Kona Stories Book Shop hosts Words and Wine
Join local authors for the monthly Words and Wine Event hosted by Kona Stories Book Shop. The 6 p.m. Oct. 1 gathering is free and offers a chance to meet and greet some of Hawaii’s favorite authors and artists while enjoying complimentary pupu and wine. October’s featured authors are Duncan Dempster, Benjamin Cohn and Shay Bintliff.
Duncan Dempster is a freelance writer who, having spent the major part of a lifetime employing words and language as a matter of vocational expedience, has discovered late in life the joys and challenges of juggling words and ideas in a purely avocational mode.
A retired career Naval officer and later a bank property manager and internet service technician, he is now fully retired in the institutional sense and totally immersed in his newfound career of developing his dream retirement on the Big Island of Hawaii. Dempster’s new book “Where Are You?” Is a sequel to the novel “Chapel on the Moor,” which follows the lives of the two main protagonists a half century later in a quest to discover what, if anything, might remain of the Chapel.
Benjamin Cohn, author of “The Depth Of Synchronicity,” builds on Jung’s foundational concept, adding scientific explanations to his personal subjective experience in an engaging discussion regarding the greater spiritual consciousness that generates synchronicity. Cohn weaves in his wild personal tale in which he follows synchronicity like a path, conveying the existence of a subtle force connected to the body and mind.
Shay Bintliff grew up in a male oriented family in Texas. As a child she felt shushed when she tried to speak, which she believed was because she was female and too short.
Her love of poetry began as a teenager when her favorite aunt gave her an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poetry book and told her to “Find your voice in writing!” As a young adult she was determined to be a physician so her energy and focus shifted to getting into medical school. Bintliff graduated from University of Washington in Seattle in a class of 76 physicians where she was the only female. She returned to Hawaii and practiced medicine over all the islands including Molokai and Lanai, specializing in both pediatric birth defects and emergency medicine.
Three years ago at age 80 she retired and devotes herself to paddling, working on her Sandalwood farm and writing poetry. Bintliff says she writes for herself now, waiting on inspiration from emotions and rainbows and the words just come. “Soular Rainbows” is a collection of poems devoted to nature, love and passion.
Info: Brenda or Joy at 324-0350.
Hawaii Writers Guild presents Writers’ Voices
Hawaii Writers Guild will present its October Writers’ Voices reading from 6-7:30 p.m. Oct. 2 at the Thelma Parker Memorial Library, 67-1209 Mamalahoa Highway in Waimea.
Writers’ Voices is an evening of original readings by Guild members. Readers at the October Writers’ Voices will include members from around the Big Island: Jim Gibbons from Waimea, Carla Orellana from Hawi, Donna Maltz from North Kohala and Carol McMillan, soon to be from Waimea.
Jim Gibbons will read a piece that introduces a new word into the English lexicon: “dogtuse.” He says, in order to find out what it means, you will have to come to the reading.
Carla Orellana will read a story from her “Tales of a Snake Dancer,” vignettes from her life as a professional belly dancer with her belly-dancing partner, a boa constrictor by the name of Suleman Aziz.
Donna Maltz will read an excerpt from her just published book, “Living Like the Future Matters: The Evolution of an Eco-Bohemian Entrepreneur.”
Our guest emcee, Carol McMillan, will also be a reader. She will read from her memoir-in progress, Seeds of a Flower Child, set in the San Francisco Bay area during the years 1967 and 1970. She will read from a chapter about the “People’s Park” in Berkeley, a flower-child-created park that was the center of protests in 1969.
Hawaii Writers Guild is an independent association of professional writers engaged in the promotion of cultural enrichment. The semi-monthly readings are free and open to the public.
Info: www.hawaiiwritersguild.com