Friends of the Oakland Public Library
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"Public libraries receive less than 1% of all tax dollars and are used by more than 50
percent of the population." |
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Friends of the Oakland Public Library
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Now in its 14th year, the Oakland Public Library’s Annual National Library Week Celebration in April will feature the theme, “Your library card…Get it! Use it!” A variety of free events aimed at attracting both new and return visitors to its libraries will take place throughout the month, highlighted by “An Evening with Isabel Allende in Conversation with Patricia Holt,” scheduled for Thursday, April 20, 7:00 p.m. in the Oakland Museum of California’s James Moore Theatre, 10th & Oak Streets. Refreshments, a book signing, and a chance to purchase titles by both writers will take place immediately following the program, courtesy of the OMCA Store. This evening is being co-sponsored by the Oakland Museum of California, Friends of the Oakland Public Library and The Oakland Tribune/ANG Newpapers.
Several of her books have been adapted as movies and Daughter of Fortune was selected as one of Oprah’s Book Club selections. Critics such as Victoria Brownworth of The Baltimore Sun have praised Allende’s recent retelling of the story of Zorro as “a fully realized, definingly modern creation…not your tired matinee idol Zorro, nor the sexy cartoon Zorro of the comics.” It has also been called “a picaresque novel with postmodern flourishes” (Allen Barra, Houston Chronicle), and a “rollicking adventure yarn” that “will make you want to pick up a sword and start slashing your initials into the nearest available bad guy” (Steve Bennett, San Antonio Express). Patricia Holt will be interviewing Isabel Allende for her National Library Week appearance. Ms. Holt served as Book Review Editor for the San Francisco Chronicle for sixteen years and currently writes a free e-mail column, Holt Uncensored (www.holtuncensored.com) that focuses on the publishing and bookselling industry. She also operates an editorial service, Manuscript Express. Her past credits include working as a columnist for Publishers Weekly and serving as senior editor for the San Francisco Book Company. She also founded the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association and
served as a board member of The Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.
In 1991, her biography of private detective Hal Lipset, The Bug in the
Martini Olive, was published by Little, Brown and later reprinted in
paperback as The Good Detective.
Daniel AlarconDaniel Alarcón will be reading from and discussing his first book, War by Candlelight on Thursday, April 27, 6:00 p.m. at the Oakland Main Library, 125 14th Street-First Floor (between Oak and Madison). Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Alabama, Alarcón attended Columbia University and earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His work has previously been published in The New Yorker, Virginia Quarterly Review, among others, and anthologized in Best American Non-Required Reading 2004 and 2005. He currently lives in Oakland where he is the Distinguished Visiting Writer at Mills College. War by Candlelight is a collection of striking stories that “take the reader from Third World urban centers to the fault lines that divide nations and people.” The Washington Post Book World states that “Alarcón’s fierce, stylish and intricate stories announce a prodigious talent.” Copies of Alarcón’s work will be available for purchase and signing. And More ...In addition to these author events, the Oakland Public Library will also be celebrating with a series of programs for teens and children. For a complete list, please consult the Library’s Web site at www.oaklandlibrary.org, or pick up an April calendar at your nearest Oakland library.
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