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Ladies - Please forgive the email you just got about our 2007 White Elephant Exchange. I was asked by a member to remove one of the photos, and when I did so, that action generated emails to everyone. Sorry about that! -Janis

Colorado authors listen up

The 2010 Author Fest of the Rockies is now taking call for proposals from authors, editors, agents, poets, and publishers. Deadline has been extended to May 15. Hard copies of the application are available at Black Cat Books and the Manitou Springs Public Library or you can access the online application at www.authorfestoftherockies.org. Don’t put this off... get your proposal in today!

"Love in a Time of Homeschooling"

That's the title of LLLer Laura Brodie's new memoir, just published by Harper. In case you missed the article about Laura and her book in last Thursday's Washington Post, click here to read all about it.

Next Saturday, April 17th, at 11 A.M., Laura will appear at the Charlottesville Barnes & Noble for a book chat, and she'll happily sign your copy of her book.

Denver's New Social Secretary

At a very well-attended lunch at Bombay Clay Oven on March 4th, LLL cofounder Bella Stander passed the baton (a handy sunglass case) to new Denver Social Secretary Carleen Brice. Long may she wave!

At the end of March Bella is returning to her native New York. She will reside in a 1950s ranch house, complete with pink-and-black bathroom, in scenic Rhinebeck.

Stay tuned for the first Hudson Valley LLL!

Malicious Parrot Memoir Hits the Shelves

News from Jenny Gardiner:

My memoir, Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who's Determined to Kill Me (Simon & Schuster's Gallery Books) --think David Sedaris meets Marley & Me, with a deadly beak--will appear in bookstores next Tuesday, March 16th.

I'll be speaking and signing at the Virginia Festival of the Book on Sunday at 3 pm at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports at Barracks Road Shopping Center.

(Me, the woman who can't control her pets, along with three people whose professions are all about controlling their pets.)

Feel free to stop by. Thanks!

Laura Brodie's Homeschooling Memoir

We have news from LLLer Laura Brodie, about her latest book:

"My memoir, Love In a Time of Homeschooling, is being published by Harper on April 6, and I'm giving a talk at the Charlottesville Barnes and Noble on Saturday, April 17 at 11:00. Everyone is welcome.

This isn't a standard homeschooling book so much as a mother-daughter memoir that looks at how public school families are using homeschooling to supplement their kids' educations."

Extra! Extra! LLL is News in New West

Writers, Literary Agents, and Publishing Pros Lunch in Denver

A group of female publishing industry professionals meets monthly in Denver.





CO LLLers Doreen Orion & Carleen Brice,
who have also attended the VA LLL.

The Faulkner-Wisdom Competition: A Great Place to be Discovered

A hot tip from new LLLer Laura Brodie, author of the just-released novel The Widow's Season:

Here is a contest that all literary ladies should know about: The Faulkner-Wisdom Competition, sponsored by the Pirate's Alley/Faulkner Society of New Orleans. This annual competition welcomes entries from around the country (and internationally) in seven categories: Novel, Novella, Novel-in-Progress, Short Story, Essay, Poetry, and Short Story by a High School Student.

In the past, prizes have ranged from $7000 for Best Novel, to $1500 for Best Short Story by a High School Student. Winners are flown to New Orleans in November for the society's annual conference, called Words & Music, a Literary Feast in New Orleans, which features panels with famous authors, meals at great restaurants, and brief manuscript consultations with an editor and agent.

The festival is open to all members of the public, and anyone can have a manuscript excerpt read by an agent and/or editor, followed by a consultation (usually about ten-fifteen minutes) for a fee. Each year a few writers sign with agents, often writers who never entered the contest-so it does happen!

I learned about this contest after two VMI English professors, David Rachels and Kurt Ayau, won Best Novel for their jointly-authored manuscript. I won Best Novel-in-Progress in 2005, and that category only requires that you offer 50 pages of a novel, and a synopsis of the rest. Check out the website Faulkner-Wisdom Competition for more information and contest deadlines. Usually the deadline comes in late March or April, but last spring the deadline was extended until June 1. Good luck to all!

