An Evening with Novelists Jade Chang and Charmaine Craig
In conversation with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Join us on Tuesday, September 12, when Jade Chang, Charmaine Craig, and I discuss the art, business, and craft of writing.
Jade Chang has worked as an arts and culture journalist and was recently an editor at Goodreads. She is the recipient of a Sundance Arts Journalist fellowship and is a nominee for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. Her debut novel, The Wangs vs. the World, is a New York Times Editors’ Choice and was named one of the best books of 2016 by Buzzfeed, NPR, Elle, Amazon, and others. The Wangs will be published in 12 countries. NPR said this: “Her book is unrelentingly fun, but it is also raw and profane—a story of fierce pride, fierce anger, and even fiercer love.” Here’s a story in the L.A. Times.
Charmaine Craig is a faculty member in the Department of Creative Writing at UC Riverside. A former actor in film and television, and a Burma activist privy to negotiations at the highest level in the current conflict, she studied literature at Harvard University and received her MFA from the University of California, Irvine. Her first novel, The Good Men (Riverhead), was a national bestseller translated into six languages. Her new novel is Miss Burma (Grove Press). Here’s a recent story about Ms. Craig that ran in the Los Angeles Times. And a review in The New York Times.
Buy tickets for the Sept 12 event.
Cost: $20, which includes nibbles & sips.
Please note: We begin at 7pm sharp.
Latecomers risk losing their seats and may enjoy standing-room only.
No refunds.
Joshua Mohr at the Pen on Fire Speaker Series & Salon
If you didn’t make the event with Josh last week, or if you did and you want to relive it, check out Chelsey Drysdale’s write up on her blog, right here.
An Evening with Fiction Writers
In conversation with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Join us on May 16 when David Francis and other fiction writers (TBA) visit the Pen on Fire Speaker Series to discuss the art, craft, and business of writing.
David Francis, based in Los Angeles, spends part of each year back on his family’s farm in Australia. He is the author of The Great Inland Sea, published to acclaim in seven countries, and Stray Dog Winter, Book of the Year in The Advocate, winner of the American Library Association Barbara Gittings Prize for Literature and a LAMBDA Literary Award Finalist. He has taught creative writing at University of California, Los Angeles, Occidental College and in the Masters of Professional Writing program at University of Southern California. His short fiction and articles have appeared in publications including Harvard Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, Southern California Review, Best Australian Stories, Australian Love Stories, Los Angeles Times and The Rattling Wall. Film rights to his novels have been sold in France and the United States. He is Vice President of PEN Center USA. His new novel is Wedding Bush Road and will be the focus of our talk.
Buy tickets for the May 16 event.
Cost: $20, which includes nibbles & sips.
Please note: We begin at 7pm sharp.
Latecomers risk losing their seats and may enjoy standing-room only.
No refunds.
Write up of speaker series event with Elizabeth Marro and T. Jefferson Parker
In case you missed it, writer Chelsey Drysdale did a detailed write-up. Right here.
Recap of speaker series/salon with Bret Anthony Johnston, Aline Ohanesian, and Lisa Glatt
Essayist and editor Chelsey Drysdale wrote this incredibly detailed recap of last Tuesday night’s event. If you were there and didn’t take notes, or if you weren’t there but wish you had been, check out her blog. Right here. Thank you, Chelsey!
Past guests include authors, literary agents, and editors: Bret Anthony Johnston, Chris Bohjalian, Lisa See, Dani Shapiro, Seth Greenland, Diana Wagman, Jillian Lauren, Dana Johnson, Martin J. Smith, Susan Straight, Tatjana Soli, Jess Walter, Pam Houston, Suzanne Redfearn, Jane Porter, Anita Hughes, Kaira Rouda, Betsy Amster, Stacy Berlein, Eric Puchner, Claire Bidwell Smith, James Brown, Dinah Lenney, T. Jefferson Parker, Merrill Markoe, Karen Karbo, Heidi Durrow, Danzy Senna, Taylor Martindale, Sally van Haitsma, Elise Capron, Katie Arnoldi, Marisa Matarrazo, Lisa Fugard, Andrew Winer, Dan Smetanka, Dennis Palumbo, Daniel Pyne, Aimee Bender, Michael Jaime-Becerra, Jill Marr, Stacy Chilton Weiss, Gary Phillips, Mary Castillo, Martin J. Smith, Patricia McFall, Ron Carlson, Tod Goldberg, Victoria Patterson, Carolyn See, Norman Ollestad, Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, Kelly Sonnack, Debra Ollivier, Aline Ohanesian.
"What a terrific evening with you at the gallery. You've got some really fine readers/writers/fans. It was an enjoyable night for me. I felt much appreciated and not a little spoiled!"
Comments from Pen On Fire Writers Salon Attendees
"Thanks for Tuesday evening with Heidi Durrow and Danzy Senna. I hesitated when I paid my $20, as I was not sure this was the program for me. When I arrived to realize I was the only man, I was convinced of it. The only thing I remembered was that by far the majority of writers and readers are women. But I was committed, and sitting by the wall; leaving wasn't an option. But then the authors started talking and reading. Wow! It was then that I knew why I came. I listened to every word. And each word was valuable.
—Frederick R. Andresen
www.fandresen.com