CRN# 85176 EC Beginning August 1 you can register online.
Art of the Noun Writers Studio with Marianne Rogoff & Peg Alford Pursell San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. August 14-21, 2011 Click on the link above for all the details.
Weekend Story Intensive Tomales Bay in West Marin, June 10-12. With Marianne Rogoff Spend a productive weekend at the inspiring West Marin coast engaged in craft discussions and writing exercises to spark new stories for open mic readings or publication, with critique sessions, performance practice, and publication suggestions, as desired. Please visit the linked page for all the details.
Publications news I confess to not keeping up with the publication news. You can read the beginning of many published stories at the Story Links page.
Burrow Press’s short story anthology Fragmentation & Other Storieswill be out February 16. My short story "Fragmentation" is the title story.
Two of my short stories have been selected to be performed at Stories on Stage in Sacramento, May 27, 2011.
There's an archive of my news (readings, workshops, courses, other lit activities) at my old website. Questions? Need more info? Contact me easily here.