FREE PIE at B&N (Oh, and Mollie Cox Bryan will be there, too.)

Not only will Charlottesville Literary Lady Mollie Cox Bryan be signing her new book Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies at the Charlottesville Barnes & Noble this Saturday, July 18th from 1 to 3 pm, she will also be HANDING OUT PIE.

Need I say more? I think not.

"Steal This Text": Plagiarism in Our Brave New (Digital) World

Oh, that cut-and-paste function is so tempting! Waldo Jaquith (yes, he's my son) was reviewing a book for The Virginia Quarterly Review and noticed jarring variations in the writing style.

Further investigation revealed equally jarring similarities between several Wikipedia entries and the author's text.

The author is Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired magazine. The book, in a delicious irony, is entitled Free: The Future of a Radical Price.

The ensuing hoo-ha is available for your perusal at the VQR blog.

As you'll see from the comments posted there, the defense for this behavior is essentially: Hey, this stuff is available for free online, what's the big deal?

It is in that freewheeling spirit that I now present my brand-new novel, Moby Dick.

Faith Andrews Bedford's Book: Made for Mothers Day

LLLer to sign her latest book: Little Girls in Matching Dresses: And Other Tales of Mothers, Daughters and Grandmothers at New Dominion Book Store, The Charlottesville Downtown Mall, Wednesday, April 29th at noon.

From Faith's press release:

Faith Andrews Bedford, a long-time favorite with Country Living's readers, captures the magic of childhood and home in a moving collection of essays. For years, the readers of Country Living have treasured her evocative stories, featured in her beloved bi-monthly column, "Kids in the Country."

Little Girls in Matching Dresses is a beautifully presented celebration of mothers and daughters that will touch the heart of all who read it. Just in time for Mother’s Day, this enchanting collection brims with warmth, wit, and grace and paints treasured portraits of mothers and children – and of creating new family traditions, following old ones, and seeing the world through a child’s eyes. [...] These vignettes take us – charmed and captivated – to the wondrous world where children eagerly explore their surroundings, where lessons are taught by gentle example, and where the strength of family is instilled in the rituals handed down over the years.

Faith is also an art historian and author of several books on the American Impressionist Frank W. Benson. In addition to appearing in Country Living, her essays have also been published in Reader's Digest, Victoria, several of the Chicken Soup books, and numerous anthologies as well as in many other magazines and newspapers.

LLL-apalooza at the Virginia Festival of the Book

On Friday, March 20th, 26 members of the Literary Ladies Luncheon (okay, maybe some were guests -- I can't keep track of EVERYthing) gathered for lunch at Bashir's Taverna on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall.

At table #1 were (from left to right) Erika Raskin, Diane Nelson, Debby Prum, Jeanne Siler, Johanna Smethurst, Susan Wright.







Table #2: That's Kathy May who has sneakily leaned out of the photo, Karen Kostyal, Mary Cail, Linda Kobert, Elizabeth Howard, Kathy Pond, Susie Langenkamp.









Table #3: Polly Lyman, Laura Rydin, Sandy Houseman, and Lisa Provence.











At Table #4, Charlottesville LLLers mingled with visiting Denver LLLers. Deborah Clarke Grosvenor, Doreen Orion, Fran Cannon Slayton, Stefanie Newman, Jocelyn Johnson, Rachel Unkefer.






Yours truly and Bella Stander.








And there's Bashir himself, at the serving table.







Throughout the Festival, LLLers were busy appearing on panels (or moderating them), and attending the multitude of events offered at the Festival. (And let's hope there were lots of power-schmoozes.)

Jennifer Elvgren, Debby Prum (standing) and Fran Cannon Slayton are at their presentation, Great Beginnings: How to Hook an Editor on the First Page. (That's Fran's forthcoming novel When the Whistle Blows displayed on the table.)







At the panel Book Review Superstars, emcee Bella Stander awarded each superstar (Louis Bayard, Alan Cheuse, Michael Dirda and Bethanne Kelly Patrick) a laudatory golden garland. Michael Dirda is receiving one as Alan Cheuse watches.

