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With Summer in full swing, I thought I’d give you a short mini-in-between episode about one of my favorite places in California, Santa Barbara. Enjoy!  

In the 1870s, eucalyptus trees were planted on the grounds of what would become known as the American Riviera in Santa Barbara, California. With the arrival of the rail line in 1897, tourists began to venture into the area, and in 1913 the Flying A studio was busy turning out silent movies in the complex they built in the area of Mission, State, Padre, and Chapala Streets in Santa Barbara. 

By the time they closed in 1922, Flying A produced more than 1200 silent films, primarily Westerns, adaptations of popular novels and stage plays, slapstick comedies, and more. 
  

According to the Lompoc Record, from 1912 to 1919, Santa Barbara was considered the film capital of the world.

 Meanwhile, the eucalyptus trees in the Riviera were flourishing, and the grounds around them were home to a state school. Just across the road, James Warren, President of the County National Bank, built dormitories and several ten-room houses and cottages on his property to house faculty and students. 

 By 1917 the student housing proved unsuccessful, and Mr. Warren announced plans to develop a cottage hotel to cater to the growing tourism market. On February 2, 1918, El Encanto Hotel opened for business. From 1933 to 1950, El Encanto enjoyed increased popularity as a Hollywood hideaway hosting such luminaries as Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and Hedy Lamarr.

Over the years, the hotel changed ownership, and in 2018 LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton acquired Belmond Ltd. The hotel became, El Encanto, a Belmond Hotel.

The eucalyptus trees remain, and this year a pair of red-tailed hawks put on a show as they raised their young in a tall tree in front of the pool, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

 Through the guidance of General Manager Janis Clapoff, this iconic hotel remains an essential destination for the creative and creatively inspired. At El Encanto, guests experience California through scrumptious, locally inspired cuisine, uplifting wellness experiences, classes in the visual arts, and an outstanding literary series.

 On August 1, the El Encanto Lunch With An Author Literary Series presents novelist and literary scholar Bruce Holsinger. Bruce is the author of the USA Today and Los Angeles Times best-selling novel The Gifted School, which is currently in development as a TV series with NBC/Universal Television. His most recent novel, The Displacements, was hailed by the New York Times as “hypnotic, and a thorough translation to fiction of what it can feel like to live right now.” 

 In 2022, I chose Abdulzarak Gurnah’s Afterlives and  Bruce Holsinger’s The Displacements as my two outstanding literary fiction novels. 

 I hope you will join me at El Encanto for lunch with Bruce, followed by our conversation about his writing and The Displacements.

 These literary events require a reservation and prepayment. Please call our Concierge Team at [email protected] or call 805 845 5800.

 I hope to see you there!

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In this episode, I chat with Otto Penzler, owner of The Mysterious Bookshop about publishing, the genre of mystery and crime fiction, female mystery writers, and collecting first editions.

Opened in 1979 by Otto Penzler, The Mysterious Bookshop is the oldest mystery specialist book store in America. Previously located in midtown, the bookshop now calls Tribeca its home.

The bookshop stocks the finest selection of new mystery hardcovers, paperbacks and periodicals and also features a superb collection of signed Modern First Editions, Rare/Collectible hardcovers and Sherlockiana.

 The Mysterious Bookshop

MysteriousPress.com

Penzler Press

High Bridge Audio

The Bibliomystery Series

The Mysterious Bookshop Crime Clubs

The Bookshop Podcast Deborah Crossland Interview (feminism)

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In this episode, I chat with Deborah Crossland about her new YA novel, The Quiet Part Out Loud, teaching, landing her dream agent, and mythology!

Deborah Crossland teaches English and mythology at her local community college, studies mythology and depth psychology in her Ph.D. program, and writes myth-based, contemporary novels for young adults. She is also a founding board member of the nonprofit Fernweh Collective, which focuses on cultural education through experiential learning. You can find her talking all things myth on Fernweh Collective’s happy hour video on YouTube. She lives in Northern California with her husband and her daughter’s very spoiled retired service dog.

Deborah Crossland

The Quiet Part Out Loud, Deborah Crossland

Pacifica Institute

The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway, Ashley Schumacher

Women Who Run With The Wolves, Clarissa  Pinkola Estés, PhD

The Heroin’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness, Maureen Murdoch

Christine Downing, Books

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In this episode, I chat with Andy Durkin about the family owned and run Petrach's Bookshop, Tasmanian authors, the demographics of Tasmania, and must-see places to visit in the beautiful heart-shape island state of Tasmania, Australia.

