Authors Talk About Books and the Writing Life at AAUW-LB's 30th Annual Literary Luncheon

LAGUNA BEACH, Ca. Three women authors will share their stories of the writing life at the AAUW 30th Annual Literary Luncheon to be held at the Surf and Sand Resort on March 18th. This year the speakers will be Karen J. Fowler, whose work has been awarded the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award and the 2014 California Book Award for Fiction, Donna Levin, author and long time writing instructor at University of California Extension at Berkeley , and the local author of two novels, Suzanne Redfearn.

Prior to becoming an author, Suzanne Redfern was an architect specializing in residential and commercial design. Over coffee and croissants at the local French café, Moulin, I listened as Suzanne’s enthusiasm for writing bubbled over. “I wake up each day and tell stories, it’s a great job. But the best part, and the part I didn’t expect, was the way those stories affect people, that these ideas that were inside my head and these characters I made up are out in the world connecting with people and touching them. It’s really amazing.” Suzanne’s two novels both deal with the struggles of a single mother in exceptional circumstances. Hush Little Baby takes place in a recognizable Laguna Beach and No Ordinary Life explores the entertainment world.

Donna Levin’s first two novels, one that features a California setting and quirky plot twists and the other written with a very unusual narrator, both contain semi-autobiographical elements. Her newest book is due to be officially released on May 1st but will be available at the AAUW luncheon by special arrangement with the publisher. There’s More than One Way Home, also informed by Levin’s own experiences, deals with the daily struggles of a mother and her young son with Autism spectrum disorder, a subject that Levin knows intimately. Special thanks to Donna Levin who has stepped into the third author slot at the last minute to replace, Joyce Maynard, who needed to withdraw from this year’s lineup.

Karen J. Fowler is noted for award winning novels and short stories written in her distinctive voice. Early in her career, she honed her craft writing short stories. She says that in this short form she always knows what she wants to do and when she’s accomplished it. Novels, Fowler told me, are much more difficult for her. “They are all too big and complicated for me to really ever feel that I’m completely on top of it,” she said. However, her novels, which include The Jane Austen Book Club, Sister Moon, and Wit’s End, betray none of the author’s struggle. Her special interest in sibling relationships was the starting point for the unusual story told in We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, her most recent book.

The varied works of these three authors and their takes on the struggles and rewards of the writing life should make the AAUW Literary Luncheon an event well worth attending. To get tickets ($95.00) send a check payable to AAUW-LBF to Susan Kent, PO Box 219, Laguna Beach, CA 92652. Questions: contact Farie Monayez, drfarie@yahoo.com.