Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear literary folk,

Travels in the Southwest
November is my natal month, one of the reasons I’ve always been so fond of Autumn: its scents and flavors, its rich shadows and slanting afternoon light. This year, I turn 70 (Yikes!), and to celebrate, My husband and I are spending two weeks on a Southwest road trip: Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Sedona, and other sites along the way. With no end of the government shut-down in sight, we weren’t sure if the National Parks would even be open. They are, but I know many a park ranger who wishes it were otherwise, as there is no money to pay the forest service to maintain the parks, lead hikes and tours, give talks,  and keep vandals from doing what vandals do. We will tread lightly wherever we go.

Though we have visited all these places before, as teachers, summer was our time to travel, and the heat has sometimes been too much for me. I don’t know what November will bring—possibly rain and dustings of snow. We’ve booked our stays at the National Park Lodges, so whatever the weather, we’ll be fine. We’re looking for an adventure, but a quiet snowy day by the fire sounds good, too.

I’ll report back in my December post.

El Dia de los Muertos
Today is El Día de los Muertos, and all month long the Sonoma County community has been engaged in performances and events, music, skull-making, decorating ofrendas leading up to tonight’s candlelight procession and street fair.

I had the chance to participate in two literary evening in October, both focusing of El Día de los Muertos. The first was the annual Poesía de Recuerdo/Poetry of Remembrance Community Reading at the Historical Museum in Petaluma. Thanks so much to organizers Gloria McCallister and John Johnson; the daughters of Beatriz Lagos, who read her poems so brilliantly; featured poets and open mic participants; and our Sonoma County poet laureate Dave Seter, who emceed the evening.

My thanks also to Timothy Williams, Rob Catterton, and Shawna Swetech for putting together a great evening of music and poetry at the Barrel Proof Lounge in Santa Rosa, which is a great new venue. They have a terrific performance stage and sound system. Keep an eye out for events that will be showing up here in the near future.

NaNoWriMo?
I went looking for the website for NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month) to see what was up for fiction writers this month. The familiar website appears to be defunct, but it its place is something called “Novel November.”

The pitch is the same: “You’ve dreamed of writing a novel. Now it’s time to actually do it. Join thousands of writers around the world pushing through doubt, distractions, and writer’s block to write 50,000 words in 30 days. ProWritingAid offers to take your story from blank page to first draft in just one month.”

I must admit, it looks like an AI transformation to me, but then. I haven’t participated in NaNoWriMo, so I’m not a fair judge.

So I’m looking for someone in our literary community with a little NaNoWriMo experience to check back in during the month of November and let us know how the “Novel November” is working out. Details: prowritingaid.com/novel-november

Haiku on the River
Haiku Hand-Off :A Night of Collaborative Haiku Poetry Writing on Thursday, November 6 at 7:00 p.m.. Join the Haikuists and Russian River Books and Letters for an evening of haiku poetry writing on vintage typewriters. Wine and light snacks will be served! 14045 Armstrong Woods Road, Guerneville.

Unruly Book Talk
On Wednesday, November 10, 6:00 p.m. Readers’ Books in Sonoma presents the 2025 Annual Unruly Book Talk. This sounds a little like speed-dating with books: Readers’ Books buyers, Jude and Rosie, highlight their personal, curated recommendations for 2025. This rapid-fire talk aims to showcase 60 books within an hour, making it perfect for book clubs or those seeking gift ideas for the holiday season.

Not Just Pretty
Saturday, November 8, 12:00 p.m. The second in the 3-part Zoom series #NotJustPretty. The project, hosted by Karen Pierce Gonzalez and sponsored by Broken Spine Arts (UK),  is a gathering of women poets, filmmakers, and artists around the world who are breaking down stereotypes about what a woman can be. Special guests for the launch: poets Phynne-Belle and Debby Segan, and Artist Sylvia Van Nooten. There will also be an open mic (the list is now filled but do stop by to listen). Join the zoom at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85794270640 (Meeting ID: 857 9427 0640  Passcode: 987381). More details: karenpiercegonzalez.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_19.html

Book Launch for Giacometti’s Last Ride, by Bart Schneider
My friend and publisher Bart Schneider has a new book hot off the presses: Giacommeti’s last Ride. For this project, a fictional look at Giacometti’s life and work, Schneider has tapped the talents of Sonoma artists Chester Arnold.

