Appearances
Ongoing Online Events:
Mixed Chicks Chat
Wednesdays at 5pm ET / 2pm PT
A live weekly podcast about being racially and culturally mixed. Find out more or subscribe via iTunes.
Upcoming In-Person Events:
Virginia Festival of the Book
March 18-20, 2010
I'll be participating on two panels at the wonderful Virginia Festival of the Book including:
"Race Matters: Novels of Extended Families,"
Fri. March 19th, 2010 - 4:00 PM. With novelists Carleen Brice (Children of the Waters), and Kathleen Grissom (The Kitchen House) as we share our stories of race and family. Location: Central JMRL Library
201 E. Market Street
(434)979-7151.
"African-American Voices"
Sat. March 20th, 2010 - 12:00 PM
With Adam Bradley (Co-editor, Three Days Before the Shooting: The Unfinished Second Novel of Ralph Ellison), novelists Carleen Brice (Children of the Water) and Heidi Durrow (The Girl Who Fell From the Sky) and poet Major Jackson (Hoops, Leaving Saturn).
Moderated by: Tamyra Turner
Featuring:
Adam Bradley, Carleen Brice, Heidi W. Durrow, Major Jackson
Location:
Central JMRL Library
201 E. Market Street
(434)979-7151
Oakland, CA: Book Party & Reception
March 21, 2010, 3:00pm
Book party & reception hosted by dear friends in Oakland, CA.
Book Club: Woodland Hills, CA
March 23, 2010, 7:00pm
Book club potluck and talk in Woodland Hills, CA.
Book Club: Manhattan Beach, CA
March 24, 2010, 7:00pm
Book club talk in Manhattan Beach, CA.
Covina Public Library
March 25, 2010 5:30pm
A reading & talk at Covina Public Library, 234 N. Second Ave., Covina, CA 91723.
Tandem Reading Series at The Cell Theatre
March 28, 2010 5:00PM
March 28 at 5pm: Tandem Reading Series featuring Elise Blackwell, reading from An Unfinished Score,Heidi Durrow, reading from The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, Tod Goldberg, reading from Other Resort Cities, Matt Gross, the New York Times’ Frugal Traveler, reading from a novel in progress The Cell Theatre, 338 West 23rd Street New York, NY 10011 (646) 861-2253
Chicago, IL Readings & Talks
April 4-6, 2010
The following events have been coordinated by Ragdale, an artists' retreat located on the grounds of Arts and Crafts architect Howard Van Doren Shaw's 1897 summer home in Lake Forest, IL, and several of its partners! Thank you Ragdale!
April 5, 10:00am - 12:30pm Southgate Restaurant 655 Forest Avenue, Lake Forest Tickets: $38 10am - Check-in 10:30 - Author talk, Q&A and book signing 11:30 - Lunch is serve
Register by calling Leslie Brown at 847.234.1063 x. 205 Books will be available for sale at the event by The Lake Forest Book Store
April 5, 6:30pm -8:00pm 213 West Institute Place, Chicago Free to the Public - Open Admission
**Please consider bringing a book to donate to Open Books, a nonprofit social venture that operates an extraordinary bookstore, provides community programs, and mobilizes passionate volunteers to promote literacy in Chicago and beyond.
April 6, 12:00pm -2:00pm Avli Restaurant 566 Chestnut, Winnetka Tickets: $25
Register by calling Leslie Brown at 847.234.1063 x. 205 Books will be available for sale at the event by The Book Stall at Chestnut Court
April 6, 6:30pm - 9:00pm "Write Yourself Into Fiction - A Class with Heidi at StoryStudio Chicago"
StoryStudio Chicago 4043 North Ravenswood Avenue, Chicago Class Fee: StoryStudio Member:$35; Non-Member:$40
Register by Clicking Here Our Partner: For more info on StoryStudio Chicago: click here Class Description: The old adage says "write what you know," but it can be tricky to build a fiction structure on real life experiences and emotions. How do you fictionalize life? How do you know which details to leave in and which to cut out? How do you navigate between real people and characters on the page? How do you write about real people without getting sued? Award-winning author Heidi Durrow will share her experiences in writing, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, a new novel which recently won the Barbara Kingsolver's 2008 Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Change. This story deftly combines elements of Durrow's own life with a dramatic event she culled from the news. The process of imagining the lives of fictional characters led her to include questions from her own life, making the novel a deep exploration of mother-daughter relationships and mixed-race identities. Whether it's events or emotions you wish to explore, this class will help you rethink turning real life into fiction. We'll write, read, and discuss various ways of approaching material that is so close to our personal experience it can be difficult to render in words. We'll also talk about the logistics of living the writer's life - the process of writing and getting published.
