Past Writers Read Events
Fallbrook’s Writers Read
Wednesday 12 November 2008, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
November’s featured writer is Patty Campbell, co-editor of War Is… Soldiers, Survivors and Storytellers Talk About War. Read more below.
Hosted by Cafe des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook
Enter the Cafe from the rear parking lot behind Main Street.
Supported by Fallbrook independent bookseller The Book Nook, 760-731-2665.
Award-winning young adult genre writer and editor Patty Campbell, of Fallbrook, co-edited the recently published anthology, “War Is… Soldiers, Survivors and Storytellers Talk About War,” with Marc Aronson. Campbell will read from her introduction and the collection, which reflects the editors’ opposing viewpoints on the nature of war.
Aronson thinks war is inevitable; Campbell thinks war is wrong; but they agree teens need to hear truthful voices of those who have experienced war firsthand. The result is a selection of essays, memoirs, letters and fiction by writers such as Ernie Pyle, Christian Bauman, Mark Twain, Chris Hedges, Fumiko Miura, a soldier who writes a miliblog and others. The divergent pieces look war straight in the face and provide an invaluable resource for teenagers considering military service and for their parents.
“War is…” will be available for purchase at the reading.
The featured reading will be following by an open mic session for anyone eager to share his or her original short fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry. Open mic readers have five minutes each.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read, Wed 17 December 2008, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Poet, Essayist and Artist Karen Cunagin
Hosted by Cafe des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook
Enter the Cafe from the rear parking lot behind Main Street.
Supported by Fallbrook independent bookseller The Book Nook, 760-731-2665.
Karen Cunagin is a writer, telling her stories with words on paper and in cloth. In 1992 she received a BA from UC Riverside where she first began refining her word craft in poetry. Most of her good words are presently used writing patterns, but she keeps a blog and enjoys composing essays that challenge her students to take little risks that lead to important life decisions. She will read poetry and essays.
Cunagin is also an artist, teaching color and design in the fiber arts for two San Diego community colleges. The themes in her art revolve around the small world of family, the garden and spiritual work. Although most of her textile compositions are machine sewn, she spends hours hand finishing each piece with beads and sequins and vintage trim. Her work has been shown in Visions: The Art Quilt 2006, regional juried shows and international publications.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read, Wed 14 January 2009, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Featuring Author Jincy Willett
Please note:5:30 to 6:00 4th through 8th graders read
6:00 to 6:45 Featured writer and Q&A Jincy Willett
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic for adults and high school students
January’s featured writer is novelist Jincy Willett, author of “The Writing Class,” “Winner of the National Book Award,” “Jenny and the Jaws of Life” and short stories published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Read more about Willett below.
Writers Read is hosted by Café des Artistes at 103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, and supported by independent bookseller, The Book Nook (760-731-2665). Enter the Café from the rear parking lot behind Main Street.
The featured reading will be following by an open mic session for anyone eager to share his or her original fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry. Open mic readers have five minutes each; if there’s adequate time, folks may have a second five minutes.
Jincy Willett’s website describes her as “An aging, bitter, unpleasant woman living in Escondido, California, who spends her days parsing the sentences of total strangers and her nights teaching and writing. Sometimes, late at night, in the dark, she laughs inappropriately.”
I can’t attest to the accuracy of the description, but it does miss some points. Willett has an uncommon gift for writing funny, for writing poignant, for cultural commentary wrapped in wit and barbed wire.
She will be reading from “The Writing Class,” published in June 2008. Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about it: Can a class of wannabe novelists solve a murder in their midst? That’s the premise of this dark comedy of the absurd from Willett, a boisterous satire of pseudointellectuals, impotent writers and the adult extension programs of public universities. The only things Amy Gallup, a once-noted California author, has published in years are blurbs of other writers’ work. Amy’s only income comes from teaching fiction writing to a motley collection of varyingly talented prepublished adults. Someone in the class is making threatening phone calls and sending extremely cruel notes to other students. When two of the students are murdered, a deep sense of danger takes hold. Yet the class goes on. Amy’s lectures actually constitute a damn fine guide to writing fiction, while Willett’s prose has sparkling moments (The line was playful, offhand, the poem itself a smug, imperious cat stretch). The tension is so strong that readers can hardly resist the temptation to peek ahead and see which student is the killer.
