Literary Mama Blog

WRITING MOTHERHOOD PAPERBACK TOUR MAY 2008

Writing Motherhood, at once creative writing manual and mothering memoir, inspires women to mine their everyday lives for stories to preserve and pass on. Treat yourself to a Mother's Day gift and join author Lisa Garrigues for an experience that will energize your spirit and ignite your pen. For mothers of all ages and writers at all stages.

Wednesday, May 7, noon
Brown Bag Lunch with Lisa Garrigues
ELLIOTT BAY BOOK COMPANY
Seattle, WA

Thursday, May 8, 7:00 pm
Mothers' Night Out with Lisa Garrigues
BOOKS INC IN BURLINGAME
Burlingame, CA

Saturday, May 10, 11:00 AM
Muffins and Mimosas for Mother's Day
MRS. DALLOWAY'S
Berkeley, CA

Sunday, May 11, 4:00 pm
Mother's Day Getaway
BOOK PASSAGE
Corte Madera, CA

Friday and Saturday, May 16 - 17
Guest Author and Workshop Leader
ANN ARBOR BOOK FESTIVAL
Ann Arbor, MI

Julia Cameron calls Lisa Garrigues “a trailblazer and a muse.” Brooke Shields says, “I wish Writing Motherhood had been around when I was a new mom. The book helps us overcome our fears and unlock the thoughts and feelings we all have inside.”

Spend Mother’s Day Month with Literary Mama!

For immediate release
Contact: Caroline Grant
cmgrant@speakeasy.org

Spend Mother’s Day Month with Literary Mama!
Writer’s Digest pick: One of 101 Best Web Sites for Writers
Forbes pick: Best of the Web 2006

Literary Mama celebrates Mother’s Day all month long with fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, essays, author profiles, and book reviews. This month, we’re also adding two timely new columns to our roster:

“Multi-Culti Mami,” by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza, will revisit the author’s tangled loyalties from a bilingual and bicultural childhood and motherhood. Born to an American mother and a Spanish father and raised between Spain and the US, Violeta went on to marry an American, English-speaking man and settle in Pennsylvania, where she and her husband are raising three Guatemalan-born children in a multicultural American family. “Multi-Culti Mami” will offer the perspective of one member of the growing bilingual, bicultural presence in this county, and give a behind-the-scenes look at how one family, particularly, is making that look and work in their home. It will speak to any mother who struggles with what it’s like to come to terms with her own history and difference as the head of a family.

“Great Green Room,” by Stephanie Hunt, will focus on ecology and family. Moms everywhere can recite it by heart: “In the great green room, there was a telephone, and a red balloon, and a picture of….” Ah yes, this litany of stuff, this innocuously sweet, sing-songy consumer mantra that we feed our kids from the earliest board book get-go. But what about the other Great Green Room, the one chock full of natural wonder and an increasingly at-risk eco-system? How do we as parents, as providers and protectors of the next generation, respond to a threatened environment before we, indeed, are saying “Goodnight Moon?” The column is not a how-to with recycled go-green tips, but personal reflections on the struggles, challenges and what’s at stake, from a mom who is committed but conflicted.

Literary Mama publishes new work every week by mothers, about motherhood, for everyone. May also brings columnists Ericka Lutz writing on family food; Libby Gruner on graphic novels for teens; Caroline Grant on Autism: The Musical; 12-Step Mama taking the 10th step, Ona Gritz realizing that she's become the kind of writer her mother loved to read, and the final installment of Zen and the Art of Child Maintenance. Finally, look for a profile of Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile, authors of I Was A Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids and Dirty Little Secrets From Otherwise Perfect Moms and an essay by Jessica Smartt Gullion about writing through family interruptions.

Love You To Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs

LM Fiction editor Suzanne Kamata and Special Needs Mama columnist Vicki Forman will appear on the KPFK Radio show Bibliocracy on Monday, April 28 to discuss Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs. This breakthrough anthology features poetry, short fiction and essays by established and emerging writers. To listen in or to find out more, go to:

http://bibliocracyradio.blogspot.com/

Out and About with Kids: From Getting Across Town to Traveling Around

Ericka Lutz: Primer for City Parents: Out and About with Kids: From Getting Across Town to Traveling Around

Tuesday, May 6, 10:30-12

DETAILS:
Presentation by author Ericka Lutz, with testimonials from seasoned parent travelers!
Ericka is the author of On the Go with Baby: A Stress-Free Guide for Getting across Town or Around the World.

