Alumni News
| If you are an alumnus of our Book
Passage Conferences or Classes Progrmming, and you have news to share, let us know what you've been up to! Email the
Webmaster, webmaster@bookpassage.com, with "Alumni News" in the
subject line. |
04/07/13: Travel Writers Conference alumna Patti Shales Lefkos shares: Bravo, Patti! |
07/05/12: Mystery Writers Conference alumna Elizabeth Carroll shares: Congratulations, Elizabeth! |
| 01/08/12: Travel Writers & Photographers Conference alumna Jo Farrell shares: Since winning first prize at the Travel Writers and Photographers conference in 2000, I have moved to Hong Kong and have been concentrating more on my photography projects in China and Asia. In 2011 alone, I won several awards including the Jacobs Riis Award (2011) runner-up, Centre for Fine Art Photography “Human + Being” juried exhibition, and was published in Creative Quarterly (issue 23: Summer 2011). I am now working on a long term project of the last remaining women with boundfeet in China, and hope to come again to Book Passage in August for the conference. Winning the Conference prize for my photography was a milestone in my passage as a photographer, and I was honoured to exhibit my work from Tibet in 2005 in the new classroom. George Olson, Tim Cahill, and Nevada Weir were inspiring presenters. Congratulations, Jo! |
08/21/11: Conference alumna Leslie Budewitz wrote to us to mention: Congrats, Leslie! |
06/28/11: Conference alumna Marcy Gordon wrote to us to say: Congratulations, Marcy! |
| 06/28/11: Conference alumna Autumn Stanley wrote to us to say: You were very helpful and encouraging to me both during and after the 2009 Children's Writers & Illustrators Conference. I connected with a wonderful illustrator—Ji Young Lee—who also attended the conference, and we published a picture book of one of my stories, Marcie's Daffodil. It came out from Xlibris in December of 2010, and has been enthusiastically received wherever people have seen it. The book evidently fills an unexpected gap in picture-book literature, as I'm told, it is the only one to approach a miscarriage in the family—and to deal with it subtly enough so that most children can and do read it—just as the story of Marcie's adventures with her daffodil bulb and its spring flowering (a passage-of-the-seasons tale)—without finding it scary. Everyone who sees Ji Young's illustrations loves them. Congrats, Autumn & Ji Young! |
| 09/26/10: Book Passage Travel, Food & Photography Conference alumna Janis Cooke Newman, and author of the novel Mary, recently had a piece on Sicily published in the New York Times! In Sicily, a Step Back in Time (The New York Times, September 26, 2010) 07/19/10: Conference alumna Linda Ballou wrote to us to say: I attended the Travel, Food & Photography Conference in 2003. I made many wonderful, helpful and inspiring contacts. It has been the single most valuable thing I have done toward building my travel writing career. Since, then I have published numerous articles about the fabulous trips I received from various outfitters. I just published Lost Angel Walkabout-One Traveler's Tales. In it there is an interview with Tim Cahill and on the back of the book an endorsement from Michael Shapiro. Before using the subtitle, I asked Larry Haebegger if he objected and he gave me his blessing. Description: "Lost Angel Walkabout—One Traveler’s Tales is a spirited collection of travel narratives recounting the haps, mishaps, and serendipitous adventures that give, travel-writer Linda Ballou, a sense of wonder and delight. Some of the stories like “Falling in the Footsteps of John Muir” and “Look Both Ways on Small Islands” are reflections that might make you glad you stayed home, while “River Wise” could inspire you to toss the TV clicker out the window and to explore our beautiful planet. All of the stories take you to special places where you share the sensual experience of being there without straining one muscle, getting altitude sickness, or tipping your canoe." Congratulations, Linda! |
