Authors Joshilyn Jackson, Jane
Smiley, Tatjana Soli, event organizer Robbie Wright, and authors
Josie Brown and Eileen Goudge
Last week’s “Between The Pages”
event on Bainbridge Island wasn’t perfect, as you’ll see below …
but it was a success. (Let me check that: Once things got
to Bainbridge, things were perfect.) But an enthusiastic crowd
of about 75, paying at least $50 a ticket, came out to support the
Kitsap Regional Library system and listen to a powerhouse lineup of
female authors — Jane Smiley, Josie Brown, Eileen Goudge, Joshilyn
Jackson and Tatjana Soli — read from their latest books.
And when I asked Josie Brown to reflect on the evening, here’s
what she had to say:
It was a great adventure, for sure. We had plenty of time to
get to the ferry. Too much, apparently, because we got onto the
wrong one: the Bremerton one as opposed to the Bainbridge — and
didn’t realize it, until we almost docked and my husband, Martin,
timidly asked me (because he thought I’d faint): “Hon, um, wasn’t
this ferry ride supposed to be a half-hour, tops?”
A mad rush by taxi (we had a colorful driver — Anthony,
originally from Buffalo, and the topic with him jumped from his
tenure in the armed services to his job as a masseuse, to hemp
clothing) and we were there, only fifteen minutes late. Jane was
laughing because she’d made it over earlier that morning to visit a
pal — and she was the one we thought would get lost or be late, as
she’s always the one texting, “I have to be where? When?”
It was a wonderful crowd! Friendly, inquisitive, and
obviously avid readers. What I love, too is that there were quite a
few teachers and librarians there as well.
Eileen calls us “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Books.”
Most of us met face-to-face for the first time just the night
before, but you’d think we’d known each other for quite some time,
the way everyone got along. Joshilyn is a consummate performer: you
can tell she was an actress in her previous profession. Tatjana
gives an eloquent read. Her book is serious, but she is
lighthearted and fun. She and her husband, Gaylord, dance the
tango!
The way back — this time the RIGHT ferry — was too short. It
was fun just to sit together and recapped the fun. I hope everyone
in the audience had as much fun as we had.
Authors of literature are usually valued in society as
philosophers, sages and teachers. Oh, and quality drinking
companions (in my experience, anyway).
To that list, add superheroes.
It’s in the latter mode that five highly regarded fiction
writers from all over the United States are coming Thursday to
Bainbridge Island for a public reading and reception. Their
mission: To raise money for the cash-strapped Kitsap Regional Library system.
Jane Smiley
The $50-a-ticket “Between The Pages”
event, at the Bainbridge Performing Arts center, features one
marquee name: Jane
Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand
Acres, a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s King
Lear which was later made into a movie starring Jason Robards,
Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer.
For 90 minutes, they’ll read from their latest novels (more on
those below), interview each other and possibly take some questions
from the audience, Wright said. They’ll stay for another 40 minutes
after to chat and sign copies of their books.
“My karmic way of giving back is to come up with ideas in which
the sales of my books can help good causes,” said Brown, a Bay Area
author who helped spearhead the event. (She even arranged for
copies of her newest novel, Secret Lives Of Husbands And
Wives, to be included in the ticket price.)
Brown is friends with Robbie Wright, a corporate events planner
who lives on Bainbridge. When Wright told her last spring about the
library system’s woes — budget cuts, past levy failures and the
theft of children’s books from the Port Orchard branch — Brown came
up with the fundraiser idea.
They quickly enlisted Peter Raffa, director of the Kitsap
Regional Library Foundation, and the three drew up a wish list of
names. One glittery name at the top of their list — show-business
novelist Jackie Collins —
initially committed to the Between The Pages event.
Joshilyn Jackson
But, Brown said, Collins had to drop out when when the date for
the London premiere of a movie based on one of her books shifted
from summer to fall. Also having to drop out was novelist Lisa
Rinna, who saw the release of her latest novel shifted to
October.