“The Writing Class” and other books by Willett will be available at the reading for purchase.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read, Wed 11 February 2009, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Featuring Slam Poet Chris Vannoy
Please note:5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Chris Vannoy, followed by Q&A
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic
Chris Vannoy is a San Diego-based poet and co-author of “Twenty Poems Against Love,” a collection of poems and photographs. He has read at events up and down the West Coast, including the Artists On The Cutting Edge, a series organized by Quincy Troupe and sponsored by University of California San Diego. Vannoy was on the first slam team from San Diego to perform at the West Cost Regional Slams in Big Sur and was on the first San Diego team to go to the national slam in Seattle, Washington. He is also a winner of the Full Moon Poetry Slam at the La Paloma Theater in Encinitas. Vannoy is currently running The Drunk Poets Society readings at Winston’s in Ocean Beach, California.
Writers Read is hosted by Café des Artistes
at 103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, and supported by independent bookseller, The Book Nook (760-731-2665).
Enter the Café from the rear parking lot behind Main Street.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents: Telling Women’s Tales
A Special Open Mic Reading Celebrating Women’s History Month
Wednesday 11 March 2009, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Writers Read is hosted by Café des Artistes at 103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, and supported by independent bookseller, the Book Nook (760-731-2665). Enter the Café from the rear parking lot behind Main Street.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents Author and Poet Terry Hertzler
Wednesday 08 April 2009, 5:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes, 103 S. Main, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Terry Hertzler reading and Q&A
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Terry Hertzleris the author of The Way of the Snake, a book of poetry on the Vietnam War, Second Skin: Stories and Poems and several other books of poetry and fiction. His work has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, and his poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Stand Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology, In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet’s Portable Workshop, North American Review, Margie, Nimrod, and the Los Angeles Times — and his work has been produced on stage and for radio and television. He owns Caernarvon Press in San Diego, and Hertzler served with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam, 1969-1970.
Writers Read is hosted by Café des Artistes at 103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, and supported by independent bookseller, the Book Nook (760-731-2665). Enter the Café from the rear parking lot behind Main Street.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents Bestselling Author T. Jefferson Parker
Wednesday 13 May 2009, 5:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes, 103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 T. Jefferson Parker reads from his new novel, The Renegades, followed by a Q&A
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
T. Jefferson Parker is the bestselling author of crime novels for those who love to read. His books are fast, fun, generous of character and rich with Southern California details that make locals feel right at home and nudge others to go West.
Parker has twice won the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award for Best Novel, for Silent Joe and California Girl. His first novel, Laguna Heat, made the New York Times bestseller list in 1986 and was made into an HBO film in 1987. Four subsequent novels made the Los Angeles Times bestseller list, two of them topping the list at number one, Red Lightand Silent Joe.
Since moving to Fallbrook, locations around the county have worked their way into Parker’s novels, including Cold Pursuit, The Fallen, Storm Runners and L.A. Outlaws. Several of Parker’s books will be available at the reading for purchase and signing by the author.
Writers Read is hosted by Café des Artistes at 103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, and supported by independent bookseller, the Book Nook (760-731-2665). Enter the Café from the rear parking lot behind Main Street.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents Come Out of the Closet and Read!
Wednesday 10 June 2009, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m
Mural by Brett Stokes
An All Open Mic Night
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open (enter from the rear of the building, off the parking lot), supper menu available
6:00 to 7:30 Open mic: Drag your musings, your late-night poetry, your fabulous fiction out of the closet and give yourself the gift of an audience.
In recognition of the CA Supreme Court’s recent failure to rule in favor of marriage equality, we encourage sharing work about living gay or having LGBT family members or friends in your life.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
The Poetry of Marte Bröehm and R.D. Skaff
Wednesday 15 July 2009, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes, 103 S. Main St, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Featured poets read
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Marte Bröehm is an educator, visual artist and poet. She was born and raised in Wisconsin, but after 36 years in California she is practically native. Her poems have appeared in The Pedestal Magazine, Perigee, the Magee Park Poetry Anthology and the San Diego Poetry Annual.
When R.D. Skaff (better known as Duke) moved to Carlsbad in 2003, she returned to her writing roots, this time inspired by her proximity to the sea. Her more recent poems have been published in American Pen Women Winning Poetry and Haiku,Today’s Alternative News, the last three editions of The San Diego Poetry Annualand the Magee Park Poetry Anthology. Her poetry was also included in a Poets Inc. Art Summation Exhibition.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Wednesday 09 September 2009, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Spoken Word Artist Brandon Cesmat
Café des Artistes, 103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Brandon Cesmat reads
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
ONTHEBUS has described Brandon Cesmat‘s book Driven into the Shade as a “Califor-noir,” the story of a So-Cal son who grows into a father, learning that some of the darkest shadows fall in the land where the sun shines brightest. Driven into the Shade received a San Diego Book Award for Best Poetry.
