|
|
|
Sort By:
 |
Literary Arts
Main Library & Literary Workspace Team Up
The writing life is a notoriously solitary one. With pen, crayon or mouse in hand, most writers spend countless hours avoiding other people as they ply their trades. But like it or not, human contact is essential. Having a place to find community and share ideas is critical to writers who want to keep their social sanity.
To celebrate that notion, the San Francisco Writers' Grotto has joined up with the Friends & Foundation of the San Francisco Public Library (F&F) to offer a series of "Grotto Nights," funded by Napa Valley's Stags' Leap Winery and supported by Craig's List. More
|
 |
Literary Arts
A Celebration of the Possibilities of Language
Now in its second year, The Living Word Festival is an annual community gathering of artists, educators, presenters and performers who take three days each Fall to focus on literacy education and literary performance. More
|
 |
Literary Arts
New Youth Writing Center Offers Free Classes
Few things would make most people want to return to middle or high school, but for pirate lovers, writers and/or parents of teenaged children, the opening of 826 Valencia might be one of them. More
|
 |
Literary Arts
William Greider's The Soul of Capitalism
With forty years of journalism and five best-sellers on the American economy and politics under his belt, William Greider is oddly optimistic. In his new book The Soul of Capitalism, Greider, for years Rolling Stone's main political reporter, declares that diverse, grass-roots efforts in far-flung corners of America are opening doors to a new, moral economy. More
|
 |
Literary Arts
Kenneth M. Pollack's The Threatening Storm
During my weekend forays I visited two bookstores and found vastly different displays in regards to our man of the hour, Saddam Hussein. At Books Inc. in Laurel Heights, I discovered The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict. At City Lights, I found four shelves devoted to a possible war with Iraq. The funny thing was that in neither spot did I find the book I'm reviewing today, The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq, by Kenneth M. Pollack. More
|
 |
Literary Arts
José Saramago's The Cave
A beautifully written tale by a man that obviously loves words as much as his characters love their clay, José Saramago's The Cave is a pleasant relief. It is refreshing to read an author that genuinely likes his characters and doesn't have to use sarcasm to pique our interest in their lives. More
|
 |
Literary Arts
Behind the Scenes of One of America's Biggest Natural Disastersl
The countdown begins. In about four months, the city will be awash in PR beckoning out-of-towners to come "celebrate" the centennial anniversary of the notorious 6.9 magnitude quake which killed a reported 63 people, injured thousands, and destroyed 490 city blocks. The question is, when a curious tourist shambles up to you, will you be ready to field the questions? Lucky for us, Simon Winchester's new book is a great read for geologist/non-geologist and Left or Right Coaster alike. The book is part armchair travel, part history primer, part geologic survey, and part polemic. More
|
 |
Literary Arts
Local Writing Schools Offer Structure, Support, Freshly-Brewed Tea
In Los Angeles, everyone and their mother is "working on a screenplay." In San Francisco, we like to branch out a bit: first novels, inspirational memoirs, travel writing, foodie writing, children's books: you name it, someone in the Bay Area is working on it and a writing course nearby caters to it. More
|
 |
Literary Arts
Eleanor Vincent's Swimming With Maya
"Grief seizes me by the scruff of the neck and will not let me go. Piece by piece I reconstruct the puzzle of our life together, opening myself to the slow truth of what it meant to be Maya's mother." This excerpt from the prologue to Eleanor Vincent's excellent memoir, Swimming with Maya, accurately describes the journey she is inviting us to share. More
|
 |
Literary Arts
David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas
"Spent the fortnight gone in the music room," writes Robert Frobisher, a disinherited composer, to his lover in England, "reworking my year's fragments into a 'sextet for overlapping soloists': piano, clarinet, 'cello, flute, oboe, and violin, each in its own language of key, scale, and color. In the first set, each solo is interrupted by its successor; in the second, each interruption is recontinued, in order. Revolutionary or gimmicky? Shan't know until it's finished, and by then it'll be too late." More
|
|
