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Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies Launches ‘Biographers in Conversation’ Podcast
“In this episode of Biographers in Conversation Gabriella chats with Bernadette Brennan about her book: A Writing Life. Helen Garner and her Work, a literary portrait of one of Australia’s most vital and revered authors.”
About Biographers In Conversation
Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies chats with biographers across the world about the multiplicity of choices they make while researching, writing and publishing life stories.
In each episode she explores elements of narrative strategy such as structure, use of fiction techniques, facts and truth, beginnings and endings and to what extent the writer interpreted the evidence rather than providing clues and leaving it to readers to do the interpreting themselves.
She also asks writers how they researched their books; how they balanced a subject’s public, personal and inner lives; and ethical issues such as privacy and revealing secrets.
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One Thing or Another Podcast Relaunches: An Interview with Robert Kesten, Executive Director of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives, and Library
It’s back! The One Thing or Another Podcast, reimagined, reemerged, and reinvigorated with a focus on “life, aging, and the absurdities of it all.” Listen in to this recent chat with Robert Kesten, Executive Director of the Stonewall National Museum, Archives, and Library in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We talk about the need to preserve our history, the mission of the Stonewall Museum, and how we can sustain an awareness of our past and present in a way that informs our future.
Robert Kesten (he/him/his) has worked globally promoting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and furthering democracy. This work has taken many forms including writing and producing an award winning documentary on learning about the Holocaust at the Concentration Camps in Poland, Working on the Ghanaian Constitution, coordinating and producing events leading to Ukrainian independence, producing events for the first AIDS day treatment center in the nation, pushing for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ukraine (the first Soviet Republic to do so).
Kesten comes to Stonewall National Museum and Archives with national and international experience, taking ideas and bringing them to life. This position brings full circle his active engagement in the LGBTQ+ community and his commitment to using history as a tool to make sense and fashion a response to today and tomorrow.
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The Twist Podcast #261: Sleepy Don’s Nap Time, Rick’s All Night Taylorthon, and the Twist Says Read ‘The Spite House’ Now!
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we tiptoe through the Nodfather’s nap time, hear Rick’s take on Taylor’s latest, and praise author Johnny Compton’s horror masterstroke, ‘The Spite House.’
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YourWritePath Workshops Coming in May and June
Things are kicking into high gear. I’ll be offering four more 2-hour workshops (May 4 Fiction Essentials is full!). Follow the links beneath each description to register. Two are online, two are in-person (the Fiction Essentials workshop on June 9 is for congregants of the First Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hunterdon County, where I’m a member).
“Storytelling is healing. As we reveal ourselves in story, we become aware of the continuing core of our lives under the fragmented surface of our experience. We become aware of the multifaceted, multi-chaptered ‘I’ who is the storyteller. We can trace out the paradoxical and even contradictory versions of ourselves that we create for different occasions, different audiences… Most important, as we become aware of ourselves as storytellers, we realized that what we understand and imagine about ourselves is a story. And when we know all this, we can use our stories to heal and make ourselves whole.”
—Susan Wittig Albert, Writing From Life
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Cover Reveal: Night Flight to New York: A Marshall James Thriller (Book 4)
I can honestly say he’s coming back by popular demand. Marshall finally leaves Los Angeles and the ghosts that had come to populate his life. He takes a flight to New York City, only to discover that “death beat me to town on the redeye.”
Coming winter, 2024. Appropriately.
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Book Review: Here We Go Again, by Alison Cochrun
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“Here We Go Again” by Alison Cochrun
c.2024, Atria $17.99 368 pages… Joe didn’t want to die surrounded by hospital walls. Would Logan and Rosemary drive him and his dog to Maine, to a cabin he owned? Would they spend time crammed side-by-side in a used van with a gay logo, keeping Joe alive, coast-to-coast? Could they do it without screaming the whole way?
Can you do me a solid?
Just one little favor, a quick errand, it won’t take long. You can do it next time you’re out, in fact. Consider it your good deed for the day, if it makes you feel better. A mitzvah. An indulgence to a fellow human. As in the new novel, “Here We Go Again” by Alison Cochrun, think of it as a life-changing thing.
She couldn’t remember the woman’s first name.
Did Logan Maletis really ever know it? Everybody at her job – administration, students, other teachers – called everyone else by their last name so the colleague she’d been hooking up with for weeks was just “Schaffer.” Whatever, Logan didn’t care and she wasn’t cold-hearted but when Savannah broke up with her in public, she did wonder if maybe, possibly, the awful names she called Logan were fair or true.
Rosemary Hale would’ve agreed with every single last one of those nasty names.
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The Twist Podcast #260: Seeds of April, Pop Goes the Jury, and an Interview with Guided Autobiography Instructor Steve Dolainski
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we check on a few fun facts for April, try out some jury questions for the Trump trial, and listen to an interview with Steve Dolainski, certified Guided Autobiography instructor.
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An Interview with Steve Dolainski, Guided Autobiography Instructor
I’ve been friends with Steve Dolainski for over a decade. We co-edited and published Outer Voices, Inner Lives: LGBTQ Writers Over 50, an anthology that became a Lambda Literary Award finalist in 2014. I finally met Steve in person a year ago when we were visiting my sister in Ojai, California, and he told me about recently becoming a certified Guided Autobiography instructor. I was hooked by the description and what Guided Autobiography has to offer, and earlier this year I took the instructor’s training to became certified myself.