Cesmat has also won a San Diego Book Award for fiction, and he has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work appears in ONTHEBUS, Homestead Review, Pemmican, Red River Review, Weber: The Contemporary West and ROADSpoetry. Cesmat’s two most recent books are Light in All Directions and When Pigs Fall in Love & Other Stories.
Cesmat teaches writing and film studies at Cal State San Marcos. He also serves on the advisory board of California Poets in the Schools (CPITS), the largest artist-residency program in the United States.
As a performer, Cesmat redefines the boundaries of the “spoken word artist.” He is the poet-vocalist in the performance ensemble Drought Buoy and has received first prize in the Poetry of Music anthology (Palabra Productions). In 2008, his songs were featured in the Writers Who Play showcase in New York.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents Poet and Musician John Amen
Wednesday 07 October 2009, 5:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 John Amen reading
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
John Amen is the author of a new collection of poetry, At the Threshold of Alchemy, released by Presa this year. He has two other collections of poetry, Christening the Dancer (Uccelli Press 2003) and More of Me Disappears (Cross-Cultural Communications 2005), and has released two folk-folk rock CDs, All I’ll Never Need (Cool Midget 2004) and Ridiculous Empire (2008). Amen’s poetry has appeared in various journals and anthologies, including, Rattle, The New York Quarterly, The International Poetry Review, Gargoyle, and Blood to Remember. He founded and continues to edit the award-winning literary bimonthly, The Pedestal Magazine. Amen is also an artist, working primarily with acrylics on canvas.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents Poet Robt O’Sullivan Schleith
Tuesday 10 November 2009, 5:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:30 Robt O’Sullivan Schleith reading
6:30 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Robt O’Sullivan Schleith currently hosts a monthly reading through Escondido Arts Partnership at the Municipal Art Gallery downtown (www.escondidoarts.org). He hosted the Poetsperformance readings in San Diego until 2003, and is the (retired) founder of the San Diego Poetry Slam, and editor of the Joe’s Journal andDrift Wood Highway series of poetry anthologies, which ran from 1998 through 2002. His poems have appeared in print with Dan River Press, North Woods Press,Northern Virginia Review, City Works, the San Diego Poetry Annual and The Philosophical Library’s Paths. His poems have appeared online at Poetry SuperHighway, Map of Austin Poetry, the Muse Apprentice Guild and Sun Runner Magazine.
Robt publishes under his mother’s name, O’Sullivan, and his stepfather’s name, Schleith, to honor both of them with his writing.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents Bestselling Author Jan Burke
Tuesday 08 December, 6:00 p.m.
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Jan Burke reading and book signing
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Bestselling and critically acclaimed author Jan Burke has written twelve novels and a collection of short stories. The Messenger, a supernatural thriller, is her newest 
book. Her novels of crime fiction, many featuring reporter Irene Kelly, include Flight, Bloodlines and Bones,which won the Edgar® for Best Novel. Her books have been on the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists, and have been published internationally and optioned for film and television. Her stories have won the Agatha, Macavity, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Awards. A forensic science advocate, Jan founded the nonprofit Crime Lab Project.
From the age of seven, Jan knew she wanted to write. She completed her first novel, Goodnight, Irene in the evenings after work. It was sold unagented and unsolicited to Simon & Schuster. The debut novel received a surprising boost when, during his first White House interview after taking office, President Bill Clinton said he was reading Goodnight, Irene.
Learn more about Jan at her blog, Is this thing on?
Our special thanks to Mysterious Galaxy Books for providing Jan Burke’s books for sale and signing at the reading. You can reach Mysterious Galaxy at 858-268-4747.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents All Open Mic Night
Celebrate a New Year of Words!
Mural by Brett Stokes
Thursday 14 January 2010, 5:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
T. Jefferson Parker and his new novel Iron River
Thursday 11 February 2010, 5:30 p.m. 
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper seating is sold out, but ample seating for those not dining is available on a first-come, first-served basis
6:00 to 7:30 T. Jefferson Parker reading, Q&A and book signing
In T. Jefferson Parker’s new novel, Iron River, detective Charlie Hood is running the California-Mexico border with the ATF, searching for the iron river — the massive and illegal flow of handguns and automatic weapons that fuels the bloody cartel wars south of the border. Gunrunners by nature aren’t exactly ethical, but the lengths they’ll go to, and the innocent lives they’ll risk, are shocking even to Hood. Most shocking of all is the close personal connection Hood finds wrapped up in events south of the border — a connection that shakes him to his core!
