September 9: Body Language

September 9’s readings will somehow involve the idea of “Body Language.” Come to Studio 333 at 7 PM to hear the following authors read from their work on this theme.

Elaine Beale

Elaine Beale grew up in East Yorkshire, England, studied creative writing at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and was the winner of the 2007 Poets & Writers California Exchange writing contest in fiction. She lives in Oakland, where she misses the British sense of humor but not the British weather. Her novel Another Life Altogether was picked as one of the ten books to watch for in March 2010 by Oprah Magazine. (There’s a reading guide for the book on the Oprah website.) Trained as an educator in Britain, Beale has years of teaching experience, and has taught creative writing workshops and classes in the Bay Area for more than a decade.

Katie Crouch is the author of Men and Dogs and the New York Times

Katie Crouch

bestseller Girls in Trucks. People Magazine wrote of Men and Dogs: ” In the hands of a less adept author, this tightly wound tale of one woman’s unraveling and redemption might seem more grim than guffaw-worthy. But with Crouch in charge, the reader is assured of a reflective yet riotous ride.” Her next novel, Magnolia League, will be out in April 2011.

Rachel Howard

Rachel Howard is the author of a memoir about her father’s unsolved murder, The Lost Night, described as “enthralling” by the New York Times.  She received her MFA in fiction from Warren Wilson College, and has just completed a novel.  Her fiction has appeared in ZYZZYVA, and her personal essays in the San Francisco Chronicle and O, the Oprah Magazine.  She lives in Oakland and teaches creative writing through the San Francisco Writers Grotto, the office co-op where she works.

Junse Kim

Junse Kim is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a Faulkner Society Short Story Award, and the Philip Roth Residence in Creative Writing at Bucknell University. His fiction and creative nonfiction have been published in Ontario Review, ZYZZYVA, Cimarron Review, as well as two anthologies: Pushcart Prize XXVII and Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writing.  He teaches fiction writing at The Writing Salon and University of San Francisco’s MFA program, and has also been a Lecturer at San Francisco State University’s MFA program.

Elizabeth Rosner

Elizabeth Rosner is a bestselling novelist, poet, and essayist living in Berkeley, California. Her first novel, The Speed of Light, (Ballantine 2001) won several literary prizes in both the US and Europe, and was translated into nine foreign languages.  The book was optioned by actress Gillian Anderson, who will be making the film her directorial debut.  Blue Nude, her second novel (Ballantine/Random House 2006) was named one of the best books of 2006 by the San Francisco Chronicle.  The paperback edition (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster) is being newly released this month (on sale tonight for the first time!).  Her poetry collection, Gravity, (Small Poetry Press 1998) is currently in its 14th printing.  Her essays have appeared in the NY Times Magazine, Elle, the Forward, Hadassah Magazine, and several anthologies.  She travels widely to teach intensive writing workshops, to lecture on contemporary literature, and to visit with book groups.

K.M. Weaver

K. M. Weaver received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland-College Park and MS in physics from Cornell University. He has taught creative writing both at Maryland and in a remote Miskito village in Nicaragua. His work has most recently appeared in elimae, failbetter, Monkeybicycle, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and is forthcoming in Twelve Stories. Ken also writes regularly about craft beer culture, and currently serves as the managing editor of Ratebeer.com’s The Hop Press.