CAMP 2016: Meet the authors at Books & Browse

By Joanne Bamberger, Books & Browse Coordinator

Are you ready for the big “Books & Browse” event at this year’s conference in Roanoke? Every year at the Conference and Mentoring Project (CAMP), JAWS provides the opportunity for members to mingle with our member authors and purchase some of the great books they’ve published.

This year’s Books & Browse session will be held on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 6 to 7 p.m. And this isn’t just an opportunity to support our authors; it’s also a chance to help support JAWS, as many of the authors have agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds for JAWS’ ongoing programs.

This year, we have 10 great authors (full disclosure: I’m one of them!) who will be on site to chat about their books, which include many award-winning works of fiction and non-fiction. There will be something for everyone – memoir, anthologies, novels, self-help and more. Topics include WWII women journalists, a true life story of leaving it all behind, the benefits of sometimes being wrong, and, of course, an election year read on Hillary Clinton.

Please welcome these authors while you’re at CAMP and consider purchasing some of their great reads:

“At One Time” by Julia Airey

Julia Airey started writing “At One Time” because of a misunderstanding. An article in a local Dutch newspaper advertised a house cleaning position. But what the homeowner – Martha Anschuetz – really wanted was someone to tell her stories to about living through WWII and growing up in a colony.

A student of law and linguistics at the time, Julia spent three years interviewing Martha and archiving thousands of her documents and photographs. The manuscript is “artisanal”: made by stitching interviews together with photos and letters. All stories are true, and all words are verbatim. Design and layout was also done by Julia.

Martha Anschuetz died three weeks after the book was published. Julia now lives in Washington, D.C. where she blogs on legal stories, and works as a reporter for Techincal.ly DC.

“Love Her, Love Her Not: The Hillary Paradox” by Joanne Bamberger

Joanne Bamberger is an entrepreneurial journalist and the author/editor of the award-winning, Amazon bestseller “Love Her, Love Her Not: The Hillary Paradox,” a researched anthology that explores the complicated and conflicting feelings women voters have about Hillary Clinton. “Love Her, Love Her Not” was called an election year “must read” by InStyle Magazine and by political commentators on both sides of the political aisle. Joanne writes for USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Hill. Her work also has appeared in The Washington Post, Politics Daily, the Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast and more. Her political commentary has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, BBC Radio and more. Her first book was “Mothers of Intention: How Women and Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America.” She is the founder of The Broad Side, a noted digital magazine of women’s commentary. A frequent speaker, Joanne was on “The Hillary Panel” at the 2016 Politicon conference. A “recovering lawyer,” Joanne lives outside Washington, D.C. with her husband and teen daughter. Twitter: @jlcbamberger Facebook: joannebambergerauthor Email:

“Southern Cross” by Julia Cass

The body of a highly respected black doctor is found in the ashes of a black church torched in the middle of the night. This is 1964 in a small town in Alabama so many suspect the Klan. The church’s minister, the leader of the fledgling local civil rights movement, is not so sure. When he begins to investigate, he finds himself in grave danger. What he and those who help him uncover is nothing less than a plot to change history. “Southern Cross” was co-written by writer Julia Cass and J.L. Chestnut Jr, a native of Selma, Alabama and its first black attorney, who previously collaborated on his biography, “Black in Selma.” The writer Gay Talese calls it “suspenseful, rich in characters from bootleggers to bank presidents, insightful in its depiction of the compromises and survival strategies of black leaders and full of the warmth and humor of black life.”

“The Race for Paris” by Meg Waite Clayton

Inspired by the extraordinary female journalists who were among the first to report the Allied liberation of Paris from the Nazis in 1944, this national bestseller follows two war correspondents who defy military regulations and gender barriers, and put their lives at risk, on their quest to document (and make) history. The novel was awarded the second place 2016 Langum Prize, which honors literary excellence and historical accuracy.

Meg Waite Clayton is the New York Times bestselling author of four previous novels, including “The Wednesday Sisters,” an Entertainment Weekly top friendship novel of all time, and “The Language of Light,” a finalist for what is now the PEN Bellwether Prize. Meg has also written more than fifty opinion pieces, essays, and stories for publications including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Runner’s World, the Literary Review and public radio.

