KEROUAC, POLITICS, MEMOIRS, SATIRE, FICTION AND WINE ON THE BILL AT PALMER VINEYARDS 2008 ‘WRITERS ON THE VINE’ TALKS

AQUEBOGUE, NY – Palmer Vineyards’ long-running Writers on the Vine author series this year will feature a wide range of discussions with best-selling authors dealing with such varied subjects as Jack Kerouac, American politics, fiction, satire, memoirs, women’s views and the politics of wine.

The discussions, hosted by broadcast personality Larry Davidson, will be conducted each Sunday, June 22 through Aug. 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Palmer Vineyards winery, Sound Ave., Aquebogue. Admission to each session is $10, which includes a glass of Palmer’s award winning wines.
 
The series kicks off June 22 with a look at beat generation writer Jack Kerouac with playwright Patrick Fenton, and members of the cast from “Jack’s Last Call.  Fenton, a freelance writer from Massapequa, N.Y., and a frequent contributor to Newsday, The New York Post, and The Daily News, has been a keen observer of Kerouac’s Long Island days. “Jack’s Last Call” recalls a party held at a friend’s home in Northport, N.Y., in 1964, just before the writer’s move to Florida and is based on an actual tape recording of that night and more than 12 years of research about Kerouac’s life in Queens and Long Island.

June 29, brings two award-winning investigative reporters, Craig Unger the author of “The Fall of the House of Bush” (Scribner, 2007) and Newsday writer Thomas Maier, author of “The Kennedys: America’s Emerald Kings” (Basic Books, 2003). Unger’s book, subtitled “The Untold Story of How a Band of True Believers Seized the Executive Branch, Started the Iraq War, and Still Imperils America’s Future” is an sweeping account of the secret relationship between neoconservative policy makers and the Christian Right. Maier’s “The Kennedys” was one of the top annual holiday books chosen by USA Today in 2003, and recently was reissued along with a Warner Bros. Home Entertainment documentary based on this book. 

On July 6, the theme is coming to America as the microphone is handed to Victoria Redel, author of “The Border of Truth and Cardio-Thoracic surgeon Dr. Harold Fernandez” (Counterpoint, 2007), which traces the journey from illegal immigrant to prominent heart surgeon of a holocaust refugee, and Mingmei Yip, author of “Peach Blossom Pavilion” (Kensington, May 2008), a historical biographical novel that tells the story of the last surviving courtesan in China.

Seth Greenland, author of “Shining City” (Bloomsbury USA, July 2008) appears at the winery on July 20 along with actress, screenwriter and activist, Heather Thomas, author of “Trophies.” Greenland, a novelist, playwright and screenwriter, has worked on TV shows for Norman Lear, Richard Belzer and has written for HBO’s “Arliss.” Warner Brothers has purchased the film rights to Shining City.” His latest work, his second, is a witty and sexy satire about how contemporary American culture defines right and wrong, good and bad. Thomas’ “Trophies” follow the fictional adventures of a group of influential, wealthy Hollywood second wives.

Two authors discuss their memoirs on July 27. They are Pulitzer Prize winning former New York Times reporter Lucinda Franks and Felicia C. Sullivan. Franks is the author of “My Father’s Secret War” (Miramax, March 2007), an account of her investigation into her father’s past as she reconnects with him after decades of estrangement.  Sullivan and New York based writer, is the author of “The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here” (algonquin Books, February 2008), a look back on the author’s childhood — lived among drug dealers, users, and substitute fathers. 

Aug. 4 brings John Feinstein, author of “Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember” (Little Brown and Co., May 2008), a look at the 2007 seasons of pitchers Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine.  Feinstein is the bestselling author of 10 sports books and two novels. He writes for Inside Sports, Golf, Tennis Magazine and Basketball America and is commentator on NPR and CBS. 

Another panel of women writers is featured on Aug. 10. They include: novelist Ellen Meister,  author of “Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA” (William Morrow, 2006) and the forthcoming “The Smart One” (Avon A); Ellen T. White,  author of “Simply Irresistible: Unleash your Inner Siren and Mesmerize Men, with Help from the Most Famous and Infamous Women in History” (Running Press, December 2007), a humorous how-to that uses the lives of history’s greatest sirens as case studies to help the modern woman unleash her own inner siren; and, “Women of the Vine” (Wiley, 2006) author Deborah Brenner, the owner of Women of the Vine Cellars.

Authors Jennet Conant and Paula Uruburu fill the bill on Aug. 24. Conant is the author of the soon to be published “The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington” (Simon & Schuster, September 2008), a look at writer Dahl’s years as a diplomat and spy. A Hofstra University professor of English, Uruburu is the author of “American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White: The Birth of the ‘It’ Girl and the Crime of the Century” (Riverhead Hardcover, May 2008), examines the notorious life of model and chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit, whose rise to stardom was as spectacular as her subsequent fall.

On Aug. 31, the series wraps up with Tyler Colman, a wine educator, blogger (Dr. Vino) and author of “Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink” (University of California Press, July 2008). He is joined by his wife, Michelle Sinclair Colman, author of the children’s book, “Eco Babies Wear Green” (Ten Speed Press, April 2008).

Established in 1986, Palmer Vineyards is the most-awarded winery on Long Island. The Palmer Vineyards tasting room on Route 48 in Aquebogue is modeled on an old British pub and has a adjoining, spacious tasting deck overlooking the vineyards. For more information about Palmer Vineyards go to palmervineyards.com or call (631) 722-9463 ext. 10.

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