BookWoman - Events Feed

Susan Parker: Reading + Signing of Walking in the Deep End

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:15:30 -0500

Start: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 7:00pm

End: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 7:00pm

Eleven year-old Susan Parker must keep vigil during a family tragedy that plunges her tomboy innocence into the murk of family dysfunction with Evangelicals her only lifeguards. Walking in the Deep End is an earnest and engaging memoir, written with honesty, spunk, and humor. Although suicide, bulimia, religious hypocrisy, and romantic heartbreak rip through her life like overpowering currents, Parker finds courage and hope, drawing you into her compelling and, at times, uncanny experience of authentic spirituality.

Susan Parker is a consultant, motivational speaker, and author of Walking in the Deep End. After spending her formative years as a Catholic and most of her life in no less than six Evangelical denominations, her experiences reveal a pursuit of faith as sincere as any souls on the planet. She has served as the Director of Job Training & Placement for a nationally recognized non-profit organization, and possesses over fifteen years experience as a consultant focused on recruitment, workplace effectiveness, and diversity. Susan is fluent in Spanish, after having studied in Spain; she is experienced in working within diverse cultures and has worked in various locations around the world. She loves leading workshops, appearing on Internet and public radio, and speaking in front of both large and small groups.

Poetry Open Mic

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:20:49 -0500

Start: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 7:00pm

End: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 7:00pm

Poetry Open Mac hosted by Deb Akers, featuring Elizabeth Kropf.

Elizabeth Kropf received her M.A. in Creative Writing from Perelandra College and has had several poems and one story published. She has won awards from the Texas Poetry Society as well as the Austin Poetry Society. She has been a reader at the Windhover Writer’s Festival and serves on the Board of Directors for the Austin Poetry Society. She is happily surrounded by her husband and two dogs and teaches at Bryant & Stratton College.

We continue to be an open minded open mic for poetry people of all persuasions. Join us and bring a poem to share.

Laurinda Brown: Reading and Signing

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:28:21 -0500

Start: Fri, 03/12/2010 - 7:00pm

End: Fri, 03/12/2010 - 7:00pm

Join us for a reading and signing with Laurinda D. Brown, author of Fire & Brimstone, UnderCover, Strapped, The Cathouse, and Walk Like A Man. Walk Like A Man - The Play will be performed at AustinVentures Studio Theatre on March 13th.

Divine destiny is what motivates mother, daughter, author, playwright Laurinda
D. Brown to write novels and plays that portray real people in true-to-life situations. "Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, and graduating from Howard University in Washington, DC, exposed me to the diversities in human nature while affording me the opportunity to observe people and their situations. Writing helped me work through my own issues, emotions and circumstances and gave me an outlet to express my take on the world." Brown's take on the world articulated itself in a different and daring fashion in 2006 when she combined literary orgasmic experiences with theatre. The result was her critically acclaimed and highly touted production Walk Like A Man - The Play, which Laurinda produces and directs. Based on her recent national best-selling novel, Walk Like A Man, from Q-boro Books/Kensington Publishing, Walk Like A Man - The Play features a culturally diverse cast using spoken word, dramatic monologues, and dramatic performances to portray labels issues, and stereotypes in relationships. The book, according to the December 2006/January 2007 issue of “Black Issues Book Review Magazine,” was the #1 selling fiction paperback among independent African-American bookstores and is consistently ranked within the top four lesbian short story best sellers on Amazon.com where it has been ranked most frequently at #1 since its release.

Brown began her literary journey with Fire & Brimstone, the 2005 Lambda Literary Award finalist for "Best Debut Lesbian Fiction", followed by UnderCover, Strapped, The Cathouse, and Walk Like A Man, 2006 Lambda Literary Award winner for “Best Lesbian Erotica” and “Honorable Mention” recipient at the 2007 West Hollywood Book Festival. Laurinda is a featured writer in the anthologies Longing, Lust, and Love: Black Lesbian Stories (Nghosi Books) and Purple Panties (edited by Zane).

