MELANIE’S “THE SLIPPERY YEAR” GARNERS STELLAR NEW YORK TIMES AND NEW YORKER BOOK BENCH REVIEWS – DON’T MISS THE BOOK LAUNCH ON AUGUST 12-13
We're in for a new spate of Grotto books this late summer and fall, and the accolades are already coming in. Hot off the press is Melanie’s profile in the July 30th New York Times (see link below). And Andrea Walker reviewed Melanie's book in the online New Yorker Book Bench, stating, “By the end of the book I felt like I had just spent several hours knocking back drinks with an especially funny friend. Which is some of my highest praise.” (As Grottoite Caroline Paul remarked, “I like the way the reviewer starts her review all crotchety and at the end wants to have a drink with Melanie. Wait in line, girl. We all want a drink with Melanie.”)
Please join Grottoite Melanie Gideon as she launches her new book The Slippery Year: A Meditation on Happily Ever After in Oakland at A Great Good Place for Books on August 12 at 7 pm and in San Francisco at Books Inc. (Chestnut Street), August 13 at 7 pm. See http://www.melaniegideon.com for more information on details about readings and other events.
Check out the New York Times profile here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/books/30slippery.html?_r=1&hpw
Check out the New Yorker Book Bench review here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/5.html
Huge congratulations to Melanie!
STEPHEN DEBUTS “THE ADDERALL DIARIES” ON AUGUST 27, AND IS NAMED "BEST LOCAL WRITER" IN BEST OF THE BAY BY THE BAY GUARDIAN!
Grottoite and The Rumpus founder Stephen Elliott debuts his memoir this month, and was just named “Best Local Writer” by the Bay Guardian! This is an especially terrific tribute because the Best of the Bay awards are chosen not by just one opinionated critic, but through a vote of the people – so Steve, we like you, we really really like you!
Don't miss the August 27th book release party for Steve’s true-crime memoir, The Adderall Diaries, which will also feature Bucky Sinister, Tobias Wolff . There will be short readings and some snacks. $20 Admission includes a signed hardcover of The Adderall Diaries. August 27, 7-9 pm. Amnesia, 853 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
For tickets, go to: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/76665 or call (415) 970-0012
Check out Steve in “The Best of the Bay” at:
http://www.sfbg.com/printable_entry.php?entry_id=8921
Also, for an interview with Grottoite Stephen Elliott on Chuck Palahniuk's website, The Cult, check out:
http://chuckpalahniuk.net/interviews/authors/stephen-elliott-interview
Kudos to Stephen!
KATHRYN’S AWARD-WINNING “ALL THAT WORK AND STILL NO BOYS” OUT ON SEPTEMBER 1
Grotto dweller Kathryn Ma presents a "stellar collection of shorts," according to an early review of her forthcoming book, ALL THAT WORK AND STILL NO BOYS. The book, which won the Iowa Short Fiction Award, was also just featured by novelist Curtis Sittenfeld on The Daily Beast; in her review, Sittenfeld remarked that when Kathryn becomes really famous and wins a Pulitzer, she wants to pretend she discovered her. Kathryn's book will be published on September 1, 2009. Watch the September Grotto Notes for readings and events. For more information, see http://www.kathrynma.com
Check out the Examiner review at:
http://www.examiner.com/x-706-East-Bay-Literary-Examiner~y2009m5d20-Kathryn-Ma-Presents-a-Stellar-Collection-of-Shorts
Check out Curtis Sittenfeld’s Daily Beast review at:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-28/curtis-sittenfelds-favorite-books/3/
Congratulations to Kathryn!
ALLISON’S “THE MAN WHO LOVED BOOKS TOO MUCH” GARNERS A B&N “DISCOVER GREAT NEW WRITERS” AWARD
Grottoite Allison Hoover Bartlett's The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession, which will be released September 17th, is one of fourteen books selected for the Barnes and Noble "Discover Great New Writers" program. See more at http://www.allisonhooverbartlett.com
Congratulations to Allison!
DON’T MISS KATIE CROUCH, DOCTOR POPULAR, WHOLPHIN, AND STEVE ALMOND AT THE AUGUST MONTHLY RUMPUS ON AUGUST 10TH
It’s time for the August Monthly Rumpus, and this month there is a terrific line-up. Don’t miss it, and mark your calendar for August 10th.
