Tag archives: author

In the Kitchen with Leslie Zemeckis  When Leslie Zemeckis saunters into a room, people pay attention. That’s because the Montecito-based actress-baker-author exudes a kind of charm and poise that makes it possible to swan her way through any room – even a kitchen. Her kitchen is her temple, her place for Zen. So is her […]

It’s no surprise that Lou Cannon does a pretty good imitation of President Ronald Reagan. After all, he covered Reagan from his governorship in California to his time in the White House through to his final days, writing five books about California’s former governor and president, including President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, among […]

Our childhood shapes who we become and for Josie Levy Martin, it has led to a lifetime of studying childhood experiences. Josie is a teacher, school psychologist, writer, and author of Never Tell Your Name, a book that captures her own experiences as a German Jewish child being hidden around France during the Nazi occupation. […]

All of the UCSB Arts & Lectures House Calls and Race to Justice virtual events have been recorded specifically for the Santa Barbara community and every program concludes with a live Q&A session with one of the A&L staff or a member of the local area arts or education community. But perhaps none of the […]

Santa Barbara stockbroker and former TV executive Howard Jay Smith is facing the music again! Howard, a member of the board of the Santa Barbara Symphony, wrote his third book, Beethoven in Love; Opus 139: Concerto Quasi Una Fantasia, five years ago, and has now penned a suitable follow-up, Meeting Mozart: From the Secret Diaries […]

Former California State Assemblyman Brooks Firestone is giving paws for thought! Brooks, 81, who will be moving with his wife of 62 years, Kate, a former Royal Ballet dancer, into Casa Dorinda from their Santa Ynez Valley home in the New Year, has just published his second volume of animal stories from the valley. The […]

On a personal note, I mark the passing of the prolific author John le Carré, who has died at his home in Cornwall aged 89. For six decades his 25 gripping thrillers dominated the bestseller lists and review pages using his pseudonym, although his real name was David Cornwell. His enormous body of work goes […]

Retired Montecito attorney David Gersh has just completed his new novel Pot Luck, the sequel to his laugh-out-loud award-winning book Desperate Shop Girls, which is being published by Open Books in the New Year. It is the Harvard Law School graduate’s sixth tome, to be closely followed by his seventh, The Whisper of a Distant […]

Mark Osiel is a lawyer, author, and law professor who holds the Aliber Family Chair at the University of Iowa. So, what’s he doing in Summerland? Well, he adds yet another accomplished and interesting citizen to the community for starters. Here’s a little to know about the professor and author. Q. You recently moved to […]

Movie lovers might only know Cheryl Strayed from the film version of her bestselling memoir Wild, which starred Reese Witherspoon in the adaptation of the book that offered alternating harrowing and hilarious stories from Strayed’s solo 1,100-mile trek on the Pacific Crest Trail as well as the personal journey that led her there. But the […]

This year marks my fiftieth anniversary as a body therapist and healer. What I eventually came to know as “body wisdom” was the result of working with the wonderful, intelligent people of Santa Barbara and Montecito. For their trust and continued support, I am eternally grateful.  From the beginning, it was apparent that in order […]

Two Carpinteria authors Hal Price and Leana Orsua are going to the dogs! The tony twosome has penned a bestseller anthology book, The UltiMUTT Book for Dog Lovers: If You’re Not Covered in Dog Hair, Your Life is Empty!, which has become an overnight international bestseller in four countries, including the U.S. The entertaining book […]

High Five, Santa Monica suspense writer Joe Ide’s latest action-packed thriller in his IQ series of books that Time Magazine calls “an electrifying combination of Holmseian mystery and SoCal grit,” will be dissected in a virtual conversation with the author at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, November 18. Ide will talk about the series, which rapper […]

Prolific local author Philip Myers, 68, has published his latest book, Squished: Jackie Kennedy, Espionage, Murder and Me. The revelatory tome combines facts Myers gleaned from working with former First Lady Jackie Kennedy, whom he got to know through his work with the Santa Barbara Committee on Foreign Relations. Myers is a Stanford University Phi […]

An old New York friend, Ben Widdicombe, now editor-in-chief of Avenue Magazine, has sent me his new 287-page book Gatecrasher: How I Helped the Rich Become Famous and Ruin the World. Australian Ben, whom I first knew when he scribed for the gossip column of the Daily News with George Rush and Joanna Molloy, whom […]

Chaucer’s Books continues to confront the coronavirus crisis with an increasing number of virtual events, bringing authors online to read from and talk about their works. The first of three such talks this week takes place at 11:30 am on Sunday, November 8, the early hour due to the fact that the writer in question, […]

By his own accord, UCSB Professor of Theater and Dance William Davies King has spent a lifetime collecting nothing, which he brought to light in his 2008 book Collections of Nothing. Cheez-It boxes, “Place Stamp Here” squares, hotel door cards, and the little stickers found on fresh fruit are examples of the valueless ephemera that […]

Montecito artist and general contractor William Dalziel has published his first illustrated storybook. Ulma, The Kidnapped Tree is the true story of a young elm tree and her journey, says Bill, who shortly before the San Fernando earthquake of 1971 used a variety of it in the Northridge Fashion Center, a project he worked on. […]

Acclaimed author Jon Meacham addresses “The Architecture of Endurance: Building a Republic that Stands the Test of Time” on Friday, November 6, from 12 pm to 1:30 pm in a special virtual event from Westmont. The live broadcast opens with remarks by Westmont President Gayle D. Beebe and includes a question-and-answer session with Meacham, presidential […]

The Santa Barbara Public Library is excited to announce this fall’s Santa Barbara Reads program, SB Reads: Create! featuring Big Magic: How to Live a Creative Life, and Let Go of Your Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert.  Free copies of Big Magic, in English and Spanish, will be available to pick up at Central Library’s Book […]