Monthly Meetings

SF/Peninsula member and author of Heroes Arise, Laurel Anne Hill crafts stories with inspirational premises. Worthiness is rewarded. The power of love, honor, faith and duty can surmount daunting obstacles and transform lives.

Heroes Arise, Laurel’s debut parable was published in October 2007. Her shorter fiction and creative nonfiction have been published in the Contra Costa Times, Nth Zine (Online Exclusives), Lynx Eye, the San Jose Mercury News, Space and Time, and a variety of small-circulation magazines. KQED-FM (NPR, San Francisco) broadcast her perspective in 2004 about the plight of homeless families.

In 2005, Laurel was awarded first prize in the Ninth Annual Captivating Beginnings Short Story Contest for “Reaching for Rainbows.” She received an honorable mention (creative nonfiction category) for “Learning the Bones” in the 2004 Soul-Making Literary Competition, an extended community arts outreach program of the National League of American Pen Women, Nob Hill, San Francisco Bay Area Branch. “Crescendo,” her personal essay, won honorable mention in the Foster City 2003 International Writer’s Contest. Upon invitation, she participated in the Literature Without Borders readings at the 2005 Oakland Literature & World Music Expo.

Laurel's website: http://www.laurelannehill.com/

Alice Wilson-Fried grew up in the Magnolia Housing Project in New Orleans, Louisiana. After attending Grambling College and Tulane University, she worked as an administrator in public relations at the Delta Queen Steamboat Company. Alice now lives in Alameda, California, with her husband, Frank. She is a mother of two, stepmother of three, and grandmother of eight.

After suffering through menopause for five years, Alice took up tennis, and finally found relief. By extending herself physically and mentally on the courts, she was able to regain control of her life from the inside out. She wrote her debut nonfiction book, Menopause, Sisterhood, and Tennis, to share this experience with other women, and help them recognize and prepare for menopause.

For her first novel, Outside Child, Alice returned to her Louisiana roots to craft a murder mystery set in the corrupt business world of pre-Katrina New Orleans. Alice’s childhood in the Magnolia Housing Project and her life thereafter in New Orleans enabled her to open up the world of native-born New Orleans blacks, their communities and their abilities to succeed in their city. Alice is currently working on a sequel to Outside Child, focusing that novel on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Alice's website: http://www.alicewilsonfried.com/

Meeting Time: 10am to noon

Cost: $15 members
$18 non-members

Location:  Belmont Library
1110 Alameda De Las Pulgas, Belmont, CA 

Reservations are advised
Call our hotline at 650-615-8331 to leave a message or email Chris Wachlin with your name and the meeting date.

Mentoring Session immediately follows the general meeting. For details, click here.

Directions to Belmont Library:

By Highway 280 (traveling North or South): Take HWY 92 east and then turn left on Ralston Ave. Take Ralston Ave. "down the hill" towards the Alameda. Turn right onto the Alameda. The library is located two blocks down on the right. The parking lot is beyond the library building.

By Highway 101 (traveling North or South): Take the Ralston Ave/Belmont exit west. Cross the El Camino to the Alameda. Turn left and the library is two blocks down on the right. The parking lot is beyond the library building.

By El Camino Real (traveling North): Turn left on Ralston and drive to the Alameda. Turn left on the Alameda and the library is two blocks on the right. The parking lot is beyond the library building.

By El Camino Real (traveling South): Turn right on Ralston and drive to the Alameda. Turn left on the Alameda and the library is two blocks on the right. The parking lot is beyond the library building.

BUS ROUTE: Use SamTrans 295 on the Alameda or use SamTrans KX, PX, or TX and get off at El Camino and Ralston in Belmont. Take SamTrans 260, 262 or 64 (school schedule only) west on Ralston Ave. Get off at Alameda and Ralston. Walk two blocks south on the Alameda. The library is on the right. Call 1-800-660-4BUS or check out www.samtrans.com for further information regarding details of schedules and routes.

PARKING: There is free parking at the library. Some free street parking is also available.
The library parking lot is very limited. Please park on the street and use the lot only if is absolutely necessary!

SF/Peninsula Writers meets on the 3rd Saturday
of each month except when noted.

Future Meetings