Review: Women's Literary Festival
Karin Finell -- March 7, 2006
It is over. The lights are out, the leathery chicken has been consumed, the iced tea drunk, and the center pieces of succulents will grace other tables. What lingers though, are the voices of the authors who spoke and read from their works at the first Women's Literary Festival in Santa Barbara. Voices to be heard again when we open their books.
Santa Barbara poet, Sojourner Kincaid Rolle began the program by reading from her poetry. A fitting introduction to the graceful and often lyrical prose of the writers who followed. Reading Diana Abu-Jaber's novel, Crescent, we can fly with her on a magical carpet to Iraq and Jordan. Fly to a fairytale world of minarets and domed mosques, we can taste rich baklava with her and savor the sweet fragrance of mint tea in a Bedouin's tent, counter pointed by exploding Iranian missiles in 1990's Bagdad. Diana is the daughter of an Irish Catholic mother and a dominant Arab-Jordanian father, she spoke of what it meant to grow up Arab in America.
Among the writers, our own Santa Barbaran, Frances Halpern, gave practical advice to would-be-journalists. She peppered her talk with anecdotes from her early adulthood, and though I was familiar with these stories, they came alive again and were as interesting as they were yesterday.
Then there was Ruth Ozeki, a Japanese American, who marveled why her parents named her Ruth, when neither of them could pronounce the "r" or the "th" in her name. We learned that Japan had produced an amazingly frank novel of sexual mores and court gossip with The Pillow Book, written by a lady of the Emperor's court more than a thousand years ago. Some of the advice she gave to lovers is as up-to-date as it was in that historic time. Ozeki's own novel, My Year of Meats was inspired by her work as a film maker of commercials for a Japanese (what else?) meat processing company. It was a pleasure to listen to this highly educated woman with a bent for humor. Gail Tsukiyama, is the interesting product of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father. She grew up in a Chinese family tradition in San Francisco. Gail wrote the best selling book, Women of the Silk, in which she depicts the lives of "early Chinese feminists." Her talk centered on the empowerment and culture of women.
And there were others. Maria Amparo Escandon, who did not learn English until she came to America at age twenty-two, and now writes novels in her adopted country in her second language. She is translating her own books into Spanish. And Amanda Irma Perez, another bilingual writer, spoke about her first award winning book, My Very Own Room (in Spanish: Mi Proprio Cuartito). Amanda is a warm and intelligent woman who tries to help immigrant Latinos. I did not hear Bonnie Hearn Hill talking in one of the separate "break out" rooms, she writes political thrillers which have earned her fame and fortune.
I often ask myself, what will I say to an audience when my book gets published and I will appear for a book signing? I am probably not the only one of us aspiring writers who asks that questions. I learned Saturday morning, it is by far more important to speak about one's own life and family, than explain the book one has written. That will be touched upon when it comes to the reading of a chapter or two from the book. Questions from the audience will be asked and the author may then expand on the "meaning," or the backstory of the book. However, what endears the writer to the audience are a family's anecdotes well told, sprinkled with a certain self-deprecating humor, eliciting a laugh or two. People like to feel good and if the author can bring a smile to the audience's lips and a chuckle to their throats, she will have won their hearts.
The event began at 8:30, but once we were seated and the talks began, the clock moved with speed and soon it was time to buy books and have the authors sign them, chew on the afore mentioned chicken and then listen to more authors speak. The day was over too quickly and I came home with my mind spinning, trying to remain in focus, and retain in my memory what I had learned.
For a first time event it was well attended. Tickets for next year's festival will probably sell fast. Anyone interested in literature and writing should mark their 2007 calendars for early March, and attend this festival. More information is available on their website: www.womensliteraryfestival.com