Tag archives: author

The Quest for a Moral Life
By Lynda Millner   |   February 27, 2020

UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) keeps filling up theatres. The latest was a sold-out Granada to listen to columnist David Brooks. As he said, “I can jabber about anything,” and indeed he can. William F. Buckley Jr. heard him speak years ago and offered him a job. How good is that? But before the lecture […]

City of Love
By Richard Mineards   |   February 27, 2020

Investigative journalist Michael Bowker, 68, who writes on health, science and environmental issues, has written his first novel Gods of Our Time: A Paris Love Story and launched it with a bijou bash at Tecolote, the bustling bibliophile bastion in the upper village. It has now been optioned for a movie. Michael, who lives in […]

This America
By Richard Mineards   |   February 27, 2020

It was a night on the tiles when tony twosome Dan and Meg Burham opened the doors to their Granada penthouse for a bash for supporters of UCSB Arts & Lectures and Harvard University professor Jill Lepore who spoke on This America: The Case for the Nation, based on her latest book, at Campbell Hall. […]

Chaucer’s Choices
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 20, 2020

The midtown independent bookstore has four book signing events on tap this week, including psychotherapist, mediator and author Dr. Jennifer Freed – the force behind Santa Barbara esteemed AHA! Program – whose new book Use Your Planets Wisely addresses the nexus between therapy and astrology in such questions as “Who am I, really? What did […]

Lion’s Share
By Richard Mineards   |   February 13, 2020

Former Los Angeles TV commercial producer Susan Wakeford Angard threw a bijou bash at Tecolote, the lively literary lair in the upper village, to celebrate her first book On Wings of a Lion, The Persian Glories Saga, part of a trilogy set in the days of the Shah of Iran’s deposition in 1978. Susan, an […]

Library Learners: They’re just like us!
By Kim Crail   |   February 13, 2020

The library scene is thriving these days. Here are a few examples of the groups that are breezing through on a daily basis: Babies, toddlers, and school-age kids love the library, from rolling up (literally) in strollers to attending Preschool Storytime with their doting caregivers. The older kids stun us with their independence, hunger for […]

Keepers of the Light
By Lynda Millner   |   February 6, 2020

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) just celebrated the 164th birthday of the lighting of the Point Conception Lighthouse. From 1856 to 1973 when it was decommissioned and updated with a new light, the Point Conception Lighthouse lens guarded the rocky and treacherous Pacific coast where the Santa Barbara Channel and the Pacific Ocean meet […]

The Practice of Inquiring Deeply
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 6, 2020

Marjorie Schuman, Ph.D., a local clinical psychologist, meditation teacher and author, settles into The Sacred Space for an experiential workshop providing an introduction to the method of “Inquiring Deeply.” The meditative practice of asking questions has been used for thousands of years to develop intuition, inspire awakening and connect us more deeply to the sources […]

Caputo Returns to the Chumash
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 16, 2020

Theresa Caputo, who initially rose to prominence on the reality show Long Island Medium, has sprung from the suburb of Hicksville, New York, to international stardom via what is said to be her gift for seeing and communicating with departed spirits. Since finding success on TV, Caputo has become a bestselling author with her first […]

Gospels and Gabbing with a ‘Genius’ in Spirituality
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 9, 2020

Elaine Pagels won the National Book Award for her groundbreaking work The Gnostic Gospels and has also penned the best-sellers Beyond Belief; Adam, Eve and the Serpent; and Revelations. The Princeton University professor was awarded the Rockefeller, Guggenheim, and MacArthur Fellowships in three consecutive years for her incisive historical research and writing. Her recent work […]

New Book by Jennifer Freed
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   January 9, 2020

Montecito resident Dr. Jennifer Freed has released her 9th book, titled Use Your Planets Wisely: Master Your Ultimate Cosmic Potential with Psychological Astrology. The book, which is available locally and online, is the culmination of over 30 years of Dr. Freed’s work, in which she teaches how a person’s astrology can set the tone for […]

Dare Wright and the Lonely Doll
By Calla Corner   |   January 2, 2020

If you are the goddaughter of Talullah Bankhead, a child actress and gifted writer, you have quite a tale to tell. If you are also the goddaughter of the famous and stunningly beautiful children’s book author Dare Wright, known not only for her bestselling books that relied on simple storytelling, posed stuffed animals, and extraordinary […]

On A Mission
By Lynda Millner   |   December 12, 2019

Author Janet Dowling Sands discussed her new book On a Mission at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. She and her husband made a decision a few years ago to head out with an Airstream camper on a road trip to visit all 21 missions. Janet made sure we knew that history is more fun with […]

Cartel Caper
By Richard Mineards   |   December 5, 2019

Santa Barbara author Jeanine Kitchel, who used to live and own a bookstore business in Mexico in the 1990s, has written a very timely new book, Wheels Up – A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival. “Writing non-fiction was good for a travel memoir and my book on the Maya 2012 calendar phenomenon, but when […]

Book Party
By Richard Mineards   |   November 26, 2019

After working on fiction writing for 25 years and collecting a large stash of polite publishers’ rejection letters, Santa Ynez author Elayne Klasson has published Love Is a Rebellious Bird, a 320-page which traces a 60-year-old love affair, examining the age old question of why we love the people we do. Elayne, 72, who grew […]

South Meets West
By Richard Mineards   |   November 26, 2019

Social gridlock reigned at the Margerum Wine tasting room at the Hotel Californian when owners Doug and Marni Margerum hosted a bustling bash for Santa Ynez Valley author Frances Schultz‘s latest book California Cookery & Southern Style, featuring 100 classic recipes by Stephanie Valentine, inspired menus and gorgeous table settings. Frances, a North Carolina native, […]

‘Witch’ Way to Go?
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 21, 2019

Emma Steinkellner was three years old when the first Harry Potter novel came out in America, and 13 when the original series came to a close. So maybe it’s no surprise that the subject of the first graphic novel she wrote and illustrated on her own is 13-year-old Moth Hush, who has just discovered that […]

Dreamers and Schemers
By Richard Mineards   |   November 21, 2019

Prolific Montecito author Barry Siegel, a professor at UC Irvine, has just published his eighth book Dreamers and Schemers, which chronicles how Los Angeles’s pursuit and staging of the 1932 Olympic Games during the depths of the Great Depression helped fuel the city’s transformation from a dusty cow town to a world-famous metropolis. Barry, who […]

Shine On
By Richard Mineards   |   November 14, 2019

English author Deborah Richards, a Santa Barbara-based equine therapist, recounts the nightmare when her daughter and stepdaughter began to experiment with drugs in her new book Shift & Shine. After escaping an early abusive marriage, Deborah fled the U.K. with her life and young daughter and met a successful songwriter, Jake Hooker, who co-wrote the […]

Book Signing at Tecolote
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   November 14, 2019

Local author Elayne Klasson will be at Tecolote Book Shop this Saturday, November 16, signing her first novel, which she published at the age of 72. In her bold new fiction, Klasson dives into what it means to sacrifice everything you’ve ever known for a chance at happiness. Love is a Rebellious Bird follows Judith, […]