Have you been thinking about recording your life story?  Have ideas for a memoir been bumping around your brain?  Now is your chance to get these ideas on paper with the guidance of best-selling author Julie Lythcott-Haims. Julie's memoir, Real American, is critically acclaimed and has been described as beautiful, necessary, brave, insightful and more.  

Join Kepler's Literary Foundation, in collaboration with the San Francisco Writers' Grotto, for a 90-minute Masterclass on memoir writing. 

After the Masterclass, you'll leave with your own copy of Lit Starts: Writing Memoir, a book of writing prompts produced by the Writers Grotto (of which Julie is a member). Writing Memoir offers pointers for crafting a compelling narrative from your own experiences, along with prompts and spaces to write so that the writing can continue long after the course gets you started.

Julie Lythcott-Haims is the best-selling author of Real American: A Memoir, and How to Raise an Adult. She served as Dean of Freshman at Stanford University.

Tickets to Kepler’s Literary Foundation events are not tax-deductible. Tax deductible donations can be made online at keplers.org/donate

What good is day without night, peanut butter without jelly, or a talented writer without a well-developed character?

Kepler’s Literary Foundation hosts a writing course in collaboration with the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto this Fall to resolve that dilemma. Join us on September 17th for a 90-minute Masterclass on character writing, lead by authors Constance Hale and Irving Ruan. This intensive-workshop is one of a series of Bay Area events celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Writers’ Grotto, a shared workspace and educational community in San Francisco.

Hale is best known for her books Sin and Syntax and Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch. She has taught Harvard and UC Berkeley. Ruan is a writer, comedian, and actor. His work has been published in The New Yorker, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Funny Or Die, CollegeHumor, and elsewhere. Hale and Ruan visit Kepler’s to guide a writing course based around the new Grotto book series Lit Starts. This character-writing focused course will develop your skill for observing and capturing human complexity within your creative work. A copy of Lit Starts: Writing Character comes included with the course. Bring your current character quandaries with you, or develop new character insight using this collaborative space.

Tickets to Kepler’s Literary Foundation events are not tax-deductible. Tax-deductible donations can be made online at keplers.org/donate

Join award winning author and teacher Yogacharya O’Brian for a 90 minute workshop exploring transformative insights into the links between ancient Vedic tradition, the philosophy of yoga, and prosperity in today’s rigorously fast-paced society.

Author of the newly released book The Jewel of Abundance: Finding Prosperity through the Ancient Wisdom of Yoga, Yogacharya O'Brian explores what the four universal aims of life drawn from the Vedas can offer us today as we seek not only a prosperous life but one that has heart and meaning. The four aims of life—to live with higher purpose, to prosper, to enjoy life, and to realize true freedom—provide a brilliant context for living with dynamic balance, prosperity, and the joy that accompanies it. Learn how to cultivate equanimity as you embrace your inherent tendency to thrive.

Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian is a spiritual teacher, poet, writer, founding acharya and spiritual director of Center for Spiritual Enlightenment—a Kriya Yoga Meditation Center in San Jose, California. Her recently published works include Living for the Sake of the Soul, inspiration for spiritual practice and The Moon Reminded Me an award-winning poetry collection. Ordained to teach in 1982 by Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, her message is “engaged enlightenment” – an invitation to live an awakened, creatively inspired, and fulfilled life, now. This workshop is drawn from her latest book, The Jewel Abundance: Finding Prosperity through the Ancient Wisdom of Yoga, recently published by New World Library. www.ellengraceobrian.com and www.csecenter.org

This is your year to write your novel!

One of the biggest obstacles any writer faces is finishing the first draft of a book. As Joyce Carol Oates said, "Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor." Take this class to learn how to make writing a priority in your life, write boldly on the page, and develop the self-confidence necessary to put your work into the world. Grant Faulkner, executive director of National Novel Writing Month and author of Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo, will join Jan Ellison, author of A Small Indiscretion, in a conversation about what it takes to write a novel from the first word to "the end."

Here are some takeaways:

1. Overcome self-doubt and believe in yourself as a writer.
2. Learn tips to overcome writer's block and write bravely on the page. 
2. Develop a creative mindset to nourish your writing year-round.
3. Build a plan to finish your book.

Doors open at 6:30pm.

Books will be available for pick up, and for sale, at the event.

Are you a wannabe junior secret agent? If so, then this is the workshop for you! During this interactive 45-minute workshop, Elizabeth Singer Hunt will guide you through the basics of secret agent code-breaking. You will learn how to disguise messages, develop simple ciphers, and work with codes. 

Elizabeth Singer Hunt is the bestselling author of the award-winning action-packed Secret Agent Jack Stalwart chapter book series, the new Secret Agents Jack and Max Stalwart sequel series, and The Secret Agent Training Manual: How to Make and Break Top Secret Messages. Inspired by her love of travel, she created the Secret Agent Jack Stalwart adventures as a way to educate children about the countries and cultures of the world. The 14-book series has been named a “must read”  by the British Education Secretary, serialized by BBC Radio, and featured on Virgin Atlantic Airways’ international flights. It has also been leveled for American Common Core State Standards. Millions of copies have sold, and the series has been translated into multiple languages. 

Don't miss this great opportunity to learn all kinds of tips and tricks about code breaking from a master storyteller.  

Note: Best for 3rd - 5th graders. Must be strong spellers. 

Where do authors get their ideas?
 
If you’ve ever wondered about the nature of generating ideas, then join Paul Madonna for an hour and a half Master Class where he’ll use his new book Close Enough for the Angels to demonstrate the process of turning experience into art.
 
Over the course of the evening Paul will:
 
• Read passages from several of his books and explain how he came up with each idea
• Discuss the fundamentals behind the writing maxim ‘show don’t tell’
• Conduct a class exercise to have the audience transform an experience from their lives into a creative idea

Paul Madonna’s weekly SF Chronicle series, All Over Coffee earned him acclaim for his entrancing and candid views of a lived-in and authentic San Francisco. His most recent book, Close Enough for the Angels, interweaves fiction and imagery into a graphic work unlike any other.

We are thrilled to welcome award-winning writer and artist Paul Madonna to Kepler’s to conduct a master class focused on the question he is asked most often by aspiring writers: “Where do you come up with your ideas?”