Parker immerses Hood in the very real, dangerous and lawless place along the U.S.-Mexican border, giving us a window into the current problems law enforcement from San Diego to Corpus Christi face everyday.
Join Parker and his Southern California fans for an evening of reading and discussion with the author. Iron River will be available for purchase and signing.
Our special thanks to Mysterious Galaxy Books for providing T. Jefferson Parker’s books for sale and signing at the reading.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents Author Terry Spohn
Thursday 11 March 2010, 5:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 7:30 Terry Spohn reading, followed by open mic
Terry Spohn has an MFA from the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa and lives with his wife, Dionne, in Escondido. His short fiction, prose poems, and poetry have appeared in Ascent, Grub Street, Mississippi Review, North American Review, Oyster Boy Quarterly, Eclectica, and other magazines, and his poems have appeared in three anthologies.
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Calling All Closet Writers:
Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents All Open Mic Night
Come Out of the Closet and Read!
Thursday 08 April 2010, 5:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 7:30 Open mic – in or out of the closet, share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Comic Fiction Author Dan McClenaghan
Thursday 13 May 2010, 5:30 p.m. 
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Dan McClenaghan reading and Q&A
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Dan McClenaghan is an award-winning fiction author, with the gift for making his readers laugh and wince — and enjoy every second of both. Dan’s short stories have been published by Pearl, Wormwood Review, The Bridge, New York Quarterly, Tidepools and Turbula.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Author Lew Decker
Thursday 10 June 2010, 5:30 p.m.
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Lew Decker reading and Q&A
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Lew Decker is a veteran, a blue water sailor (he worked in the Caribbean charter trade), a world traveler, a retired educator (he taught for sixteen years at the middle school level in Escondido) and author of Fingerprints… a coffeehouse reader, a collection of autobiographical essays. Lew’s writing is evocative and generous, as it shares his visions of far-flung lands and seas — and the wisdom he has gleaned from them. He has written for Cruising World, Latitudes & Attitudes and CQ. Lew is working on his first novel, Alligator Food.
Fingerprints will be available for sale and signing by the author.
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Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Poet Mai Lon Gittelsohn
Thursday 08 July 2010
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Mai Lon Gittelsohn reading and Q&A
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
A fifth Chinese daughter, Mai Lon Gittelsohn is also a poet and writing teacher. She lives in Del Mar where she leads classes of seniors in memoir writing. An elementary school teacher in Del Mar for twenty-three years, she now enjoys writing in Harry Griswold’s poetry workshop and singing with Villa Musica. Her poems have appeared in the Paterson Literary Review and in the San Diego Poetry Annual.
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Thursday 09 September 2010, Fallbrook’s Writers Read presents
Home from Dubai:
Nicholas Karavatos Reading & Book Signing
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Nicholas Karavatos reading, Q&A and book signing
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Performance poet Nicholas Karavatos, a graduate of Humboldt State University, now lives in Dubai and teaches literature and creative writing at American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. His collection of poetry, No Asylum, was published in December by Amendment Nine.
Click here to listen to Nick’s book launch performance.
Beat poet David Meltzer wrote of No Asylum, “Nicholas Karavatos is a poet of great range and clarity. This book is an amazing collectanea of smart sharp political poetry in tandem with astute and tender love lyrics. All of it voiced with an impressive singularity.”
Karavatos’ poetry has been published in many books and journals, including After the Fallen, Big Bridge: The War Papers, Blackbox – A Record of the Crash, Certain Stones, Cherry Bleeds, Country Activist, debt, Earth First! Radical Environmental Journal, EcoNews, Edge City Magazine, Hamilton Stone Review, Juke Jar, Log, Minotaur, Mirage Periodical, Numinous, Paisley Moon, PoetsWest Online, Portland Review, Prophetic Voices, Prosodia, Punk Rock Saved My Life, Red Fez, San Fernando Poetry Journal, Steelhead Special, Thieves Jargon, Tight, Travelling Poet, Todd Point Review, Toyon, Unlikely Stories, West Wind Review, What the Hell and With+Stand.
