Sunday, September 19, 2010 - 2-4 pm
"Four Debut Novelists Tell All"

Bay Area authors whose first fiction was released within the past year by traditional publishers are ready to share their experiences and answer your questions.  The panel consists of Carolina DeRobertis (THE INVISIBLE MOUNTAIN - Vintage), Nina LaCour (HOLD STILL - Dutton), Jacqueline Luckett (SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER - Grand Central), and Matt Stewart (THE FRENCH REVOLUTION - Soft Skull).  It will be moderated by Kim Culbertson (SONGS FOR A TEENAGE NOMAD - Sourcebooks), whose novel "re-debuts" in September 2010 after being acquired by Sourcebooks from indie publisher Hip Pocket Press.

Kim Culbertson (moderator):
Kim Culbertson technically writes for teenagers, but there are some grown-ups who like her work.  Her first novel, Songs for a Teenage Nomad, was published by Hip Pocket Press in June of 2007.  Songs won the 2008 Ben Franklin Award for Best New Voice in Children's/Young Adult Fiction and several other awards. Songs for a Teenage Nomad  will be reissued by Sourcebooks Fire in September of 2010.  Sourcebooks Fire will also publish her second young adult novel, Instructions for a Broken Heart, in May of 2011.  When she's not writing for teenagers, she's teaching them, and has taught high school English, Creative Writing and drama for over ten years.  The fact that she’s a published author doesn’t seem to dazzle her students who still complain about how much homework she gives them.  She lives in the Northern California foothills with her husband and daughter where she drinks more coffee than perhaps she should.

About Songs For a Teenage Nomad:
What is the soundtrack of your life?  After living in twelve places in eight years, Calle Smith finds herself in Andreas Bay, California, at the start of ninth grade. Another new home, another new school…Calle knows better than to put down roots. Her song journal keeps her moving to her own soundtrack, bouncing through a world best kept at a distance. Yet before she knows it, friends creep in—as does an unlikely boy with a secret. Calle is torn over what may be her first chance at love. With all that she’s hiding and all that she wants, can she find something lasting beyond music? And will she ever discover why she and her mother have been running in the first place?  “The best kind of song takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. It makes you think. You find yourself humming and pondering it for days. Songs for a Teenage Nomad does the book version of this. It’s an unforgettable story that music lovers in particular will appreciate, but every teenager trying to find their place in the world should read.” —Stephanie Kuehnert, author of I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone and Ballads  of Suburbia

Carolina De Robertis:
Carolina De Robertis is the author of the internationally bestselling novel The Invisible Mountain, which has been translated into twelve languages and was a finalist for a California Book Award, an International Latino Book Award, and the Rhegium Julii Prize in Italy. Her writings and literary translations have appeared in Zoetrope: Allstory, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Granta, and elsewhere. She was named the #1 New Latino Author to Watch in 2010 by latinostories.com

 

 

About The Invisible Mountain:
From the verdant hills of Rio de Janeiro to Evita Perón’s glittering Buenos Aires, from the haven of a corner butchershop to the halls of the United States embassy in Montevideo, this gripping novel—at once expansive and lush with detail—examines the intertwined fates of a continent and a family in upheaval.  The Invisible Mountain is a deeply intimate exploration of the search for love and authenticity in the lives of three women, and a penetrating portrait of the small, tenacious nation of Uruguay, all shaken in the gales of the twentieth century.

Nina LaCour:
Nina LaCour is a high school English teacher and former bookseller. Her stories and interviews have appeared in various journals and magazines, including 580 Split and Juxtapoz. Her first screenplay, If It Isn't Perfect, was made into a short film. A San Francisco Bay area native, Nina lives in Oakland, California. Hold Still is her first novel. Visit her online at www.ninalacour.com

 

About Hold Still:
Caitlin Madison and Ingrid Bauer were more than best friends—they were each other’s sole allies in a suburban California town dominated by strip malls, identical houses, and cookie-cutter popularity. But when Ingrid commits suicide, Caitlin plunges into her junior year alone, both by loss and by choice. The discovery of Ingrid’s journal pushes Caitlin even further into her reclusion. In words and drawings, Caitlin slowly uncovers the secrets that Ingrid kept from everyone—even her. Journeying through Ingrid's final days, Caitlin fights back through unspeakable loss to find renewed hope. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and realize true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which had once only seemed to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression eventually becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid—and Caitlin herself.  Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, and playful, Hold Still is an extraordinary novel that will leave readers wondering how well we know the people we love.  

Jacqueline Luckett:
Jacqueline Luckett is a former sales representative for Xerox. After leaving the corporate world, Jacqueline took a creative writing class on a dare, from herself, and began writing short stories and poetry and never looked back. The Bay Area native loves living in Oakland, but travels frequently to nurture her passion for photography and learning to cook exotic foods. Her first novel, Searching for Tina Turner, was released in January, 2010.

 

About Searching for Tina Turner:
Lena Harrison Spencer is in her mid-fifties, and the time has come for her to face the hard truths of what it means to have it all and still find oneself unfulfilled. When Lena determines that what she needs is the strength to change directions, Tina Turner becomes the icon from whose story she derives strength, even as everyone else tells her she's crazy for giving up her cashmere cocoon.  Searching for Tina Turner was selected by Essence Magazine as the January 2010 Book Club Pick and recommended as a must read in the “Live Well Every Day” column in Women’s Day Magazine (February, 2010).  


Matt Stewart:
Matt Stewart's debut novel, The French Revolution, has been called “wildly imaginative,” “brilliant,” and “an excellent achievement.” He’s mildly infamous for releasing the novel on Twitter first. His stories have been published in Instant City, McSweeney's, Opium Magazine, and more, and he blogs for the Huffington Post. Grab his free French Rev iPhone app on http://matt-stewart.com.


About The French Revolution:
Loosely structured on the greatest identity crisis ever, The French Revolution is the hilarious, tragic, and deeply imaginative story of a San Francisco family forging its place in history.  Esmerelda Van Twinkle, a failed pastry chef turned outsized copy shop manager, stumbles into motherhood after a semi-intentional liaison with good-natured coupon distributor Jasper Winslow. Born on Bastille Day, their twin children Robespierre and Marat revolt against archaic rules imposed by their autocratic grandmother, surmount radically misguided parenting, navigate factional infighting, and combat wars in the Middle East to achieve great personal gain.  But just as the family is on the cusp of achieving meteoric success in politics, business, music, and gastronomy, fissures from the past crack open spectacularly, derailing their bid for long-lived power while cementing a reputation for the ages.  Matt Stewart blends vibrant prose, unforgettable characters, and a multi-layered plot based on the extremes of the historical French Revolution for a relentlessly entertaining debut novel. Viva la révolution!

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