Literary ladies

Barbara Diamond

Six Laguna Beach girls will attend the American Assn. of University

Women’s’ Tech Trek science camp this summer in San Diego.

The Laguna Beach Foundation of AAUW will pay for camperships from

funds raised at the annual Literary Luncheon, held Saturday at the

Surf & Sand.

“AAUW is an organization of college graduates with a continuing

interest in promoting opportunities for women and girls,” foundation

President Karen Dennis said.

Thurston Middle School students Hannah Hobson, Eden Rodovich,

Christina Gardilcic, Shannon Thomas, Gerry Artman and Sabina Seyster

were chosen to attend the camp.

Usually two girls are selected. City Clerk Martha Anderson’s

donation of unused contributions to her political campaign made

funding available for four more girls this year. Anderson, who did

not attend the luncheon, was roundly applauded.

The foundation sponsors and supports El Morro Elementary School

tutoring, Laguna Beach High School scholarships for girls, Women of

Achievement annual awards and Laguna Beach Live!, as well as Tech

Trek camperships.

Funds are also raised to support national AAUW programs, such as

graduate study and research fellowships for women, grants for public

service projects and career-related study, training, national

conferences, studies in selected professions and research in

educational and gender equality.

The luncheon is a major source of local funding. The 18th annual

Literary Luncheon was sold out, with 180 reservations and a waiting

list.

Five novelists and one poet -- all women -- spoke about their

work, which covered a broad spectrum.

Former Laguna Beach resident Dima Hilal read poems she contributed

to “Poetry of Arab Women,” an anthology of works collected by

Nathalie Handal.

Catherine Karp, author of two books, is the winner of the

Hollywood Film Festival’s Book Discovery Award and the Authorlink New

Author Awards for her first novel, “Gilded.” Her second novel is

“Voices Airy.”

Aimee Liu’s “Flash House” made the L.A. Times bestseller list and

had a coveted starred review in Publishers Weekly. She showed

pictures of her ancestors in China and told how their history played

a role in her book.

“Night Jazz” by Jill Shure is a love story -- her love for the

Jazz Age of the 1920s and the Great Depression era, into which her

modern day heroine is tossed and finds romance. The book has been

described as “The Great Gatsby” meets “Somewhere in Time.”

Lisa Teasley’s book, “Dive” is also a love story, set in South

Florida, Alaska and Los Angeles. Her short story collection, “Glow in

the Dark,” is required reading at the creative writing seminar at UC

Riverside. She teaches in UCLA’s Extension Writers Program.

Jean Brotherton coordinated the luncheon assisted by committee

members Katie Haven, Carol Redford, Barbara Antonacci, CeCe Sloan,

Bevery McComb and Elaine Lawson.