Rapunzel Akbar
Long hair hip hop Kabul reports
Jail for lewdly selling ice cream to girls
Homeland Security is a comic book serial
Not yet a graphic novel based on a screenplay
The top of the hour is the bottom of the barrel on this Fourth of July
The news is on repeat and I feel like a fool
Minimum wages are rising across
Car bombs are multiplying across
Gas lines in the Levant
She mouthlessly pleads for fuel
The whole planet watches Jerry Springer and Maury Povich
On satellite TV and sympathizes with the Taliban
“Holiday in Cambodia” is or is not a gap-fill
Sing-along around the barrel-fire folk song
— Nicholas Karavatos
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Thursday 14 October 2010, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Author Michelle Latiolais
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Michelle Latiolais reading and Q&A
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Michelle Latiolais, an English professor at UC Irvine’s Programs in Writing, is the author of the novel Even Now, which received the Gold Medal for Fiction from the Commonwealth Club of California. Her second novel, A Proper Knowledge was published in 2008 by Bellevue Literary Press. Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones, said of the book, “In prose shimmering with intelligence and compassion, Michelle Latiolais dissects the essentials of everyday life to find the heartbeat within. A Proper Knowledge reveals an author with that rare eye which is at once both clinical and poetic.”
Latiolais has been writing in three anthologies, Absolute Disaster, Women On The Edge: Writing From Los Angeles and Woof! Writers on Dogs. Her stories and essays have appeared in Zyzzyva, The Antioch Review, Western Humanities Review, Santa Monica Review and, most recently, the Iowa Review and the Northwest Review. Latiolais’ newest book, Widow, a collection of stories, involutions and essays, is forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press in January 2011.
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Thursday 11 November 2010, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Author Jon Wesick
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 John Wesick reading, Q&A and book signing
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Jon Wesick writes fiction and poetry. His chapbook, My Father’s Ashes, was a runner up in the San Diego Book Awards, and his poems have appeared in American Tanka, Limestone Circle, Slipstream, The TMP Irregular, Vol. No. Magazine and other journals. Jon’s poetry chapbook The Nude in the Freezer and his novel The Speed of Regret will be available for purchase and signing by the author.
Jon hosts the Gelato Poetry Series, a San Diego reading. He has a Ph.D. in physics, and has worked in medicine, software and communications. He is a long time student of Buddhism and the martial arts.
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January 9 through 14, 2011
AUTHORS SPEAK! A Fallbrook Library Celebration
Fallbrook’s new county library is scheduled to open January 22, but the innovative project is already attracting booklovers — and writers. Six award-winning authors will celebrate in the days leading up to the grand opening with a series of presentations, AUTHORS SPEAK! A FALLBROOK LIBRARY CELEBRATION. The public is invited to the free series, which runs from January 9 through 14 in the Café des Artistes at Fallbrook Art Center.
A collaboration between the Friends of the Fallbrook Library and Fallbrook’s Writers Read, AUTHORS SPEAK! features authors with roots of one sort or another in the local area. They will talk about writing, take questions from the audience, and read from their books, which will be available for purchase and signing by the authors.
Kicking off the series, bestselling crime novelist T. Jefferson Parker will read Sunday, January 9 at 6 p.m. A Fallbrook resident, Parker has used Fallbrook and San Diego County settings in several of his 18 books, two of which have won Edgar Awards for Best Novel. The newest in his popular Charlie Hood series, The Border Lords, will be released the week of the author series.
Parker will be followed by Laura McNeal on Monday, January 10 at 7 p.m. McNeal is an award-winning author of young adult fiction and a National Book Award finalist for her most recent novel, Dark Water, a haunting coming-of-age story set in Fallbrook during the 2007 wildfires.
On Tuesday, January 11, at 7 p.m., award-winning journalist and San Diego-based author Sue Diaz will speak about her book, Minefields of the Heart: A Mother’s Stories of a Son at War, a collection of tender and sorrowful tales of Diaz’ son’s two deployments to the Iraq War and their effects on him and his family.
On Wednesday, January 12, at 7 p.m., Debra Ginsberg, novelist and memoirist, and her son Blaze Ginsberg, also a memoirist, will talk about their writing and autism activism. Debra’s new novel, The Neighbors Are Watching, is set in the 2007 wildfires. 
Blaze will read from his memoir Episodes: My Life as I See It.
The Thursday, January 13 event is a luncheon sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fallbrook, featuring a presentation by bestselling novelist Ann Patchett, whose family lives in Fallbrook. The event will be at the Grand Tradition, and lunch is $20. Advance reservations are required. Contact Doug Clements at 760-728-8577 or chertiq@yahoo.com.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rae Armantrout, a writing professor at the University of California San Diego, will conclude the AUTHORS SPEAK! series on Friday, January 14, at 7 p.m. at the Café des Artistes. She will read from her 2010 winning collection Versed and her new collection to be released by Wesleyan University Press in December, Money Shot.
