UPCOMING EVENTS

IN CONVERSATION WITH JOYCE MAYNARD AND LINDA GRAY SEXTON

Sunday, March 13, 2016
3:30p // BOOK SIGNING TO FOLLOW
The Oshman Family Jewish Community Center
3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto

Directions : http://paloaltojcc.org/hours
Litquake link: http://paloaltojcc.org/Events/litquake-palo-alto-2016

I am happy to report that once again I will be “in conversation” with another author, at the Litquake Literary Festival two weeks from now. This time I am honored to moderate an event with the prolific and much-admired Joyce Maynard. Her newly released novel, Under The Influence, has been hailed as “illuminating and mesmerizing” byPublishers Weekly, and “an utterly beguiling, compulsively readable yarn” by Booklist.

The novel centers on the powerful undertow exerted by an all-consuming friendship–one that eventually challenges the bonds of trust–and is a provocative exploration of emotional seduction, guilt and sacrifice. I put aside all I was supposed to be doing, burrowed into a pile of pillows and got lost in this amazing book.

Joyce is the author of four works of non-fiction and eight previous novels, including Labor Day, which was made into a movie starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. From first discovering Joyce’s writing with To Die For, right through to my third reading of The Good Daughters, I have always admired the way she masterminds her stories, as well as her impeccable command of language.

Joyce will first read from the new novel, and then we will make literary “conversation,” also touching upon her best-selling memoir, At Home in the World, as well as my ownSearching for Mercy Street. Among other topics, we will talk about the ways in which our lives intersect–both of us having grown up “under the influence” of brilliant mothers who were simultaneously creative and controlling. After the program, there will be time for audience questions.

I hope you will be able to join me for this special afternoon. Looking forward to seeing you there!

IN CONVERSATION WITH ERICA JONG AND LINDA GRAY SEXTON

Before there was Fifty Shades of Grey, there was Erica Jong. In 1973, Jong blew conventional thinking about women, marriage and sexuality out of the water with her first and most famous novel Fear of Flying. The book went on to sell 27 million copies and has been translated into 40 languages. In Isadora Wing, her fictional doppelganger, Erica created everywoman – not as she existed in public life in the 70s, but inside a woman’s own mind. Ms. Jong has written over 20 books since then — including her new novel, Fear of Dying — that articulate what many women think but may never voice, from sex to the broader issues facing American women today.

Join Erica Jong in a dialogue about life, love, sex and the power of women to change the world.

Tue, Sep 15 2015 – 6:30pm 

Location: Commonwealth Club of California, 555 Post St., San Francisco
Time: 5:45 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. book signing

Notes: Part of the Good Lit Series underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation

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