Enjoy this 15-minute interview recorded yesterday. It will be part of my weekly co-hosted Twist Podcast, but it stands alone very well.
GAB Gazette Features Guided Autobiography Instructor Steve Dolainski
Featured Guided Autobiography instructor Steve Dolainski, who introduced me to GAB. My own workshops and courses start this spring.
https://birrencenter.substack.com/p/featured-gabber-stephen-dolainski?utm_medium=email
“Stephen Dolainski was drawn to GAB after learning about it through friends in Oregon in 2022.
“I did some research on GAB and, as a long-time adult educator and writer/editor, I was intrigued with the concept and the methodology. I immediately knew that GAB was something for me to explore,” he said.
After taking the the training in November 2022, he wanted to work with LGBTQ seniors.
“When I received certification, I contacted the Los Angeles LGBT Center and proposed forming a GAB class,” he said. “In 2023, we offered three GAB 1 classes and one GAB 2 class. More classes will be offered in 2024.”
Stephen loves teaching GAB and talks about how it how much it benefits writers by sharing their truth.”
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Savvy Senior: Recommended Vaccines for Medicare Recipients
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
My husband and I recently turned 65 and would like to find out which vaccines are recommended and covered by Medicare?
New Beneficiaries
Dear New,
All recommended vaccines for adults, age 65 and older, should be covered by either Medicare Part B or Part D, but there are some coverage challenges you should be aware of. Here’s a rundown of which vaccines are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and how Medicare covers them.
Covid-19: Even though Covid-19 is no longer a public health emergency, it can still cause severe illness, particularly in older adults. Because the Covid virus continues to mutate, new vaccines are being developed to keep pace, so the CDC recommends that all seniors stay up to date with the latest Covid vaccines, including booster shots.
All Covid-19 shots are covered 100 percent by Medicare Part B.
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Cathy’s Wealth of Health: Eyes: A Window to Liver Health
By Cathy McNease, Dipl CH, RH
Traditional Chinese Medicine has given us a way to physically view how healthy or unhealthy is our liver via the eyes. So much information is provided to me as a practitioner by simply observing my patient’s eyes. The tongue is used in Chinese Medicine for diagnosis. The sides of the tongue tell you about liver health…pale = blood deficiency; red = heat; purple = stagnation. If your eyes are still in good condition, but you observe one of these colors on your tongue, start now to remedy the imbalance in your liver and protect your precious sense of vision. One of the beauties of tongue reading is that it empowers us to prevent diseases before they strike.
Here are some of the most important messages seen in the eyes, followed by some simple remedies:
Red eyes show heat, inflammation, or irritation.
Dry eyes show lack of body fluids, deficiency of blood or too much heat.
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Book Review: The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading, by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann with Chris Mooney
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sezc.2024, Little, Brown $28.00 338 pages
Last night, you got between the covers and went to South America.
It wasn’t difficult. A few days ago, you walked around London in 1888; you were in the future before that; you’ve met con artists, florists, runaways, and heroines, and you didn’t even have to leave your house. You can experience many things with a book, and in “The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians” by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, you’ll read about a different kind of adventure.
“To be a bookseller,” say the authors, “you have to play detective.”
That means determining which book with a “blue cover” is the one the customer wants. It’s asking the right questions to find the right fit for young readers and assuring book lovers that “that’s okay” if they didn’t like something.
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Upcoming Workshops in May: 2-Hour Guided Autobiography Introductory Workshops, and Fiction Writing Essentials
Ready, set … write! I’ve got two 2-hour Guided Autobiography workshops coming up in May, one in-person and one online.
Join us in May for one of two 2-hour Guided Autobiography workshops.
“Storytelling is healing. As we reveal ourselves in story, we become aware of the continuing core of our lives under the fragmented surface of our experience. We become aware of the multifaceted, multi-chaptered ‘I’ who is the storyteller. We can trace out the paradoxical and even contradictory versions of ourselves that we create for different occasions, different audiences… Most important, as we become aware of ourselves as storytellers, we realized that what we understand and imagine about ourselves is a story. And when we know all this, we can use our stories to heal and make ourselves whole.”
—Susan Wittig Albert, Writing From Life
Guided Autobiography centers on thematic journaling, with participants writing on a selected theme for the workshop. Courses and condensed workshops include handouts, thought- and conversation-generating ideas and suggestions, ice breakers, and the pleasures of bonding with the group members while we explore the stories we’ve told with our lives.
The journey toward ourselves begins with a sentence. We are the ‘I’ in storytelling. Participants will receive the workshop outline (PowerPoint), complimentary folder, yellow writing pad, and pen. -
Biz Bites: How to Give a Great Book Reading (Courtesy Mystery Writers of America-NY)
I personally love doing book events, especially the Q & A portion where I engage with the audience. Have you wondered what some basic tips are for giving a good reading? Check out this slideshow with helpful suggestions from the Mystery Writers of America-New York chapter. (I’m on the board, fyi.) See you at the next book event!