Join us May 12 at 7 PM — Studio 333 — when the following authors will read from their work on the theme of Escape. You need $5 to get in and some extra cash for authors’ books, which they’ll gladly sign for you, and beverages of your choice. See you there.
Andrew Altschul is the author of the novels Deus Ex Machina, which NPR describes as “brilliant — one of the best novel’s about American culture in years,” and Lady Lazarus, finalist for the Northern California Book Award. His short fiction and essays have appeared in Esquire, Ploughshares, McSweeney’s, Fence, One Story, and anthologies such as Best New American Voices and O. Henry Prize Stories. He is the director of the Center for Literary Arts at San Jose State University and books editor of The Rumpus.
Meg Waite Clayton‘s most recent novel is The Four Ms. Bradwells (March 2011). Her second, the national bestseller The Wednesday Sisters, was a book club favorite throughout the country, and her first, The Language of Light, was a finalist for the Bellwether Prize. Her novels have been translated into languages from German to Chinese, and her shorter works have appeared in commercial and literary magazines including Runner’s World, Writer’s Digest, and The Literary Review, in addition to being read on public radio and anthologized. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Michigan Law School, and lives in Northern California.
Sherril Jaffe’s novel Expiration Date is new this April from the Permanent Press. She is also the author of six works of fiction from Black Sparrow Press: Scars Make Your Body More Interesting & Other Stories; This Flower Only Blooms Every Hundred Years; The Unexamined Wife; The Faces Reappear; House Tours; and Interior Design; as well as two works from Kodansha: Ground Rules: What I Learned My Daughter’s Fifteenth Year, (a memoir); and the spiritual “autobiography” One God Clapping (with Alan Lew), winner of the 2000 PEN Josephine Miles Award for literary excellence. Her short stories have appeared in a variety of magazines, including Zyzzyva, Epoch, Alaska Quarterly Review, Superstition Review, and Volt, and she supports this writing habit by being a Professor of Creative Writing at Sonoma State University. She lives in San Francisco and walks in Golden Gate Park every day.
Kirsten Menger-Anderson is the author of Doctor Olaf van Schuler’s Brain, a collection of linked short stories concerning a family of doctors. The book was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award and one of Chicago Time Out’s top 10 books of 2008. Her short stories have appeared in the Southwest Review, Ploughshares, Maryland Review, Post Road, and Wascana Review, among other publications. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, son, and cat.
Janice Shapiro studied film at UCLA where she won first prize in The Samuel Goldwyn Screenwriting Competition. The short films she directed were screened widely at film festivals around the world and she was a recipient of an AFI Filmmakers’ Grant. She has written scripts for numerous studios and independent producers including the cult film, Dead Beat that she co-wrote with her husband, Adam Dubov. Her short stories have been published in The North American Review and The Santa Monica Review. A graphic memoir of hers was included in the anthology What Were We Thinking? (St. Martin’s). Another graphic memoir appeared in The Seattle Review. Bummer and Other Stories is her first book. She is currently working on a novel, Bad Baseball, a second collection of short stories, a collection of food essays entitled, Eat Like Me, and a book length graphic memoir, Crushable – My Life In Crushes From Ricky Nelson to Viggo Mortensen. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son and dog.
Salvatore Zoida was born in Brooklyn, New York. He majored in Comparative Literature at Columbia University, graduating magna cum laude and receiving the Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize for high academic distinction and promise in the study of Italian culture. His fiction has appeared in Rutgers University’s Writers’ Bloc, Ravenna Press’s The Anemone Sidecar, The Catalonian Review, Foundling Review, and Wigleaf. He recently finished writing his first novel, Bucolic Apologia.
