June 13, 2008

Bellas Artes
Miguel Malo Auditorium
Hernandez Macías 75

Sandy Baum

Sandy Baum has been a professional photographer and pilot for over 40 years. He attended Washington University's School of Architecture in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent the last 15 years as a project manager doing residential, retail and commercial construction in California and Arizona. Sandy has been a full time resident of San Miguel since November 2004.

Sandy's architectural training, experience in construction, and an acute eye for detail contribute to his extraordinary photographs of interiors and exteriors. He looks for everyday subjects that many people pass by and draws attention to items that might normally go unnoticed.

Sandy's photos are hanging in cities across the U. S., Mexico and Canada, including San Miguel, Scottsdale, Austin, Sedona, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, Palm Springs, Toronto, Vancouver and St. Louis.

The slide show will consist of photos from Sandy's recently released two books, San Miguel's Mexican Interiors and San Miguel's Mexican Exteriors, as well as a new book he is working on titled, San Miguel Style, A magical Town in Mexico with the Lifestyle to Match.

Sandy's two books are a unique collection of over 350 color photographs in each book. The books lead a tour of San Miguel's indoor and outdoor living at its finest while allowing us a glimpse of what lies behind the high walls and the closed doors as we walk the cobblestone streets. Pass into open courtyards, interior patios and extraordinary homes through doors that are closed to the average visitor. A number of chapters illustrate San Miguel's charming interiors as well as exteriors, all with intense color that pervades the senses. Come be inspired to include some of these Mexican details in your next building project.

These two books would not have been possible without the generosity of the San Miguel homeowners who open their homes every Sunday for the House and Garden tours, directed by Jennifer Hamilton and sponsored by the Biblioteca Publica.

Sandy is working on another photography book titled: San Miguel Style, A Magical Place in Mexico with the Lifestyle to Match, which he hopes will be available by the end of the year.

Of course, San Miguel's Mexican Interiors, and San Miguel's Mexican Exteriors will be available for purchase after the slide show at Bellas Artes and Sandy will be happy to personally autograph them for you.

July 11, 2008

Kathleen Hudson

Kathleen Hudson will present stories from her research on the archetypes of women in life and literature. Her 2007 book with University of Texas Press called WOMEN IN TEXAS MUSIC: STORIES AND SONGS, is an oral history containing 34 interviews with women talking about living a self-express creative life! The book also documents a woman's perspective on Texas music history.

August 15, 2008

Marie Delgado Travis

Marie Delgado Travis is proud of her Nuyorican roots. She possesses Masters Degrees in Literature and Law and worked in Advertising / Marketing for top companies for 20+ years. She has won awards for her poetry and prose in English and Spanish.  Her bilingual poetry collection LA VENTANA / THE WINDOW earned Honorable Mention, Ninth Annual International Latino Book Awards (2007).The title poem, "The Window" won Second Place in the 2005 Tom Howard Poetry Contest (over 1,600 entries received).Two of her poems were commended in the same contest.

Her work has appeared in CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE LATINO SOUL (2005) and ACROSS THE LONG BRIDGE: An Anthology of Award-Winning Poetry (2006). Her work has been spotlighted in literary journals (SPIKY PALM, LUCIDITY) and e-zines. She lives in Houston, TX.

Marie will read from her eclectic collection of bilingual poetry--serious, romantic and humorous. Visit http://hometown.aol.com/marilutravis/index.html

Mercedes Arteaga with translations by Laura Juliet Josephs

Mercedes Arteaga Tovar will read in Spanish from her novel, Perfume de la Polvera, a story that follows a Mexican woman, Cayetana Tapia Govea, from the moment of her arranged marriage at the age of 12 to her tragic death decades later.  In this saga of 20th century Mexico, our heroine runs away from her husband and family, serves as a governess to a wealthy family in Mexico City during the country’s centennial anniversary, fights in the Revolution, falls in love with a sergeant, and eventually finds herself working the illustrious bordellos of Vera Cruz.  Now a grown woman, Cayetana returns to her hometown of San Miguel de Allende and attempts to win back the trust of her family, most importantly of her daughter Luz, whom she had repeatedly abandoned in an effort to rescue her loved ones from poverty.  This is Mercedes Arteaga’s first novel.

In this bilingual event, writer Laura Juliet Josephs will accompany Mercedes with her English version of the narrative, The Scent of Gunpowder, her first full-length translation.

September 12, 2008

Nancy Leigh Harless

Nancy Leigh Harless is an award winning poet and writer. Her works have been included in many antholgies including Cup of Comfort, The Healing Project, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and Travelers Tales, as well as many professional and literary journals

A retired nurse practitioner, Nancy travels often -- usually off the well-paved road.  Throughout her travels she has seen women struggle, sometimes against daunting odds. She has seen them nearly break under the weight of their own lives. She also has felt an abundance of  spirit, of wisdom and of connection with these same women -- ordinary women who live with extraordinary grace.

What she has come to know for sure is the message of her first book, Womankind: Connection & Wisdom Around the World, a collection of stories gleaned from her international nursing experiences and travels.

Walter Megher

October 10, 2008

Jeannie Ralston

November 7, 2008

Wim Coleman

Wim Coleman is an award-winning playwright and poet. When he moved to Los Angeles in 1986, he met his future wife, Pat Perrin. They soon began writing as a team, exploring such themes such as creativity, science, history, mythology, storytelling, personal and social transformation, and the evolution of human consciousness. They have collaborated on at least 65 published books, some of which have appeared in German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Spanish editions. Their work includes essays, articles, novels, and many books for young readers. Wim and Pat live in San Miguel with their adopted daughter, Monserrat. They are members of the San Miguel Authors’ Sala and International PEN; together they manage the San Miguel PEN Scholarship Program.

Wim has worked as an actor, stage director, set designer, editor, pizza cook, waiter, and bartender. His plays have been presented in Los Angeles and New York. He has degrees in theater, literature, and education.

Wim Coleman’s The Comedy of Falstaff is a comic verse epic-in-progress about the adventures of Shakespeare’s immortal rogue Sir John Falstaff in the afterlife. When completed, this aggressively eccentric work will follow its hero from the moment of his death through hell, purgatory, and paradise—along the way exploring themes of human destiny, sin and redemption, and the evolution of life and consciousness.

Coleman’s inspirations for this poem include Byron, Dante, Chaucer, Rabelais, Milton, Goethe, Nietzsche, the Arabian Nights Entertainments, the Bible, current ideas about information theory and cosmology—and, of course, Shakespeare. On November 7, Wim will perform Canto I (“Wandering Judas”) of this “cabaret epic” or “massive nursery rhyme for adults,” recently published by Plays on Ideas.

His and Pat’s website: www.playsonideas.com/index.html

January 9, 2008

Terrence N. Hill

Terry will read from Two Guys Read Jane Austen, his most recent book in the 'Two Guys' series. Like the first two (Two Guys Read Moby-Dick and Two Guys Read the Obituaries), this book was co-written with his long time friend, the personal growth writer Steve Chandler. The subject matter of this third book gives Hill the opportunity to share with his readers his profound personal knowledge of women.
 
After graduating from law school and becoming a member of the Michigan Bar, Terry sold his soul to the Devil, happily working in advertising for more than 30 years. Lately he has been trying to buy it back, writing poetry, essays and plays as well as the three unclassifiable 'Two Guys' books.
 
In 2005, he won the Playhouse on the Green (Bridgeport, Conn.) playwriting award for his first play: Hamlet - The Sequel