Santa Barbara Women’s Literary Voices

Happy Holidays from WLV Board

WLV FALL 2025 SALON AND HAPPY HOUR

Claudia Hoag McGarry
My writing journey, detours included

______________________________

Claudia McGarry clearly never saw any reason to be limited to one genre. Why not write thrillers, plays, screenplays and a memoir?  

The daughter of journalists in New Orleans, Claudia brought her own flavors first to screenplays. Losing patience after many close calls in selling them, she shifted to writing thrillers—two so far—and a novel, voiced by a dog. 

On those screenplays­­­­—Claudia never gave up! There are 16 feature-length ones so far. In her trademark no-limits way, they include romances, histories, comedies, biopics, and mysteries. Add in four TV pilots.  

McGarry’s most recent exploration has been with stage plays. Her Kiddo and Patty Hearst has been staged in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and New York. Plus a successful new medium, borne of COVID confinement: painting. And she finally sold one of those screenplays! We look forward to an evening of learning about Claudia’s literary journey—inspirations, roadblocks and detours.
McGarry’s most recent exploration has been with stage plays. Her Kiddo and Patty Hearst has been staged in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and New York.  And she finally sold one of those screenplays!

We look forward to an evening of learning about Claudia’s literary journey—inspirations, roadblocks and detours.

Claudia will be available for signing and sale of her book at the end of the presentation.

Thanks to our generous sponsors and supporters

Monica Ballon-Kalinowski, Beauty Counter • Robert and Carol Bason • Peter S Buehler • Carolyn Buford • Terease Chin • Gary and Susan Gulbransen • Sandy Hess • Susan Malde • Elizabeth Martinez • Cassandra M. Stillman • Trader Joe’s • Molly Wetta • Mary Ellen Wylie

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Our 2025Spring Salon and Happy Hour

Patricia Chidlaw
Standing Still in Front of the Light

Patricia and Chryss Yost discussed her attraction to artificial light sources­—including neon, store windows, and street lights. Light that often creates a dramatic, provocative stage.

Patricia was born in San Francisco, California and moved to Germany six months later when her father was deployed for a three year tour of duty. Thus began many years of travel and nomadic family life as her father’s career as an officer took them on a tour of the world. Much of Chidlaw’s childhood was spent looking out the windows of a Chevrolet as the family drove through Europe and the United States.

Patricia’s earliest exposure to art was in Europe at the age of thirteen when her father was stationed in France. Patricia and her mother would visit cathedrals and museums as well as flea markets and shops, educating her eye for art and her sensibility to things that are time-warm and reflect a sense of the past. In 1969 Patricia landed in Santa Barbara, California to attend the University where she received a degree in painting and has been there ever since.

OUR FALL 2024 SALON

Savouring Her Words
an autumn evening with Chef & Writer Pascale Beale 

Savor the flavors of autumn and celebrate the release of chef and author Pascale Beale’s new cookbook, FLAVOUR, Savouring The Seasons: Recipes From The Market Table, at a special Women’s Literary Voices Salon. Hosted at A to Z Cooking School, the evening will feature a cooking demonstration and an interview with Pascale about her creative process in both the kitchen and on the page. Guests will enjoy a tasting of The Grape Harvester’s Salad, one of her signature dishes, and are invited to stay for conversation…

OUR DYNAMIC WLV MARCH 2024 SALON
A conversation with Lorissa Rinehart at Santa Barbara Veterans Memorial Building

Lorissa Rinehart writes about the connections between women, war and art. First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent has received rave reviews from The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly and many other publications. Her work can also be found in Hyperallergic, Perfect Strangers, and Narratively. Rinehart holds an MA from NYU in Experimental Humanities and a BA in Literature from UC Santa Cruz.  She lives in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband and two young sons.
From 1945 to 1965, photojournalist Dickie Chapelle constantly push against authority resistance to give her permission to be at the front line “as far forward as you’ll let me.”  Her tenacity put her in the middle of conflict zones in:  Panama, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Algeria, Hungary, Cuba, and Vietnam. Chapelle insisted on direct experience, putting her life on the line to document her stories and until now her ground-breaking achievements, as a woman, have been regulated to obscurity. 

_______________________________