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NEW RELEASES OF NOTE
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---->
SPECIAL OFFER TO FRESH YARN READERS!! <-----
Here's
the deal.... Amy Friedman is one of
the most AMAZING personal essay writing teachers and
editors around! I've studied with her (me
being your FRESH YARN editor, Hillary), and so have
many FRESH YARN contributors. In October, she's teaching
a personal essay writing and performing workshop
called From Page To Stage: A Spoken Word Salon --
in France, as part of The Auvillar Writers’ Workshops.
And
they are offering a special discount if you mention
FRESH YARN! Here are the deets:
The
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, one of the most
respected international arts organizations, is pleased
to welcome Amy Friedman to Moulin à Nef, our
beautiful studio center in the enchanting medieval hamlet
of Auvillar in southwest France. Amy brings her celebrated,
inspirational coaching style into an intimate workshop
setting where students will write personal essays and
learn to perform them so that the audience is drawn
into a comforting, intimate atmosphere. Don’t miss
this rare opportunity to study with Amy in the unspoiled
Gascony region, an area famous for gastronomic delights
including excellent local wines. Auvillar is just four
hours from Barcelona, and one hour from Toulouse. To
learn more about transforming your life experience into
riveting storytelling, visit From
Page to Stage.
Dates:
10/18-10/24
For
more info: 434-946-7236 • http://www.vcca.com/friedman.html
$2195.00 (includes tuition, lodging, all meals, excursions)
FRESH
YARN DISCOUNT: $150.
Paired with early bird discount, that's $300 off. There's
also one partial work study scholarship of $1000.00
being offered. CHECK
IT OUT!
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Confessions
of a Prep School Mommy Handler: A Memoir
by
FY contributor Wade Rouse
When
Wade Rouse -- a rural, public school graduate who grew
up more Hee Haw than Dynasty -- was hired
as the director of publicity at the prestigious Tate
Academy, he quickly discovered his real job was to make
a few of the very pretty, very rich, very mean mommies
of the elite students happy. Enter former Tate beauty
queen and sports star Katherine Isabelle Ludington --
Kitsy to her friends -- who went to an Ivy, married
an Ivy, and made a lot of money.
Now,
she is Wade’s VIP volunteer and a perfectly coiffed
nightmare. In between designing Louis Vuitton–inspired
reunion invitations, dressing as Ronald Reagan for Halloween,
and surviving surprise Botox parties, Wade tries to
tame Kitsy and her pink Lilly Pulitzer-clad posse while
reclaiming his self-esteem. Following a year in the
life of the super rich and super spoiled, Confessions
of a Prep School Mommy Handler is hilarious,
heartbreaking, and deliciously catty.
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RECENT
RELEASES AND EVENTS BY FY CONTRIBUTORS (and
friends!)
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QUEEN
OF THE ODDBALLS: And Other True Stories from a Life
Unaccording to Plan
***
Selected by Borders as one of the Best Literary Memoirs
of 2006! ***
by
FY creator, host, and editor, Hillary Carlip
A
hilariously offbeat memoir about an adventurous young
woman's escapades as she defies conventions and transforms
an ordinary Los Angeles life into a star-studded, extraordinary
miracle of self-discovery. Here
are what a couple of publications have said:
Carlip's
fresh, funny memoir of growing up at celebrity's edge
in Hollywood, accompanied by photos and highlights of
current events from the 1960s through 2004, is at once
hilarious and heartbreaking." —Publishers
Weekly
"[Ms.
Carlip's] curriculum vitae reads like a Cliffs Notes
version of American popular culture..." —
New
York Times
Check
out lots mo' at www.queenoftheoddballs.com
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Pretty
Little Mistakes -- by Heather McElhatton
Pretty
Little Mistakes, a choose-your-own adventure book for
adults is out! The book Vanity Fair called, "Cleverly
Conceived," and Redbook called, "a must read!"
is now available!
Heather McElhatton’s singularly-original debut
novel has more than 150 possible endings. From your
first choice – where to go after school - you decide
which of your dreams to chase. Should you travel abroad
or get a masters degree? Marry or stay single? Become
an artist, an entrepreneur, a homemaker, a doctor, or
a drug dealer? There are hundreds of lives sewn inside
one book, some end fabulously and others in total disaster.
In
real life you can’t go back and do your life over
-– but in Pretty Little Mistakes, you can.
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25
Questions for a Jewish Mother --
by Judy Gold and Kate Moira Ryan
Stand-up
comic Judy Gold (who won two Emmy Awards for writing
and producing The Rosie O'Donnell Show) interviews
Jewish mothers and reveals all the strength, love, and,
of course, neuroses, that make Jewish mothers so unforgettable.
Written with playwright Kate Moira Ryan, 25 Questions
for a Jewish Mother is already a hit Off-Boradway show
that will be hitting the road soon!