The Café des Artistes and Fallbrook Art Center are at 103 S. Main Street in Fallbrook. Entrance to the Café is from the rear parking lot off Alvarado at Main. Seating at the Café events is on a first come, first serve basis.
Special thanks to Mysterious Galaxy bookstore, in San Diego, for providing books for the series.
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March 9, 2011, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Readings by the Writers of Coyotes Howl in Fallbrook
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Coyotes Howling
6:45 to 7:30 More Coyotes and open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
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April 13, 2011 Celebrate National Poetry Month
at the Fallbrook’s Writers Read Poetry Stomp!
Mural by Brett Stokes
Featuring:
Brandon Cesmat
Daniel Charles Thomas (aka Tijuana Gringo)
Michael Cheno Wickert
Minerva
Drummers
and who knows who else…
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 Let the Poetry Stomp begin!
Brandon Cesmat, a writing and film studies professor at Cal State San Marcos and an award-winning poet and fiction author, has organized the Poetry Stomp. He’s gathered a passel of stellar performance poets to ring in a new year of poetry — accompanied by a drumming ensemble.
Poets scheduled to perform at the stomp include Daniel Charles Thomas, Cesmat, Michael Cheno Wickert and Minerva. What is a fabulous treat for Fallbrook!
The featured poets’ reading will be followed by open mic.
The Café is offering a special supper menu for the reading — reservations are recommended. To make your reservation, call the Café: 760-728-3350.
Seating for those who do not choose to dine will be readily available. Entrance to the Café is from the rear parking lot behind the Fallbrook Art Center. The Café opens at 5:30, and the reading begins at 6 p.m.
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May 11, 2011, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Warrior Word Play
an evening of poetic indulgence served by the students of Fallbrook High School
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00: Readings by Poetry and Composition students from Fallbrook High
The students of teacher Pam Munro’s Advanced Senior Poetry and Composition classes will be reading their original works. As Ms. Munro said, “The students are excited by the prospect of sharing their creative writing and showing the community that students are talented, respectful, brilliant — and extremely good looking!”
For more information about the reading, contact Kit-Bacon Gressitt at 760-522-1064 or kbgressitt@gmail.com.
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June 8, 2011, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Award-winning Author Laurel Corona
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
6:45 to 7:30 Laurel Corona reading, Q&A and book signing
Award-winning historical fiction author Laurel Corona will be reading from her third novel, Finding Emilie. Corona is a professor of English and Humanities at San Diego City College. She has a penchant for research and a gift for storytelling that turns history into compelling fiction. Set in the French Enlightenment period, Finding Emilie tells the story of the intriguing mathematician and physicist, Emilie du Châtelet, and her daughter Lily. Corona is also the author of The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi’s Venice and Penelope’s Daughter, the story of the Odyssey retold from a woman’s perspective.
Corona’s books will be available for sale and signing.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon Gressitt at 760-522-1064 or kbgressitt@gmail.com.
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Wednesday, July 13, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Author Michelle Latiolais
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 to 6:45 Michelle Latiolais reading and Q&A
6:45 to 7:30 Open mic – share your original poetry or prose or relax and listen to others
Michelle Latiolais, an English professor at UC Irvine’s Programs in Writing, will be reading from her new book, Widow: Stories, a collection of stories, involutions and essays published by Bellevue Literary Press in January.
Named a New York Times Editor’s Choice, the Times described Widow as “Bracing, exposed, ruthlessly mercurial . . . If part of the book’s beauty resides in its language, both its precision and its sheer, wild exaltation, another part—the greater part—resides in its insistence on shunning prettiness, etiquette, niceness, guile. . . . Somehow Latiolais brings [her] briefest of tales to an ending that made me cry. The book is absurdly sexy, too, in the way that truth can be sexy, and marks of ravage can stir us, and sweaty labors awaken appetite. The writing thrums with aggression and a lush, rooted sensuality . . . the rewards here are enormous.”
Latiolais is also the author of the novel Even Now, which received the Gold Medal for Fiction from the Commonwealth Club of California. Her second novel, A Proper Knowledge was published in 2008 by Bellevue Literary Press. Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones, said of the book, “In prose shimmering with intelligence and compassion, Michelle Latiolais dissects the essentials of everyday life to find the heartbeat within. A Proper Knowledge reveals an author with that rare eye which is at once both clinical and poetic.”
