# Holiday Author Blogs 2011

## Shelley Shepard Gray on Reading Aloud

_Shelley Shepard Gray is the author of the "Seasons of Sugarcreek Sisters of the Heart" series. She lives with her family in southern Ohio, where she writes full time. Here she talks about her oral --- and aural --- experience with books._

## Patricia Bosworth on a Special Christmas

_Patricia Bosworth was born in Oakland, CA, the daughter of writer Anna Gertrude Bosworth and attorney Bartley Crum, one of the six lawyers who defended the Hollywood Ten during the Red Scare at the start of the Cold War in 1947. Her younger brother, Bartley Crum Jr., and her father both committed suicide. Bosworth wrote a memoir about her family ANYTHING YOUR LITTLE HEART DESIRES, published by Simon &Schuster. After receiving her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in 1955 she became a member of the Actors Studio, in Manhattan, but in 1964 she quit acting and went into journalism. Since, she has worked at and written for the New York Times, McCalls, Harpers Bazaar, The Nation, The New York Times Book Review, Esquire and Vanity Fair where she has been since 1988. In the 1990s she began teaching non-fiction writing at Columbia and Barnard; she lectured at Yale and the New School and is currently co-chair of the Biography Seminar at NYU. She has published biographies of Montgomery Clift and the photographer Diane Arbus; she is also the author of a short biography of Marlon Brando. Bosworth is the winner of the Front Page award and was a senior fellow at the National Arts Journalism program at Columbia. Here she talks about the Christmas she met William Saroyan._

## Anne Perry on a Remarkable Gift

_Anne Perry is a bestselling author of historical detective fiction, most notably the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series and the William Monk series, both set in Victorian England. Her first book,THE CATER STREET HANGMAN (1979), launched both the Pitt series and her career as a premier writer of Victorian mysteries. The William Monk series of novels, featuring a Victorian police officer turned private investigator, includes FUNERAL IN BLUE and THE SILENT CRY. In addition to these series, Perry is also author of a number of World War I novels as well as several collections of short stories. Perry's novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world and she has over twenty-five million books in print worldwide. Here she talks about a suprising gift she received from a second-hand bookshop._

## N.M. Kelby on Her Library

_N.M.Kelby (Nicole Mary Kelby) has been translated into several languages and offered by The Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and Quality Paperback Book Club. She is the recipient of a Bush Artist Fellowship in Literature, an NEA Inter-Arts grant, the Heekin Group Foundation's James Fellowship for the Novel, both a Florida and Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship in fiction, two Jerome Travel Study Grants, and a Jewish Arts Endowment Fellowship. Here she talks about the library of books she was gifted over the years._

## Michael Lee West on REBECCA

_Michael Lee West is the author of six novels including GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN, CRAZY LADIES, MAD GIRLS IN LOVE, AMERICAN PIE, SHE FLEW THE COOP as well as a food memoir CONSUMING PASSIONS. She lives with her husband on a farm in Lebanon, Tennessee with three bratty Yorkshire Terriers, a Chinese Crested, assorted donkeys, chickens, sheep, and African Pygmy goats. Her faithful dog Zap was the inspiration of a character in MERMAIDS IN THE BASEMENT. Here she talks about how Daphne DuMaurier’s REBECCA made her want to become a writer._

## Marisa de los Santos on a Balance Beam

_An award-winning poet and bestselling author with a Ph.D. in literature and creative writing, Marisa de los Santos lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her husband, the children’s book author David Teague, and their son and daughter. She’s the author of the bestsellers LOVE WALKED IN and BELONG TO ME. Here she talks about a balance beam she once received as a gift from her grandfather._

## Philip Galanes on the (Re)Gift of the Magi

_Philip Galanes is the author of SOCIAL Q'S the cock-eyed advice column published weekly in the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times. In the year since its debut, the column has become one of the most highly-read and consistently-searched features of the paper. Philip is also an entertainment lawyer and novelist. He was born and raised in New England, and graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School. He occasionally sidelines as an interior designer, and his projects have been published in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. Here he talks about an attempt to re-gift._

## Susan Meissner on a Poetry Book That Saw the Future

_Award-winning writer Susan Meissner is a multi-published author, speaker and workshop leader with a background in community journalism. Her novels include THE SHAPE OF MERCY (named by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of 2008), WHITE PICKET FENCES, LADY IN WAITING, and A SOUND AMONG THE TREES. Here she talks about the first poetry book she ever received --- one she still has._

## Tami Hoag on her Lifelong Passion for Reading

_Tami Hoag is an American author who made a smooth transition from successful romance novels to wildly successful and best selling thriller novels. She is said to have more than 22 million copies of her books in print. She currently lives in Florida. Here Tami talks about how she discovered reading, and how this discovery has affected her gift-giving tendencies._

## Hilma Wolitzer on Being Recognized as a Writer

_Hilma Wolitzer is the author of several novels, including HEARTS, ENDING, and TUNNEL OF LOVE, as well as the nonfiction book THE COMPANY OF WRITERS. She is a recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She has taught writing at the University of Iowa, New York University, and Columbia University. Hilma Wolitzer lives in New York City. Here she talks about her struggle to convince her friends and family to take her work seriously._