Tag archives: Ben Widdicombe

Fresh from the San Miguel Writers’ Conference
By Leslie Zemeckis   |   March 18, 2025

‘Queen Esther’ I am just back as a guest of the San Miguel Writers’ Conference, where I taught a workshop and gave a reading from one of my books. I was also privileged to interview the literary legend John Irving who has a new book coming out in November, which I will review. He read […]

Prayer Breakfast
By Richard Mineards   |   September 13, 2022

With the pandemic firmly in the rear-view mirror, our Eden by the Beach certainly has a great deal to be grateful for. More than 500 guests descended on the ballroom of the Hilton for the 63rd annual Santa Barbara Community Prayer Breakfast emceed by retiring Unity Shoppe head honcho Tom Reed with the Pledge of […]

Behind the Velvet Ropes
By Richard Mineards   |   November 12, 2020

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 […]