All About Romance February 7, 2010
Posted by litchat in romance.Tags: romance
add a comment
February 8-11, 2010
As the cash registers of the world ring up love in the form of candy, flowers and wine this week, we’re hoping to ring up some book sales. Love figures into many genres, but when love takes center stage in a novel, it’s billed as romance. On Monday and Wednesday this week in #litchat we’re talking about love and relationships and why romance outsells other genres across the boards.
To help us celebrate love and romance, we’re bringing in award-winning romance author Lori Foster as guest host on Friday.
Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has routinely had six to ten releases a year and has become a Waldenbooks, Borders, USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. Lori has published through a variety of houses, including Kensington, St. Martins, Harlequin, Silhouette, Samhain. She is currently with Berkley/Jove.
Lori believes it’s important to back to the community as much as possible, and for that reason she ran special contests in conjunction with a publisher, facilitating many first sales for new authors. She routinely organizes events among authors and readers to gather donations for various organizations.
Along with her good friend, Dianne Castell, Lori hosts a very special annual Reader & Author event in West Chester Ohio. Proceeds from the event go to benefit worthy causes, including the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, the Animal Adoption Foundation, and The Conductive Learning Center for children with spina bifida and cerebral palsy.
In 2007, Lori put together “The Write Ingredients” a cookbook of recipes donated by popular authors. Proceeds from the cookbook go toward Lori’s ongoing “Troop project” of collecting and mailing fun, and sometimes necessary items to our troops.
In 2008, Lori coordinated eleven other authors of her choosing, and through Berkley, arranged for the publication of a special anthology of novellas about empowering women. Proceeds from the anthology will go to the Battered women’s shelter.
In 2009, another anthology with Lori and a new set of authors, will be published with proceeds to benefit The Animal Adoption Foundation.
Follow Lori Foster on Twitter at @lorilfoster.
Shh! That’s Taboo! February 1, 2010
Posted by litchat in non-fiction.add a comment
Topic of the Week: February 2-5, 2010
Each generation has its taboo topics. Film and television have broken much of the visual boundaries, yet literature was peeling away at the social mores and proprieties long before radio waves and moving pictures. This week in LitChat we’re talking about topics we’re not supposed to talk about. Are there any left?
How about menstruation, that mysterious bodily function that unites women rich and poor around the globe? Our guest host this week is Elissa Stein, co-author with Susan Kim, of Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation.
Flow: the Cultural Story of Menstruation tells you where it’s at about menstruation: what it is, what we’ve been told and how we’ve been sold, and what we should definitely know. It’s the most natural of cycles with the most unnatural of histories.
It’s a funny, fascinating, and occasionally scary story of big business, advertising, feminism, gender roles, medicine, religion, world culture, and above all, good manners . . . in which every single female, young or old, will recognize her story.
Take a moment to view these hilarious teasers on Flow’s YouTube channel.
Elissa Stein is the author of 10 books. In addition to Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation, her most current publishing projects include NYC adventures with kids, interactive thank you notes, and labor support for parents-to-be, along with visual histories of iconic pop culture—two of which were featured in Entertainment Weekly’s Must Have list. In addition to writing, she runs her own graphic design business. To balance the above, she practices yoga, knits with enthusiasm, and shops for vintage coats on ebay. She lives in New York City with her husband Jon and their two children.
Follow Elissa Stein on twitter: @elissastein
Celebrating One Year of LitChat January 24, 2010
Posted by litchat in Uncategorized.add a comment
Topic of the Week: January 25-29, 2009
LitChat celebrates its one year anniversary this week. LitChat’s Twitter account was created on January 29, 2009 and on the same day we created a blog (www.litchat.net) to augment our web presence.