Whether packing the diaper bag, camping in the wilderness, or flying to Asia, traveling with a small child can be wonderful and it doesn't have to be a hassle!

Co-sponsored by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library & the San Francisco Public Library.

LOCATION:
Glen Park Branch Library
2525 Diamond Street (near Arbor St.)
(415) 355-2858

Newark Arts Alliance

C. Delia Scarpitti, LM Columns Editor, will read from her work, Migration Summer and talk about the writing process at 2 p.m.,June 1 at the Newark Arts Alliance, 276 E. Main Street, Suite 102, Newark.

"I believe that my background as a poet has only enriched my fiction process. Unlike the contract between a writer and the reader in most prose, where sentences march politely one after another, poetry allows for wild leaps, for experimental magic, for divergent ideas to all bleed together in just one compact phrase. That transcendent magic of poetry is one I seek to carry over into the fiction genre. Just as a poem insists that we slow down and bring mindful attention to each line, so, too, can fiction writing at its best. This is what I
endeavor to do in my writing." — C.D.S.

MINDFUL MOMENTS FOR MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS

"Every woman is a mother, a daughter, or both," says Tzivia Gover, workshop leader and author of Mindful Moments for Stressful Days. "Whether or not we have children of our own, we each play the role of nurturer, teacher, and protector in some way. Likewise, whether our mothers are in our lives today or not, each of us has a yearning to receive unconditional love and wise guidance. Mother/daughter relationships are potentially our richest source of love and nourishment. They can also be complicated and confusing.

Mindful Moments for Mothers and Daughters is a workshop led by Gover in which participants can explore their roles and relationships as mothers and daughters in a safe and welcoming environment. The workshop will be held on Mother's Day weekend, May 9-11 at Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California.

Participants will use the practice of mindfulness to find clarity, peace, and a spirit of joyful relaxation to guide us in this process of discovery and deeper connection. Through a series of discussions, simple art and writing activities, guided meditations, and values clarification exercises, participants will:

Identify strengths and challenges in their mother/daughter roles and relationships

Bring a spirit of mindful intention to the process of growth and healing in their lives as mothers and daughters

Discover the common and complementary values they bring to those relationships.

Connect with feelings of gratitude, joy, and love toward themselves as well as their mothers and/or daughters.

Throughout the workshop participants will have the opportunity to work individually, in pairs, and in small groups.

Mindful Moments for Mothers and Daughters is appropriate for all women who want to deepen their understanding of themselves as mothers and/or daughters, whether attending individually or with their mother and/or adult daughter.

Mother's Day Weekend, May 9-11, 2008
at ESALEN, Big Sur, California

visit: www.tziviagover.com or www.esalen.org for more information and to register. Or contact Esalen Institute at 831-667-3005.

Reading: For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth about Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance

Bay Area folks! Come on out for a reading from the Seal Press anthology "For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth about Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance" edited by Victoria Zackheim.

Saturday, March 8th, 7:00pm
A Great Good Place For Books
6120 La Salle Avenue, Oakland
(in Montclair Village)
(510) 339-8210

One of the anthology authors who will be reading is Susan Ito, Literary Mama columnist ("Life in the Sandwich") and Creative Nonfiction Co-Editor. Come on out and say hello!

For Keeps is an inspirational collection by top women writers on their relationships with their bodies. It explores with awe and intelligence the surprises and challenges of our bodies — whether caused by illness, aging, injury, or life circumstances — that make us rethink the way we see ourselves, and even live our lives. These empowering essays reveal the journeys women take as they age and change in ways both good and bad. Each unique story in this collection brings the reader closer to understanding her relationship with her own body — both physical and emotional.

Our bodies, our health, our relationships with other people—are bound to change over time, Victoria Zackheim reminds readers. And while aging will inevitably become difficult to control, in the end, we can’t ignore the message that always “hovers just beyond the coast of consciousness: Our bodies are for keeps. No matter what life brings us, we must forge ahead and celebrate.”

