San Miguel de Allende Authors Sala Celebrates 4th Anniversary with 22-Author Book Fair Aug. 4
 Carol Schmidt - The American Chronicle
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| | Authors Sala celebrates its fourth anniversary as a major literary force in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato August 4, 2007. |
San Miguel de Allende, long known as an artists colony 170 miles northwest of Mexico City, is also known for its literary history. From the 1930s when Stirling Dickinson first arrived in the sleepy colonial city that was in danger of becoming a ghost town and decided it would be a good setting for an artistic center, writers as well as artists have been drawn to the beauty and creative spirit of San Miguel.
Four years ago local authors organized the San Miguel Authors Sala to support and encourage San Miguel writers and bring their works to a broader audience.
To celebrate its fourth anniversary, the Sala will host a 22-author Book Fair Saturday, Aug. 4, 5-7 pm at the Hotel Posada de San Francisco, Plaza Principal 2, at the intersection of Canal and Hidalgo on the Jardin. Admission is free. The Sala's website is SanMiguelAuthors.com for more information.
The diversity of these 22 authors - ranging from a woman who has been published in Playboy the same issue in which she was the centerfold, to an O. Henry award winner who will launch her next book this week - reflects the complex, quirky mix that is San Miguel today.
To go back in the Authors Sala archives is to discover that the most noted of the Beat Generation hung around the town. Neal Cassidy died here, according to legend leaving the infamous Cucaracha Bar and stumbling drunkenly along the railroad tracks where he was hit by a train. During 15 years living in San Miguel, Gary Jennings researched and wrote Aztec, the acclaimed thousand-page historical novel about the days before and during the arrival of the Conquistadors in Mexico.
Other best-selling authors who have made San Miguel their home have included Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders; Clifford Irving, better known for going to prison for faking a Howard Hughes autobiography; Charles Portis, True Grit; Gerald Green, The Last Angry Man; Rafael Ramirez Heridia, Con M de Marilyn; Howard Koch, coauthor of the script for "Casablanca," and Peter Blatty, who finished the last rewrite of "The Exorcist" while in San Miguel.
More recently San Miguel has been home to Joe Persico, who wrote My American Journey with Colin Powell; Beverly Donofrio, who saw Drew Barrymore portray her in the movie of her memoir, "Riding in Cars with Boys"; Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.D. Snodgrass; and Tony Cohan, On Mexican Time (about his life in San Miguel) and Mexican Days.
Authors at the Aug. 4 Book Fair will include Manja Argue, Charlotte Bell, James Cervantes, Richard Cretcher, Alice Denham, Joseph Dispenza, Janice Eidus, Maruja Gonzalez, Wayne Greenhaw, Ricky Harris, Gerald Helferich, Eva Hunter, Halvard Johnson, C.M Mayo, Susan V. Page, Pat Perrin and Wim Coleman, Kris Rudolph, Victor Sahuatoba, Linda Schor, Sharon Solwitz, Masako Takahashi, and Patrice Wynne.
Former newspaper and magazine writer and editor, Carol Schmidt was public relations director for the medical research programs at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in LA. She published three mystery novels now out of print: Silverlake Heat, Sweet Cherry Wine, and Cabin Fever. Her writing is in seven anthologies, including the Library of America's Reporting Civil Rights (www.reportingcivilrights.org). Her freelance articles have appeared in hundreds of publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Long Beach Independent-Press Telegram, and National Catholic Reporter. |
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