Notice in the tweet above that our first chats were held Monday through Friday. Early topics were discussions of what books people were reading, what books were releasing, and what books hit the bestseller lists that week. Three weeks of daily twitter chats proved too much and in the fouth week of chats we dropped to three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The first author who joined regularly in the conversations was Kristy Kiernan (@KristyKiernan), who immediately understood the potential of #litchat for building literary community and promoting books. Kiernan went on to become the second author guest host on March 13, 2009.
We launched our first book-specific chat during the week of March 2, 2009, Current Events in Fiction–Novels that Mirror the News, inspired by the book Shimmer by Eric Barnes (@EricBarnes2). Barnes stepped in as the first guest host of #litchat on March 6, 2009. We learned how to archive chats in April, preserving our first #litchat on April 17, 2009 featuring poet Dobby Gibson (@DobbyGibson).
In a single year, LitChat has grown beyond expectations, creating a community of more than 5,000 people who read widely, who support literacy, and enjoy talking about books, writing and getting books into the hands of readers. Regular participants of #litchat include people from around the globe, many of them staying up late or rising very early to catch the chats.
We took our passion for books and reading into the holiday season with the creation of the LitChat Books Are Great Gifts campaign designed to promote book sales. The crowning achievement of this campaign was the first ever auction held live through Twitter that raised more than $1350 for The Reading Tree, a charity that recycles used books for placement into classrooms in poor schools across the globe.
This week in #litchat we’ve invited many of last year’s guest hosts to join us, including Kristy Kiernan (@KristyKiernan), Virginia Deberry (@deberryandgrant), Carleen Brice (@carleenbrice), Eugenia Kim,(@Eugenia_Kim), Luis Alberto Urrea (@Urrealism), Trish Ryan (@Trishryan), Maggie Dana (@maggiedana), Jag Bhalla (@hangingnoodles) and Kristina Riggle (@KrisRiggle) and Lauren Baratz-Logsted (@LaurenBaratzL). Join us to hear updates on where they’ve been, how their books have been received and what they’re working on at present. We hope you’ll join us on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week to join in the conversation. Remember, LitChat is all books. All the time.
Founded by journalist and author Carolyn Burns Bass, LitChat was inspired by the successful #journchat founded and moderated by PR guru Sarah Evans (@PRSarahEvans).
Fictionalizing Real People January 18, 2010
Posted by litchat in fiction, historical fiction, literary fiction, weekly topics.add a comment
Topic of the Week: January 18-22, 2010
Stories told and written about historical characters have been around for centuries. Shakespeare shaped the way many people view the Roman Empire through his Julius Caesar and its offspring Antony and Cleopatra, not to mention the historical views of Britain he made through his Henry and Richard plays. Whether intentional or not, the use of real people in fiction can influence readers in the perception of actual events. Smart people sort the hype from the history, yet ideas and suggestions cling and shade our perceptions whether we want them to or not. This week in #litchat we’re discussing real people as characters in fiction.
Joining us on Friday, January 22 is Melanie Benjamin, author Alice I Have Been, a novel sweeping through the life of Alice Liddell, the real girl who inspired Charles Dodgson’s Alice in Wonderland books published under in the pseudonym, Lewis Carroll. Rumors of pedophilia on the part of Charles Dodgson have tainted the reputation of the man, yet the author remains one of the most brilliant writers of all time.
Written in a first person narrative from Alice’s point of view, the story reads as if penned by a Victorian woman of the era. Many theories have been raised about the relationship between Dodgson and the Liddell girls, particularly Alice. Benjamin takes a fresh and even controversial approach with Alice I Have Been. Guilt, wealth, betrayal and loss follow Benjamin’s Alice through a lifetime of merry-go-round ups and downs. Benjamin’s Alice reveals her penultimate secret–what everyone wants to know–in the final chapter. And it’s worth waiting for.
An avid reader all her life, Benjamin firmly believes that a lifetime of reading is the best education a writer can have. While attending Indiana University—Purdue University at Indianapolis, Melanie performed in many community theater productions before meeting her husband, moving to the Chicago area and raising two sons. Writing was always beckoning, however, and soon she began writing for local magazines and newspapers before venturing into her first love, fiction. As Melanie Hauser, she published two contemporary novels.
