Natives, Newcomers, Exiles, Fugitives
Northern California Writers and their Work
Jonah Raskin
In this book Jonah Raskin examines thirty northern California writers, fifteen of them women, and their work in the context of the region in which they live and the literary community there, one that has been ignored or denied by the mainstream literary establishment (read New York).
Most of the writers are contemporary—both literary celebrities like Alice Walker, Gary Snyder, Amy Tan, Anne Lamott and Isabel Allende, and more obscure but also great writers like Greg Sarris, Gina Berriault, Jim Dodge and Freeman House—but Raskin starts with Jack London, providing a historical perspective.
Raskin, chair of the communications studies program at Sonoma State University, writes a Sunday book column for The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, California. Many of the interviews and reviews first appeared there, but they gain added weight and clarity by being presented together between the covers of a book.
Raskin even covers authors in Bored Feet's catalog, like Ray Raphael, Don Emblen and Roy Parvin. The overall result provides an involving, fascinating read.
With an eye-catching cover by acclaimed Sonoma artist Jack Stuppin.
180 pages, 6" x 9", full-color cover, list of selected books, index.Published by Running Wolf Press. ISBN 0-9701333-8-3
$15.00 
