Literary Events

‘The Memory Palace’ Author at Village Books

  Mira Bartok, author of the bestselling memoir ‘The Memory Palace,’ will appear at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, February 17.   Bartok tells the story of growing up with her gifted but schizophrenic mother, so desperately ill that her daughters must break nearly all contact with her, communicating only through letters to a post office box for 17 years.   ’Even now, when the phone rings late at night, I think it’s her. I stumble out of bed ready for the worst,’ the first chapter begins. ‘ The last time my mother called was in 1990. I was thirty-one and living in Chicago. She said if I didn’t come home right away she’d kill herself.’   After the author, an artist, suffers a debilitating brain injury in a car crash, she tracks down her mother in hopes of recovering some lost memories. She and her sister find a storage locker filled with notebooks, letters, drawings, newspaper articles and objects belonging to her mother and Bart’k is flooded with recollections.   She is inspired to paint a memory palace’a visual map to remember people and events. The original works are interspersed throughout the book, along with passages from her mother’s writings.   Publishers Weekly recommends the story with this review, ‘a haunting, almost patchwork, narrative that lyrically chronicles a complex mother-daughter relationship.’

’24’ Producer Gordon Debuts Thriller Novel at Village Books

  Palisadian Howard Gordon will discuss and sign copies of ‘Gideon’s War,’ at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 25 at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore.   Gordon, who served as executive producer on the television series ’24,’ makes his novel debut with an action thriller centered on themes of political intrigue and international terrorism. Simon & Schuster published the book.   In the story, Gideon Davis, world renowned as a peace negotiator, discovers, to his horror, that the U.S. government’s most-wanted terrorist is his brother.   ’True to form of my eight-year experience with Howard Gordon on ’24,’ ‘Gideon’s War’ is a rip-roaring thriller,’ Kiefer Sutherland said.

Gregory Alper’s ‘Palisades Panoramas’ on View at Village Books and Caf’ Vida

  Artist, composer and musician Gregory Alper will sign copies of ‘Palisades Panoramas,’ a collection of 40 of his photographs, at 7:30 p.m. on February 24, at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore.   A series of the panoramas, interpretive shots of Pacific Palisades, are also on exhibit at Caf’ Vida, 15317 Antioch, through March 30.   Alper did not use a wide-angle lens for this work, but panned across the horizon with an ordinary camera and then edited multiple shots together. He believes the technique creates a dynamic effect that more closely mimics the motion of the eye. The images are printed on canvas to enhance the painterly feel of the work.   For his father’s 80th birthday, Alper edited photos of his father and himself, taken over many decades, combining images from different shots into a single composite. This time-bending exercise inspired Alper to create a series of composites from other subject matter, two of which will be included in the exhibit at Caf’ Vida.   For more information, go to alperdigitalart.com.