By incorporating her passion for history and biography, Melanie, now writing as Melanie Benjamin, has finally found her niche writing historical fiction, concentrating on the “stories behind the stories.” ALICE I HAVE BEEN is her first historical novel; she is currently at work on her second, also to be published by Delacorte Press.
Follow her on Twitter: @MelanieBen
Getting the Scoop January 10, 2010
Posted by litchat in chick lit, weekly topics.1 comment so far
Topic of the Week: January 11-18, 2010
What would you do to get what you’ve always wanted? Would you out a friend in the closet to get a promotion? Would you write a derivative trendy novel to get a book deal? Would you sell your father’s prized collection of Marvel Comics to fund a breast augmentation? This week in LitChat we’re discussing Getting the Scoop–What would you do to get a story (or the thing you’ve always wanted).
In her novel, Spin, author Catherine McKenzie takes you on a fast-paced journey of self-discovery in this wickedly candid and genuinely funny story of a woman who must make a Sophie’s Choice for her career. McKenzie’s protagonist, a 30-year-old journalist named Kate, blows an interview for her dream job at a trendy music magazine when she shows up hungover from a bender the night before. All is not lost when they dangle a second chance at the spot if she goes undercover in a posh rehab lodge to get the scoop on the latest celebrity party girl. 
What Kate learns about herself while in rehab drives the character development, and though the ending is fairly predictable, the battle of scruples and schemes within Kate and how she triumphs will make Spin one of the hottest beach reads of 2010.
Catherine McKenzie was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, where she now works as a litigator. When not serving on many professional associations, she sits on the board of the Montreal Children’s Library and Bishop’s College School, and teaches part-time at McGill University’s faculty of law. Spin is her first novel. We hope it’s not her last novel.
Translations January 4, 2010
Posted by litchat in historical fiction, literary fiction, multi-cultural fiction, translations.add a comment
Topic of the Week
Peter H. Fogtdal
Welcome to a new year with LitChat. Later this month (January 25-29) we’ll have a one-year anniversary week with a reunion of guest hosts who’ve helped make #litchat a fun and informative place to spend an hour every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
This week in #litchat we’re discussing books that have been translated from one language into another. Literary translation isn’t just changing words from one language to another, it requires the ear of a linguist and the compositional mastery of a writer to ensure the author’s original voice shines through.
On Friday, January 8th, Peter H. Fogtdal, well-known to #litchat followers as @danish_novelist, joins us as guest host. Peter has written 12 novels in Danish. Three have been translated into French, two into Portuguese, one into English, The Tsar’s Dwarf (Hawthorne Books).
According to Peter, the translation of The Tsar’s Dwarf by Tiina Nunnally completely captures the rhythm of his writing in the Danish language. The Tsar’s Dwarf is the story of Soerine, a deformed female dwarf from Denmark, who is given as a gift to Tsar Peter the Great. Smitten by her freakishness and intellect, the Tsar takes her against her will to St. Petersburg, where she becomes a jester in his court. There, she lives a life that both compels and repels her. In this inhospitable milieu, Soerine’s intelligence and detached wit provide her some small measure of protection — until disaster strikes in the shape of a priest who wants to “save” her. You can read the opening chapter excerpt here.
Peter is at work on his 13th novel, this one he’s writing in English.
Peter won the Francophonian Literature Prize in 2005 (Le Prix Litteraire de la Francophonie) for Le Front Chantilly (Flødeskumsfronten). He splits his time between Copenhagen, Denmark and teaching literature at Portland State University in Oregon. He maintains an award winning blog DANISH ACCENT that people with bad taste find funny, http://fogtdal.blogspot.com (Peter’s words, not LitChat’s).