WHEN: Monday, August 10th, 7pm
WHERE: The Makeout Room, 3225 22nd Street, San Francisco
WHO and WHAT: Readings and performances from authors Skip Horack, Joshua Mohr, Katie Crouch, and Steve Almond!
Short film by Wholphin
Performance by yo-yo genius Doctor Popular
Hilarious music by DJ Real
Hosted by Grottoite Isaac Fitzgerald
Purchase Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/73241
More information at http://therumpus.net/sections/rumpus-events/
CHECK OUT ETHAN’S SEPTEMBER WRITING CLASSES
Grotto co-founder Ethan Watters is offering two classes, which begin next month:
**ONE DAY SEMINAR : How to Get Your Non-Fiction Writing Published**
Number of sessions: 1
Meeting times: This course will be offered September 5th, 2009 10 am to 4 pm.
Course fee: $165. Class will be limited to 12 People.
Full payment in advance is required for a reserved seminar seat. Contact: ethanw1@..., 415-515-5506
This class will put beginning and intermediate writers on a path to getting published. We will focus on how to sell magazine pieces and non-fiction book projects. Topics will include
-Writing effective query letters for magazine
-Crafting book proposals
-Understanding the magazine/book market place
-Establishing and developing relationships with editors and agent
-The five most common mistakes of beginning writers
**EIGHT WEEK CLASS: Non-Fiction Writing**
Number of sessions: 8
Meeting times: Thursday evenings, 6:30 to 9:30, September 17 through November 5, 2009
Course fee: $495.00
Spots reserved with $200 deposit. Full fee due by the second class. Contact: ethanw1@..., 415-515-5506
This class will put beginning and intermediate writers on a path to publishing non-fiction magazine articles, essays and books. An emphasis will be placed on getting students to begin pitching ideas to magazine editors and agents. Students will learn how to:
-Find and develop ideas for non-fiction writing
-Write effective query letters for magazine
-How to craft book proposals and magazine features
-Understand the magazine market place
-Develop relationships with editors and agents
-Critiquing and re-writing first drafts
Students will be expected to draft two magazine projects during the class or one book proposal. These will be work-shopped during class. There will be a reader and short weekly writing assignments both in and out of class. Class size limited to 13 people.
Instructor bio: Ethan Watters has been a freelance writer for 20 years. He has taught
non-fiction writing at Berkeley, Stanford and is currently an adjunct professor in the masters writing program at California College of the Arts. He's written for The New York Times Magazine, Men's Journal, Outside, Esquire, Discover, Spin, Mother Jones, GQ, Details, HG, and San Francisco Magazine, among other national and regional publications. He has also created pieces for Public Radio International's This American Life. He has written three books: Making Monsters, Therapy's Delusions and Urban Tribes. Ira Glass has purchased the movie rights to Urban Tribes and is writing a feature film based on the book. In 1994 he co-founded the San Francisco Writers'
Grotto. He is currently on a book, Crazy Like Us, about America's influence on
mental illness around the world. For more about Ethan visit:
http://web.mac.com/ethanwatters/Writing_coaching_1/Writing_Coach.html
FABULOUS EARLY REVIEW’S FOR PO’S UPCOMING “NURTURESHOCK”
Early reviews for Po and Ashley's new book NurtureShock have begun coming in. New York Family Magazine proclaimed to be the "Must Read Parenting Book of the Year." It was a pick of BookExpo for the librarians' book panel, and the talk of the floor at the American Library Assoc. convention; libraries around the nation are also featuring it on "Fall Hot Lists." While the book tour is still in the planning stages, already Po and Ashley are slated to speak in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, Miami, Seattle, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Camden ME, Nashua NH, Wyoming, Connecticut, and Austin, TX. And that's just the list for September and October! Keep yourself posted at http://www.nurtureshock.com/
REGISTER NOW FOR RACHEL’S ONLINE CREATIVE NONFICTION CLASS
Grottoite and memoirist Rachel Howard will be teaching creative nonfiction for Stanford Continuing Studies’ Online Writer’s Studio this fall. Registration opens August 17 for “Writing the Creative Nonfiction Book: Getting a Full Draft”:
So you’ve written the opening pages of a memoir. Or you’ve been mulling over ideas for a book of creative nonfiction and a concept has clicked into focus. You’re over the biggest hurdle—getting started—and you’re on to the most fulfilling but trickiest part. Maintaining momentum requires keeping your eye on the book’s “big picture” and giving yourself freedom to experiment with the “small picture”—then staying flexible as your discoveries inform an evolving plan.