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Deliver
Me, True Confessions of Motherhood -- edited
by Laura Diamond
A
collection of personal essays, stories and poems by
members of the Los Angeles Poets & Writers Collective.
Poignant, heartbreaking, uplifting and honest, they
capture the wide-ranging experiences of motherhood,
childhood -- even grandmotherhood -- with candor, introspection
and wit. This collection of short and accessible pieces
that share common experiences told with uncommon nuance
-- from the monotonous joys of nighttime rituals, to
surviving a pre-school bake sale without burning down
the house while baking brownies.
Proceeds
from the book benefit Beyond Shelter, Inc., (www.beyondshelter.org),
which helps homeless families return to permanent housing
and rebuild their lives.
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Ditched
by Dr. Right
by
FY contributor Elizabeth Warner
Critic's Pick in
Entertainment Weekly!
“If you have been looking for the next sassy, scrappy
heroine to root for, if you want to behold a true literary
accomplishment, sentence by smart-ass sentence, if you
want to be riveted by the poignant and hilarious tales
of a WASP out of water . . . you must read this book.”
–Liz Tuccillo, co-author of He’s Just Not
That Into You |
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Sippy
Cups Are Not For Chardonnay: And other things I had
to Learn as a New Mom
by FY contributor
Stefanie Wilder-Taylor
Sippy
Cups are not for Chardonnay delivers the
empathetic straight dirt on parenting, tackling everything
from Mommy and Me classes (“Your kids don’t
need to be making friends at three months old. But you
do! And not with people you’ll meet at Mommy and
Me”) to attachment parenting (“If you’re
holding your baby 24/7, that’s not a baby, that’s
a tumor”). Stefanie Wilder-Taylor combines practical
tips with sidesplitting humor and refreshing honesty,
assuring women that they can be good mothers and responsibly
make their own choices, whether they opt for breast
milk or formula, disposables or cloth diapers. A witty
and welcome antidote to trendy parenting texts and scarifying
case studies, Sippy
Cups are not For Chardonnay provides genuine
support, encouragement, and indispensable, common-sense
advice.
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Miami
Beach Memories
by
FY contributor Joann Biondi
A
collection of interviews with 100 people from all walks
of life-strippers, comedians, lawyers, doctors, waiters,
waitresses, cooks, bellhops, writers, photographers-that
tells the story of Miami Beach from the 1920s to the
1960s. Full of poignant anecdotes and stunning vintage
photos, it's a social narrative that proves that Miami
Beach was a hot and happening place way before Paris
Hilton ever came to town.
Among
the more notable names in the book: comedians Shelly
Berman and Shecky Greene, strippers Honey Harlow (wife
of Lenny Bruce) and Tempest Storm, boxing trainer Angelo
Dundee and Fight Doctor Ferdie Pacheco, actresses Rose
Marie and Sheila MacRae, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer
Edna Buchnan and Tony Award-winning playwright Mark
Medoff, former US Attorney General Janet Reno, and convicted
murderer/jewel thief Murf the Surf.
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Fired!
Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed
A
celebration of crappy jobs that ended poorly... written
and edited by FRESH
YARN contributor, Annabelle Gurwitch, now in paperback!
Featuring
pieces by loads o' FRESH YARN writers including Maxine
Lapiduss, Jill
Soloway, Paul
Feig, Taylor
Negron, Carl
Capatorto, Eric
Gilliland, Lori
Gottlieb, Elizabeth
Warner, and, yours truly, Hillary
Carlip.
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Did
I Wake You?: Haikus for Modern Living
by FY contributor
Beth Lapides
Did
I Wake You? is a plugged-in, turned-on, funny enlightened
guide to waking up 17 syllables at a time from alternative
comedian Beth Lapides.
A
haiku collection, a humor book, a self-help and anti-self-help
book all rolled into one, Did I Wake You?is easy reading
for difficult people. Read it at your desk, in your
bed, on the john or the Stairmaster - or anytime you
need a lift. And, at 5x6" it makes the perfect
little stocking stuffer for all your holiday gift-giving.
Beth
calls her haikus 'nano-literature', and her crystalline
writing tells tiny stories that wake us up to the beauty,
joy, wonder and quantum absurdity of life in the post-9/11
world. Beth's insights into spirituality and sex, sleeping
and consciousness, Google and yoga fill chapters like
"Dirty Optimism", "My Firewall Needs
Work", and "Hollywood Math".
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Things
to Bring, S#!T to Do... and other inventories of anxiety
by
FY contributor Karen Rizzo
Karen
Rizzo is a compulsive list-maker. Rizzo’s book
THINGS TO BRING, S#!T TO DO…and other inventories
of anxiety is narrated by twenty-odd years of
her personal lists, annotated with the recollections
of herself, her family and her friends from 1970s America
to the present day. It’s a compulsively readable
book about growing up, screwing up, sometimes succeeding,
and being grateful despite the anxiety.
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Tiny
Ladies in Shiny Pants (now in
paperback!)
by
FY contributor Jill Soloway
Critic's
Pick in Entertainment Weekly!