Twitter: @Danish_Novelist
Books Are Great Gifts Wrap-Up December 21, 2009
Posted by litchat in Books Are Great Gifts.1 comment so far
We had a night of surprises during our BOOKS ARE GREAT GIFTS auction of signed books last Friday. Thanks to our kind-hearted authors who donated books and the enthusiastic bidders who bought them, we raised $1300 in book sales, plus two individuals gave additional donations that brought the evening’s total to $1360 for our literacy charity The Reading Tree.
Having worked with authors for several years, and knowing their unstinting generosity, the auction’s success probably shouldn’t have been such a surprise. What truly overwhelmed us was how so many of the authors who donated books were right there bidding and buying the books of their fellow authors.
Twitter had been hacked earlier in the day by a cyber terrorist group that shall not be named, creating havoc and dropped tweets late into the night. With the help of many auction supporters who RT’d dropped tweets, we managed to see all of the bids and bring them into action.
The bidding got hot as the night wore on, so much so that the next surprise was learning that each Twitter account is allowed only a certain amount of status updates per hour. LitChat’s account went bankrupt. #BAGG auctioneer and LitChat founder hopped over to her personal account (@CarolyBurnsBass) and continued the action.
Enthusiasm from authors and bidders grew as the night wore on. Several other authors noted the activity and saw the charity benefit and asked if they could throw in one of their books. How could we refuse?
With an already diverse list of superb books on the block we added five spontaneous auctions, including the night’s stellar seller (The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup) from Susan Orlean (@SusanOrlean) whose hilarious crowing for her book (plus a signed photo of her famous rooster, Laura) drew in a sale of $290 (with two additional cash donors on the side).
Julie Klam (@JulieKlam) tossed in a hot title and ignited a bidding war with a spontaneous donation of her memoir Please Excuse My Daughter, which closed at $125. Other extra book donations came from Kristin Bair O’Keeffe, whose debut novel, Thirsty, launched in October; Elyssa East, author of Dogtown, a true crime narrative released earlier this month, and Maggie Dana (@MaggieDana) a #litchat regular whose debut novel Beachcombing released in the UK has just been long listed for the Romantic Novel of the Year award. The complete auction catalog (sans spontaneous extras) can be downloaded here.
Many bidders and donating authors stuck with us through the whole auction, while others popped in and out. What was originally planned as a four-hour auction from 6 to 10 p.m. EST stretched into seven hours, closing at 1 a.m. EST with the sale of Orlean’s The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup.
Each of the winners of our two $25 giftcards from BookSwim that we gave away randomly during the auction chose to donate the gift cards to The Reading Tree, another delightful and large-hearted surprise.
If you were unable to catch the auction action, you can review the complete seven hours of bidding banter in the 2009 #BAGG Auction Tweetscript.
Final thanks to everyone who donated books, to those who bid, to the lucky auction winners, and to the individual donors–you all deserve a standing ovation. We are a dynamic community and together with literacy charities such as The Reading Tree, we can make a difference in the lives of children around the globe.
Holiday Break December 21, 2009
Posted by litchat in Uncategorized.add a comment
Open Chat: December 20-January 1, 2009
We’re taking a break from scheduled topics for the next two weeks, beginning December 20, 2009 and ending on January 1, 2010. That doesn’t mean you can’t come into the #litchat salon to chat about books and writing. Got a hot topic idea? This is your chance to throw it out to the #litchat community.
We will be talking about the results of our BOOKS ARE GREAT GIFTS benefit auction and making suggestions of great books for those seeking last-minute gifts.
Joining us on as guest host in the #litchat salon on January 8, 2010 is a name #litchat regulars will recognize: Peter H. Fogtdal, aka @danish_novelist, author of The Tsar’s Dwarf. Written in his native language, Danish, The Tsar’s Dwarf has been translated into five other languages, including English. Watch for more details about Peter and his January 8th appearance as guest host of #litchat.
