Wednesday, March 10
6:30-7:30 pm
Registration is required. You can register below or by contacting Donald, our Adult Program Coordinator, at adult@pawlinglibrary.org.
Pulitzer Prize nominee, writer Ann Pearlman, will be joining us for a special book discussion of her best selling novel The Christmas Cookie Club. In addition to discussing the novel, participants will be able to have a conversation with the author about her extensive and exciting career.
About the author: Ann Pearlman is eclectic, a writer in several genres and an artist in several media. Getting Free: Women and Psychotherapy was written with two colleagues and used as both a consciousness-raising book in the women’s movement and a college textbook. Keep the Home Fires Burning: How to Have an Affair With Your Spouse, garnered the attention of the Oprah Winfrey Show and other TV talk shows. Her memoir, Infidelity, was nominated for a National Book Award, a Pulitzer Prize, and made into a Lifetime movie by Lionsgate: Dzanc Books reprinted a new edition in August 2018. Inside the Crips, with a foreword by Ice T, took readers into the life of a Crip gang member and the California Prison system. The Christmas Cookie Club became an international bestseller, spawning cookie exchanges and donations to charity. The Christmas Cookie Cookbook: All the Rules and Delicious Recipes to Start Your Own Holiday Cookie Club was written with her friend, Marybeth Bayer, who is the originator of the cookie exchange Ann attends. A Gift for My Sister, the second in the series, won a first place award for General Fiction in 2013. The Lottery, is the third novel of the Christmas Cookie Club Series. His Eye is on the Sparrow was part of the initial launch of Shebooks, short works by women, for women.
When she’s not writing, Ann makes art: metal sculptures, acrylic, oil and cold wax, watercolor paintings, jewelry, ceramics, and felted objects. She has combined her love of writing and art in three illustrated short stories: Other Lives, Angels and The Story of Mr. Blue. On a winter day in Ann Arbor, you can find Ann dancing, doing yoga with her friends and family or making homemade jams, cookies and inventing recipes. Ann has three children, five grandchildren and a great grandson.
Ann has lived in three countries and eleven different cities, most in the Midwest, and, for the longest stretch of time, in Ann Arbor, where The Christmas Cookie Club series is set.
About our presenter: Marian Grudko is the author of Lucinda Snowdrop and co-author of Claudine: A Fairy Tale for Exceptional Grownups, with T.A. Young. She is also a composer and storyteller, and her work can be seen on her new and evolving YouTube channel.
About our presenter: Tommy Zurhellen is an Associate Professor of English at Marist College, and the author of the award-winning Messiah Trilogy of novels that reimagine the life of Jesus in modern-day North Dakota: Nazareth, North Dakota (2011), Apostle Islands (2012) and Armageddon, Texas (2014), all from Atticus Books. His short fiction and essays have appeared widely in literary magazines such as Carolina Quarterly, Quarterly West, Passages North, The MacGuffin, Appalachee Review, South Dakota Review, River Oak Review, Crab Creek Review, Iconoclast, Red Mountain Review, Coal City Review, and elsewhere. Tommy is also co-host of the popular writing podcast, FICTION SCHOOL. 
We thank Pawling Recreation for partnering with our library to make this very special in-person presentation possible.
About our presenter: Diane Ingram is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) coach trainer with a degree in Psychology and Human Development. She is a student of the Diamond Approach, which fosters personal development through methods of meditation, present-moment awareness, and self-observation. Diane currently hosts her own radio show and is the author of four books, the most recent being “The Gift”. 
