Novels That Ask, What’s At Stake in Starting Over?
One of the themes that I explore in my novel Play for Me is second chances and the disruption we face when searching for our authentic selves. The following novels focus on women who break out of the mold of expectation. They do so to discover their true passion, which could be a second chance…
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The Joy of Unintended Consequences: My Unlikely Path to Becoming a Music Journalist
I became a music journalist because my husband gave me guitar lessons as a birthday present. It was a lovely gesture that led to an obsession. When I was young, my father sat at the piano practicing every night after dinner, and I twirled and leaped around the living room, dancing to Chopin. My father…
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2016 Events
Venues included: Watchung Bookstore (Montclair, NJ): Blue Duck Bakery Cafe (Riverhead, NY); Book Culture on Columbus (NYC, NY); The Invisible Dog Art Center (Brooklyn, NY); Bloomingdale Library (NYC, NY); Tucson Festival of Books (Tucson, AZ); Changing Hands Bookstore (Tempe, AZ)
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A Conversation About LAYLA with Céline Keating
Q: You’ve described your novel by saying that “Layla is the story of a young woman whose journey forward is through the past.” What drew you to telling a story about this period through the perspective of someone too young to have experienced it? A: I wanted to write a book set in the political…
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Abbas and Me: The Story Behind the Cover of LAYLA
The short story is that the photo credit for the cover image goes to Mr. Abbas Rahbar. But there’s a longer back story of all that was involved in finding the photographer and getting the permissions. One of the best things about working with a small press like Plain View is that the author gets…
Read MoreCéline Keating : On Literature and Activism
I grew up in a working-class community in Queens, New York. My parents, sister, and I lived in a small apartment that was part of a complex that sprawled over what was once farmland. I mourned the loss of land and trees that seemed to disappear daily into sprawl, I mourned the loss of friends…
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An Excerpt from “Layla”
Chapter One MY NAME IS LAYLA. My mother said my father insisted they call me that as soon as they knew I was a girl. He thought the song by Eric Clapton, when he was with Derick and the Dominos, was the best R&R single of all time. I loved knowing it meant so much…
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An Excerpt from “Play for Me”
Chapter One Lily watched her son walk away, the loose, jaunty shamble of him, the brave uptilt of his head, and felt just as she had when she abandoned him to kindergarten what seemed such a short time ago. “Oh, sweetheart,” her husband said. Around them families bunched, kissing and parting in kaleidoscopic movement. Stephen…
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2015 Events
Venues included: Bluestocking Café (Allen Street, NYC); Stony Brook Southampton College (Southampton, NY); Book Culture Book Store (NYC); Harbor Books (Sag Harbor, NY); Annie Bloom’s Bookstore (Portland, OR); Third Place Books (Seattle, WA); Tivoli Artists Gallery (Tivoli, NY): Greenlight Books (Brooklyn, NY); Bookhampton (East Hampton, NY); Brookline Booksmith (Brookline, MA); Big Blue Marble Bookstore (Philadelphia, PA): Montauk Library (Montauk, NY); Books & Books (Coral Gables, FL); The Golden Notebook (Woodstock, NY); Inquiring Minds Bookstore (New Paltz, NY); Northshire Bookstore (Saratoga Springs, NY); Barnes & Noble (Burlington, NY); Art of Vermont Gallery (Randolph, VT); Word Up Bookstore (NYC); Write Angles Conference, Panel (Mount Holyoak College, South Hadley, MA); Bank Square Books (Mystic, CT); Toadstool Bookstore (Peterborough, NH); Books on the Square (Providence, RI)
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2014 Events
Venues included Odyssey Bookshop in Northampton (MA); Cornelia Street Cafe (NY); The Readers and Eaters Book Group, Roslyn (NY); The Dolphin Bookstore and Cafe (Port Washington, Long Island); The Montauk Library (Montauk, NY); and Pace University (NY)
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