The Literary Society of the Southwest Manuscripters wishes to thank the City of Torrance and the Cultural Arts Commission for this honor.

The Staff of the Southwest Manuscripters also wish to thank the many illuminating and helpful guest speakers down the 60+ years of our existence, and, of course, it’s many members who support the club with their spirit and intelligence.

Ildy, Bernie and Alan with Awards On the right, Ildy Lee, Bernadette Shih and Alan Cook, holding our multifarious awards.

Below, small thumbnails of the awards…

Torrance Excellence in Arts Award
Torrance Assembly Certificate of Recognition Award LA County Commendation

Below also is the display which we had in the Toyota Hall where the awards were presented.

Southwest Manuscripters Display

A You-Tube clip of the proceeding is in the works and will soon be displayed here…

(click here to go back to the main page)

Donna Sozio, is an author, publishing consultant, writing coach and publicity expert. Emmy and Oscar award-winning writers have sought out her publishing advice. Her clients have been published by Adams Media, Allen & Unwin, Three Rivers Press and more. Clients have won many awards including: The Australian Literature Review, The Borders’ James Patterson Thriller Competition, and the National Indie Excellence Awards and have been featured on and in E!, The Today Show, Fox News, Vogue, Cosmopolitan and more.

The Man Whisperer Personally, Donna received multiple offers from top literary agents multiple times, sold her first book to a major publisher in three weeks, sold the TV and film rights to her second book The Man Whisperer before she finished writing it and has been featured in over 100 major national media outlets including The Tyra Banks Show, The Early Show, GMTV, Good Day LA, and Fox News. Her success is due to a specific pitch process that she now makes available to all writers.

Learn more about her at:

http://donnasozio.com/getpublished/

or email her at:

donnasozio@gmail.com

( Come to the next meeting and hear her talk – Nov. 21, 2011 at 6pm, come early for networking )
( Palos Verdes Peninsula Library – Community Room – 701 Silver Spur Road, Rolling Hills Estates )
( Click Here For Directions )

She lives with her husband, Robert, near Los Angeles. A North Dakota native and graduate of the University of North Dakota, Judy enjoys singing, travel, genealogy, and gardening.

Her new book is: “If This Land Could Talk – Homesteading on the Northern Plains”

If This Land Could Talk Millions of settlers flocked westward for homesteads, taking advantage of the free land opened to settlement by the expanding railroads. Author Judy Cook’s family never lost faith in the land. Cook’s Dakota roots inspire a compelling story of her grandparents’ homesteading experiences in North Dakota.

If This Land Could Talk provides a riveting look at three generations of life on the Northern Plains where Cook spent her formative years. Her candid portrayal brings to life her four grandparents who carved a living from the inhospitable prairie and her parents who continued to farm. She offers a poignant yet entertaining glimpse into her ancestors’ daily lives. The author recounts growing up on the same land in the 1950s, shaped by a way of life since vanished.

Based on meticulous research, personal experiences, and stories passed from family to family, If This Land Could Talk also features photos of bygone years. It resonates with a powerful sense of place, an enduring love of the land, and reverence for the family.

The book has been recognized with iUniverse Editor’s and Readers’ Choice Awards indicating writing excellence and reader demand. Awarded recognition as iUniverse Star book. Second edition published June 2010 has new cover and new ISBN number.

Colleen F. Fitzpatrick
“Experience as a writer of Forensic Genealogy –
A modern approach to family research.”

Colleen F. Fitzpatrick, PhD, is a Forensic Genealogist who has been recognized for her work with the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory on identifying the remains found in the Alaskan crash of Northwest Flight 4422.

     Retired from the optical industry in 2005, she now assists nonprofits, military organizations, and the FBI with forensic identification, and has been instrumental in exposing two high profile Holocaust literary frauds.

     As a world traveler and multi-lingual, Colleen specializes in international cases.

     Her first book Forensic Genealogy has become a classic- a must-have for professional and casual genealogists alike. She is also the co-author of DNA & Genealogy and the author of The Dead Horse Investigation: Forensic Photo Analysis for Everyone.

     She writes feature articles for GAMES Magazine and for all major genealogy magazines. Her article on Flight 4422 will be published in Scientific American in late 2011.

http://forensicgenealogy.info/

Monday, July 18, 2011 – at the community room of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Library -
Visit with us at 6pm – Meeting at 7pm – (Map and Directions here)

Bob Myers
“Shanghai Odyssey 1989″

Bob Myers may be best known to Southwest Manuscripters as the head of Cultural Services with the City of Torrance where he helped present the great Ray Bradbury in his annual Public Lecture.
Bob grew up in Fullerton, and earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in Arts Management. He served an internship with South Coast Repertory Theatre, where he learned to use business management strategies to achieve visionary artistic goals. He then launched a career that has included executive positions with theatres, performing arts centers, art museums and multi-arts institutions around the U.S. and overseas. He served as Managing Director of the Norris Theatre and became a 15-year resident of Palos Verdes. Another position was Director of Shanghai Centre Theatre in China, which he will discuss in more detail during his talk.
Most of his published writing has been journalistic, promoting and discussing the arts through press releases, newsletters, museum catalogues, periodicals and radio commentary. Several of his articles were published in the Los Angeles Times. The most recent, titled “Surprising Shanghai,” appeared in the Sunday Travel Section.
Bob and his wife Lynn have been married for 35-years. She is Managing Director of the Los Angeles Fashion District. Their daughter Lindsey graduated from Peninsula High and UC Riverside. Earlier this year Bob retired to their home in Lake Arrowhead where he plans to concentrate on travel writing.

