Writings by Multicultural Women Showcased

“Sowing Ti Leaves: Writings by Multi-Cultural Women” has been published by Multi-Cultural Women Writers of Orange County.

The 140-page paperback book ($7.95) is a collection of personal narratives, poems, short stories and essays. The anthology was edited by Mitsuye Yamada and Sarie Sachie Hylkema. Contributors, in addition to the two editors, include Kelli Arakaki-Bond, Diana Azar, Helen Jaskoski, Janet Jue, Florinda Mintz, Susana Saladini and Kanwal Yodh.

According to Yamada, an Irvine resident, “several poems are presented bilingually for we wish to demonstrate that, whatever the language, we share a common experience--our struggles to survive in a majority culture as women.

“The collection encompasses a wide range of experiences that has become part of the American landscape and should have appeal not only to literature students but to students in American Studies and Women Studies as well.”

For information, call (714) 854-8699.

Book Signings: Danielle Kennedy (“How to List and Sell Real Estate in the ‘90s”) will sign from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday at Crown Books, 30912 Coast Highway, South Laguna. . . . Peg Tompkins (“Do Less and be Loved More: How to Relate to Others”) will sign from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Bookman, 840 N. Tustin Ave., Orange.

Comedy Talk: Buena Park movie buff Randy Skretvedt, author of “Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies,” will present a film-clip-illustrated discussion of silent movie comedy at 7 tonight in the Huntington Beach Public Library, 7111 Talbert Ave. Admission: $3.

Romance Writers: “Two Ways to an Editor’s Heart: Chapter 1 and the Synopsis” will be the topic discussed during the pre-meeting workshop of the Orange County chapter of Romance Writers of America at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Fullerton Public Library, 353 W. Commonwealth Ave. “Trends in the Market” will be discussed during the regular meeting at 1 p.m. Cost: $3 for each session.

Round Table: Marty Ingels (“Shirley and Marty: An Unlikely Love Story”), Ned Wynn (“We Will Always Live in Beverly Hills--Growing up Crazy in Hollywood”), Samuel Marx and Joyce Vanderveen (“Deadly Illusions: Jean Harlow and the Murder of Paul Bern”), and Barbara Milo Ohrbach (“The Flower Garden”) will discuss and sign their books at the Round Table West meeting at noon Wednesday at the Balboa Bay Club. Cost: $30. For reservations, call (213) 256-7977.

Contract Signed: Lane von Herzen, a recent graduate of UC Irvine’s Program in Writing, has signed with William Morrow & Co. Herzen’s novel, “Copper Crown,” will be published by Morrow next September. The 28-year-old Irvine resident describes her first novel as a “story of racial struggle, endurance and understanding, set in Texas in the early years of the 20th Century.”

UCI Grad Updates: UCI Program in Writing graduates who also have soon-to-be-published books include: Michael Chabon, who has a collection of stories coming out this fall from Morrow; Varley O’Connor, whose novel “Like China” will be published by Morrow in January; Greg Jones, whose novel “Beyond the Fall of Night” (co-authored with Arthur C. Clarke) will be published by Putnam in February, and Whitney Otto, whose novel “How to Make an American Quilt” will be published by Villard Books in March.

More UCI News: Although he is officially retired as director of the Program in Writing, Oakley Hall will return to teach during the spring quarter. Hall is currently at work on a new novel titled “Reasons for Joining.”

Donald Heiney, former co-director of the writing program, who publishes under the name MacDonald Harris, will have a new novel, “Glad Rags,” published soon by Story Line Press. His novel “Hemingway’s Suitcase” received critical praise earlier this year.

Poet Michael Ryan, whose recent collection of poems, “God Hunger,” won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, will join the faculty this winter.