In this course, we will keep you writing toward a full draft, and look at how various creative nonfiction books work on the big-picture and small-picture levels. Weekly writing assignments will help you discover and strengthen the style, tone, and structure of your creative nonfiction book. Each student will complete a new chapter for workshop response.
Rachel Howard is the author of the memoir, The Lost Night: A Daughter’s Search for the Truth of Her Father’s Murder, one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of 2005. Her personal essays have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and O, The Oprah Magazine. Her advice is quoted extensively in The Autobiographer’s Handbook: The 826 National Guide to Writing Your Memoir. She received an MFA in fiction writing from Warren Wilson College.
Visit http://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/courses/onlinewriters.php to see the full catalogue, and http://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/courses/course.php?cid=20082_EGL%20321%20W to view Rachel’s course.
GROTTOITE AND BIG UGLY REVIEW FOUNDER ELIZABETH BERNSTEIN OPENS UP SHOP WITH EBC BOOKS
Are you stuck in your writing project and want coaching, in-depth feedback and support? Have you finished a draft and need help polishing it before you show it to agents? Or have you sold your book, and want to get it in top shape before sending it to your publisher? No matter where you are in the writing process, Grottoite Elizabeth Bernstein can help you tell your story. She’s opened up shop as a full-service editor, offering comprehensive manuscript feedback, detailed line editing, copyediting and proofing. Visit her new website at http://www.ebc-books.com
DAVID & XANDRA'S "FULL GROWN MEN" HITS THE SMALL SCREEN!
Grottofilms' whimsical road comedy "Full Grown Men" will have its home video release August 25th through Liberation Entertainment. Winner of the 2007 Undiscovered Gems Sundance Channel Audience Award, the film was written by Grotto filmmakers David Munro and Xandra Castleton, directed by David and produced by Xandra. "Full Grown Men" tells the story of a hopelessly nostalgic man who learns the hard way that the best years of his life may still lie ahead. Stars Matt McGrath, Judah Friedlander (30 Rock), Amy Sedaris (Strangers With Candy), Alan Cumming (X-Men 2, Cabaret), and Deborah Harry (Blondie). You can pre-order on Amazon or save on your Netflix queue by clicking links below. If it's not at your neighborhood video store, contact us via our website and we'll make sure it is. You can read about the "making of" in our series of Filmmaker Diaries for the SF Chronicle (see the link below), and there's a new blog about the current state of indie film distribution at Filmmaker Magazine blog. More information at http://www.fullgrownmenthemovie.com
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Full-Grown-Men-Judah-Friedlander/dp/B002AWM0SG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1248837777&sr=1-1
Netflix - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Full_Grown_Men/70101351?lnkce=seRtLn&trkid=222336&strkid=179505843_0_0&strackid=169faaa5d813e1b4_0_srl
Filmmaker Diaries - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/columns/fmd?term=full+grown+men&smode=and&Submit=S&dmode=preset&period=all&year=2006&Go.x=30&Go.y=12
Filmmaker Magazine - http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/blog/2009/07/david-munro-on-burst-bubble.php#comments
CHRIS AT THE PUBLIC PRESS BUDGET WATCHDOG
While teaching journalism at SF State, Christopher Cook is working as project editor for the Public Press Budget Watchdog, a great noncommercial journalism project (check us out at www.public-press.org). Chris is writing a road/travel adventure book, and is seeking an agent and publisher for The Writer Without Hands, his memoir of disability, labor, and life in the computer age. He's also taking clients for one-on-one coaching and editing work. For more visit http://www.christopherdcook.com.
COMING SOON - THE GROTTO'S FALL SESSION OF WRITING CLASSES!
This Fall, the Grotto will be offering a terrific selection of one-day and multi-week classes. Look for workshops and seminars in fiction, nonfiction, writing for magazines, and writing from personal experience - plus more. Classes begin the week of September 12.
Check the Grotto website http://www.sfgrotto.org/classes.html beginning August 7 for details, and to register.
