Sunday, February 5, 2017

Rebel Girl Toots her own Horn: Toot, Toot!



Rebel Girl interrupts the usual coverage of the usual suspects to announce the publication of her 2009 sabbatical project which made its debut this week.  Orange County: A Literary Field Guide was published by Heyday on February 1.

Heyday describes the project this way:
Orange County: A Literary Field Guide
Edited by Lisa Alvarez and Andrew Tonkovich; Foreword by Gustavo Arellano
A literary journey through Southern California’s storied county

Even by California’s standards, the County of Orange teems with abundance: in sweeping topography along the azure Pacific, in sprawling suburbs, in promises of prosperity, and in its self-perpetuated reputation as a citrus-lined paradise. But the acclaimed fertility of this corner of California is not just agricultural or economic, as this new anthology shows. In this literary field guide, more than sixty writers—some well known, others emerging—lead readers on a tour that begins at the coast and heads inland over the Santa Ana Mountains, through the canyons, and into the cities of Anaheim, Irvine, and Orange in search of vistas of truth. Luminaries including Michael Chabon, Philip K. Dick, Steve Martin, and Susan Straight explore the complexities and contradictions of the county, locating readers in a place made in equal measure by 950 square miles of land and the imagination. A foreword by Gustavo Arellano, author of Orange County: A Personal History and the syndicated column ¡Ask a Mexican!, unravels the idealized past and paradoxical present of this much-mythologized locale.


Yeah!

The book will be used as a text at UC Irvine, Chapman University and Irvine Valley College - and, so Rebel Girl hopes, other campuses as well as she was inspired throughout this long project by the the vision of Orange County residents, especially young students reading about where they live and finding value in it.

Cover of the special UC Irvine edition.
UCI celebrates the book on Friday March 10 from 4-6 PM in Humanities Gateway. 
Rebel Girl and Red Emma will be on a kind of endless book tour throughout the county and beyond this Spring, including events and appearances at UC Irvine, Anaheim's MUZEO, Laguna's College of Art and Design, Santa Ana's Boca de Oro festival, Women For: Orange CountyUniversity of Redlands, Literary Orange, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Gatsby Books in Long Beach, the Orange County branch of the California Writers Club, various libraries and community groups and more. Most events are free and open to the public.

To check out the events, visit the book's Facebook page.

Look for coverage of the book in the local press, including this recent piece in the Irvine Community News and Views:

Impressive in Irvine: Orange County: A Literary Field Guide


Some of the books - only some! -  that went into the 414 page book. 
Rebel Girl is particularly proud that IVC's literary journal The Ear contributed several pieces to this landmark collection. She hopes to host a reading from the book at the little college in the orange groves, perhaps in the fall.

Orange County: A Literary Field Guide is available in the usual places, bookstores, virtual and brick, and will be sold at the various events. IVC's own bookstore will soon have it in stock.

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Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...