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…
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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…
Hound of the Sea Featured on OPB’s Sports Hour at Wordstock
When: November 5 @ 11:45 am – 12:45 pm Where: Portland Art Museum, Whitsell Auditorium — McMenamins Stage, Wordstock A multi-genre discussion of new work with an athletic bent: Lisa Congdon discusses The Joy of Swimming, an illustrated celebration of our love for getting in the water; Karen Karbo on the experience of co-writing Hound of the Sea with big wave surfer Garret McNamara; and Jason Reynolds on the first…
Karen Karbo in Conversation with Cathi Hanauer, Editor of The Bitch Is Back
Join Karen and Cathi Hanauer, celebrated editor of The Bitch is Back, at Powell’s Books, October 16, 7:30 pm. More than a decade after the anthology The Bitch in the House spoke up loud and clear for a generation of young women, nine of the original contributors are back – along with sixteen captivating new…
Motherhood Made A Man Out of Me Reissued by Hawthorne Books
Brooke and Mary Rose are best friends. Brooke is the mother of a six-month-old. Mary Rose is pregnant. Brooke is married to Lyle, though, at times, she wonders why. Mary Rose would be married if Ward, the father of her child, weren’t already. Ward and Brooke are cousins… A comedy of manners and biology, Karbo…
OPB’s State of Wonder Interviews Karen Karbo About Her Amtrak Residency
Enjoy these two interviews from OPB’s State of Wonder from my Amtrak Writing Residency. 1:00 – Karen Karbo is railbound! Of 16,000 applicants, she’s one of 24 to win the first round of Amtrak’s writer’s residencies, and she’ll be filing audio diaries for us from the rails. 41:43 – Karen Karbo regales us with tails from…
Simone de Beauvoir: Iconoclast
Difficult Woman N°25 Simone de Beauvoir 1908 – 1986 Who: Glamorous intellectual and writer. Shaper of contemporary feminist theory and feminist existential philosophy. Helped popularize writing in cafés. Made it safe for tall woman everywhere to take a much shorter lover. Signature Difficult Moves: Authored The Second Sex (1949), groundbreaking and controversial book on the status…
Hillary Rodham Clinton: Unstoppable
Difficult Woman N°24 Hillary Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947) Who: First major party female presidential nominee. Secretary of State. Senator from New York. First Lady of the United States. First Lady of Arkansas. Pantsuit aficionado. Signature Difficult Moves: Upon entering the White House as First Lady in 1993 insisted upon using Rodham as…