Tag archives: writers
A trio of SoCal authors autograph and talk about their new books this week as the midtown bookstore Chaucer’s Books also gets ready for its own 50th anniversary celebration. On September 15, UCLA professor Teddi Chichester’s Wildlife Crossings of Hope: Connecting Creatures Around the Globe combines first-person reporting with research – and stunning two-color art […]
A writer’s conference might seem like an esoteric enterprise, considering that the actual act of writing is as solitary as such things go, save for maybe collaborating in a writer’s room for a TV sitcom, which is a lot less literary. The once-daunting barriers to entry to “seeing one’s work in print” have been obliterated […]
Santa Barbara-based FestForums hosts its seventh iteration on February 15-17, moving again this year – from the Music Academy to the Mar Monte oceanfront resort. The convention is a business-to-business gathering of festival producers, organizers, and industry leaders representing a wide variety of offerings – Coachella, SXSW, Sundance, Burning Man, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Woodstock, Austin City […]
Grace Rachow started her Santa Barbara Writers Conference (SBWC) journey as a student and budding scribe back in 1992, and soon became involved in its administration later in the decade before taking over as director in 2016. So she’s as thrilled as anyone to have the word-lover’s institution returning to an in-person gathering for the […]
If I had to pick a favorite park in the world, it would have to be the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. Not just for its rolling green lawns, ornamental fountains, and sycamore-lined promenades, but for its marvelous statues and busts. Instead of honoring the typical senators and soldiers, the Jardin du Luxembourg also features memorials […]
Writing is a process of exploration, discovery, and ultimately, learning. From the research required to study a subject, to the inspiration needed to find the words to describe it, writing is an active experience that guides the author through themselves and the surrounding world. And each year, the Raab Writing Fellows Program guides about 20 […]
James E. Taylor and Jennifer Moe Taylor, husband and wife, have teamed up to co-author a new book, Soul Pilgrimage: Knowing God in Everyday Life (Cascade Books). The volume takes readers on a sacred pilgrimage to deepen their relationship with God. In fall 2018, the Taylors traveled to Northern Spain to walk the Camino de […]
The pantheon of male American writers is a grab bag. Terkel, Mailer, Hamill, Hemingway — these tough guys and their generally hormonal prose are almost a literary brand. Plimpton — with his willowy erudition, patrician accent, and Paris Review creds — runs with another herd. Our Joe Donnelly is a third species, as evidenced by […]
A boffo bunch of bibliophiles descended on Tecolote in the Upper Village to mark the publication of Steven Gilbar’s Little Book of Montecito Writers, a 160-page paperback including more than 60 authors, which derived from a talk he gave at the village library last summer. The book signing, which benefitted the Montecito Library, also featured […]
Spring is almost here and the Montecito Library is keen to bring back some weekly programs for younger children! Our answer? Stay and Play, an outdoor opportunity for little ones to play and their grownups to chill. No rushing to get anywhere at a certain time or abrupt transitions, just a wide window of time […]
Writing is oftentimes a multidisciplinary creative process, combining the mechanics of English with one’s understanding of the subject matter. Since 2017, the Raab Writing Fellows Program at UCSB has been giving students the opportunity to express their range of interests and explore the multidisciplinary skills that writing requires. Supported by author and educator Diana Raab, […]
Deep in the sewers of Kraków dwell humans, hiding, starving, barely surviving. NY Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff (The Lost Girls of Paris) has finished another taut historical fiction. Imagine living in darkness and filth for over a year? That is the premise – based on true events – of The Woman with the Blue […]
Last Sunday, community godfather and Christmas Elf Dana Newquist organized the second Montecito-To-Unity toy and fundraising drive and caravan for delivery. A great group met up at the Upper Village in classic cars, ready to donate toys and funds for the second week in a row. Dana asked me to get up on the 1937 […]
When the coronavirus caused shutdowns in California in mid-March, the married couple who run the Rubicon Theatre Company thought at first that maybe the Ventura outfit could just wait out the virus, postpone a couple of shows and get going again later in the spring. When it became clear that the Ventura venue wouldn’t be […]
1stUntitledby Marc Cronin mea culpa… when we booked this trip i should have mentioned the tickets were one way (non-refundable of course) and the destination was astray. retracing the steps of so many who’ve journeyed before us, then retracing our own steps as well, we created a circle. it became vicious. all adventures begin with […]
Roald Dahl could have invented the Short Story Dispenser. The Dahlian gizmo, that spews out free stories to an on-the-go or bored public at the push of a button, is the machination of Short Édition, a French company based in Grenoble. The publishing company, created in 2011, has more than 9,000 authors, who submit short, […]
It’s that time of year – every June since 1972 the Santa Barbara Writers Conference (SBWC) commences for six days. Until the demolition it was held at the old Miramar Hotel and with a few stops in between it is finally at the Santa Barbara Hyatt at 1111 Cabrillo Boulevard. Mary and the late Barnaby […]
Nearly a half-century after its founding, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference was alive and well when the latest event was held at the Hyatt Hotel, with the five-day event concluding with a glittering dinner where Grace Rachow, director, and Loriel Armstrong presented awards. Exceptional workshop leaders and speakers included Catherine Ann Jones, Dale Griffiths Stamos, […]
The Santa Barbara Writers Conference has birthed a lot of books and other published works in its decades-long history, including Montecito author Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes. This year, SBWC can claim another new offspring via the Santa Barbara Literary Journal, a fully bound volume that debuted this summer and has just published its second […]