Petrarch’s Bookshop has existed in Launceston, Tasmania as a general bookshop since 1985, providing exceptional customer service across an ever growing range of books. Although it has been owned and operated by Peter and Rhonda Durkin for most of that time, Marcus Durkin has joined his parents in the business and is now the operational manager of the shop. 

The growth of the business has been based on one major ideal – customer service.

 Petrarch’s stocks a wide range of book categories, with special emphasis on Tasmaniania, gardening, cooking, architecture, health, art and many more. 

 Their friendly staff are all avid readers and are happy to recommend a novel, whether it be a new release or a classic from yesteryear. Their fiction categories include crime, fantasy, historical and Australiana as well as bestselling titles, and stock a vast selection of children’s books. 

Petrarch’s Bookshop

Richard Flanagan books

Nan Chauncey books

Limberlost, Robbie Arnott

The Rain Heron, Robbie Arnott

Flames, Robbie Arnott

The Angry Women’s Choir, Meg Bignell

The Last Hermit, Geoff Harwood

The Deep, Kyle Perry

Kindred: A Cradle Mountain Love Story, Kate Legge

The Last Lighthouse Keeper, John Cook

Katherine Johnson, author

ABC News article by Fiona Blackwood, Tasmanian ‘angry farmer’ looks to boost literacy levels after education system disillusionment

The Advocate, written by Matt Maloney

John Marsden, author

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder, Kerryn Mayne

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman

Secrets of the Huon Wren, Claire Van Ryn

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In this episode, I chat with Jennifer De Leon about teaching, learning, her writing, and how reading fiction helps develop empathy.

Jennifer De Leon graduated from Connecticut College with a double-major in International Relations and French, and earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of San Francisco’s Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice while in the Teach For America program. She went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from UMASS-Boston. She has received several awards and residencies from organizations across the country, including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Hedgebrook, Macondo, VONA, Associates of the Boston Public Library’s Writer-in-Residence Program, and the City of Boston’s Artist-in-Residence Program. 

 De Leon is a winner of the 2016 Walter Dean Myers Grant, awarded by We Need Diverse Books, and named a 2020 Latinx Trailblazer by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

After a decade teaching in Boston Public Schools, Jenn is now Associate Professor of English at Framingham State University, and instructor in the Creative Writing and Literature Graduate Program at Harvard University.

Her stories and essays have appeared in Ploughshares, The Briar Cliff Reviews, Iowa Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Guernica, and Best Women’s Travel Writing to name a few. Jennifer is the author of Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From and the essay collection White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, and Writing, and editor of the anthology, Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education. Her latest YA novel is Borderless.

 In 2022 Jennifer founded Story Bridge LLC. Story Bridge programs bring people together from all walks of life to shape, share, and hear each other’s unique stories. By the end of the program, every participant walks away with new, unforgettable connections.
 
Jennifer De Leon

 Borderless, Jennifer De Leon

 Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Jennifer De Leon

 White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing, Jennifer De Leon

 All You Have To Do, Autumn Allen

 Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim, Patricia Park  

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros

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In this episode, I chat with Hannah Pittard about her new book, We Are Too Many, styles of writing, divorce, and teaching.

Hannah Pittard is the author of four novels and a forthcoming memoir.  Her books have been recommended by the New York Times; Chicago Tribune; O, The Oprah Magazine; Time; The Guardian; The Washington Post; Belletrist; Powell’s Indie subscription club; The Indie Next List; and the signed First Edition Club at Harvard Bookstore. She is a winner of the Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award, a MacDowell Colony Fellow, and a graduate of Deerfield Academy, the University of Chicago, and the University of Virginia. She also spent some time at St. John’s College in Annapolis. She is a Professor of English at the University of Kentucky and lives in Lexington with her boyfriend and stepdaughter. 

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In this episode, I chat with Charlotte Guest, manager of The Book Bird, about ethnic diversity in West Geelong, bookselling, local authors, and books!

The Book Bird is a small, independent bookshop that prides itself on matching readers with books they love. The staff believes bookshops are repositories of wisdom and spaces of learning. Located on Pakington Street in Geelong West, Victoria, Australia, The Book Bird has become a much-loved community hub since its opening in 2015. This idea underpins everything the staff does across customer service, events, their book club, and other initiatives, 

Their eclectic range of books spans children’s, young adult, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, gardening, travel, art, architecture, and cooking. They stock the books reviewed in the national papers and books you’ve never heard of, but when placed in your hands, they just may change your life. 

