Diane Wolff launched her new book, Cobalt Blue: Marco Polo in Dadu, on the occasion of the citywide celebration of the city of Venice for the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s death. More info here.
Amy Tan’s Backyard Bird Chronicles will will officially launch on April 23, 7 PM at Book Passage’s event at Angelico Hall at Dominican University in San Rafael.
In conversation: Amy Tan and Keith Hansen. Tickets are in-person or virtual, and include a signed book, illustrated bird postcard, and quick start guide to nature journaling.
Lisa Alvarez’s debut collection of short fiction, Some Final Beauty and other Stories is forthcoming from the University of Nevada Press, as part of their New Oeste series.
Tim Wendel’s historical novel, Rebel Falls, will be published by Three Hills/Cornell Press in May. Ken Burns says, “Once again, Tim Wendel finds a riveting story to tell, this time in a little-known theater of our most complicated of wars.”
Mark Coggins’ newest novel, Geisha Confidential, the eighth in the August Riordan crime fiction series, will be released from Down & Out Books on March 4, 2024. More info here.
Peter Vanderwall’s children’s picture story book, Mac’s Big Wish, was recently published by Luminare Press. The book has just been named one of five nominees for the 2024 Patricia Gallagher Children’s Choice Picture Book Award. Oregon school children of all ages are eligible to vote for their favorite title during the current school year. The Oregon State Literacy Association will announce the winner in May 2024. More info here.
CJ Palmisano’s short story, “How Far to Woodstock?” was published in Stanford’s 2021 Annual Anthology, 166 Palms. The London Writers’ Salon published two of her short stories in their annual anthologies: “Roundabout” (in 2022) and “Cotton Candy and the Tilt-A-Whirl” (in 2023). Palmisano’s screenplay, ROADS TAKEN, was selected by the Nostos Screenwriters’ Lab in Tuscany. Along with eight other screenwriters, she spent 3-1/2 weeks working with professionals to develop the script in Arezzo, Italy this past May (2023).
Diana Fuller’s newest movie, Tails of the City, is set to premiere at the prestigious 2023 San Francisco Short Film Festival. Tails of the City is a visual adventure, experienced through the eyes of dogs and their parents that proves mixed breeds can find love, laughter and mutual pleasure when sharing common ground.
Christopher Upham’s first novel, Daktoum has been published by Cereus Press and is available in all major outlets. Based on Upham’s experience as a medic in Vietnam, Daktoum explores the effects of trauma on masculinity when diverse young Americans are abandoned by their own government on a remote jungle fire base.
Her feature film, El Ganador (The Winner) was awarded Best Small Budget Film in the 2022 Symbiotic Film Festival (Kyiv, Ukraine), and Official Selection (2022) of Oaxaca Film Fest, Iconic Images Film Festival (Lithuania) and Anatolia International Film Festival (Turkey). In 2021 El Ganador was a finalist in Blue Star International Film Festival (Brazil) and an award winner in the United Latino International Film Festival (USA) in 2019. She is the writer, producer, and director.
Her play Whippoorwill is being produced by Centenary Stage Co, March-April 2022, winning the Women Playwrights Series Susan Glaspell Contest. Her most recent play, The Field, has been nominated for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.
Her new short film Final Curtain Call, on Radio City Music Hall’s Chief organist Ray Bohr, is in post-production.
His satirical short film “Representation Matters?” was named “Best Short Film” at the Atman Film Festival in Los Angeles on 10/31/21. The film also garnered nominations for “Best Script”, “Best Actor”, and won for “Best Actress” at the Atman Film Festival. The film has also been screened at the Buenos Aries Film Festival and Osaka International Film Festival, and several other festivals in the United States, earning nominations for “Best Film”, “Best Script” and “Best Director”.
He and his writing partner Jean Su’s pilot script “Leading Edge”, an Asian female-led one hour drama television series set in Silicon Valley, was named “Outstanding Drama Pilot” at the Catalyst Story Institute 2021 Content Festival (formerly ITV Fest) for television and web series content.
His new novel, Escape from Castro’s Cuba, will be published by University of Nebraska Press in March,2021, with endorsements from Daniel Silva, Jane Leavy and former big-league pitcher Luis Tiant. Escape is a sequel to his award-winning novel Castro’s Curveball.