Stanford Bookstore: Stanford, CA
April 7, 2010 5:30pm
A reading & talk at the Stanford Bookstore.
Kepler's Books: Menlo Park, CA
April 8, 2010 7:30pm
A reading & talk at Kepler's Books, Menlo Park, CA.
Newport Beach, CA: Book Party & Reception
April 10, 2010, 6pm
Book party & reception hosted by dear friends in Newport Beach, CA.
University of Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh, PA
April 13, 2010 TBA
A reading and talk at University of Pittsburgh.
Norwich Bookstore: Norwich, VT
April 14, 2010 7PM
Reading and signing at the wonderful Norwich Bookstore, Norwich Square, 291 Main Street, Norwich, Vermont 05055.
Dartmouth College
April 15, 2010
Part of an ongoing series featuring a special reading and talk with award-winning writers.
Free Library Festival of Philadelphia
April 17, 2010, 1:00pm
Come here me read guys! I want to see you there: CLEAR Writers Salon: Room 108.
State University of New York: Oneonta, NY
April 20, 2010, 7:30pm
I'm excited to return to SUNY-Oneonta where I was a writer-in-residence a few years ago. I'll do a campus-wide reading on April 20 at 7:30pm and visit classes on April 21. And cooler than cool: my book will be taught as part of a Post-Colonial Lit. class. I can't wait to hear what the students think of it.
Green Toad Bookstore: Oneonta, NY
April 21, 2010 7:00pm
A reading & talk at Green Toad Bookstore, 198 Main Street, Oneonta, NY.
LA Times Festival of Books
April 24-25, 2010
The complete schedule for the LA Times Festival of Books will be announced in February.
Book Club: Encino, CA
May 11, 2010, 8:00pm
Book club talk in Encino, CA.
New York Women's Group: Book Reception
May 15, 2010, TIME TBD
Book reception & talk hosted by a New York women's group.
NY is Book Country
May 16, 2010
An annual festival for people who love books. Complete schedule to be announced soon.
Salem Public Library: Salem, OR
May 19, 2010 7:00pm
A reading & talk at Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty St. SE in Salem, OR, along with author Naseem Rakah, The Crying Tree.
St. Helens Book Shop: St. Helens, OR
May 20, 2010 7:00pm
A reading & talk at St. Helens Book Shop, 2149 Columbia Blvd., St. Helens, OR.
Sunriver Books & Music: Sunriver, OR
May 22, 2010 7:00pm
A reading & talk at Sunriver Books, Sunriver Village Building 25C in Sunriver, OR.
Encino, CA: Book Brunch
May 23, 2010, 11:00am
Book brunch hosted by dear friends in Encino, CA.
Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival: Los Angeles, CA
June 12-13, 2010
Reading and signing at the amazing 3rd Annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival, at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, CA.
Past Events:
Collected Works Bookstore: Santa Fe, NM
March 12, 2010 6pm
Come to Collected Works and enjoy a reading and talk on a beautiful Friday night--Will you promise to come if there are puppies?
Tattered Cover: Denver, CO
March 11, 2010 at 7:30PM
Reading and signing at the great indie bookshop, Tattered Cover Bookstore, 2526 East Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO.
RiverRun Bookstore: Portsmouth, NH
March 4, 2010 7:00pm
A reading & talk at RiverRun Book Store, 20 Congress St., Portsmouth, NH.
Odyssey Books: South Hadley, MA
March 2, 2010 Time TBD
Reading and signing at the great indie bookshop, Odyssey Books, 9 College Street, S. Hadley, MA, celebrating the First Edition club!
Dean's Lecture at Yale Law School
March 1, 2010 4:30pm
Part of an ongoing series featuring scholars and community leaders.
Yale Bookstore: New Haven, CT
March 1, 2010 1:00pm
A signing at the Yale Bookstore.
South Carolina Book Festival
February 26-28, 2010
An annual book festival for people who love books.
McNally-Jackson Books: New York City
February 25, 2010 7PM
Reading and signing at the great indie bookshop, McNally-Jackson Books in New York City, 52 Prince Street.
Portland State University: Portland, OR
February 23, 2010 2:00PM
Reading and talk at Portland State University.
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center: Portland, OR
February 23, 2010
I grew up in IFCC's theatre program in the 1980's. Come share this homecoming with me and my Bellwether Prize winning book: a coming-of-age story and society’s ideas of race, class, and beauty. “It engages the heart as much as it does the mind . . . Unforgettable.” Whitney Otto, How to Make an American Quilt
Village Books: Bellingham, WA
February 22, 2010 7PM
Reading and signing at the great indie bookshop, Village Books, 1200 Eleventh Street, Bellingham, WA 98225.
Jefferson High School: Portland, OR
February 19, 2010
A visit and talk with students of Jefferson High School, Portland, OR.