The Book Bird thinks of their staff as your literary tour guides. They are knowledgeable and passionate about what they do and will take the time to connect the right books with the right humans. Whether it's in-store recommendations, their review cards, carefully considered displays, or social media posts, all communication at The Book Bird is about sharing the power of books and reading.

The Book Bird

10 Best Indie Book Podcasts - Feedspo 

Lee Cole, Author

Link to The Bookshop Podcast episode with Paper Bird, Freemantle

 Link to The Bookshop Podcast episode with Fuller’s Bookshop, Hobart, Tasmania

 Link to the Bookshop Podcast episode with Mitchell Kaplan, Books & Books, Florida

Rhett Davis, Author

Search History, Amy Taylor

 Sally Rooney, author

 Lauren Dane, Author

Hopeless Kingdom, Kgshak Akec

 Forty Nights, Pirooz Jafari

 Belinda Lyons-Lee, Author

  Gregory Day, Author  

 Limberlost, Robbie Arnott

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Happy Global Gay Pride Month!

In this episode, I chat with the brilliant Paul Rudnick about his fabulous new novel Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style, writing through the emotional hard-to-write parts, honing observational skills, and the gift of working with talented editors!

Paul Rudnick is an author, playwright, and screenwriter. His plays have been produced on and off Broadway and include Jeffrey, I Hate Hamlet, Regrets Only, and The New Century. He is the author of seven books, Social Disease, I Shudder, I’ll Take It, Playing The Palace, Gorgeous, It’s All Your Fault, and his latest novel Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style. His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Esquire, and more. His screenplays include Addams Family Values, Coastal Elites, In & Out, Sister Act, and the film adaptation of Jeffrey. Paul is also one of my favorite writers!  

Paul Rudnick

Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style, Paul Rudnick

Gorgeous, Paul Rudnick

Playing the Palace, Paul Rudnick

Paul Rudnick Books

Paul Rudnick  & Jean Hanff Korelitz: Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style Event at Strand Books, New York

TJ Klune on The Bookshop Podcast

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In this episode, I chat with Mairi Oliver, owner of Lighthouse Books, about radical bookshops, feminist writers in Edinburgh, how the world can seem overwhelming, and books!

Lighthouse Books is a queer-owned and woman-led independent community bookshop located at West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh. The store is an unapologetically activist, intersectional, feminist, antiracist, lgbtq+ community space, celebrating diversity of thought and expression and championing voices from the margins.

 The bookshop carries 10,000 titles across most genres, from politics, history, fiction, and travel writing to Children’s books, crafts, and cookery. We are particularly passionate about radical, left-wing, and Scottish politics, intersectional feminism, revolutionary history, environmentalism, LGBT+ writing, poetry, and translated fiction.

Lighthouse Books is committed to playing its part in building a greener, fairer, kinder tomorrow.

Lighthouse Books

Lola Olufemi, author

Harry Josephine Giles, author

Allyson Shaw, author

Knight Errant Press

Aven Wildsmith, author

404ink.com (Inklings Books)

Love That Journey for Me: The Queer Revolution of Schitt’s Creek, Emily Garside

Dr. Nat Raha, poet

Sarah Sheridan, author

Eris Young, author

There Is Nothing So Whole as a Broken Heart, Cindy Milstein (editor)

Radical Mourning, Cindy Milstein (editor)

UnTypical, Pete Wharmby

Caliban and the Witch, Sylvia Federici

The Bookshop Podcast Interview With Ross Bradshaw, Fives Leaves Bookshop

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In this episode, I chat with Heidi Stemple about her writing practice, the rules and skills needed to write children's books, having  a celebrity writing mother (Jane Yolen), and keeping the writing business in the family!

Heidi Stemple didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer in Florida. It wasn’t until she was 28 years old that she gave in and joined the family business, publishing her first short story in a book called Famous Writers and Their Kids Write Spooky Stories. The famous writer was her mom, author Jane Yolen. Since then, she has published more than thirty-five books and numerous short stories and poems, mostly for children.

 Heidi lives and writes on a big old farm in Massachusetts that she shares with one very large cat who lives inside, and a dozen deer, a family of bears, three coyotes, two bobcats, a gray fox, tons of birds, and some very fat groundhogs who live outside. Once a year she calls owls for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.

Heidi Stemple

Books by Heidi Stemple

Owl Moon, Jane Yolen

The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photograph, Chana Stiefel (author), Susan Gal (illustrator)

Too Early, Nora Ericson

The Life And Crimes Of Hoodie Rosen, Isaac Blum

A Time to Dance, Padma Venkatraman

Flamer, Mike Curato

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto, George M. Johnson

The Kidlit World

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