Jonathan Franzen, National Book Award-winning author, acquaintance of Pres. Barack Obama and face of the August 2010 cover of Time magazine next to the caption “Great American Author,” proved to the audience at the UC Davis Mondavi Center Saturday night that he is human. Franzen stepped up to the podium and pulled several sheets of paper out of his briefcase. After rearranging some of these sheets, pausing to find a water bottle, and finally beginning to read from the sheets word for word, it became clear that the critically and commercially successful author was nervous to speak in front of a live audience. “This would be a lot easier if I was doing a reading,” Franzen said. The talk

National Book Award-winning author Jonathan Franzen will give a talk on the process of fiction writing on Saturday, Oct. 8 at the UC Davis Mondavi Center. Since 1988, Franzen has published four novels and two works of nonfiction. His first novel, “The Twenty-Seventh City,” has been described by critics and Franzen himself as a work along the lines of the postmodernists of the 1960s and ‘70s. Although not receiving the acclaim his twenty-first century novels have garnered, it cemented him as someone to look out for in the literary world. His next novel, “Strong Motion,” which came out in 1992, is a social critique framed by a family’s struggles to get along and understand one another. A

What happens when you mix the aesthetic appeal of 1800s Victorian England, scientifically advanced, steam- and gear-powered inventions and the type of alternate historical realities explored in popular culture through movies like “Wild Wild West”? You get steampunk: an inventive, rule-bending subgenre of science fiction that has found a growing niche in Sacramento. The term steampunk stemmed from literature like H.G. Well’s “The Time Machine,” published in 1895, and Jules Verne’s 1870 novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, according to members of the Sacramento Steampunk Society.These early steampunk works, which feature elements of time travel, whimsically inventive, steam-powered inventio

Born and raised in Sacramento, Kathy Kieth now lives in Pollock Pines. A musician, music teacher, music therapist, psychologist and poet, her work has been published in many journals, including Atlanta Review, California Quarterly, Main Street Rag, Möbius, Potpourri, Ekphrasis, PDQ, Poetry Now, Slant, and Tiger’s Eye. Kathy has also published four chapbooks: Night Full of Owls from White Heron Press, Keeping Time in the Clock Shop from PWJ Publishing, Why We Have Sternums from Rattlesnake Press, and Sex—For Animals from Rattlesnake Press. She was also nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize. In the last six years, Ms. Kieth has published hundreds of Sacramento-area poets in her quart

If the quintessential reunion experience could be captured metaphorically by a famous (or infamous) novel, I’d have to point to War and Peace, by Tolstoy; our personal history—mighty and insignificant-all in one sweeping evening of epic romance, drama, conflict and survival. If we’re talking the 80’s, of course it must be film, and would therefore be, Pretty in Pink meets The Breakfast Club. Bad hair, bad boys, bad acne, bad grades, and bad teachers, all tied together in a pretty pink bow of good memories. I wonder what F. Scott Fitzgerald might have said about reunions, being that he loathed status and above all else believed the underdog should always win the day. I know what Nick Carraw

I missed last week, but here's a big list of stuff coming up this week.  Lots going on this coming week -and this only a sampling! Ongoing: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Live Theater Fridays and Saturdays, 8:00 PM; Sundays, 2:30 PM through May 9, 2009 Admission: General: $15.00; Students/SARTA: $12.00 (April 17-19, all tickets are only $10.00!) Big Idea Theatre 1616 Del Paso Blvd Sacramento, CA (916) 960-3036 http://www.bigideatheatre.com A comedy that includes scenes from Hamlet involving the prince's two unwitting friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and combines them with a "Waiting for Godot" sensibility, resulting in a thought provoking show and a knee-slapping good time.

Ongoing: Zooman & The Sign Live Theater Fridays and Saturdays, 8:00 PM; Sundays, 3:00 PM through May 10, 2009 Admission: General: $20.00; Students, Seniors and SARTA: $18.00; Children (12 & under): $15.00 The Guild Theater 2828 35th St Sacramento, CA Ticket info: (916) 737-3333 http://www.imagestheater.org Written by Charles Fuller. Zooman and the Sign follows the Tate family after their 12 year-old daughter is killed by a stray bullet. After their neighbors refuse to come forward with information to bring the killer to justice, Mr. Tate in his frustration hangs up an accusatory sign calling them cowards. The neighbors react with aggression. The play raises questions of how non-violent p

Poets, Playwrights and Budding Novelists!   The fact is, it's often hard to find a space where you can share your work with others. As most writers know, publishing opportunities can be hard to come by and this is why the Sacramento Press is creating a literary space where you can share what you write with others, get feedback and fight writer’s block - all in one. Think Small and Start Local Your ideas can be as simple as: What is it like to live in the Sacramento area? We’re interested in your stories – local and semi-local – about anything your imagination can dream up. You don't have to be a pulitzer prize winner to write for us, but if you are, that's great too. “Write what you kn