She will be giving a talk on her new book Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde: The Mongol Khans Conquer Russia for the Virtual Speakers Series of the American Center for Mongolian Studies in Ulan Batur.
This is the first book in her Silk Road Series, about the successors of Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan). The other books in the series are forthcoming.
His debut novel, Revolver, will be published in 2021 by the Concord Free Press.
His new cynical indie filmmaking case study joint, Still Filmmaking, the Hard Way, is available on Kindle, iBooks, Nook, Kobo, Scribd, and all the other places humans read things.
Her feature screenplay Wonder Drug is now in the works with producer Stephen Nemeth, who she met at the Community of Writers Screenwriters Workshop when he was a featured guest speaker. Director Tom Gilroy will direct the film.
The new digital restoration of her film, Thousand Pieces of Gold, enjoyed several screenings at the Rafael Film Center in November, 2019.
His new book, The Compass of Character: Creating Complex Motivation for Compelling Characters in Fiction, Film, and TV, was published in November, 2019, by Writer’s Digest Books.
His newest, The Dead Beat Scroll, the seventh novel in the August Riordan crime fiction series, was recently released from Down & Out Books.
Her screenplay Wonder Drug has advanced into the Semifinal Round of the 2019 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, one of only 149 entries to advance from the Quarterfinal Round. During the Semifinals, four Academy members, drawn from a variety of branches, will read Wonder Drug. From 10 to 15 Semifinalists will be selected as Finalists. All Semifinalists will be included in the Nicholl contact list that is forwarded in the fall to agents, development executives, managers, and producers who request it.
Her scientific drama Wonder Drug advanced to the quarterfinals in the prestigious 2019 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition, one of only 365 entries to emerge from the First Round (out of 7,302 scripts entered). Wonder Drug, a Sloan script at the Hamptons Screenwriters Lab, was also a Bitch List honoree and “Featured Script” on the Black List website. In more Nicholl news, Caitlin’s thriller A Native Land placed among the Top 10% of all entries in this year’s competition. Semifinalists will be announced in August.
She was recently featured in Forbes, discussing her company Booxby and what led her to founding the Saas cloud platform that uses artificial intelligence to help publishers optimize the acquisition and marketing of their books.
The Joy Luck Club is celebrating its 30th birthday! A part of the manuscript was workshopped at the Community of Writers when Amy was first a participant.
His short story “The Money Shot” was published in the latest issue of the literary magazine Rosebud, issue #65.
His latest novel, The Long-Lost Love Letters Of Doc Holliday, has been nominated for the Lefty Award for Best Historical Mystery. The winner will be announced on March 30th at Left Coast Crime in Vancouver, BC.
Her crime thriller screenplay A Native Land has been named an Official Selection at the 2019 Beverly Hills Film Festival. It has also advanced to the quarterfinals in the 2019 Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Caitlin is represented by Barry Krost of Barry Krost Management (BKM).
His novella, Balsa and Tissue Paper, is forthcoming as an ebook and in the forthcoming 2019 Solos issue of Ploughshares.
His debut novel, Chance to Break, was published in 2018 in both U.S. (North Loop Books) and U.K. (The Book Guild) editions. The next author event will be a reading at Depot Bookstore in Mill Valley on November 30.
He was selected by the Erbacce Contest as the Featured Poet for May 2018. His poetry collection Beautiful Enough to Burn was recently published by Erbacce Press UK, 2018.
Her documentary film, For the Sake of the Children, will be screened in San Francisco on February 24 at the New People Cinema as well as in Los Angeles. Prior screenings have taken place at venues throughout LA , at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York and at the University of Montana.
His latest novel, The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday, will be published in 2018 by Black Opal Books. His writing guide, The Art of Character, recently has been purchased for publication in Spain and China. His short story, “Rusty Cage,” appeared in the anthology Just to Watch Them Die, premised on the songs of Johnny Cash. He is a contributing editor at Writer’s Digest, a regular contributor to the blog Writer Unboxed, and continues to provide his fiction workshops at the San Miguel de Allende Writers’ Conference in Mexico (and other conferences), as well as at Book Passage in the Bay Area (where he is co-chair of the annual Mystery Writers’ Conference), and online at Litreactor.
