Join three Bay Area authors who have had their books published in very different ways for a panel on publishing! This event will be held in the beautiful Cru at The Annex. See below for more information about our three authors.
Raised in New England, Kaitlin Solimine has considered China a second home for almost two decades. In 2006-2007, she was a U.S. Department of State Fulbright Creative Arts Fellow in China where she began work on her forthcoming novel, Empire of Glass. She is the 2012 recipient of the Dzanc Books/Disquiet International Literary Program award and has been a resident at the Vermont Studio Center. Her writing has been published in National Geographic News, The Wall Street Journal, Guernica Magazine, Kartika Review, The Huffington Post, The World of Chinese Magazine, China Daily, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, and numerous anthologies. Her non-fiction work centers around environmental and sustainability issues, travel and exploration, expatriate culture, and US-China relations. She is the co-founder of HIPPO Reads and recently left Singapore for San Francisco
where she was the 2016 SF Writers Grotto Fellow.
A grand, experimental epic—Lao K’s story is told in footnotes that run throughout the book—that chronicles the seismic changes in China over the last half century through the lens of one family’s experiences, Empire of Glass is an investigation into the workings of human memory and the veracity of oral history that pushes the boundaries of language and form in stunning and unforgettable ways.
“Empire of Glass is a bold and luminous book, a novel that captures the great upheavals of history and the smallest fissures in family life with equal attention, intimacy, and insight.”—National Book Award and PEN/ Faulkner finalist Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
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Childbirth is a women’s rights issue. A woman in labor commands an environment that allows her to listen to her instincts and trust her intuition. Healthcare providers must trust their patients to give birth in their expressly chosen way. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
The day Thais Nye Derich walked into the hospital to deliver her first son, she thought she had all the answers. One week later, she walked away overwhelmed with questions. Not only was she physically and emotionally damaged, she also felt utterly disillusioned by the majority of the hospital’s financial, legal, and medical protocols. For the next three years, Thais focused on recovering from that experience, as well as preparing for the day she would become pregnant again. And then she did get pregnant—and her resolve to give birth naturally was put to the test.
In her debut memoir, Second Chance: A Mother’s Quest for a Natural Birth After a Cesarean (She Writes Press, May 9, 2017), Thais Nye Derich weaves together two narratives of two very different birth experiences, telling a universal story about betrayal,
trust, and listening to one’s instincts. Propelling, forthright, and genuine, the book sheds light on the gaping holes in mainstream maternity healthcare, as well as bares truth to Thais’s deep-rooted grief over her mother, who left when Thais was four years old. At its
core, Second Chance provides a voice for all the mothers who have walked away from their delivery experience wondering what in the hell really happened.
In 2003, Thais started her own software training business, allowing her to travel around the United States teaching software
operations at Fortune-500 companies. A few years later, she began to dabble in her passion for writing by launching a successful food blog, and, most notably, she focused on writing Second Chance. Derich’s past work has been published in Salon,
BlogHer, BabyCenter, Literary Mama, Wild Violet Literary Magazine, Forge Journal, SFGate, and the San Francisco Examiner. Thais lives in Marin County.
“So many women today don’t believe that they have choices when it comes to giving birth – but Thais Derich shows us the way in her brave and beautifully written memoir. It is an important and
timely story – a memoir full of heartache, resilience, and joy. My hope is that all women considering motherhood will find their way to Thais Derich’s book.”
- Melissa Cistaro, author of Pieces of My Mother, a NCIBA Best Nonfiction Book of 2015 winner
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Meet Samantha Serrano, your new favorite dysfunctional leading lady. In The Dating Bender by debut author Christina Julian (Limitless Publishing; August 22) Samantha stumbles from one romantic misadventure to the next, while relying all too heavily on relationship advice from glossy mags like Cosmo, Redbook, and O. You’ll laugh (and cringe) as she navigates family drama, exciting career opportunities and, humbling disasters.
While The Dating Bender is fiction, Christina’s life has served as inspiration, but with a little less snark and booze and a lot more confidence. Now a married mom of twin toddlers and living in Napa Valley, she’s a freelance writer and columnist.
Christina Julian does the dance as a wine and food columnist by day, novelist by night. She adamantly believes there is nothing in life that can’t be conquered with a bodacious wine, strong cup of coffee, or a generously iced cupcake. When she is not tapping out her next novel or wrangling her 3-year-old twins, she can be found swilling and swirling in the name of research as a columnist for NorthBay Biz magazine. Her work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Wine Enthusiast, California Home + Design, 7×7, Napa Valley Register, Napa Valley Life, Weddings Ca, Bohemian, Weekly Calistogan and beyond. She strives always to live her life to the extreme.
“With humor, wit, and a whole lot of sarcasm Julian’s debut takes an unabashed look at a failed marriage, divorce, and dating under the scrutiny of a less than supportive family. She takes readers on a raucous ride that explores what it means to be a woman—gaping flaws and all.”
–Adair Lara, former San Francisco Chronicle columnist, author of Naked, Drunk, and Writing
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"A portrait of a soul,"--Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, finalist for the National Book Award
Traumatized by an unwanted cesarean, Derich begins the long journey of learning to trust her instinct and building the courage to go against societal norms and give birth to her second child the way she always wanted to: naturally.
A hysterical dramedy about a woman unhinged and at a crossroad. "Julian's debut takes an unabashed look at a failed marriage, divorce, and dating under the scrutiny of a less than supportive family." -former San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Adair Lara. Here I am, on my knees in front of the Trevi Fountain, hoping like hell the legend is true.