New Book Deal for Jenny Gardiner

Last year, LLLer Jenny Gardiner landed a new agent. Now she has more good news to share:

"My humorous memoir, PARROTHOOD: Twenty Years of Caring for a Vengeful Bird Determined to Kill Me, will be published by Simon Spotlight, spring 2010, in HARDCOVER!"

Photo by Jen Fariello.

Here's the Publishers Marketplace announcement:

Author of SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER Jenny Gardiner's PARROTHOOD, pitched as "Marley & Me with parrots," about a disgruntled African Gray parrot and the owner who loves her despite the bird's best efforts to quite literally bite the hand that feeds her, to Emily Westlake at Simon Spotlight Entertainment, by Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency (World English).

Big congrats all around! (And who says publishers aren't acquiring books?)

White Elephants on Parade in Charlottesville

The tenth annual Charlottesville LLL White Elephant Exchange was held yesterday at the Gracious Home of writer and documentary filmmaker Elizabeth Howard. Some twenty Literary Ladies were in attendance. As the exquisite wrappings fell away, we were left with many truly wretched offerings. (Why, this is the best holiday EVER!)

My personal favorite was Susie Langenkamp's new "pump" soap.

Hearty congratulations to our first- and second-place winners, Laura Rydin and Sally Honenberger!

LLLer Noted and Quoted

Colorado LLLer Doreen Orion, currently doing...er, marking...time in Crescent City, CA, made it into TWO (2!) newspapers this week.

First was The Rocky Mountain News holiday book gift guide: Nonfiction (scroll down to Travel), for her memoir, QUEEN OF THE ROAD.

Today, Doreen was quoted--as Dr. Orion, psychotherapist (but not author)--in a New York Times article about book groups, Fought Over Any Good Books Lately?

Denver White Elephant Extravaganza!

Scene at Denver Literary Ladies Luncheon December Extravaganza: Sharon Glassman, Christie Hartman, Nancy Hightower, Karen Carter, Kate Schafer Testerman (face obscured).

Denver's second annual LLL White Elephant Gift Exchange was held yesterday at the Gracious Home of Bella Stander, National Cofounder & Western Social Secretary. Everyone shared food, drinks and tastefully wrapped dreadful (or not-so) regifts. To add to the fun, there was an Accessories Swap. Gold hoop earrings were the thing to de-accession; at least 7 pairs were up for grabs (seen at Karen Carter's rear, above).

Carleen Brice demonstrated her "Welcome White Folks" video, to much hilarity. Andrea Cohen is seated at left; Sharon is looking over her shoulder. At the next screening, Tamara Greenleaf laughed so hard she cried; she's wiping her tears at right. Carleen gave a copy of her book, ORANGE MINT & HONEY, and an audiobook. Not exactly White Elephants, but they were greatly appreciated.

Left, Denise Turner receives the gift acclaimed as Best Wrapped. Little did she know what many of us guessed: that it contained the ghastly double-necked vase Carleen got last year. We expect it to reappear in 2009. A can of guava paste has been circulating in Charlottesville for a decade; here's hoping it turns up again this Friday.

Right, the Tackiest Gift, a balky lava lamp bestowed on Karen by Nancy Hightower.



Above left, Sharon models a fetching ensemble--black knit cap & mauve camisole--received from Janet Singleton (rear), who's holding the finishing touch: a red-flowered scarf. Center, Christie models a belt from the Accessories Swap. Right, Nancy models a flowered neck--we think--thing and black handbag, from Vanessa Appleby, who had to leave (escape?) before all the gift giving.



Left, Janet responds to Kristin Nelson's gift of a pewter spittoon...er, urn...er, vase?



Right, Bella with the Most Ghastly Gift, courtesy of Denise, who gave as good (i.e., bad) as she got.





As you can see, Janet was stunned by the spotted green frog from Denise. Carleen was amazed by an opened bag of Snickers bars (another Halloween leftover) and can of evaporated milk from Debra. They were packed in the most precious and patriotic gift bag EVER (the trifecta: teddy bear, angel & American flag). For some reason Carleen refused to take it with her, so it was squirreled away by Bella, to make a glorious reappearance next year.



More hapless giftees.

Left, Debra Goldyn with Nelly CD.