His short story “The Atheist of Dekalb Street” was selected for this year’s Best Small Fictions anthology, edited by Amy Hempel and now available from Braddock Avenue Books.
Diana Fuller is producing the film, Once Was Water, directed by Christopher Beaver. Once Was Water is a lively solutions-oriented documentary that tells the story of how the driest city in America, in the middle of the Mojave desert, leads the way in sustainable water conservation.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/229357749
Erich Stonestreet colonized Mars in the comedy sci-fi short The Americano, produced for the 2017 NASA film festival.
Caitlin McCarthy’s scientific drama, Wonder Drug, made the 2017 Bitch List. This annual list spotlights the best unproduced screenplays that pass the Bechdel Test and feature strong female characters. Wonder Drug, a Sloan script at the prestigious Hamptons Screenwriters Lab, is in development with producers Pascal Borno and Anton L. Nel.
Joan Baranow’s poems have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Poetry East, Forklift, OH, and Spillway. Her poem, “Believing,” received an Honorable Mention in the Tor House poetry contest. As editor with Wolf Ridge Press (founded by her husband and poetry alum David Watts) she issued their seventh poetry title, Breath Enough, by Vivian Teter. This summer she will launch a new low-residency MFA in Creative Writing at Dominican University. In addition to the genres of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction, the program offers an optional track in Narrative/Poetic Medicine.
Sara Baker’s debut novel, The Timekeeper’s Son, has been published by Deeds Publishing. Set in the New South, The Timekeeper’s Son explores middle-aged grief and youthful yearnings, the price of hidden disabilities and wounds, and the claims and limits of community. Sara Baker’s short fiction has been published most recently in Confrontation, Cleaver, H.O.W. Journal, and the China Grove Journal.
Cynthia W. Gentry’s first novel, Three Days, was published in France by Bragelonne/Milady as Trois Jours in April 2016, and the first chapter was excerpted in the Unbound online magazine (unboundbox.com/blogs/magazine/tagged/erotica) in June 2016.
Regina Louise’s essay, “I was Adopted at–41,” was recently published by Narratively, and was then picked up by the BBC World News and the interview aired on Outlook “30 Years Looking For Mum.” Her essay, “Milk Vat,” was recently published in Black Clock Journal. Regina is currently working on the first release of the nonprofit publishing company she’s founded: Someone Has Led This Child to Believe: A Case History of Love, Luck & Self-Determination. It is the followup to her ’03 memoir, Somebody’s Someone.
Christopher DeWan’s short story collection, Hoopty Time Machines, was announced as one of the “most anticipated books of 2016” by John Madera of Big Other. The book will launch on September 21 at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, with other events to follow later in the fall. It is currently available for preorder from Atticus Books.
Wendy Gordon’s debut novel, Wrong Highway, was published in June, 2016. Wrong Highway was the #2 best seller at Powell’s for the week of June 22.
Danielle Renfrew Behrens was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Documentary branch.
Amanda Micheli was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Documentary branch.
David Corbett’s latest novel, The Mercy of the Night, was published in April, 2015 by Thomas & Mercer.
Margaret C. Murray, novelist and independent grassroots literary publisher, has published her third novel, Spiral, the prequel to Sundagger.net set in the Southwest of the Native American Anasazi.
Caitlin McCarthy’s spec for “The Good Wife” has reached the finals at the 2015 Austin Film Festival in the “Teleplay – One-Hour Spec” category. The winner will be announced on October 31. Also, “Women and Hollywood” nominated Caitlin for the 2016 Fox Writers Intensive. Additionally, Caitlin’s spec for “Elementary” made the quarterfinals of the Final Draft Big Break writing competition; the semifinalists will be announced in October. Lastly, producer Anton L. Nel is attached to Caitlin’s feature screenplay Wonder Drug.
Carol Lee Hall became a Grand Prize Winner in the New York Screenplay Contest for her television concept based on Shelley Adina’s young adult steampunk adventure novel series Magnificent Devices. She and Shelley won cash, software, and an award certificate.
Mark Coggins published No Hard Feelings, the sixth novel in the August Riordan crime fiction series.