“WAKING UP IN EDEN: In Pursuit of an Impassioned Life on an Imperiled Island” by Lucinda Fleeson

After years as a reporter, Lucinda Fleeson decides to chuck it all – her pretty house with the English garden, her high-powered job at the Philadelphia Inquirer – to live on the edge of a rainforest in Kauai. At first barely habitable, her no-frills cottage sits amid mango and octopus trees and bamboo groves. Geckos, roosters and wild pigs roam freely. Sparkling oceans, lush green mountains and rocky covers are just down the dirt road. Working at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, she learns that native plants are dying at an astonishing rate in Hawaii—known as the Extinction Capitol of the World. As Fleeson investigates efforts to preserve our planet, she also awakens to a deeper, more satisfying life.

“The Fire Line” by Fernanda Santos

Fernanda Santos is the Phoenix Bureau chief of The New York Times and the author of “The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and One of the Deadliest Days in American Firefighting.” Fernanda has reported in three languages, in Latin America and the United States. She was a fellow with the International Reporting Project (Spring 2015) and co-author of “Latinos in the United States,” a reference guide published by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in 2002. She got her start in journalism in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, her home country, where she bore witness to violence, inequality and immeasurable hope. In those scenes, she found her passion for telling true stories. Her website: www.fernandasantosbooks.com

“Chinese Characters” by Angilee Shah

Angilee Shah is the digital editor for Global Nation, PRI’s coverage of immigration in the US. She has reported from across Asia, including China, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and on diverse cultures across the US, from Southern California to Minneapolis, where she is currently based.

She’s also a consulting editor to the Journal of Asian Studies and the co-editor of Chinese Characters (UC Press, 2012). It’s a collection of essays, as Pankaj Mishra writes in his foreword, “to herald a new golden age of journalism about a ceaselessly fascinating country.” Contributors include a MacArthur Fellow, the China correspondent to a major Indian newspaper and scholars whose depth of understanding is matched only by the humanity with which they treat their subjects.

“Thrive! … Affordably” by Jennifer Streaks

Jennifer Streaks, a financial/lifestyle expert and author, started her career working in financial compliance for major banking institutions. When the economy started a downward spiral and the housing bubble burst, Jennifer, armed with an MBA, found herself at the center of the storm helping individuals save their homes and pay off their credit card debt. Jennifer has been on every major TV and radio network (MSNBC, FOX, Fox Business, AlJazeera, BBC, CCTV, MarketWatch) and has been published in several national magazines providing practical financial advice that everyone and anyone can immediately put to use to see a change in their financial picture. Her sought after tips show consumers you can achieve an “affordable lifestyle.” Travel and entertainment, grocery and home goods, finances do not have to be a chore. To this end, Jennifer wrote “Thrive!…Affordably,” a monthly “how-to” designed to help the reader meet financial goals one step at a time. The book offers tips, advice, and basic financial management lessons geared towards helping the reader highlight strengths, identify missteps, and take control over finances. Jennifer Streaks takes the mystery out of management, making financial freedom attainable for anyone willing to do the work. You deserve to live your best life. Don’t just survive… Thrive!

“Better by Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong” by Alina Tugend

Alina Tugend is a New York-based journalist who frequently writes for The New York Times and other national publications. Her award-winning column, Shortcuts, ran biweekly for 10 years in the Times, ending in 2015. In “Better by Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong” (Riverhead), she examines the delicate tension between what we’re told – that we must make mistakes in order to learn – and the reality that most of us dread and avoid mistakes. Using in-depth research and behavioral studies, her book includes what the medical and aviation fields have taught us about the best ways to respond to errors, how and why men and women react differently to mistakes and how other cultures approach the concept of mistakes. Among other accolades, it was a finalist for Books for Better Life award and named by The Huffington Post as one of the “Books We Thought You Should Know About.”

“Escape Points: A Memoir” by Michele Weldon

Award-winning journalist Michele Weldon provides a potent antidote to the harried single mom stereotype in this beguiling memoir of raising three sons alone in the face of cancer, an ambitious career and the shadow of her ex. Untethered from a seemingly idyllic life with a handsome but abusive attorney husband, Weldon relates the challenges and triumphs of the years that followed her divorce as she maneuvers through a complicated life of long daily commutes, radiation treatments, supporting the boys’ all-consuming high school wrestling careers, and trying to mitigate their hurt and resentment at an absent father. By turns humorous and heartbreaking, Weldon describes facing her fears and failures honestly, guided by a belief in the power of staying calm, doing one’s best, and asking for help. She provides a graceful example of how a single mother, and her children, can succeed when others—neighbors, family, teachers, and in this case an incredible high school wrestling coach—step in to fill the void and she can stay the course with common sense and dutiful love.