The artist Giacometti, born in Switzerland, worked in Paris, and this is where Bart’s novel is set. Bart brings to life this artist’s world with its rich assortment of complicated characters, and creates what Jonah Raskin calls the balancing bookend to Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. In “A Country for Old Men,” Raskin’s review of Bart’s book, he says,” The novel that Schneider and Arnold have assembled with words and images explores a country of old men, white and European, that provides a model for growing old with dignity.”

Bart Schneider grew up in San Francisco and lives in Sonoma. He spent twenty-five years living and working in Minnesota, where he was the founding editor of Hungry Mind Review and Speakeasy Magazine. He is the author of two poetry collections, Morning Opera and Water for a Stranger, and five novels, Giacometti’s Last Ride, Nameless Dame, Man in the Blizzard, Beautiful Inez, Secret Love, and Blue Bossa.

Bart Schneider will read from his new novel Giacometti’s Last Ride (with gorgeous art by Chester Arnold), along with Chester Arnold.

Wednesday, November 12, 6:00 p.m. at Readers’ Books, 120 E. Napa Street, Sonoma.

Friday, November 21, 7:00 p.m., with Dan Coshnear. At Russian River Books & Letters, 14045 Armstrong Woods Road, Guerneville.

More information on the book: kellyscovepress.com/product/giacomettis-last-ride

Staying Alive with David Beckman
Many Rivers Books & Tea, 130 Main Street, Sebastopol, will host David Beckman, Sonoma County poet and playwright,  on Thursday, November 20, 7:00 p.m. for the launch party and reading of his new book, YOU SAY, I SAY — Staying Alive With Literature, Language and Friendship (Rivertowns Books, Irvington, New York, 2025). Co-written with Robert Waxler, the book explores their love of poetry and literature, and how it played a key role in their lives. Waxler, who lives in Massachusetts, will appear by zoom. Signed books will be available. More details about the book on our In Print page.

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Poem for November

autumn
by Jackie Huss Hallerberg

days turn down
like a well-worn comforter
inviting you in

chosen fruits,
sweet juices pressed
ferment into wine
while unpicked spoils
plunge cold and hard
to the slumbering
ground

now is the time
for culling, deciding
in afternoon’s low light
what will rise from
dampness after
this long rest

laying out beds,
dreaming the wild
blossom, slipping
under the cover
of one more
season

Jackie Huss Hallerberg was a Sonoma County Poet-Teacher for several years and currently sits on the board of California Poets in the Schools. She holds degrees in science, business and elementary education.  She taught poetry in an experiential manner in public and private schools, Valley of the Moon Children’s Home and summer arts camps. Jackie’s poetry has been featured in anthologies of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Marin Poetry Center, The California Quarterly, local firestorm publications, California Poets in the Schools, and others. She published a cd, Poems of Motherhood.

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Send Us Your Poetry/Short Prose Selections
Starting in January of 2024, I began featuring a different Sonoma County writer each month at the end of the Literary Update Post. Here’s how to participate.

The theme can be anything you feel is appropriate to the season. I’ve adjusted the subject line, so you won’t feel limited to sending lineated verse. In fact, prose poems, flash fiction, creative nonfiction are all welcome, as long as the piece you send is no more than a page in length.

Send your submission to me at tehret99@comcast.net, with “SCLU Poem/Prose of the Month” in the subject heading.

Send me just one submission, no more than a page (or less). Be patient, as I sometimes have a backlog of poems I’ve selected to publish.

These can be previously published, provided you identify the publishing source. If the piece is not your own, provide the author’s name and source. The author should be a Sonoma County voice, and if contemporary, please ask the author’s permission to submit.

Deadline: You can send the submission any time during the month, but I’ll need to receive your submission a few days before the month’s end to give me time to read, make my choice, and contact the author of the piece selected.
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Terry Ehret
Sonoma County Literary Update Co-Editor