This Saturday, at the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy, I was honored to be the recipient of the Baccante award for best fiction of 2009 for The Lace Reader. Below is, word for word, a description of the Baccante award. The award is pictured above. It is a beautiful necklace which was crafted by a wonderful Italian designer whom I had the priviledge to meet. My thanks to The Woman’s Fiction Festival. If you write, you should really consider attending next year. Matera is amazing (more on that in future posts), and the women are all talented and welcoming. You can learn more about the festival here.

Here is their description of the Baccante Award:

The Bacchantes killed Orpheus and dismembered his body. They bring chaos and destruction and are controversial figures in Greek Mythology. They are priestesses of Dionysius, bound by the rites of the mysteries and by knowledge of the occult. They are at times cruel, embodying the dark side of the human psyche, instincts, the very principle which, when released by frenzy and possession, gives rise to song, to music and dance, to every type of artistic expression.

Indeed, it is precisely because of their disturbing and ambiguous position, in a poetic overturning of values, that we chose this figure as the very symbol of the precious and all-important role of women in culture.

The Bacchantes were custodians of knowledge and of the secrets of nature. The shape of the necklace, in fact, reproduces the shape of a mirror, the symbol of knowledge.

A few of the thousands of stone steps in Matera, Italy

We are in Matera, Italy today to attend the 6th annual Women’s Fiction Festival. Matera is an ancient city that was originally a series a caves carved into a limestone hillside. We are staying in one of the Sassi (stones) districts. The festival was kind enough to name me the recipient of their 2009 Baccante award for best women’s fiction for The Lace Reader. I am honored to be here with such wonderful women (and a few good men) in such a magical place. More later. Ciao!

Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain at the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy

Today we are in Rome, wandering around the ancient city, stopping for water and maybe a little of the dark chocolate gelato they have at Piazza Navona. We sat and watched a group of art students sketching the Bernini sculptures at the Four Rivers Fountain, and I wondered if they knew how lucky they were to be young aspiring artists in Rome. We certainly feel very lucky to be here. Tonight we meet our friend Francesca. Then, it’s on to Matera for the Sixth International Women’s Fiction Festival (click here for details).

On Sunday, I will be speaking at a benefit for PATHS (Patient Advocacy Training and Health Services), a wonderful organization that I wish I’d had access to when I was helping to take care of my parents. Whether faced with a debilitating disease or just navigating though the number of doctors and specialists we all seem to need at some point, this organization provides a helpful and much needed service. The event is at the Wyndham Andover Hotel, in Andover, Massachusetts, from 2-4:30 and features a dessert buffet as well as my presentation about The Lace Reader.  If you’re in the area, there is still time to reserve your ticket. For all of the details, visit  the PATHS website here.

The Lace Reader paperback book tour continues on Monday night at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena at 7PM. I’ll be reading, speaking, answering questions, and signing books. This is my last 2009 appearance in CA, so please stop by if you have a chance. For all the details, click here.

The book tour for the paperback release of The Lace Reader continues!

I’ll be speaking and signing at bookstore M Is for Mystery. . . And More in San Mateo, CA at 2PM today. You can visit their website for more information here. Hope to see you there.

Today, I have been invited to guest post at thebookladysblog.com. which is one of my favorite sites. The topic is the inspiration for The Lace Reader and its very unreliable narrator, Towner Whitney.  Please check it out if you get a chance. 

Also, tonight I’ll be speaking & signing at A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland, CA at 7PM. Get all the details about the event here. Hope to see you there.

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Thanks Seattle, I had a great time. Flying to CA today for three events  this week.

9/10 Oakland

9/12 San Mateo

9/14 Pasadena

For all the details (locations, times, etc.), click here.

A FIsh Called Trixie

Labor Day can be a sad time in New England. Summer is over, the kids are back in school. Though fall is our prettiest season, we all realize what is coming. Last winter was a bad one where we live. We had over ninety inches of snow, a record for our coastal city. I don’t know anyone who is looking forward to winter this year.

This Labor Day, I began my book tour for the paperback version of The Lace Reader. By the time I return to New England, summer will be long gone. And, while I hate to leave those last few beach days, I am very excited by the idea of visiting new places and making new friends. So, if we haven’t met, and my tour takes me anywhere near you, please consider coming. The bookstores I’m visiting are some of the best. And we always have a lot of fun at these events.

Our first stop on the tour is Seattle. We arrived this afternoon and were given a brief but informative tour of the city. It was raining hard. While we weren’t surprised (isn’t that what it does in Seattle?) we were told that this was unusual. Mist, yes, full on rain is evidently not as common. An hour later, the rain was gone, and the streets were filled with happy people. This seems an almost perfect city.

The hotel we’re staying at is great. It’s right in the middle of the city, we can walk to just about everything. And you have to love a place that asks you upon arrival if you’d care to have a pet sent to your room. We now have a lovely goldfish named Trixie.  

Tonight (Tuesday) at 7 PM, we will be at Village Books in Bellingham. If you are in the area, please stop by.  Tomorrow we head to San Francisco.  

P.S. The back of Trixie’s name card notes that she’s able to call room service and order food so there’s no need for us to feed her. Smart fish.