Local Authors Tell Tales in ‘Literary Pasadena’

If Pasadena could tell a story, what would it say?

Twenty-nine authors’ tales are gathered in Literary Pasadena: The Fiction Edition, a collection of local fiction out this month, and the neighborhoods and experiences detailed in the tome are as varied as the authors themselves.

Two homeless men getting relocated away from the large, consuming 2009 Station Fire; a woman in the upper crust west side of Pasadena who needs help in an unlikely companion; and South Pasadena’s beloved, historic and withering Rialto Theatre are just some of the characters and scenarios that grace the pages of Literary Pasadena.

Excerpts from praised best sellers like Lian Dolan’s Helen of Pasadena and David Ebershoff’s Pasadena are included, as well as works from Pasadena Star-News Public Editor Lawrence “Larry” Wilson, Pasadena Daily Photo blogger, humor columnist and former Patch contributor Petrea Burchard and many others, including newcomers.

Altadena native and author Michelle Huneven, who set her acclaimed third novel Blame in Pasadena, Altadena and La Cañada Flintridge, wrote Literary Pasadena’s foreword.

“I had no idea how many talented writers we had here,” Colleen Dunn Bates, co-founder of Literary Pasadena publisher Prospect Park Books, told Patch.

The idea for Literary Pasadena came about when Bates was writing Hometown Pasadena, Prospect Park’s inaugural guidebook of local contributors’ recommendations on food, entertainment, history and more in the Crown City.

“We did a section of quotes [in Hometown Pasadena] and I became fascinated and wanted to do a book with old and new.”

Pasadena’s own Vroman’s Bookstore recommended Literary Pasadena be separated into stories from historic Pasadena writers and newer Pasadena writers, thus the current contemporary fiction volume.

Bates wants to release a new Literary Pasadena edition every two years; next humor and then history.

Literary Pasadena Authors Share With Patch

Inspired by his wife’s former work with PATH (People Assisting The Homeless), Literary Pasadena contributor Wally Rudolph wanted to give voice to the issue of homelessness.

“In my work I deal with fringe elements of society but I try to do it on their own terms,” Rudolph told Patch.

Rudolph penned “Ocean Water,” a work about two homeless men in Elysian Park during the devastating 2009 Pasadena-area fire and described it as, “two friends pushed to the brink on a fateful evening.”

In contrast, contributor and Pasadena resident Petrea Burchard explored the well-to-do west side of Pasadena in her fictional work “Portraits.”

“It’s about two very different women who really need each other’s help and figure out how to partner,” Burchard told Patch. “My inspiration was the west side where rich people live. I don’t know that life.”

As for what Burchard enjoys most about Pasadena, she said, “If you just throw yourself into something, you’re part of the community."

The same could be said of the diverse group of authors that have become Literary Pasadena.

See more about Literary Pasadena and where it is sold here.

Some of the book’s authors will be at the following events:

Thursday, April 18, 7PM
Vroman’s
With Denise Hamilton, Rachel M. Harper,
Jim Krusoe, & Scott O’Connor;
mod. Patricia O’Sullivan
695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

April 20 & April 21st, 12PM
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
Group Signings, Prospect Park Books booth
USC Campus

Sunday, April 28, 2013, 2PM
Barnes & Noble – Old Town Pasadena
With Petrea Burchard, Margaret Finnegan,
Rachel M. Harper, Cynthia Adam Prochaska,
Jervey Tervalon, John Vorhaus, & Lawrence Wilson

Saturday, May 11, 10AM
LitFest Pasadena
With Naomi Hirahara, Liza Palmer,
Samantha Peale, & Wally Rudolph;
mod. Patricia O’Sullivan
Central Park, Pasadena

Thursday, June 13, 7:30PM (galleries open at 6:30PM)
Pasadena Museum of History
With Petrea Burchard, Dianne Emley,
Jill Alison Ganon, & Ron Koertge;
mod. Patricia O’Sullivan
470 W. Walnut St., Pasadena