Food & Family December 13, 2009
Posted by litchat in food, memoir.add a comment
Topic of the Week: December 14-18, 2009
Books Are Great Giftsauction of books signed by authors is December 18, 6-8 p.m. through Twitter using hashtag #BAGG. More auction details at http://litchat.net/litchats-books-are-great-gifts/book-auction/.
December is the month of holidays. As family and friends gather to celebrate religious and/or cultural traditions, food is always featured. Ask people about their favorite holiday memories and you’ll find responses tied around food and family: “My grandmother’s butterscotch pie,” “my mother’s baked ham,” or “my aunt’s golden latkes.” Food nourishes both the body and the spirit.
Joining us on December 18th is Suzan Colón, author of Cherries in Winter, a memoir reflecting on food, family and getting through tough times with dignity. When Suzan was laid off from a cushy and lucrative job at the beginning of the recession, luxuries she’d taken for granted, like shopping at pricey gourmet markets, getting expensive haircuts, and even owning a car, were all suddenly out of her budget. She and her husband Nathan quickly realized they had to cut way, way back.
When winter came, Suzan cobbled together freelance jobs while wearing layers of sweaters and trying to type in fingerless gloves, the better to keep the heating bill low. She also saved money by cooking at home, and her mother, Carolyn, suggested, “Why don’t you dig out Nana’s recipe folder?” In a basement trunk, Suzan found the tattered treasure holding the old recipes, some written in her Nana’s nearly perfect script, others meticulously type-written, that went back through two World Wars, the Great Depression, and beyond. Reading them, Suzan realized she had found something more than a collection of recipes; she’d discovered the key to her family’s survival through hard times.
Suzan Colón is an independent writer and editor who has written celebrity profiles, personal essays, and general interest articles for O, the Oprah Magazine; Marie Claire; Jane; Details; Harper’s Bazaar; Seventeen; YM; Mademoiselle; Rolling Stone; and others. She is the author of three young adult novels based on the TV series Smallville, as well as Catwoman: The Life and Times of a Feline Fatale; and What Would Wonder Woman Do? Suzan lives in New Jersey with her husband and two cats.
Follow Suzan on Twitter at: @colonsuzan.
Family Dynamics December 6, 2009
Posted by litchat in literary fiction, weekly topics.add a comment
Topic of the Week: December 7-11, 2009
Books Are Great Gifts
It’s something most people have in common: Family. No matter where you grew up, an only child in a penthouse on Manhattan’s Park Avenue, the middle of five on a cattle ranch in Texas, or the only surviving sibling from the mean streets of south-central Los Angeles, you had a family around you. Some of the finest literature of the ages have family dynamics as a central theme. This week in LitChat we’ll be discussing Family Dynamics in Literature through the ages.
Hyatt Bass
Joining us on Friday, December 11th is Hyatt Bass, whose debut novel, The Embers, was released in June 2009. The Aschers were once the perfect American family, successful parents with a talented son and lovely daughter; a portrait painted in celebrity colors with trust-funded brushstrokes. A posh apartment in Manhattan and a weekend home in the Berkshires can’t keep the edges of the portrait from singeing early in the story. Adultery, betrayal, and finally the death of a child fan the flames, leading to a fiery conclusion that destroys the family, scattering ashes across the remaining Aschers.
The Embers is Hyatt’s first novel. Her award-winning feature film, Seventy Five Degrees in July, released by Vanguard Cinema in June of 2006, marked Hyatt’s debut as a feature film director. She also wrote the screenplay and was a producer on the film. Prior to that, Hyatt wrote, directed, produced and edited the short film, Just Desert, in Los Angeles, where she worked as a production assistant on Sister Act, a camera assistant on Tombstone, and an assistant editor and camera assistant at Roger Corman’s infamous Concorde Films. Hyatt received her BA from Princeton University. She lives with her husband, Josh Klausner, and their two sons and two miniature schnauzers in New York City.
Follow Hyatt on Twitter: @HyattBass.
