Rafe Esquith - Real Talk for Real Teachers
Corte Madera store
Priority seating with book purchase
Mention you plan to attend in the comments field when purchasing online!
If Rafe Esquith’s Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire was food for a teacher’s mind, Real Talk for Real Teachers ($26.95) feeds the teacher’s soul. In this inspiring book, the genius behind the triumphs in Room 56 and on the stage with the Hobart Shakespeareans returns with words of wisdom and advice for those who struggle day to day in the world’s hardest profession.
After thirty-plus years in the job, Esquith still puts in the countless classroom hours with which any dedicated teacher will be instantly familiar. He recognizes that new teachers and veteran educators need different kinds of nourishment, whether it’s encouragement to see through a teacher’s difficult early years, advice on midcareer classroom building, or novel ideas for how longtime educators can put their expertise to work.
Mixing his trademark offbeat humor and no-nonsense maxims with instructive stories and useful in-class advice, Esquith proves the perfect companion for teachers who need a quick pick-me-up, a long heart-to-heart, or just a momentary reminder that they’re not alone. Real Talk for Real Teachers is from-the-hip advice to help teachers of every stripe cope with the overwhelming challenges of the classroom and beyond.
Rafe Esquith has taught at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles for twenty-eight years. He is the only classroom teacher to have been awarded the president’s National Medal of the Arts. His many other honors and awards include the American Teacher Award and People magazine’s Heroes Among Us Award. He lives in Los Angeles.
- Street:
- 51 Tamal Vista Blvd
- City:
- Corte Madera ,
- Postal Code:
- 94925
Class: Hallie Ephron - Turning Tell into Show
A Book Passage Mystery Writers Pre-Conference Class
Thurs. July 25 • 1:00-3:30 pm • $90 for MWC Attendees, $125 for General Public
As writers, we're scolded to "show not tell," but what exactly does that mean? Why is it a bad idea to just flat out tell the reader stuff? How do you turn telling into showing? We'll discuss, analyze examples, and write. Lots of examples will be provided, but participants are also encouraged to (optionally!) bring a sample of their own writing to analyze and rework in class.
We'll explore these questions:
- What does telling look like, and why do you want to avoid it?
- Are you telling instead of showing in your writing?
- How do you turn a tell into a show?
- What are some techniques for showing:
-- with behavior
-- with viewpoint
-- with carefully chosen details (of person; of place)
-- by unpacking the critical moment
- Do you have to show everything, or is it sometimes okay to tell? How to decide?
This class is part of the pre-conference events leading up to the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference. The class is open to both conference participants and non-particpants, although conference participants receive a discount. To learn more about the conference, please visit the link above.
- Street:
- 51 Tamal Vista Blvd
- City:
- Corte Madera ,
- Postal Code:
- 94925
Class: David Corbett - The Character of Crime
A Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference Pre-Conference Class
Thurs., July 25 • 1:00-3:30 pm • $125 or $90 for Conference Attendees
In this pre-conference workshop, award-winning crime novelist David Corbett shows the key roles that make crime fiction work, with focus on the specific demands of the three major subgenres of crime fiction—mystery/ detective, crime, and thriller—and an emphasis on maintaining dramatic tension, creating moral complexity, and avoiding cliché.
- Street:
- 51 Tamal Vista Blvd
- City:
- Corte Madera ,
- Postal Code:
- 94925
Ivy Pochoda & Roger Hobbs - In Conversation
Moderated by David Corbett
Priority seating for Mystery Writers Conference attendees
Set against the rough-hewn backdrop of the New York waterfront in which the disappearance of a teenaged girl sends shock waves through her community, Visitation Street ($25.99) is a riveting literary mystery and a “gripping urban drama” from rising star Ivy Pochoda.
Ivy Pochoda is the author of The Art of Disappearing and has a BA from Harvard University in English and Classical Greek with a focus on dramatic literature and a MFA from Bennington College in fiction. She is a former professional squash player and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband.
“Visitation Street is urban opera writ large. Gritty and magical, filled with mystery, poetry and pain, Ivy Pochoda’s voice recalls Richard Price, Junot Diaz, and even Alice Sebold, yet it’s indelibly her own.” - Dennis Lehane
From its riveting opening pages, Ghostman ($24.95) effortlessly pulls the reader into Jack’s refined and peculiar world—and the sophisticated shadowboxing grows ever more intense as he moves, hour by hour, toward a constantly reimprovised solution. With a quicksilver plot, gripping prose and masterly expertise, Roger Hobbs has given us a novel that will immediately place him in the company of our most esteemed crime writers.
Roger Hobbs lives in Portland, Oregon, after graduating in 2011 from Reed College. Ghostman will be published in fourteen countries around the world.
“Fast, hard and knowing: this is an amazing debut full of intrigue, tradecraft and suspense. Read it immediately!” —Lee Child
- Street:
- 51 Tamal Vista Blvd
- City:
- Corte Madera ,
- Postal Code:
- 94925
Class: Susanne Pari & Sheila Gordon - Together Stories
Sat., Aug. 3 • 10:00-12:00 pm • $40
The idea behind “Together Stories” is deliciously simple and wonderfully addictive: using storytelling to forge a bond between the young and the old. Learn how to create a collaborative story using a sequential back-and-forth method via email. Writing a story with a child is a unique way to gain insight into a child’s thoughts—and the kids love it! Susanne Pari is a novelist, essayist, and author of The Fortune Catcher. Sheila Gordon was one of the original organizers the Kidney Foundation Authors Luncheon. She has written a Together Story with her granddaughter Emily.
- Street:
- 51 Tamal Vista Blvd
- City:
- Corte Madera ,
- Postal Code:
- 94925
Class: Mary Edwards - Jump Start Your Art Career
Sat., Aug. 3 • 10:30-12:30 pm • $50
Build your art career by learning to think like an entrepreneur.
Mary Edwards is a Career and Life Coach for Artists. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and teaches workshops for artists throughout the Bay Area.
- Street:
- 51 Tamal Vista Blvd
- City:
- Corte Madera ,
- Province:
- California
- Postal Code:
- 94925
- Country:
- United States