Right, Elizabeth Wrenn with PURE SKIN. (Note how her eyes match the book jacket!)



Left: Pleased (or faking it) recipient Paula Singer and giver Elizabeth Wrenn with--ick!--POOH'S LITTLE BOOK OF FENG SHUI.

Below: Best-Coordinated Package & Recipient Nancy Jarrell and bag (Denise is at left). Inside was a silver bookmark in the shape of a heart. Groans all around for its being truly lovely.













Happy giftees Kate Schafer Testerman with cat thingy; Kristin Nelson with DOGA: Yoga for Dogs (dog on left resembles her Chutney).

Welcome to the African-American Books Section!

The Welcome White Folks video is out in the world. LLLer Carleen Brice, aka the Black Book Welcome Lady, states that no non-black people were harmed in the making of it. In fact, she treated us to lunch afterward. (I'm in the rousing and heartwarming finale; most of the cast is in the LLL.)

New York Approves of LLLer!

Carleen Brice made it into the BRILLIANT HIGHBROW section in The Approval Matrix for her National Buy a Book By a Black Author & Give It to Somebody Not Black Month. I wrote about NBBBAGISNBM here and here (with demented pix of yours truly).

Be sure to read Carleen's new blog, White Readers Meet Black Authors. Today's post has the Top 10 reasons white people should read books by black people:

8. Seriously, haven't you read enough Philip Roth? Jewish guy obsessed with sex and death. Oy! Enough already.

Blurbs needed for WWII Book - Know Any Experts?

Maybe you know a WWII historian or other authority on the subject. LLLer Alice Faintich could use your help, and sends the following request:

As some of you might remember from a discussion one Friday, a second edition of my father’s book, The Ice Road, will be published in the U.S. and pretty much the rest of the English-speaking world either next fall to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the start of WWII or early in 2010 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the start of the deportations of Poles by the Soviet Union.

The book is dad’s memoires, as a 15-year-old, of being deported with his parents to a labor camp in Siberia; of life in the camp; and then of the long journey, including by raft from the forest to the nearest railhead, to get out of the Soviet Union and join up with the Polish army being formed under the British in what was then Persia.

The first edition, published in the U.K. got excellent reviews in the British papers and sold out, but the publisher fell down on the marketing side and did little to no promotion of the book, something we plan to redress with this second edition. The new edition is the same book, but with the addition of some new material, such as a historical background to put the memoires in context for readers, most of whom know nothing about this aspect of WWII.

To this end, we are looking for people to write blurbs for the jacket. Do you know anyone who has name recognition, possibly, but this is not critical, who is associated with, say, history or WWII, who we might approach for such a blurb once we have review copies ready?

Many thanks,

Alice
(Responses should go to me at alicefaintich [at] cyberwind [dot] net.)

Elizabeth Howard's Documentary Debuts at VA Film Fest!

Elizabeth Howard's documentary, Rosalina's Faith in America,
will be screened at the Virginia Film Festival on Sunday, November 2nd at 3 p.m. at the Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville. The film tells the story of an immigrant Italian's struggle to honor her faith and her family.

[Gravity Lounge is located at 103 South First Street, across the Downtown Mall from Hamilton’s restaurant.]

Moviemaking in Charlottesville
3:00 PM, Gravity Lounge

Four short films by Charlottesville filmmakers addressing aspects of the Aliens! theme: Space Movie by Aidan Keith-Hynes and Chris Yeaton, an animated short film from Light House that takes a whimsical and irreverent look at the possibility of alien life forms. My Day With Conrad, in which local filmmaker Doug Bari gets the chance to spend a whole day with Conrad Brooks, the last surviving member of the original Ed Wood film Plan 9 from Outer Space. Sahar Before The Sun, by Sahar Adish, the story of a young Afhani teenager's escape from the Taliban, produced at Light House.

Rosalina's Faith in America, by Elizabeth Howard, tells the story of an Italian immigrant whose religious conversion leads to family fury and the building of a church she believes in. This film is narrated by Vito Cetta, Rosalina's son and a Charlottesville architect.

[In photo: Vito and Rosalina Cetta.]