"A woman this honest and funny is nothing short of
revolutionary." - Salon
"Finally, a woman has written a hilarious manifesto
for the post-feminist generation… Soloway's wickedly
entertaining prose and willingness to bare the most amusing,
intimate moments of her life reveal the contradictory
challenges of being a smart, sexy woman who wants to have
it all." - New York Post |
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WHY
MOMS ARE WEIRD
by
FY contributor Pamela Ribon
Pamela
Ribon's first novel, Why Girls Are Weird (2003), is
based on her own experiences with her hugely successful
Web site pamie.com. She's currently developing her second,
recent release, Why Moms Are Weird as a sitcom for ABC.
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THE
KATHY AND MO SHOW
featuring FY contributor
Kathy Najimy
"With
great insight, wit and compassion, the queens of comedy
-- Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, Veronica's Closet, Dirty
Blonde) and Mo Gaffney (Mad About You, Happy Texas,
Absolutely Fabulous) -- bring their unique perspective
to an incredible variety of hilarious characters and
situations that will have you laughing from start to
finish!
The
2-DVD set features both award-winning HBO specials,
The Kathy & Mo Show: Parallel Lives (a decidedly
wicked and hilarious look at men, women and modern America)
and The Kathy & Mo Show: The Dark Side (a no-holds
barred frank and funny look at religion, gay rights
and feminism) plus 20 years worth of never-before-seen
film clips culled from Kathy's & Mo's private collections,
newly filmed footage and audio commentaries making The
Complete Kathy & Mo Show a must-have for all Kathy
& Mo fans! This phenomenal 2-disc set, featuring
two brand new pieces, runs 230 minutes total!"
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VALLEY
OF THE DOLLS (NEW RELEASE -- SPECIAL EDITION)
Featuring FY contributor
Kate Flannery
Kate
Flannery, Meredith on The Office, played
Neely
O'Hara in the Off Broadway hit, Valley of the
Dolls at the Circle in the Square in NYC and
LA's Bing Theatre. Now she's featured on the Valley
of the Dolls' DVD extras!
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LIEBRARY
A
totally fun-filled board game created by Daryl Hannah
and FY contributor
Hilary Shepard.
You
don't have to be well-read to play Liebrary. All you
need is your sense of humor and creativity! Each player
will hear the title and a short description of a book.
Create
a convincing first line to fool your fellow players
into thinking yours is the REAL first line of the book.
The player who reaches the end of the board first wins!
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Mad
As Hell Club
A
new site that's a cross between The Nation and
Mad Magazine in which essayists and advice columnists
write about issues (more social than political) that
they find distressing.
Chock full o' rants, featuring many FY contributors!
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WHEN
THE MESSENGER IS HOT: STORIES and
ALL
THIS HEAVENLY GLORY
By
FY contributor, Elizabeth Crane
When
the Messenger is Hot ::: "Crane has a
distinctive and eccentric voice that is consistent and
riveting from the first story to the last, and 'When
The Messenger is Hot' expresses a remarkably strong
and coherent artistic vision..."
-- The New York Times Book Review
All
This Heavenly Glory ::: "Crane has written
that excruciatingly great book that begs you to inhale
it in one sitting while at the same time trying to savor
every knockout sentence."
-- Entertainment Weekly
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RUBYand
NECKLACE
OF KISSES
One new book (Ruby) and one new paperback release (Necklace)
by prolifc, award winning, acclaimed author, and FY
contributor Francesca Lia Block.
Ruby:
"... fairy tale simplicity combined with wrenching
emotional realism, served with a hefty side of over-the-top
romance..." —Publishers Weekly, starred
review
Necklace:
"Francesca Lia Block's fabulist literature that's
particular to Los Angeles is the only American fiction
that's really worth reading." - Los Angeles
Times
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THE
DIVISION STREET PRINCESS: A MEMOIR
By
FY contributor
Elaine Soloway. Set in the 1940s, the memoir is
a coming-of-age story of a girl, a store, and a vibrant
Chicago neighborhood. It's been nominated for theAmerican
Library Association's Alex Awards.
"Simply
and gracefully told, Soloway's sweet and lucid memoir
affirms the vulnerability and valor of young girls and
captures the atmosphere of a striving ethnic community
in a rapidly changing city neighborhood." —
Booklist
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Earl
Hamner: From Walton's Mountain To Tomorrow
A
biography written about FY
contributor Earl Hamner. Earl is known for the books
he's written (Spencer's Mountain, etc.), his screenplays
(Charlotte's Web, Palm Springs Weekend, etc.) and the
legendary TV shows he's created (including The Waltons
and Falcon's Crest).
"Earl
Hamner, a Virginia native, is one of America's best-loved
storytellers, but he has never been the subject of a
full-length study. EARL HAMNER: FROM WALTON'S MOUNTAIN
TO TOMORROW fills that gap."
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