Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear literary folk,

Who Is She?
No doubt many of you have read Wallace Stegner’s iconic novel of the American West, Angle of Repose. Somehow I managed to get to 2026 without reading this book, despite its author being the founder of the creative writing department at my alma mater. So last month, I ordered it as an audiobook and found myself absolutely riveted by the vivid descriptions of New Almaden, Santa Cruz, Kanosha Pass, Leadville, Idaho, and Grass Valley—places I, too, have traveled to. Yesterday, curious about the history behind the novel’s main characters, I looked them up. And what I discovered reminded me of the story of Sanora Babb and John Steinbeck in Iris Dunkle’s biography Riding Like the Wind. Stegner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel lifts heavily and generously from the letters and journals of writer, painter, and illustrator Mary Hallock Foote, after whom Stegner based his character Susan Burling Ward. Besides her many novels and stories set in the West, Foote wrote her own autobiography called A Victorian Gentlewoman in the Far West, published by Huntington Library, which archives Foote’s letters and journals and which is where Stegner did his research. The autobiography was published at the request of Foote’s descendants, who were unhappy with the liberties Stegner took with Foote’s legacy, while relishing the fame her fine writing brought to him.

This year, The Sitting Room’s 2026 annual anthology Who Is She? Remarkable Women You Want to Know. Iris, who edited the collection, has hinted that there might be a second volume next year, and if there is, I know whose story I’ll be telling. If you don’t have a copy of this year’s anthology may be purchased on the Sitting Room website for $20 + $5 shipping.

The 29th Petaluma Poetry Walk 2026
Congratulations to Kary Hess and her team of volunteers and presenters who created another hugely successful Petaluma Poetry Walk. The venues and the readers were varied, and the new locations meant it was easier to get from one venue to the next without getting in and out of a car. I was able to get to 6 of the 8 venues, and at each the audience was standing room only. Hats off to Kary and her husband Daedalus Howell for awesome social media and PR campaigns that really spread the good news about the Walk. The second edition of the Petaluma Poetry Walk Magazine was another welcome addition, featuring poems by all the readers, an interview with Claire Drucker, our new Sonoma County Poet Laureate, reviews of recently released poetry books by local authors, and more. If you’re interested in ordering a magazine a few copies are still available for $25. Use this link: https://petalumapoetrywalk.org/product/petaluma-poetry-walk-2026-anthology-magazine/.

Bob Hass and Brenda Hillman at Copperfields in Sebastopol
Friday, October 2, 7:00 p.m. Copperfield’s Books welcomes two of America’s most celebrated poets—Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass and acclaimed poet Brenda Hillman—for a rare evening of poetry, conversation, and reflection in Sebastopol. Hass and Hillman will discuss their remarkable new books, A Third Commonness and Still House in the Desert: An Eco-Contemplation, exploring the intersections of poetry, landscape, memory, ecology, and the ways language shapes our understanding of the natural world. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is recommended, as seating is limited. Details and RSVP: copperfieldsbooks.com/event/2026-10-02/robert-hass-brenda-hillman

Poesía del Recuerdo/ Poetry of Remembrance Community Reading
On Saturday, October 17 at 6-8 pm, the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum will host the annual Poetry of Remembrance Community Reading, part of the month-long celebration of El Día de los Muertos. Come enjoy an evening of poetry and song honoring our departed loved ones, hosted by Sonoma County Poet Laureate Claire Drucker. Everyone is invited to share a brief poem of remembrance (2-3 minutes) in English, Spanish, or another language. Location: 20 4th Street, Petaluma.

Katherine Hastings Reads from Her New Book
Thursday, October 15, 7:00-8:30 p.m. Sonoma County poet laureate emerita Katherine Hastings will read from Temple of Curiosities; a fundraiser for Many Rivers Books & Tea. Eight years ago, Katherine and her partner, Cathy Rayhill, relocated from Sonoma County to Cathy’s native home on an island in the Niagara River between Canada and Buffalo, just over 20 miles from where local poet (and Many Rivers co-manager) Karl Frederick spent much of his childhood. Karl will have the pleasure of welcoming and reading with Katherine, who will introduce her latest of five books, Temple of Curiosities, in an evening of shared and braided poems of places near and far, always close by. Many Rivers, 130 S. Main St., Sebastopol.

Celebration of Phyllis Meshulalm’s Life
Phyllis Meshulam’s family will be hosting a celebration of her life and work on Sunday, October 18, 3-5 pm at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Here are the details.

 Sixteen Rivers Press Annual Fall Fundraiser
We at Sixteen Rivers Press hope to see you on Sunday, October 25, 2-5 pm at our annual fall fundraiser, celebrating our 27 years of collective publishing. There will be delicious hors d’oeuvres, great conversation, a fun silent auction, and the extraordinary and inspiring poetry of Alison Luterman and Kazim Ali, both long-time friends of Sixteen Rivers.

Please join us! The fund raiser gets off the ground at 2 pm at Northbrae Community Center, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley.

The event is free but let us know if you’re coming. You can read more and register at this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sixteen-rivers-fall-fundraiser-and-27th-anniversary-celebration-tickets-1998599846943?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

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Prose Poem for October
We’re in the zodiac sign of Libra, the balance, the scales. How hard it can be to find the fulcrum, the tiny shift in weight that takes us from being wrong or finding fault to forgiveness/forgiven! Sonoma County writer and educator Nicole R. Zimmerman’s prose poem “How to Repair” previously appeared in the NYT Modern Love section of Tiny Love Stories (January 2024 and reprinted December 2025), which she thinks speaks to its timelessness in this ongoing “season” of world conflict.

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How to Repair

My wife orders takeout with her iPhone, but it rejects her card. She snaps at me as I try to help. I collapse into silence, a protective shield. When we’re wounded, our tendency is to get small. Snippy. Mean spirited. In these moments I wonder how the world’s conflicts will ever be resolved when we two who have committed to loving one another would rather find fault than mend relatively minor transgressions. She asks for a hug, so I hold her. I make two cups of tea. Drape a blanket over shoulders. Small gestures, perhaps. But my heart feels giant.

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Nicole R. Zimmerman was a 2020 recipient of the Discovered Awards for Emerging Literary Artists, a program produced by Creative Sonoma and funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts. She holds an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and is an alumna of Lit Camp. Her writing, which has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best American Essays, appears in newspapers, anthologies, and literary journals including the Los Angeles Times, The Best Women’s Travel Writing, and Creative Nonfiction.

Nicole has worked as a freelance reporter for Petaluma Patch, as a Towns correspondent for The Press Democrat, and as a copywriter for Grove Collaborative, Hipcamp, and Viator, a Tripadvisor company. She is a certified AWA Affiliate, leading writing workshops using the Amherst Writers & Artists method. She is working on a memoir titled Just Some Things We Can’t Talk About, a manuscript she aims to publish with a small press. She is the owner of Pencil & Pen, which offers a mutually supportive writing community and mentoring support through creative writing workshops.

Send Us Your Poetry/Short Prose Selections
In 2024, I began featuring a different Sonoma County writer 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.

Terry Ehret, co-editor
Sonoma County Literary Update