JD IN “THE BEST OF NEW YORK” EXHIBITION IN NYC IN SEPTEMBER
If you’re in New York next month, Grottoite JD Beltran will be exhibiting new work in “The Best of New York” exhibition at the Broadway Gallery, sponsored by the New York Arts Magazine. The opening reception is on September 9th, and the show will run from September 1 – 14th. 473 Broadway, 7th Floor, NY, NY 10013. More information to come soon at http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/ and http://www.broadwaygallerynyc.com/
And JD and her collaborator and partner Scott Minneman just completed a successful exhibition at Cleveland’s IngenuityFest, where their “Magic Story Table” was one of the most popular pieces of the annual 3-day new media festival. See the write-up on JD’s San Francisco Chronicle blog at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/beltran/detail?entry_id=43727
THE GROTTO IS NOW ON TWITTER
The Grotto now has a Twitter feed! For late-breaking news about Grotto classes, the SF Bay Area lit scene, and happenings at the Grotto, follow us here:
http://twitter.com/sfgrotto
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JD’S ART PICKS FOR AUGUST
“WALLWORKS” OPENS TONIGHT AT THE YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS
The artists have taken over the walls at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts! Celebrate the opening TONIGHT of Wallworks with a fabulous opening party featuring entertainment by Mexico City’s international sensation, Mexican Institute of Sound, an “infectious mix of electronica, dub, mambo, spoken word and other musical surprises,” as well as sets by DJ Lengua and Chris Brown’s Rogue Wave, featuring Chris Brown, Guillermo Galindo and Joanna Poethig. Plus films by avant-garde artist Paul Sharits in the screening room, Campari cocktails and the fabulous YBCA crowd!
More information at:
http://www.ybca.org/tickets/production/view.aspx?id=9160&utm_source=YBCA&utm_medium=Sidebar-WebOffer&utm_campaign=Wallworks-VA
See Jesse Hamlin’s review at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/24/PK3318PC17.DTL&type=art
'BUDDY SYSTEM': A CONVERSATION IN ART
"Buddy System" is a group show inspired by the interwoven networks, sheltering communities and nurturing friendships that sustain makers when they're tempted to just chuck it in. For "Buddy System," curator and artist Kelly Lynn Jones asked four artists - Caitlin Gallupe, Clare Grill, Jess Wheaton and David Wilson, from the Bay Area and elsewhere - to show. Those artists then each asked another maker to participate: respectively, Bridget Moser, Aline Cautis, Matt Momchilov and Nathaniel Russell. Through Aug. 30. Noon-7 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-6 p.m. Sun. Rare Device, 1845 Market St., S.F. (415) 863-3969. http://www.raredevice.net.
SQUEAK CARNWATH AT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF ART THROUGH AUGUST 23
This survey reflects Carnwath’s groundbreaking artistry and stature as one of California’s leading contemporary artists. Karen Tsujimoto, senior curator of art at the museum, has chosen more than forty works from the past fifteen years—the period since Carnwath’s last major exhibition. As the title indicates, a painting is “no ordinary object” for the artist. Her recurring motifs reflect personal and universal themes; each meticulously applied layer of glaze carries meaning and inquiry. Through August 23rd. More information at http://www.museumca.org/exhibit/exhi_carnwath.html
ROBERT FRANK’S “THE AMERICANS” AT THE SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART THROUGH AUGUST 23
I spent hours at this exhibition, went to it twice, and was stunned by its timeliness, prescience, poignancy, and beauty. Robert Frank's The Americans is widely celebrated as the most important photography book since World War II. Including 83 photographs made largely in 1955 and 1956 while Frank traveled around the United States, the book looked beneath the surface of American life to reveal a profound sense of alienation, angst, and loneliness. With these prophetic photographs, Frank redefined the icons of America, noting that cars, jukeboxes, gas stations, diners, and even the road itself were telling symbols of contemporary life. Frank's style — seemingly loose, casual compositions, with often rough, blurred, out-of-focus foregrounds and tilted horizons — was just as controversial and influential as his subject matter. The exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of the book's publication by presenting all 83 photographs from The Americans in the order established by the book, and by providing a detailed examination of the book's roots in Frank's earlier work, its construction, and its impact on his later art. Through August 23rd. More information at http://www.sfmoma.org/events/series/1310
Happy August!
Anyone who lives within their means suffers from lack of imagination.
Oscar Wilde
