Lynn Freed at Sonoma’s Readers’ Books on Nov. 14

Local author to read from new book of essays|

Readers’ Books will welcome “local treasure” author Lynn Freed to read from her collection of essays, “The Romance of Elsewhere,” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

As a child, Freed’s mother claimed she had “itchy feet” as she was always ready to be somewhere else. The essays are travel literature as memoir – addressing everything from commitment to marriage, job or airline ticket, to revisiting Disneyland, to cancer, to how aging affects writing.

Rosie Lee of Readers’ Books describes “Romance” as “a joyous celebration of a life fully lived.”

Freed's publisher, Counterpoint Press describes the memoir as traversing decades and continents and back again.

“[The book], captures the dilemma of the expat and does so with Freed’s signature honesty and humor. She takes on subjects as disparate as Disneyland, lovers, eco-tourism, shopping, serious illness, and the anomaly of writers who blossom into full power only in old age.

Freed has published seven novels, a collection of short fiction, and a collection of essays. Her work has appeared in Harper’s magazine, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic, among others. Her honors include the inaugural Katherine Anne Porter award in fiction from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, two O. Henry awards, and a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. Born in South Africa, she now lives in Sonoma.

Publisher’s Weekly described Freed’s writing as “wise, evocative, and darkly humorous . . . This collection evokes different moods, different eras, and different places with an astute, frank, and pitch-perfect narrator.”

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