The "Other" WNBA

I'm in Detroit at the National Meeting of Women's National Book Association - the most fun, energetic, accomplished group I've ever come across. Our mission: members are women and men dedicated to promoting reading and to supporting the role of women in the community of the book.

Unlike many book-oriented organizations, WNBA is full-spectrum. Writer? You belong. Reader? Certainly. Librarian? Literacy advocate, publisher, editor, literary agent, poet, children's book illustrator, blogger, graphic novel creator, journalist, memoirist, crossword-puzzle creator...? YES! All of these and more.  As we approach our 100th Anniversary in 2017, we can look at many proud accomplishments:

Since 1940, we have presented the WNBA Award to “a living American woman who derives part or all of her income from books and allied arts, and who has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation.” (WNBA website)
Some recent recipients: Ann Patchett, who not only writes prize-winning novels but founded Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore in Nashville, in defiance of the trend of bricks-and-mortar stores shuttering; Masha Hamilton, noted international journalist and women's advocate; the late Kathi Kamen Goldmark, author and co-founder of Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock group composed of well-known writers (Dave Barry, Amy Tan and Stephen King) who raise funds for literacy programs.
 
Since 1959 we have held a non-voting seat as Non-Governmental Organization in the United Nations. Of particular interest to WNBA are, among the UN's Millennium Development Goals: Achieving universal primary education; Promoting gender equality and empowering women; Reducing child mortality rates; and Country Focus: United States and Afghanistan. We partner with Afghan Women Writers Project (AWWP) which encourages expression through writing among Afghani women and girls. (WNBA website)


Since 1983 we have given the Pannell Award to a pair of bookstores, one children's specialty and one general, to "recognize bookstores that enhance their communities by bringing exceptional creativity to foster a love of reading in their young patrons. The winning stores receive a check for $1,000 and a piece of original art from a children’s book illustrator." (WNBA website) The awards are presented at BookExpo America's Children's Book and Author Breakfast in New York.

In 2007, WNBA initiated National Reading Group Month (October) which celebrates the joy of shared reading. In a time when people feel increasingly isolated, reading groups foster community, promote love of literature, and highlight literacy. (NRGM)

But all that is secondary - I love this organization because these people (most but not all, women) love books and are lively, engaging, dedicated, and very good at the wide range of skills WNBA represents.

Sound appealing? Check us out! www.wnba-books.org

Karmafornia Review

Review of Karmafornia, a novel by NC Weil

by Lorine Kritzer Pergament

From the image of an Indian bedspread print on the cover through the trials and tribulations of the twenty-something main characters, Weil gives us descriptive details of a culturally and politically volatile Berkeley during the late seventies interspersed with national and local current events to weave a colorful and compelling story.

When Laura and her boyfriend Walt are trapped in a snowstorm on their way to Berkeley where Laura is to begin graduate school, they take LSD and “fly together,” becoming mentally and spiritually one. But when they arrive, Laura becomes attracted to Cob, a student in her program, and he convinces her to become a fruitarian and get off the pill to make herself more physically appealing. Outlandish as this may sound in light of the fact that Laura is an independent woman, Cob is convincing, and Laura complies. So begins the love and sex triangle that sets the theme for this rip-roaring book that culminates in a surprise ending.

If you want to reminisce about Berkeley during the period of the Jonestown massacres, the shooting of Harvey Milk, the Dead Kennedys and “Box of Rain” with a hefty dose of drugs and sex, or if you just want a good read about that period, the tightly written and thought-provoking Karmafornia will engross you.

Lorine Kritzer Pergament's stories have appeared in "Bridges" and "Penn-Union," and she was a winner in the 2008 F. Scott Fitzgerald Short Story Contest. Her story "Smell the Roses on Your Own Time," will be included in "Amazing Graces," Richard Peabody's anthology of Washington area women writers in December, 2011. Lorine also writes book reviews and is a member of the Women's National Book Association's Great Group Reads panel.