Upcoming Events
May 18, 2012, 7:30 pm
Kick-Off Reading
Powells City of Books
Portland, Oregon
I'll be reading and signing copies of The Secrets of Mary Bowser.
May 22, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Third Place Books
Lake Forest Park, Washington
Reading and book signing for The Secrets of Mary Bowser.
May 24, 7 pm
Books-A-Million
Birmingham, Alabama
757 Brookwood Village
May 31, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
St. Helens Book Shop
St. Helens, Oregon
Reading and signing for The Secrets of Mary Bowser.
June 9-10
Publishers Row
Chicago
June 19, 2012, 6:30-8:00 pm
Telling Secrets: Mary Bowser, a Black Civil War Spy
Canby Public Library
Canby, Oregon
Do you ever wonder how authors weave facts into fiction? Join me for a discussion of the inspirational true story behind The Secrets of Mary Bowser.
July 17, 2012, 7:00 pm
Broadway Books
Portland, Oregon
July 27, 2012
Napa Valley Writers Conference
Napa Valley Writers Conference
August 3-5, 2012
Willamette Writers Conference
Willamette Writers Conference
September 28-30, 2012
Historical Novel Society
University of Westminster
Past Events
November 1, 2011 7:30 PM
Jewish Voices: Annual Reading by Jewish Writers and Poets
Oregon Jewish Museum
Portland, OR
November 7 — December 12, 2011, 6:30pm–8:30pm
Breaking the Yoke: The Anti-Slavery Literature that Changed America
Literary Arts
Portland, OR
Can literature really change society–start a war–set four million people free? Examine the political and emotional impact of great writing in this seminar on Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. As we read the most popular novel and the most powerful slave narrative of nineteenth-century America, participants will explore the social and cultural contexts that shaped, and were shaped by, these great works of literature.
December 8, 2011, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Artist Talk and Happy Hour
Portland Art Museum
Portland, OR
Discussion of the recasting of American history in contemporary art and literature, from The Secrets of Mary Bowser to the mixed-media sculpture of award-winning Native American artist Marie Watt.
January 30-February 1, 2012
Our Cup Runneth Over
Jewish Women's Theater
Los Angeles
Tickets are on-sale for this four-part series
I have a lot to give thanks for . . . including director Ellyn Gersh Lerner's invitation to write a theater script. I've just turned a 15-page comic prose memoir with 10 characters into a one-act play with four characters. Drama! Comedy! Learning how to format a script! The theme of the series is gratitude, and my twist is kind of gratitude with attitude. Hope you can catch this show about what happens to a group of college friends when the first of them has a baby. On Thanksgiving Day.
February 7, March 7, April 3, and April 24, 2012
Making History
Canby Public Library
Canby, Oregon
Don't you the love the library? I do. And I'm delighted to be leading this four-part series about history and the materials historians use to learn about the past.
Picturing History Examining portraits as historical evidence.
Mapping History Reading maps as historical evidence.
Posting History Examining correspondence of key historical figures as historical evidence.
The Story of History Explore how historians construct narratives out of historical evidence and how the choices a historian makes in selecting sources can shape what comes to be accepted fact about America's past.
Picturing History Examining portraits as historical evidence.
Mapping History Reading maps as historical evidence.
Posting History Examining correspondence of key historical figures as historical evidence.
The Story of History Explore how historians construct narratives out of historical evidence and how the choices a historian makes in selecting sources can shape what comes to be accepted fact about America's past.
February 21-March 13, 2012, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Everybody Reads: The Literary Lineage of Heidi Durrow’s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
Literary Arts
Portland, OR
What can a coming-of-age story set in contemporary Portland tell us about hundreds of years of American and European art and literature—from the engravings of William Blake to novels of the Harlem Renaissance? As part of Multnomah County’s 2012 Everybody Reads program, this seminar offers readers an opportunity to share a deeper exploration of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky. The novel explores a young woman’s struggle to understand how her biracial lineage shapes who she is and what she does. Together, we’ll examine the literary and artistic lineage that shapes this powerful novel.
March 11, 2012
Poetry Out Loud
Oregon Arts Commission
Portland, Oregon
I am oiling up my trochees and polishing off my anapests in preparation for serving as a judge for Poetry Out Loud.
This wonderful program gives teens a chance to fall in love with poetry through performance.
This wonderful program gives teens a chance to fall in love with poetry through performance.
April 21, 2012, 3:45 p.m.
Oregon Poetry Association
Clackamas Community College
I'll be reading with other winners of a statewide poetry competition.
Sunday, April 29, 2012, 2:00 p.m.
Telling Secrets: Mary Bowser, Black Civil War Spy
Central Library
Multnomah County Library
801 SW 10th Avenue
Do you ever wonder how authors weave facts into fiction? As part of Multnomah County Library's commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, I'll be discussing the inspirational true story behind The Secrets of Mary Bowser.
May 18, 2012, 7:30 pm
Kick-Off Reading
Powells City of Books
Portland, Oregon
I'll be reading and signing copies of The Secrets of Mary Bowser.