Latiolais has contributed to three anthologies, Absolute Disaster, Women On The Edge: Writing From Los Angeles and Woof! Writers on Dogs. Her stories and essays have appeared in Zyzzyva, The Antioch Review, Western Humanities Review, Santa Monica Review and, most recently, the Iowa Review and the Northwest Review.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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August 10, 2011, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
2011 San Diego Poetry Annual Launch Reading
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 The Poets of the 2011 San Diego Poetry Annual, followed by open mic
Now in its fifth year of publication, the 2010-2011 San Diego Poetry Annual features the work of English and Spanish language poets from throughout San Diego County, including 235 poems by 154 poets, including featured poet Steve Kowit and Marge Piercy.
Published by author Bill Harding, the 2010-2011 Annual was edited by Brandon Cesmat, Olga Garcia, Edith Jonsson-Devillers, Seretta Martin, Robt O’Sullivan Schleith, Terrence Spohn, Megan Webster and Jon Wesick.
The Annual is now part of the permanent collections of every college and university library in San Diego County, the San Diego City and County library systems, and the libraries of independent cities from Oceanside to Chula Vista, El Cajon to Escondido.
Copies of the Annual will be available for sale and signing by the poets reading on the 10th. Come celebrate the region’s talent with us!
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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September 14, 2011, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Tom McNeal, author of To Be Sung Underwater
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 Open mic
6:30 Tom McNeal reading, Q&A and book signing
Tom McNeal, a San Diego County-based author, set his first adult novel Goodnight, Nebraska, in the town where he spent summers as a child. Then, with his wife Laura McNeal, he wrote four acclaimed young adult novels: Crooked, Zipped, Crushed and The Decoding of Lana Morris.
To Be Sung Underwater, a love story unlike any other, was released in June, and it was swiftly recognized by authors, readers and the publishing industry as an important work by a gifted writer. Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, wrote of the novel, “You don’t so much read To Be Sung Underwater as you’re consumed by it. The characters are unforgettable. The writing is staggering. More importantly, though, it’s the courage of this book that sets it apart. It’s the bravest, most beautiful book I’ve read in a long time.”
McNeal has been a Wallace Stegner Fellow and a Jones Lecturer at Stanford University, and his short stories have been widely anthologized.
Join us for McNeal’s reading, Q&A with the audience, and book signing. To Be Sung Underwater will be available for purchase at the reading.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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October 12, 2011, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
A Galaxy of Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Other Literary Oddities
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 Let the reading begin
Writers, ho!
Bring your most out-of-this-world work to our special themed all-open-mic night on October 12.
If you’ve never dabbled in fantasy, sci-fi, horror, fairy tales or just plain weird writing, now is your opportunity to try your hand; if you have, bring it on — short fiction, poetry, short creative nonfiction, whatever gets your fantastic juices flowing!
For those who like to play to the audience, costumes would not be out of order.
The reading will be held in conjunction with the Fallbrook Art Center’s 14th annual Galaxy of Glass exhibit, which will be open during the reading, so plan to take a peek.
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November 9, 2011, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
A Literary Salute to Veterans
featuring authors Sue Diaz and Cmdr. Sheri Snively
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available
6:00 Reading begins
In honor of our local veterans, San Diego-based writers Sue Diaz, author of Minefields of the Heart, and retired Navy Quaker Chaplin Cmdr. Sheri Snively, author of Heaven in the Midst of Hell, will read from their books, discuss their careers, and take questions from the audience.
Diaz, an award-winning journalist, will read from Minefields of the Heart: A Mother’s Stories of a Son at War. The book — a tender collection of wartime essays, a mother and son memoir, a letter full of love and compassion — is the result of Diaz’s unexpected march to war when her gentle son, Roman, enlisted in the Army in 2002 and was subsequently deployed to Iraq twice.
Snively’s book, Heaven in the Midst of Hell, was recognized with a forward by U.S. Marine General James N. Mattis, and Publisher’s Weekly wrote this about it: “Both text and photos convey the everyday details of life and death in the war zone: a menorah made of Coke cans, beanie babies piled on the bed of an Iraqi patient, smiling soldiers. Snively doesn’t offer a big-picture overview, but heaven and hell are in these personal details. From the perspective of a medical chaplain, the two sides are ‘life’ and ‘death’ rather than ‘us’ and ‘them.’”
The authors books will be available for sale and signing.
The featured authors will be preceded by open mic for poetry and prose.
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January 11, 2012, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
T. Jefferson Parker
and his new thriller The Jaguar
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available (call for reservations, 760-728-3350)
6:00 – 7:30 Reading, Q&A and book signing
From www.tjeffersonparker.com:
T. Jefferson Parker delivers a crime thriller that redefines the landscape of the cartel wars as an epic clash of good and evil!