Center For Women Book Signing

December 2007
December 2 Sunday
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
$10 at the door

The Citadel Holliday Alumni House, Hagood Avenue

Parking is available at the Johnson Hagood Stadium.

Light refreshments provided and gift wrapping available for $1.

Lowcountry Women Authors Holiday Book Signing
Meet 30+ local authors and have your holiday gift purchases personally signed!

Joyce Coakley, Stacey Crew, Ruth Cupp, Carol Ann Davis, Nathalie Dupree & Marion Sullivan, Linda Ferguson, Cathy Forrester, Dottie Benton Frank, Mary Edna Fraser, Nikki Hardin & Caitlin McPhilipps, Beth Webb Hart, Josephine Humphries, Fran Hawk, Trish Hutchison, Harriet McBryde Johnson, Alison Keller, Sue Monk Kidd, Ann Kulze, Dorothy Perrin Moore, Susan Romaine, Nicole Seitz, Sue Shankle & Barbara Melton, Toby Smith, Sally Hughes Smith, Shari Stauch, Liz Tucker, Andrea Weathers, Marjory Wentworth, and Mary Whyte.

With Barnes & Noble, Mt. Pleasant ~ bring your member card!
20% of all book sales benefit the CFW.
Special Thanks to Charleston Cookie Company & All Occasions!

We need volunteers! Email us if interested! leighann@c4women.org

Local Author Book Fair

Literary Mama Publicity and Marketing Manager and Columnist Elrena Evans will be at the Local Author Book Fair in Phoenixville, PA this Thursday, November 29th, from 5:00-8:30. If you live in the area, stop by and say hi! Elrena will be selling copies of Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers, in which she has an essay (that had its debut on Literary Mama).

She'll also be talking about two upcoming anthologies in which her work appears, How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel edited by Sarah Franklin, and Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life, which she coedited with Literary Mama Senior Editor and Columnist Caroline Grant.

Directions are available at http://www.elrenaevans.com/contact.html.

Women's Worlds 2008 Conference

Women's Worlds 2008 Conference - Madrid - please
submit your proposed papers to ARM asap! DECEMBER 1st DEADLINE!!!!

Dear ARM Members and Friends,
WW2008 is Women's Worlds 2008, the International Interdisciplinary
Congress of Women held every four years in different parts of the world. In 2008, it will be in Madrid, July 3-8. The Congress usually attracts more than 1000 participants.

ARM is planning to submit 3-4 panels on the topic of motherhood for
the the Congress. The panels will be on the general topic of motherhood so if you are interested in participating at the conference, please submit 250 word abstract, 50 word bio by Dec 1, 2007 to arm@yorku.ca.

Please see the Congress website for more information on the conference.
http://www.mmww08.org/

*One must be a member of ARM to participate on one of the ARM panels:

http://www.yorku.ca/arm/armmembership.html

White Ink: Poems on Mothers and Motherhood

The Association for Research on Mothering (ARM)/ Demeter Press is thrilled to announce the release of our fourth title -

White Ink: Poems on Mothers and Motherhood
edited by Rishma Dunlop (October 2007)

Please join us!

Book Launch Celebration

Monday, November 12, 2007
7-10 pm
Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, Gladstone Hotel,
1214 Queen St. W., Toronto

Confirmed Poets Reading at the Event include:

Di Brandt
Priscila Uppal
Chris Doda
Pier Giorgio DiCicco
Ruth Panofsky
Ann Fisher-Wirth
Leon Rooke
Elana Wolff
Marilyn Gear Pilling
Molly Peacock

Poetry readings, refreshments served. Cash bar
http://www.yorku.ca/arm/whiteink.html

ARM conference

York University’s 11th annual conference on motherhood, hosted by the Association for Research on Mothering, will focus on something mothers too often ignore – their own health and well-being.

“Mothers around the world are given the responsibility of caring for their families’ health, but while they are taking care of everyone else, their own health often takes a hit,” says Women’s Studies Professor Andrea O’Reilly. “We’re going to be looking at why mothers often end up physically and mentally drained and what types of support they need.”

