On February 26, 2018, I published In Praise of Difficult Women: Life Lessons from 29 Heroines Who Dared to Break the Rules. It was a surreal experience: because it was published smack in the middle of #timesup and #metoo, the general assumption was that I’d NaNoWiMoed out a 352-page book about the lives of 29 women…
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In Praise of Difficult Women: A Curated List of Reviews
Dan Berne Is a Guest at the Return to the Tactile Workshop in Collioure!
Joining us in Collioure this September – my dear friend and citizen of Karbohemia, Dan Berne! Dan is a talented novelist and poet, and devotee of this unique part of southern France. He knows first-hand how this place works magic on body, soul, and creative spirit. His writing is steeped in the tactile. Dan is…
Karen Karbo’s Writing Retreat in Collioure, France Announces our Chef, Emily Park
I am so excited to announce Emily Park as our retreat chef October 1 – 6 in Collioure, France. Emily is a Portland, Oregon–based chef with a deep interest in local, seasonal cooking and artisan bread making. She is one of two chef-owners of the Meadowlark supper club, hosting bimonthly pop-up dinners around Portland since 2014. Her…
Return to the Tactile: Collioure, France
My shift away from the tactile, from enjoying the simple pleasures of having a healthy human body with five working senses, began with sunscreen. Did you think I was going to blame the rise in my addiction to those other, ubiquitous screens? I am. In a minute. I was a Southern Californian beach girl until…
Available now!
From Frida Kahlo and Elizabeth Taylor to Nora Ephron, Carrie Fisher, and Lena Dunham, this witty narrative explores what we can learn from the imperfect and extraordinary legacies of 29 iconic women who forged their own unique paths in the world. Smart, sassy, and unapologetically feminine, this elegantly illustrated book is an ode to the…
Playing the Girl: Ten False Starts (After Janet Malcolm): LA Review of Books essay on You Play the Girl
1. YOU PLAY THE GIRL: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed Messages, Carina Chocano’s memoir/pop culture takedown of the way women are characterized by the media, was released on August 8, 2017. It was the time before #MeToo, when sexual assault and misconduct was a well-kept open secret, when powerful men…
Sneak Peek inside In Praise of Difficult Women
A little inside publishing baseball: the “first and goods” just came back from the printer. The book isn’t bound yet, but these loose pages are finished. The striking illustration is by Kimberly Glyder.
What Does It Mean to Be Difficult?
Type the word difficult into Google and you’ll find three definitions. “Needing much effort or skill to accomplish, deal with, or understand” (She had a difficult decision to make). “Characterized by or causing hardship or problems” (A difficult economic climate) “(of a person) not easy to please or satisfy.” (Lily could be difficult.) Lily could…
Confessions of a Coastal Elite
Since the election on November 8 my fellow Hillary supporters have been in a tail spin while supporters from the other side are gloating with victory (had it gone the other way, I’m sure Hillary people would be equally ungracious. That’s not what this is about.) An old acquaintance, who is married to a man…
Day After Election Day Pub Party at Broadway Books: Come Celebrate with Karen Karbo and Kerry Cohen
Party with Karen and the redoubtable Kerry Cohen and on The Day After Election Day: Wednesday, November 9, 7:00 pm at Broadway Books. Awesome Hawthorne Books is throwing a book launch party for Kerry’s Girl Trouble: An Illustrated Memoir (illustrations by Tyler Cohen) and Karen’s reissue of Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me. Please…