Erin McKenna, a beautiful songwriter married to a crooked Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, is kidnapped by Benjamin Armenta, the ruthless leader of the powerful Gulf Cartel. But his demands turn out to be as unusual as the crumbling castle in which Erin is kept. She is ordered to compose a unique narcocorrido, a folk ballad that records the exploits of the drug dealers, gunrunners, and outlaws who have populated Mexican history for generations. Under threat of death, Armenta orders Erin to tell his life story—in music—and write “the greatest narcocorrido of all time.”
As the mesmerizing music and lyrics of Erin’s song cascade from the jungle hideout, they serve as a siren song to the two men who love Erin: her outlaw husband, Bradley Jones, and the lawman Charlie Hood—who together have the power to rescue her. Here, amid the ancient beauty of the Yucatecan lowland, the long-simmering rivalry between these men will be brought closer to its explosive finale.
For more information, contact K-B Gressitt at kbgressitt@gmail.com.
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March 14, 2012, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
The Path to Publication
Café des Artistes
103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available (call for reservations, 760-728-3350)
6:00 – 7:30 Open mic reading, followed by panel discussion
Our panelists, all Fallbrook-area authors, will share their stories about the various paths they’ve each traveled to the publication of their work. Their books will be available for sale and signing (cash and checks only). Panelists include:
Kate Harding, of Rainbow. A Pushcart Prize nominee in both fiction and poetry, Kate’s work has appeared in numerous print journals and online at Perigee, Contemporary World Literature, Contemporary World Poetry and Literary Mama. She co-authored the chapbook Maiden, Mother, Crone, a collection of poetry. She was a fellow at the American Film Institute, and PBS produced and aired her movie A Berkeley Christmas. Kate’s chapbook What Women Do was a finalist in the Earth’s Daughters chapbook competition. Her poetry collection Santa Monica Disposal and Salvage will be published later this year. She also uses the pen name Penny Perry.
Robert Hayward, author of The Thirteenth Step, is the grandson of a Ho-Chunk Winnebago Indian from Wisconsin, who was a victim of the government boarding school program and the blood dilution projects. Robert studied at Laguna College of Art and Design and, in 1999, he was commissioned to create a monument to memorialize a Native American firefighter who lost his life protecting the La Jolla Indian Reservation in the 1999 Palomar Mountain Fire. The Thirteenth Step, published in 2011, is about addiction recovery and Native spirituality.
Jenny Hilborne is a native of Britain and now a Fallbrook resident. She writes mystery novels and fancies herself a “bit of an amateur sleuth.” She began writing her first novel in 2007, inspired by the competitive real estate world in which she works. Madness and Murder was published by Echelon Press in 2010, and her second mystery, No Alibi, was released by Echelon in 2011. She is currently working on a mystery set in Oxford, England, near the home of her youth.
The panel discussion will be preceded by an open-mic reading of original poetry, short fiction and creative non-fiction.
For those who would like to dine during the reading, the Café offers a special bistro supper menu. Call Café des Artistes at 760-728-3350 to reserve a table. Plentiful seating for those not dining is also available. The Café entrance is in the rear of the Art Center, off Alvarado Street.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon Gressitt at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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April 11, 2012, Fallbrook’s Writers Read Presents
Celebrate Poetry! Featuring Kate Harding
Café des Artistes 103 S. Main Street, Fallbrook, CA
5:30 Doors open, supper menu available (call for reservations, 760-728-3350)
6:00 – 7:30 Open mic reading, followed by Kate Harding reading and book launch
This month’s reading is a celebration of National Poetry Month — and the launch of Kate Harding’s new collection Santa Monica Disposal & Salvage.
Harding, of Rainbow, is a Pushcart Prize nominee in both fiction and poetry, Her work has appeared in numerous print journals and online at Perigee, Contemporary World Literature, Contemporary World Poetry and Literary Mama. She co-authored the chapbook Maiden, Mother, Crone, a collection of poetry. She was a fellow at the American Film Institute, and PBS produced and aired her movie A Berkeley Christmas. Her chapbook What Women Do was a finalist in the Earth’s Daughters chapbook competition. She also uses the pen name Penny Perry, under which her new collection has been published.
Santa Monica Disposal & Salvage will be available for sale and signing.
For the open mic segment, bring a favorite poem to share — your own or someone else’s.
For those who would like to dine during the reading, the Café offers a special bistro supper menu. Call Café des Artistes at 760-728-3350 to reserve a table. Plentiful seating for those not dining is also available. The Café entrance is in the rear of the Art Center, off Alvarado Street.
For more information, contact Kit-Bacon Gressitt at kbgressitt@gmail.com or 760-522-1064.
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