Events

Book Passage ClassEight Mondays: Sept. 13-Nov. 1, 9:30-11:15 am, $235Corte Madera storeRegister for ClassStudents will develop reading, writing, listening and speaking skills within a framework of Italian literature, culture and language. Readings include early examples of Italian poetry plus short stories and plays by Moravia, Calvino and Ginzburg. Textbook: Sapore de Italia (available through instructor)Gisella Petrone grew up in Italy. She received a Masters degree from the University of Calabria. She has taught English, Italian, Latin, Roman History, and Italian cooking.

Book Passage ClassFive Mondays: Sept. 13-Oct. 11, 6:30-8:30 pm, $210Corte Madera storeRegister for ClassLearn the fundamental tools of narrative writing, including plot, setting, characterization, dialogue, and point of view. The lectures provide published texts as models, and writing exercises help you apply what you learn to your work. Peg Pursell started the creative writing program at the Charleston School of the Arts and taught fiction writing at the College of Charleston. She curates the “Why There Are Words Literary Reading Series” in Sausalito.

Free Event - Open to the PublicCorte Madera storeOrder a signed copyDavid Burke presents "Bad Boys and Bad Girls of Literature in Paris," an illustrated talk based on his long years of literary detective work on his acclaimed book Writers in Paris: Literary Lives in the City of Light ($19.95). The presentation features scandalous "boys" from the days of medieval poet, thief, priest-killer, and Master of Arts in Theology François Villon to such 20th Century shockers as Henry Miller, Jean Genet, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, and such scandalous "girls" as George Sand, Colette, and Anaïs Nin. Burke is a longtime writer/producer of television documentaries, most notably for 60 Minutes, who left New York with his director/editor wife Joanne Burke in 1986 to spend a year in Paris. They have been working there ever since.