They got Smiley, their other top name, to come up from her
Northern California home, however. Goudge, a New York author with a
second home in the Puget Sound area, came on board next, followed
by Jackson, a Georgia resident, and Soli, who lives in Southern
California.
Tatjana Soli
All write what could be labeled literary, issue-driven women’s
fiction.
“They are heavy hitters, all of whom have have books that
resonate with library patrons all over the country,” Brown said.
“And there are no more avid readers than those in the Seattle metro
area. That’s a known statistic in the book industry.”
And, she added: “Any excuse to get out into the incomparable
Puget Sound area is a writer’s joy. Which is why so many great ones
live in your neck of the woods, right?”
*****
Sad disclosure: As things stand now, I
won’t be able to attend the event, as I must punch in for my
regular Thursday swing shift at the paragraph factory in Bremerton.
However, if you’re going and bringing a camera, would you mind
sharing some of your shots with me so I can share with everyone?
E-mail me at thomsen1965@gmail.com. And please share some of the
funny anecdotes and other highlights of the evening. And cake, if
there’s any.
*****
A little about each author and their
latest books:
• Jane Smiley, who has published 13
novels, three nonfiction books and a short-story collection over a
30-year career, came out earlier this year with her latest,
Private
Life, which follows one Midwestern woman’s life in
marriage from the 1880s to World War II. Said Booklist:
“Smiley casts a gimlet eye on the institution of marriage even as
she offers a fascinating glimpse of a distant era.”
• Josie Brown is a journalist who
specializes in celebrity interviews and relationship articles. Her
previous novels include True Hollywood Lies and
Impossibly Tongue-Tied; her latest release, just out in
June, is Secret Lives Of
Husbands And Wives, which examines the dramas of two
vastly different Silicon Valley couples. Wrote Booklist: “These
women inside their fishbowl are fun to peer in on despite being
caricaturish, and the momentum of Brown’s writing and plot keeps
the pages turning.”
• Eileen Goudge broke into book
publishing by contributing to the crazily successful Sweet
Valley High series for young teen girls in the early ’80s. She
published her first adult novel in 1986, and her latest, released
last October, is Once In A
Blue Moon, a tale of two tempestuous sisters and their
secrets. Said Publisher’s Weekly: “A touching story with
wide appeal, Goudge’s novel is a sharp example of dysfunctional
family fiction.”
• Joshilyn Jackson, a Florida native
and former teacher, broke into book publishing with a splash, with
2005’s gods in Alabama. Her fourth book, released in June, is
drawing her biggest notices: Backseat
Saints, a Southern-fried tale of an abused woman who runs
from the husband who will never let her go. Said Booklist:
“Jackson peels back Rose’s hard edges and resignation to reveal a
smart, earnest, brave, and surprisingly hopeful young woman who
yearns to make a better life for herself.”
• Tatjana Soli, born in Austria, wrote
and published short stories for years before breaking out this
spring with her debut novel, The Lotus
Eaters, an exhaustively researched story of a female
wartime photographer in Southeast Asia at the close of the Vietnam
War. Wrote Kirkus Reviews: “Graphic but never gratuitous,
the gripping, haunting narrative explores the complexity of
violence, foreignness, even betrayal. Moving and memorable.”
*****
Between The Pages: A fundraising event for the
Kitsap Regional Library Foundation
Who: Authors Jane Smiley, Josie Brown, Eileen
Goudge, Joshilyn Jackson and Tatjana Soli
When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Bainbridge Performing Arts Center, 200
Madison Ave. N., Bainbridge Island
Tickets: $50 (includes copy of Brown’s novel,
Secret Lives Of Husbands and Wives), with discount
available for groups of eight or more; and $150 for “VIP” access,
which includes a catered pre-event reception with the authors and
copies of each of their latest novels. Purchase at Liberty Bay
Books, 18881 D Front St., Poulsbo.
More Info: For ticket info, Peter Raffa, (360)
475-9039; for event info, Robbie Wright, (206) 390-1989
