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Santa Monica Citywide Reads

Dr. Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of this year's Santa Monica Citywide Reads book selection, signs her debut novel 'Wench' at the Santa Monica Library during her author talk on Saturday, February 26, 2011.

Santa Monica Citywide Reads is a community reading program that encourages those who live, work in or visit Santa Monica to read and discuss the same novel in book discussions and special events held throughout the city.

Wench follows the stories of four slave mistresses – Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu – over the course of three summers in pre-Civil War America. Taken by their masters on holiday to Tawawa House, a summer resort in Ohio, the women encounter free blacks and whispers of the abolitionist movement and are forced to consider their lives, their positions back home, and their hopes and dreams for the future. Dolen Perkins-Valdez was inspired to write the novel when she came across a footnote about Tawawa House, a real resort, while researching her own doctoral thesis on slave literature. Wench was borne out of the author’s musings on why, when presented with the possibility of becoming free, some slaves would run, while others would choose to stay with their masters.

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Dolen Perkins-Valdez's fiction and essays have appeared in StoryQuarterly, Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories 2009, The Kenyon Review, PMS: PoemMemoirStory, North Carolina Literary Review, and Richard Wright Newsletter. Born and raised in Memphis, a graduate of Harvard, and a former University of California postdoctoral fellow, Perkins-Valdez lives in Washington, DC. This is her first novel.

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Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 11:00PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz in Santa Monica Library |

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ODD COUPLE

A California Halibut and a Pacific Angel Shark lay next to each other at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium on Wednesday, February 23, 2011.

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Posted on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 07:40AM by

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SMOOTH SAILING

Three seagulls hover above the Santa Monica Pier amid high winds on Wednesday, February 16, 2011.

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Posted on Friday, February 25, 2011 at 11:02PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz in Birds, Gulls, Seagulls |

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Santa Monica

A flock of pigeons perch on the heads of pelican figurines at the Santa Monica Pier on Tuesday, February 8, 2011.

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Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 12:00PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz |

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FREE AND CLEAR

Homeless author Juan Alcalá, 62, (AKA Doll House Dude) naps on his bicycle at the Third Street Promenade on Tuesday, February 15, 2011. Alcalá has been promoting his book entitled, "The United World of Free and Clear," which advocates everyone's human right to own a home. Nobody pays rent anymore and there is no economic crisis. Alcala is a graduate from Cal State with a Bachelors degree in Bilingual education. His book can be read free online here:http://issuu.com/dollhousedude/docs/free_and_clear1

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Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 08:41PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz in Homeless |

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MAX

Max, a 4 year old trained macaw parrot, perches on a palm tree at Palisades Park on Monday, February 14, 2011. Max was startled while performing with his owner Alan Cook and flew atop a palm tree. He was later rescued when Cook and two volunteers climbed up the palm tree and coaxed him down.

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Posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 07:25PM by

Fabian Lewkowicz |

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