The Women’s National Book Association announces that Masha Hamilton has been chosen the winner of the 2010 WNBA Award. The award is presented by WNBA 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.

Ms. Hamilton also established the Afghan Women’s Writing Project in 2009 “to foster creative and intellectual exchange between Afghan women writers and American women authors and teachers.” The website publishes the work of Afghan writers under the mentorship of AWWP participants, including authors, poets, essayists, memoirists, and others.

Previous winners of the WNBA award included Kathi Kamen Goldmark and Dr. Perri Klaas. NEW YORK  www.wnba-books.org

Thank you, Joan Gelfand, immediate-past president (and poet extraordinaire), for the news.

Meanwhile, WNBA member Diane LeBow has this new:

March 30, 2011  11:30am-1:00pm  Kabul Restaurant in Burlingame, California

The Afghan Friends Network  is holding a benefit lunch on March 30, 2011 at Kabul Restaurant in Burlingame: “Connections: Joining Hands and Hearts for Afghanistan” Guest speaker is Fariba Nawa, an award-winning Afghan-American journalist.  Join us in a traditional, celebratory Afghan luncheon. More info:  http://afghanfriends.net/

Thank you, award winning writer and photojournalist Diane LeBow, for telling me about this benefit luncheon. Recently Dr. LeBow read from her Afghan stories for Left Coast Writers at Book Passage in the Ferry Building, San Francisco.  There were about 50 in the audience.

* * * * *

In San Francisco, we have 2 events to cheer for:

Saturday, March 26th, 2011

Meet-the-Agents Live. Writers Speed-Date to success. Only 15 spaces left. Click here http://www.wnba-sfchapter.org for agent and
editor bios, the scoop on the keynote lunch with Zoe Fitzgerald Carter, and to register.

* * * * *

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The 15th Annual Effie Lee Morris Lecture: TRICKSTERS!
Guest lecturer: Gerald McDermott – the Art of the Folktale
San Francisco Public Library, Lower Level, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove), SF, CA www.sfpl.org

5:00pm Reception & Book Signing; 6:00pm Lecture presented FREE by
Children & Youth Services and the Fisher Children’s Center of the
San Francisco Public Library and Women’s National Book Assoc-SF
Chapter.  Board members of WNBA (a co-sponsor of this lecture)
encourage all members (especially authors of children’s literature)
to attend this event… a tradition in San Francisco. Effie Lee Morris
founded the San Francisco Chapter of Women’s National Book
Association. This annual lecture is just one of the many legacies
Effie Lee Morris left for readers and writers.

My best wishes to everyone !  See you at the San Francisco events,

Teresa LeYung Ryan, author of Love Made of Heart, cheers for brave immigrants.

22-Day Coach Teresa

Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW is available through Amazon.  Read success stories (on Amazon) from writers who have finished the 22-day workbook I created to help fiction and nonfiction authors gain a competitive edge.  Whether you want to be your own publisher or sell rights to another publisher, attract readers and more readers now!  http://writingcoachteresa.com

http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/is-there-a-book-to-help-a-writer-build-platform-and-fanbase/