Mary Miller Chiao is pleased to announce the publication of Miss Sarah Brown, Daughter of Abolitionist John Brown, available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Lulu.com. She hopes the biography will be a good resource for historians, descendants of the Brown family, and anyone interested in the Saratoga community and its surrounding areas.

Megan McDonald has been selected to participate in the taping of the America's Next Great Author TV pilot. Her pitch for her thriller novel COMPLIANCE was one of a hundred chosen from thousands of applications. Filming will take place in Newark, New Jersey, on October 30, 2022.

Jim Hanna entertains readers with two new short stories. Orville Baumgardner, lecturer extraordinaire, pontificates on The Big Lie in a story appearing in Fear of Monkeys. Meanwhile, Ryan O’Shaughnessy, a mentally ill street thug, tries to outrun his demons in “Ryan O’Shaughnessy Battles an Ape” in The Chamber Magazine.

Check out CWC branch meetings and activities in our area: South Bay Writers, Berkeley, Mt. Diablo Branch, Fremont Area Writers, and Tri-Valley Branch.

Writers Helping Writers presentation at Rinconada branch of the Palo Alto Library, October 20, 6pm – 7pm: Tim Flood will present "The Story Within You." Writing his debut novel, Tim will talk about his journey so far, what he didn't know, the elements of craft, and how he began to learn what works for him. His story will help you imagine what lies ahead for the writer in you.

Miera Rao has won the Effie Lee Morris Literary Award for Poetry. Her poem “Désolée” received First Place in the contest held by the Women's National Book Association-SF Chapter. Set in ten couplets, “Désolée” has sparked conversations about the environment and climate change. In addition to poetry, Miera writes fiction and nonfiction and has won prizes for her creative nonfiction. She is currently working on a nonfiction book, Crushing Etiquette.

Summer’s over! Vanessa MacLaren-Wray restarts Open Mic Night. Get your lungs ready!

Audrey Kalman is thrilled to announce a birth! (No, not that kind.) She and Jennifer Browdy just opened the doors to their free Birth Your Truest Story writers’ community, an online gathering spot where you can find your tribe and nurture your creative voice. Join them!

Laurel Anne Hill's novel, Plague of Flies: Revolt of the Spirits, 1846, recently won its twelfth award when the 2022 American Fiction Awards selected it as a finalist in the "Fantasy: Historical" category. Congratulations!

Ida Lewenstein’s “Baking Bread on the Masabi Iron Range” was published in the latest newsletter of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest. She tells the story of her relatives living in that region in the 1930s.

Dave LaRoche is looking for beta readers for his new literary fiction novel, Ordinary Times. In the 1950s in San Fernando Valley—bomb shelters, booze, and Benzedrine—people, under threat of Nikita’s mutual assured destruction, live each day to the fullest because it may be their last. If interested, please email him at dalaroche@comcast.net.

Two new stories by James Hanna are available for readers. In “I Am Not a Crook” published in The Chamber Magazine, a peace officer passes to the afterlife and meets his guide spirit: Richard Nixon. Another story, inspired by such luminaries as Matt Gaetz and Bret Kavanaugh, appears in the journal Fleas on the Dog. Fictional GOP stalwart Orville Baumgardner lectures the Knights of Columbus on his recipe for life.

Lucy Ann Murray wrote a review of Carole Bumpus's book A September to Remember for the September 2022 issue of the Italian-American magazine Fra Noi.

Our Board was pleased to grant emeritus status to Jo Carpignano and Ida Lewenstein for their years of loyal membership. If you missed it, it was a delight to honor these two ladies with certificates, flowers, and applause.

Proclaiming the best two-word combination in his entire novel to occur with his typing "The End," Tim Flood announced the conclusion of his six-year effort. Now for the agent search.

Karen Hartley, a member of the SF Peninsula branch of CWC for many years, passed away in August 2022. Karen wrote in many genres, including short story, novel, nonfiction, and poetry. She will be missed by her former critique group, including Jo Carpignano, Ida Lewenstein, Judy Field, Karen Sundback, and Tim Flood. Our heartfelt condolences to her husband, Jim Hartley.

If you missed our very own Lisa Meltzer Penn in conversation with science fiction author Mike Chen about his new novel Light Years From Home, you can watch the recording here. It was a blast!

Our first Fault Zone reading at the Belmont Library on July 31 was a big success! Beautiful weather in the courtyard amphitheater, 40 people in the audience, and great stories and poems from our newest anthology: Fault Zone: Reverse. Stay tuned for information about our next reading.

Ida J. Lewenstein is pleased to announce the publication of Where Would We Be Without A Tree? This collection of environmental poems uses rhyming words and colorful illustrations to capture the climate-change dangers created by our irresponsible behaviors. This newest addition is the ninth book of children’s poetry published by Ida.