Karen Joy Fowler is the author of six novels and three short story collections. Her latest novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, won the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award, the 2014 California Book Award for Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The Jane Austen Book Club spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel, Sarah Canary, was a New York Times Notable Book, as was her second novel, The Sweetheart Season. In addition, Sarah Canary won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, and was listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize. Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, and her collection What I Didn’t See won the World Fantasy Award in 2011.
Fowler is the co-founder of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the current president of the Clarion Foundation (also known as Clarion San Diego). She and her husband, who have two grown children and five grandchildren, live in Santa Cruz, California. Photo: Brett Hall Jones
Roberta Feldner Stuart will read from We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. She is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NYC, where she trained in stage technique, voice, and dance movement, and has studied with many legendary coaches in film, television and voice-over technique. Her professional membership in SAG/AFTRA, AGVA, EQUITY, and ASCAP is evidence of her engagement and experience in all professional aspects of the entertainment field. Over the course of Stuart’s multi-faceted career, she has performed on stage Off Broadway in New York and in Los Angeles, and appeared in numerous television performances, commercials, and voice-over assignments. She was featured in Brian De Palma’s film The Fury and in many made-for-television Movies of the Week. Stuart produced, directed, and hosted the talk show “All About Real Estate” for KIEV 870AM in Los Angeles, pairing her broadcasting experience with her second profession as a California Realtor which, after twenty-five years, she continues to enjoy as an Associate with Realty World Camelot.
Although semi-retired, she adheres to the old adage, “Ya can’t hit a moving target!” In the spirit of moving forward, Stuart recently formed The Well Seasoned Players, a small but growing group of mature actors whose first performance of her short one-act play, “Samantha Desire,” will debut at the Davis Senior Center on December 19. Their group motto is, “Have play, will perform just about anywhere!” Find more information in the Davis Senior Center newsletter. Stuart loves Stories On Stage Davis and is pleased to be reading in December.
Sue Staats’ short stories and poems have been published, or are forthcoming, in The Los Angeles Review, Graze Magazine, Farallon Review, Tule Review, Late Peaches: Poems by Sacramento Poets, and others. She earned an MFA from Pacific University and was a recent finalist for the Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction and the Nisqually Prize in Fiction. Her stories have been performed at the Sacramento reading series Stories on Stage and at the Bay-Area reading series Why There Are Words. She’s currently working on a collection of linked short stories, and for the past year has served as the Director for Stories on Stage Sacramento.
Bonnie Antonini will read “Marshmallow Empire” by Sue Staats. She is an actress living in Sacramento and dividing her time between Los Angeles and San Francisco for work. She’s done over twenty commercials (the most recent for Little Caesar’s Pizza), numerous plays, industrials, voice work, and modeling. Besides acting, she also hosts an online cooking show and writes a cooking blog, both entitled Vegetarian Cooking For Carnivores. Her websites are VegCookingForCarnivores.com and VegCookingForCarnivoresBlog.com.