The Maternal Health and Well-Being Conference, which will be held in downtown Toronto from Oct. 17 to 20, will include a wide range of topics, including work-family balance, postpartum depression, “mother blame”, reproductive rights and racism. A common thread through many of the presentations is health, broadly defined, says O’Reilly, director of the Association for Research on Mothering. The association was formed after the first conference on motherhood was held more than a decade ago and now has more than 600 members internationally.

see Maternal Health and Well Being Conference for details.

Parenting 101

Parenting 101

Join the Newswomen's Club of New York at 6:30 pm on October 3rd,
when we discuss the world of writing for parenting magazines. Our
five guests -- all editors at nationally known parenting magazines --
will offer an overview of how to pitch, research and structure
articles ranging from service pieces to personal essays.
They'll also discuss what kinds of ideas do and don't work
for their publications as well as answer questions from those in the
audience.

Our panelists:

Ada Calhoun, Editor-in-Chief, Babble.com and AOL News Blogger

Judy Goldberg, Senior Editor, Parents

Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, Executive Editor, Plum

Jenny Rosenstrach, Senior Editor, Cookie

Joy Press, Culture Editor, Salon

Cost: $20 members/$25 non-members to be paid at door

Location: Playwright Act II restaurant at 732 8th Avenue bet 45th
and 46th in the party room. 212-354-8404. Attendees can get food and
drinks before and after the event.

First Book

First Book is giving children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books.

Books stir the senses, inspire the imagination, and spark a love of reading that can last a lifetime.

Access to books is essential to reading development, yet many children from low-income families have no books at home or in the childcare centers they attend. There are millions of children waiting for your help. Donate now to put new books into the hands of children in need.

In September 2005, First Book committed to bring 5,000,000 new books to the communities devastated by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. With your help we reached our goal.

Join us now to join First Book and all of our partners who made Book Relief possible as we celebrate the distribution of our five millionth new book along the Gulf Coast. Please join us.

Tuesday, August 21st
1:00-2:30 PM
New Orleans Public Library
219 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA
RSVP by August 7th
RSVP: Attend or Decline
or call 866-393-1222
Please note that space is limited, so RSVP as soon as possible.

The Writing Mamas Salon in San Francisco

Each month will be a page turner at Toads restaurant on 1499 Valencia Street (between 25th and 26th streets) in the Mission, on the second Tuesday of each month from 6-8pm. (It is child friendly)

The cost is $75 per year. Wherever you are in your writing pursuits, from beginner to intermediate to published, a Writing Mamas Salon provides a time and a place to write and review your work with like minded moms.

Bring a piece of writing you'd like to share and make 4 copies ... it can be a blog, (about a page and a half, double spaced) an essay (no more than 4 pages, double spaced), a chapter from a novel or a film.

Please check out the website at http://www.writingmamas.com If you are interested in joining, please email Dawn Yun at dawnyun@writingmamas.com

W. Kamau Bell's Solo Performance Workshop.

Come see Ericka Lutz perform her short performance piece, "Me, Me, Me" as part of W. Kamau Bell's Solo Performance Workshop.

THIS Sunday, June 17th, 7:00 p.m.
The Jean Shelton Theater
533 Sutter Street (at Powell), San Francisco
Admission: $10.

PLEASE buy your tickets online in advance here (last show sold out): http://www.sheltontheater.com/nowplaying/index.html#SOLO

In The Solo Performance Workshop, performers develop and workshop stories through improvisation, journaling, and acting exercises. These pieces meet at the intersection of Art, Entertainment, Catharsis, and Glee.

Performers:
Benjamin Bossi
Ericka Lutz
Martha Rynberg
Thao Nguyen
Enzo Lombard

Two Lines: World Writing in Translation reading

On Thursday June 14th, Two Lines: World Writing in Translation will celebrate the launch of its latest edition. Featuring readings by Matt Gonzalez and notable Bay Area writers and translators, lively Brazilian music from local group Falso Baiano, and delectable food and drink provided by some of San Francisco’s favorite restaurants and markets including SOMA stalwarts Momo’s and Tres Agaves. This event will take place in the urban ambiance of the newly restored Chronicle Books building. Festivities begin at 7:00 p.m. at 680 2nd Street in San Francisco. There is a $7 suggested donation.

