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Even the best mother-daughter relationship has its challenges. But take one that's not the best and add to it a secretive husband and father and a buried, dark memory, and you have the makings of -
The Red Kitchen-a memoir full of humor, grit, honesty, and adventure that culminates with reconciliation and the long-delayed coming-of-age of two women.
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Barbara Clarke has received many labels through the years, some unwanted-"Best Body" in the ninth grade and "ex-wife" twice. In midlife, she worked in Kenya; she later developed a career as an executive. She has moved more than sixty times. A mailperson once told her that she held the local record for the most forwarding labels of someone not fleeing the law: three. And most recently she was given a label she treasures, earned in a class developing this memoir: "Most likely to start a forgiveness movement." You can find out more about her varied career as a writer and read her blog at www.barbaraclarke.net. She lives in Bellingham, WA.
Zusammenfassung
At the age of seven, Barbara witnesses a frightening incident between
her parents. She goes on to spend much of her childhood toggling between
the happy family she longs for and the unhappy one she’s in but can’t
repair. Disturbed by the smell of rotting leaves and an uneasy feeling
about her father, she will spend half her life trying to get to the
bottom of the reasons why.
As an adult, a summer in Africa allows Barbara to live without
labels—wife, mother, daughter, sister—and become the woman she wants to
be: funny, compassionate, complex, and often flawed. The Red Kitchen
is the story of both Barbara and her mother, who, like many women, both
spend much of their lives surrendering to society’s expectation to be
one thing while yearning to be another. Ultimately, both women—in very
different ways—come of age, find the loving parts of their
mother-daughter relationship, and start living their best lives.
Vorwort
• Outreach through author’s personal/professional email lists.
• Outreach on author’s website and blog.
• Promotion on Facebook, Goodreads, and Instagram.
• Author will subscribe to HARO (Help a Reporter Out), which links journalists looking for story or segment sources with authors and experts who can assist with information. ProPublica and Politico are two such sources currently covering issues found in The Red Kitchen.
• Readings at bookstores throughout Washington.
• Author will organize “Reading for a Cause” events where she will give her book as a prize as well as donate a portion of book sales to a featured organization—women’s shelters, senior citizen organizations, healthcare organizations, nonprofits working for girls and women, nonprofits working in Kenya such as “Me to We,” and other orgs relevant to her story.
• Author will create a discussion guide for the book that can be distributed at all author events and book club meetings.
• Author has personal friendships and contacts with two branch managers in the Kitsap County (WA) library system and the Director of Library Services in Bellingham; she will approach them about offering a featured topic and a brief reading of the book.
• Pitching related articles/excerpts to publishing venues including O, The Oprah Magazine, Mindful, and other magazines that feature concerns of women and girls; publications for 55+ and seniors, including AARP’s various print/online formats, Reader’s Digest, and Today’s Senior magazine; and travel magazines open to narrative nonfiction and nonfiction articles about the author’s travels to Kenya, Cuba, the Midwest (particularly Missouri), and the Pacific Northwest, such as Afar magazine, Outside magazine, and Wanderlust magazine.
• Promotion via literary groups the author is involved in/has connections with: Field’s End, the Seattle 7 Writers, the Red Wheelbarrow Writers of Bellingham, WA, the Whatcom Writers and Publishers (WA), the National Association of Memoir Writers, PNWA, and the Chuckanut Writers Conference.
Zusatztext
2020 CIBA Journey Book Awards 1st Place Winner
“The Red Kitchen is a lyrical and painful chronicle of a dysfunctional—and typical—American family. It is also the story of a woman’s slow but steady shift from meeting everybody else’s expectations toward striving to realize her own dreams. A vivid and well-written memoir.”
—Priscilla Long, author of Fire and Stone: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
“Clarke’s memoir contains a significant message: Take charge of your own life—it’s not too late. . . . Her story can be an inspiration to other women to live their best lives within their own convictions.”
—Story Circle Reviews