| 4/18/10: Jill Robinson wrote to say: I hope all is well with you! I'm a past student of Book Passage writing workshops as well as the Book Passage Travel, Food & Photography Conference, and have been publishing a lot in the past few months, so I wanted to update you with what I've been doing. In the San Francisco Chronicle, I've had five Weekend Getaways articles: Murphys: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/30/TR4F1ABHUC.DTL Lodi: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/12/TR7C1BREGI.DTL Pinnacles National Monument: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/19/TRVM1CEC72.DTL Carlsbad: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/02/TRNG1CL8VP.DTL Mount Tamalpais: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/18/TRGL1CPV7G.DTL In World Hum, I've had a Travel Story: The Accidental Tsunami Rider: http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/the-accidental-tsunami-rider-20100310/ In Tonic, I've had five features: Exploring the Backstreets Behind HBO's Treme: http://www.tonic.com/article/treme-hbo-exploring-nola-new-orleans-backstreets/ Mardi Gras 2010: How to Give Back in New Orleans: http://www.tonic.com/article/mardi-gras-2010-how-to-give-back-in-new-orleans/ DIY Paradise Preservation: http://www.tonic.com/article/honduras-bay-islands-guanaja/ The Best of National Geographic's Geotourism Summit: http://www.tonic.com/article/the-best-of-national-geographics-geotourism-summit-2010/ Mavericks Surf Contest 2010: Keeping the Big Wave Green: http://www.tonic.com/article/mavericks-surf-contest-2010-keeping-the-big-wave-green/ I also blog weekly on Rolf Potts' Vagablogging (http://www.vagablogging.net/), as well as on UpTake's lodging and hotels blogs. I look forward to seeing you at this year's conference! While I no longer attend as a student, I do attend the events every evening. I can't stay away! You always get the most incredible mix of faculty and students! Congratulations, Jill! |
| 11/17/09: Rebecca Long
Chaney attended the Book Passage Travel, Food & Photography Conference back in
2001. She placed second in the photographers competition. Since then she
has released an adventure book, Bulldust in my Bra: An
American Couple's Working Season in the Outback. She is
about to release the second children's book in a series of ag
educational books entitled Mini Milk Maids on the Mooove.
It is being promoted nationwide. Congratulations, Rebecca! |
| 1/15/09: B.P. Classes Instructor
Katherine Forrest says: "I do have some good news about another BPU
alumna--perhaps you've heard that Zoe Carter
from one of my classes is having her very fine memoir, Imperfect
Endings, published by Simon & Schuster in 2009." Congrats, Zoe! |
| 11/26/08: Catharine
Clark-Sayles has written to say: "I started writing with Margaret Kaufman at BPU
about 12 years ago. My first book of poetry, One Breath has
just been published by Tebot Bach Press. It is a collection of mostly
medical poems following my training as a doctor. Thank you BPU for a
good start." Congratulations, Catharine! |
| 11/6/08: Gayle Keck,
a graduate of the Book Passage Travel
Writers & Photographers Conference, has received a Lowell
Thomas Award for her article in the Washington Post entitled
"Pirates of the Mediterranean." Congratulations, Gayle! |
| 11/6/08:
Tina
Stolberg, a graduate of the Book Passage
Children's Writers & Illustrators Conference, is proud to announce the
May 2009 release of her second book Little Shrew Caboose
published by Pleasant Street Press. Visit her website www.tinastolberg.com for more information and
author visits. Congratulations, Tina! |
| 8/24/08:
April Orcutt, travel writer and alumna of Book Passage Travel
Writers & Photographers Conference, has a 4,000-word commissioned essay
in the new Lonely Planet anthology Flightless:
Incredible Journeys Without Leaving the Ground. Her story is "On the Lam on
the Long Road to Lhasa" about traveling overland (illegally) from
Chengdu in China to Lhasa in Tibet. She also just had a 21-part
(yes, 21-part) story in Travel + Leisure Online with a main
story and 20 "slide captions": 20 Perfect Summer Getaways: Save or Splurge on These Great Road Trip Ideas from 10 U.S. Cities. Read it at www.travelandleisure.com/articles/20-perfect-summer-getaways Slide show starts at: www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/20-perfect-summer-getaways |
| 9/4/07: Book Passage Travel
Writers & Photographers Conferencee faculty member Jeff Pflueger reports the Sunday, Sept.