Bruce and Marcia Butler

GENEALOGY AND HISTORICAL WRITING
turning business writing skills to genealogy and historical subjects

Bruce and Marcia Butler
Bruce Butler was a partner in a law firm in Washington, D.C. and then a resident partner of the firm for several years in London, England. In 1984 he became international counsel for Allied Signal in Morristown, New Jersey and then in 1988 was transferred to California as General Counsel of Allied Signal Aerospace in Torrance. Subsequently he became international counsel and then General Counsel of Kaiser Aluminum in Houston, Texas.
Bruce received his BA from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, an LLB from the University of Pittsburgh Law School and a Masters of Law from Georgetown University Law Center. He was editor-in-chief of the law review at Pitt. He spent a year at a law institute in Frankfurt, West Germany and six months with a German law firm.
Bruce is the author of 10 law review articles and also co-author of a book for German businessmen on doing business in the United States. Upon retirement he turned his writing skills to genealogy and then to 17th-century history. Last summer he and his wife, Marcia, published a book on the history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th Century, using only documents which referred to Marcia’s direct ancestors. By 1652 more than 170 of these ancestors were living in New England.
Marcia graduated from Chatham College in Pittsburgh, where she was a history major. After marrying Bruce and accompanying him to Germany, Marcia became a researcher for seven years at National Geographic. The couple have three children living back East, a daughter and a son in New York City and one daughter in Washington, D.C. Marcia is currently chairman of Las Candalistas’ annual fundraising effort, which will culminate in the group’s annual “Walk on the Wild Side” event next April.

Join us on Monday, September 20, 2010 at the Palos Verdes Peninsula Library at 7pm, come early to network and meet new friends!

Club Picnic

Note: NEW DATE!

The Southwest Manuscripters Club Picnic will be on Saturday August 21st at Ildy Lee’s house, 2928 Paseo del Mar, in Palos Verdes Estates. The picnic will start at 3:00p.m. and end after dark so we can enjoy the sunset over the ocean. (see map, directions below).
On the programme will be Showcase readings by members, presented and moderated by our own Richard Myers, author of the well-known “The Writing Life As I See It.” – A presentation by Cat Spydell and Gineve Rudolph of World Nouveau Press, and entertainment by Stephen Smoke and Ildy Lee.
Please! This event is only open to SWM Members and Guests of Ildy Lee.
The event will be catered, but you can bring something that suits your taste, please co-ordinate and RSVP to Ildy at (310) 541-0044, but preferably by e-mail at ildylee@cox.net

Directions:
From Hawthorne Blvd. turn right on Palos Verdes drive WEST, and left on Paseo Lunado.

From Redondo Beach and PCH, take Palos Verdes Drive, past Malaga Cove to the right, and continue on around the Peninsula until you come to the SECOND Paseo Lunado, turn right on the second Paseo Lunado and follow it around, bearing left to 2928.
You’ll pass an elementary school and the street will turn into Paseo del Mar. Follow it to the end.

BEWARE! There are two Paseo Lunados leading to two Paseo del Mars. If you take the wrong one you’ll never find the house!

[Entrance is around the corner, where Paseo Del Mar turns left into Via Caleta - the best parking is at the outer curb, along Via Caleta, near the vacant lot]

“A Few Funny, Fanciful Things that Happened on the Way to my First Book.”
Stanley Todd Terasaki made his children’s book debut with Ghosts for Breakfast. Winner of Lee & Low’s 2000 New Voices Award Honor, Ghosts for Breakfast was based on an incident experienced by his great-grandfather.
Ghosts for Breakfast received critical praise. Smithsonian Magazine named it one of its “Notable Books for Children for 2002.” Kirkus Reviews called it “a perfect blend of humor and suspense, with the added appeal of a Japanese-American setting.” Booklist said that it “has all the appeal of a classic Japanese folktale.” Publishers Weekly added that it “conveys the lovingly worn texture of a generations-old family story, and the comfort that parents offer fearful children of any time and place.”

Terasaki is a third generation Japanese-American and a native of Los Angeles. He currently resides in Torrance, California, with his wife and three children. He received his bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Southern California and his master’s degree in counseling. After having been an English teacher and counselor for many years, Terasaki now serves as an assistant principal with the Los Angeles Unified School District at King Middle School in Los Angeles.
Terasaki has also written two plays that have been performed locally about Japanese-American Christians during and after World War II: A River in the Desert (Christmas in Manzanar) and Gardena, U.S.A.

We would like to invite the Southwest Manuscripters to attend an event on Sunday, June 27 at 2:00 PM at the Palos Verdes Borders in the Promenade on the Peninsula mall. Welcome Stacey O’Brien of Wesley the Owl fame, an author who worked on her book locally at the Millie Aames Writing Workshop that meets weekly in the Palos Verdes library and who went on to become a best-selling author! Stacey will talk about her book Wesley the Owl and sign copies. All ages welcome. This is the first of a monthly series of events that will be at the PV Borders called Mischievous Muse Day. Local publishers Mischievous Muse Press and Borders have teamed up to have monthly signings, an event sure to inspire both readers and writers! We hope you will post this information on your blog or maybe send it to your SWM email list, and we will keep your group updated each month on our author signings.

Best,

Cat Spydell
World Nouveau/Mischievous Muse Press