TWO LINES XIV includes work from 20 languages and 21 countries. As readers leaf through the pages, they follow in the footsteps of nomadic Laplanders, stroll through the suburbs of multicultural Paris, shake off the dust in a Hmong refugee camp, and fall from the skies with Lithuanian paratroopers. This edition also features works by former Poet Laureate Robert Hass and acclaimed Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali. The electric writing in the pages of the latest edition makes it clear why SF Weekly’s Best of San Francisco issue calls us the Bay Area’s “tireless champion of translated literature.”

TWO LINES is a program of Center for the Art of Translation, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco that promotes international literature and translation through programs in the arts, education, and community outreach. For more information call 415 512-8812 or visit our website at http://www.catranslation.org

Berkeley, CA Mother's Day Reading

"Celebrating Motherhood as Muse: A Mother's Day Reading wih the Motherlode Writers" Sunday, May 13th from 4-6pm at Nomad Cafe 6500 Shattuck Ave. Oakland, CA 94609, (510) 595-5344. The Motherlode Writers is a Berkeley-based community of mother-writers who work in a variety of genres, including essay, memoir, poetry, and fiction. For more information, please visit their website: http://motherlodewriters.blogspot.com/

Motherlode is a writing group that originated from LM's editor-in-chief, founder and columnist, Amy Huduck's original, Books and Babies group. Several current and former LM editors and columnists will be there, many with kids in tow.

Ericka Lutz on American Public Media Show "The Story"

LM Senior Editor and Red Diaper Dharma columnist, Ericka Lutz, wrote a column, "Truth. Parenting. Sex. Ouch." several months ago about talking with her daughter about sex. Ericka and her daughter Annie's interview with the American Public Media Show "The Story with Dick Gordon" produced by WUNC, will be broadcast Friday, April 27 at 1:00 p.m. (EST). Ericka spent an hour taking about sex ed with her daughter and the interviewer. Of the experience, Ericka explained it was, "Exhausting. Nervewracking. Really wonderful."

There are lots of ways to listen:

LIVE... if you live in an area that gets "The Story."

STREAMING ... on the Internet from the WUNC website at 1:00 p.m. (EST) www.wunc.org. ONLY in North Carolina Fridays, 1:00 p.m. (EST). CLICK the red LISTEN NOW category and choose a program to listen on your desktop.

PODCAST... using the player of choice (iPod, MP3, SanDisk, PubCatcher, etc...) by entering this link: http://thestoryonline.org/archive/podcast.xml

XM SATELLITE RADIO... Wednesday-Saturday at 2:00 a.m. (EST) on Channel 133

ARCHIVE... of the show at: http://thestory.org/archive/

Choice Mom Expo

The first ever large scale Choice Moms Expo (a single mother by choice) will be held in the San Francisco/Berkeley area on Saturday April 28. This event will feature more than 14 expert speakers on fertility, financial planning, how to adopt, parenting advice, dating and answering the daddy question. Even if you can't make it to the expo, the Choosing Single Motherhood website (http://www.choosingsinglemotherhood.com) includes a discussion group, newsletter, resource links and the award winning book, Choosing Single Motherhood.

San Francisco MotherTalk with Santa Montefiore

Join Literary Reflections editor Caroline Grant and British writer Santa Montefiore on Sunday, April 22nd at 7:30 p.m.,for a reading and conversation about Montefiore's new novel, The Gypsy Madonna:

Elegant Anouk, a dealer in American antiques, dies leaving the Metropolitan museum an uncatalogued, multimillion dollar painting by Titian. Her son, Mischa, never even knew she owned it. This mystery sends him on the trail of his own history, back to that French village of his childhood. He expects to uncover the origins of the Gypsy Madonna; he never expects to find himself.

As with all MotherTalks, there's no need to read the book first, just come for good food, conversation, and pick up a signed copy at the event.

For more information, email Caroline Grant at reflections (at) literarymama (dot) com

Philadelphia MotherTalk with Maribeth Fischer

Philly area moms won't want to miss Literary Mama co-founder Andi Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz, both of MotherTalk Inc., in a conversation with Maribeth Fischer, author of the novel The Life You Longed For.

"Mother Talk" is an old-fashioned literary salon with good food, good company, and good conversation. And you don't have to read the book first -- just come for the wine and conversation and pick up a signed copy from the author while you're there.

Location: 2200 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA
Friday, April 20, 7:00pm