2, 2007 New York Times Travel Section featured a story he
photographed in the mountains of British Columbia. Congratulations, Jeff! |
| 9/4/07: Kim
Haynes, a student of the 2007 Book Passage Mystery Writers
Conference, wrote to share with us her news of writing an article about
this year's conference for First Draft, a Sisters in
Crime newsletter. She also reports she just finished a rewrite
of her first novel based on things she learned at the conference. Congratulations, Kim! |
| 8/6/07: April
Orcutt, travel writer and alumna of Book Passage Travel
Writers & Photographers Conference, has a short peice coming
out in the September issue of National Geographic Traveler. Congratulations, April! |
| 8/2/07: Pauline
Frommer's book Pauline
Frommer's New York City was named best guidebook of the year by the North American
Travel Journalists Association. Pauline has been a faculty member of
past Book Passage Travel
Writers & Photographers Conferences. Congratulations, Pauline! |
| 2007: Nicole Clausing,
winner of the 2006 Book Passage Travel
Writers & Photographers Conference Essay Contest, will be reading on
Sunday, August 12 at 7:00 pm at Book Passage in Corte Madera, promoting The
Best Women’s Travel Writing 2007. The reading will foreshadow
the Book
Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference that will be starting a few
days later on August 16. Nicole says on her blog "The piece I’m reading was originally written
for that conference in 2005, so I like the circularity of that." |
| 2007: Cara Black,
Book Passage Mystery
Writers Conference
alumna-turned-faculty member and author of the Aimee Leduc
mystery series was recently interviewed by the San Francisco
Chronicle. Read the article here. |
| 2007: Book Passage Travel
Writers & Photographers Conference alumnae Judith
Gille (writer) and Lori Makabe
(photographer) recently had a story on Michoacan, Mexico and 4 photos
appear in the March 11, 2007 Travel Section of the Dallas Morning
News. Congratulations, Judith & Lori! |
| 2007: Jeff Pflueger, photographer and
faculty member of the Book Passage Travel
Writers & Photographers Conference, has photographs published
in the upcoming April '07 issues of both National Geograhic
Adventure and Men's Journal. Pflueger's photos in National
Geographic Adventure accompany a story by Mark Sundeen
on U.S. Route 89. Men's Journal features Pflueger's spread of
Yosemite's Ostrander Backcountry Ski Hut. Congrats, Jeff! |
2007: Michael Shapiro,
author of A
Sense of Place,
has won the coveted Bedford Pace award for outstanding travel
journalism about Great Britain. The award was for his cover story "Land
Beyond Time" in the May-June 2006 issue of National Geographic
Traveler about the famed writer Jan Morris
and her corner of Wales. Michael Shapiro's career in travel writing began at Book Passage, where 15 years ago he was a student at the 1992 inaugural Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference. At that Conference he befriended faculty members Jan Morris and Don George. Since then, Michael himself has served as an outstanding and invaluable member of the Book Passage Conference faculty. There were four categories for the Pace award, including magazine feature, newspaper article, broadcast segment and online story. Shapiro says "I'd learned earlier I'd won the magazine category. But it wasn't until the announcement at Thomas Keller's Per Se restaurant in New York on Tuesday that I knew I'd won the Grand Award." There were 117 entries including articles from Travel & Leisure, Town & Country, The New York Times, Islands, the Dallas Morning News and the Miami Herald. "It was a thrill to win, not just for the recognition but because it gave me a chance to publicly thank National Geographic editors Keith Bellows and Paul Martin for giving me the opportunity, the careful editing, the budget to do the story right, and the wide exposure as a cover story. Much of the credit for the award also goes to photographer Jim Richardson, whose lustrous and luminous photos brought the story to life." Past winners of the Bedford Pace award include: Bill Bryson, R.W. Apple (New York Times) and John Flinn. This was the 11th annual award. Congratulations, Michael! |
| 2007: April Orcutt,
travel writer and alumna of Book Passage Travel
Writers & Photographers Conference, recently had articles
published in the Los Angeles Times & the San Francisco
Chronicle Magazine. Congratulations, April! If You Can See It, You Can Eat It (from the Los Angeles Times, Nov. 19, 2006) Diamond in the Rough (from the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, December 31, 2006) |
| 2007: "I am writing to thank Book
Passage for its excellent seminars and classes, which really do work! I
took a two-day, book marketing course in 2004, and Amy
Rennert's brief seminar on how to get an agent in 2005,
and I am happy to report that Warner Books will be
publishing my novel, The Little Giant of Aberdeen County." —Tiffany Baker Congrats,
Tiffany! |