Cathy Erway: Discussion and Signing

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:49:56 -0500

Start: Sun, 03/14/2010 - 4:00pm

End: Sun, 03/14/2010 - 4:00pm

Join us as welcome author Cathy Erway for a discussion on how to eat in, consume less, and save money.

"Cathy is passionate about sustainable eating and living, and the fact that in writing about her renouncement of eating out in New York, she was also able to paint a vivid portrait of the many innovative movers and shakers in the food scene here, is very telling. There is much more to eating in this, the greatest restaurant city in the world, than restaurants."

-Julie Powell, author of Julie and Julia

"Follow along on Cathy Erway's culinary adventure; not to the latest celebrated restaurant, but to her own kitchen where she finds something even more important than just better food-she finds herself."

-Giulia Melucci, author of I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti

South by Spring Equinox

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:47:23 -0500

Start: Sat, 03/20/2010 - 5:00pm

End: Sat, 03/20/2010 - 9:30pm

Join us as we celebrate South by Southwest and the Spring Equinox! We have a fantastic lineup of local artists. Come party with BookWoman!

5:00 Kristi Rae
5:45 Nancy Scott
6:45 Annabella
7:30 Elizabeth Wills
8:30 Chris Pureka

Nadia Sahari: Reading and Signing

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:08:07 -0500

Start: Sun, 03/21/2010 - 3:30pm

End: Sun, 03/21/2010 - 3:30pm

Lebanese-American writer, actress, and entrepreneur Nadia Sahari has written a highly revealing memoir entitled BREAKAWAY: HOW I SURVIVED ABUSE. She dramatically details her eighteen years of abuse, including sexual molestation by her grandfather, frequent severe beatings from her strict father and then from her alcoholic first husband, rape, kidnapping, family abandonment, and several
attempts on her life. The book explains how she overcame the fear and shame that kept her imprisoned in intolerable conditions and how she broke away from abuse and adjusted psychologically to personal freedom.

“Because there is so much abuse of women and children, I wrote this book to show what I went through and what I did to survive and get out of it,” Sahari explains. “I wanted to give my readers hope, encouragement, and inspiration to make the right choices that can save their lives and those of their children.

“When I endured abuse, I had no one to turn to, but today there are many groups people can go to for help. I list contact information for twenty-six of them in my book, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800/799-SAFE. I also emphasize that forgiving your abuser, whether they ask for it or not, is crucial to setting yourself free. There’s no reason to stay in an abusive situation. You have friends, neighbors, and others who can help you, so you can break the silence that imprisons you.”

BookWoman Book Group: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:57:00 -0500

Start: Tue, 03/23/2010 - 7:00pm

End: Tue, 03/23/2010 - 7:00pm

Join the new BookWoman Book Group for a great discussion on our March selection: Fun Home, Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir.

Melanie Westerberg: Reading + Signing of City in the River, City in the Forest

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:52:41 -0500

Start: Thu, 03/25/2010 - 7:00pm

End: Thu, 03/25/2010 - 7:00pm

In a country she chose for ‘its landscapes and lax visa-extension policies’, Mary is a tour guide at a remote lodge in the Amazon. There she meets Héctor, who sneaks into her hammock late at night or leaves tiny gifts at her door, tempting her to stay longer than she’d planned.

But then she begins to see fires on uninhabited land, hear gunshots, cross suspicious strangers in the dead of night. She doesn’t know if it’s the start of another undeclared civil war or simply retribution on the lodge owner, whose husband had fought with the rebels before disappearing for a decade. When he reappears, Mary is suddenly forced to confront the reality of her situation and decide where her loyalties lie.

In this stunning first novella, City in the River, City in the Forest, by Melanie Westerberg, we are swept up in an exotic world, its familiar cruelty saturated with beauty. Finally, we are left only with a lingering taste of the moments in our own lives when we were forced to choose between joy and restraint, myth and logic.

Melanie Westerberg's short stories and poems have appeared in Torpedo (Australia), RozRazil (Czech Republic), Third Coast (USA) and Mid-American Review (USA). Her story ‘Watermark’ was also included in the Best New American Voices 2006 anthology (USA, Harcourt Books), edited by Jane Smiley. She lives in Austin, Texas.