On Saturday, April 29, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at The Peninsula Regent in San Mateo, Ida Lewenstein will read from Where Would We Be without a Tree? and Bird on My Dome. Both rhyming picture books will be available for purchase and author signing. Attendees of this free event will also meet illustrators Matt Wills and Colleen Sullivan and receive refreshments. RSVP & Reading Request: Dan Jenkins, djenkins@grapplehook.com, 813-877-4665

Geri Spieler’s latest book, Housewife Assassin: The Woman Who Tried to Kill President Ford (Diversion Books, Feb 7, 2023) has won a BookFest award for Nonfiction: True Crime.

“Elmwood,” a short story by Dave LaRoche, appears in the 2022 winter edition of October Hill Magazine. Dave’s opus, Ordinary Times, will be out this spring and available on Amazon along with the rest of his books. “Keep an eye out,” he says.

On Tuesday, March 28, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., the CWC High Desert branch will host a FREE zoom meeting featuring WNBA members who are adept and experienced in showing you how to pitch to an agent. Details and meeting link are posted on the http://www.calwriters.org Events Calendar. Limited to 50 attendees.

The 2023 Independent Press Award has given James Hanna’s book, Fact Check and More Probing Tales, a Distinguished Favorite Award. The 2023 Book Excellence Awards Book Contest designated the same book an Award Finalist in the anthology category.

Dr. Jac Fitzenz recently published Shanahans: Growing Pains, Book Two in The Shanahans Trilogy. Mike’s Last Chance (Book One) was published in September 2022, while readers can look forward to Full House (Book Three) sometime after April. Doctor Jac’s books are available on Amazon and bn.com.

Nanci Woody’s short story, “Unknown,” will be featured in The Waiting Room, a literary journal by Nervous Ghost Press in April 2023. The story is about a small-town widow’s untimely pregnancy. The 1940s was not a good time to bear an illegitimate child. Check out samples of Nanci’s work here.

Megan McDonald has been awarded an Honorable Mention in the Redwood Writers 2023 Poetry Contest. Her poem, “Burn Scar, Lake Margaret Trail, Alpine County, California,” will be published on the organization’s website in April!

Geri Spieler recently gave two readings from her latest book, Housewife Assassin: The Woman Who Tried to Kill President Ford (Diversion Books). On Thursday, March 9, at 6:30 p.m., she read for an audience at the Palo Alto Rinconada Library. On Sunday, March 12, at 2:00 p.m., she entertained readers at Book Passage at the Ferry Building.

Dr. Jeanne Powell recently completed a ten-day writing retreat with Anaphora Arts. She also attended the annual AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Conference, March 8–11, held in Seattle, Washington, and online this year.

The Humane Society of Tampa Bay intends to use Ida Lewenstein’s children’s book A Sad Little Dog in their reading program!

On Valentines Day, Evelyn LaTorre, who read a chapter from her latest book at our February 18th meeting, received word from the International Book Publishers Association that Love in Any Language had a solid showing with 577 media clicks by organizations such as USA Today, the New York Times, Parenting Magazine, and the Washington Post.

On Thursday, March 16, from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., Darlene Frank will present "Editing Memoir and Personal Stories" at the Writers Helping Writers event at the Rinconada Library in Palo Alto. Discover what you can do on your own before you give your manuscript to an editor, and what to expect as the two of you work together.

Carole Bumpus and Geri Spieler will be participating in several events at the San Francisco Writers Conference this upcoming weekend, February 16–19. Carole will participate on two panels, “Travel as Research” and “Finding or Building Your Writing Community.” Geri will present two masterclasses, "Super Sleuthing: Internet Research Skills Everyone Should Know” and “Just the Facts: How to Research True Crime.” Details on the SFWC 2023 schedule.

On Thursday, February 9, Dr. Jeanne Powell, along with two other Rooted & Written Fellowship recipients, read from her works at Salesforce Park Poetry Series in San Francisco. Performances are curated by the SF Writers Grotto on Thursdays during the month of February.

Nanci Woody’s short story “Bessie” appears in the CWC-Sacramento anthology Visions (August 2022). In December 2022, her poem “A Question for the Gods” was published online by The Fear of Monkeys, while her poem “These Hands” appeared in the online magazine Fleas on the Dog.

Marianne Brems has two poems, "Curtain of Darkness" and "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing," in the latest issue of WriteNow A Literary Journal. 

David Harris had a flash fiction piece “Acts of God,” which he read at the CWC SFP holiday party, accepted for publication in the summer issue of Calliope.

James Hanna’s Gertie McDowell, heroine of The Ping-Pong Champion of Chinatown, returns in “Lights Out Lizzie,” published in Across the Margin. Gertie is recruited by Christian Ladies of Wrestling, a professional women’s wrestling troop, whose mission is to bring folks to Jesus by having wrestlers pretending to be god-fearing women wallop the daylights out of wrestlers pretending to be sinners. Madcap humor or social commentary? You decide.