In Marin / READING LIST
MM: This is certainly not your first
book, nor is it your first book in partnership with Gary. What makes this
one unique? TK: California’s Wild
Edge is what I would call a poetic
history of the California coast. It
combines my images with Gary’s
ideas about nature, the wild and the
poetry of place. We included some of
his coast-centric poems, as well as
journal entries from the 1950s, and
poetry from several other writers,
Bay Area locals Jane Hirshfield and
Robert Hass among them. We also
dug up work from historical poets
like Robinson Jeffers, who lived in
Carmel in a stone tower in the teens
of the last century and wrote an
immense body of poetry, all with the
coast as the landscape.
MM: Did you learn anything entirely
new through the creation of this
book? TK: I learned a lot about a num-
ber of poets and writers who spent
time on the coast. One in particular
— Jaime de Angulo, an eccentric
and controversial character in his
day — caught my interest. He lived
in Big Sur on a little homestead that
he started up during the First World
War, and he was a pioneer of the
bohemian lifestyle. His poems and
writings about Big Sur are very evoca-
tive of what it was like to live in that
area before the road went through.
MM: What is it about woodcut
printmaking that best communi-
cates the spirit of a place for you?
TK: The process frees you from this
difficulty that artists have: when you
draw, and paint, or do anything, you
see exactly what you’re doing. With
the printmaking process, you don’t at
all. You’re using a different medium,
and doing everything in reverse to
eventually lead to a picture, and it
sort of takes on its own life. Even
though I’ve been doing it for more
than 40 years, and have done well
over 500 prints, I still am always surprised at how things come out.
MM: What is your all-time favor-
ite coastal viewpoint in Marin?
TK: Probably the most magical place
in Marin is up on Bolinas Ridge. But
there are a lot of other wonderful
places, too. CALIN VAN PARIS
Author Talk California’s Wild Edge: The Coast
in Prints, Poetry, and History by
Tom Killion (Point Reyes Station) with Gary
Snyder, Heyday Books, $50. Through his
intricate, colorful prints, woodcut artist
Tom Killion allows Bay Area residents to experience the profound
natural beauty of their surroundings in a new way. Interspersed
with poetry and prose by Pulitzer Prize winner Gary Snyder and
a number of others, this breathtaking volume will take you on a
visceral, multidimensional tour of the California coast. Appearing
at Book Passage Corte Madera July 10, 7 p.m.
The Rainman’s Third Cure: An
Irregular Education by Peter Coyote (Mill
Valley), Counterpoint LLC, $26. In the follow-up to
his 2009 memoir, acclaimed actor and political activist Peter Coyote opens up about the
individuals and experiences that shaped him,
ultimately leading him to explore Zen Buddhism.
A captivating blend of eccentric anecdotes and philosophical
contemplations, The Rainman’s Third Cure both entertains and
enlightens. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera July 26, 5 p.m.
The Circle of Thirteen by William Petrocelli
(Mill Valley), Turner, $16.95. It is the year 2082.
Following a series of attempted bombings and
acts of violence against women, a devastating
explosion at the dedication ceremony of the new
U.N. in New York City launches Security Director
Julia Moro’s search for the leader of Patria, a
formerly defunct terrorist group now on the rise. Book Passage
co-owner William Petrocelli fluidly transports readers forward
and backward in time. Appearing at Book Passage Corte Madera’s
Mystery Writers Conference, July 23–26.
A Master Plan for Rescue by Janis Cooke
Newman (San Francisco), Riverhead Books, $27.95.
In 1942, a child from New York attempts to move
on with life after losing his beloved parents.
Meanwhile, in Berlin, a young Jewish man must
walk away from the woman he loves. When
their grief-ridden paths merge, the boy and
the man discover the magnitude of memory and the spirit pre-
served in stories. A member of Book Passage’s Travel Writers &
Photographers Conference faculty, Newman writes with enchant-
ing compassion and tenderness. Appearing at Book Passage Corte
Madera July 14, 7 p.m. and at the Travel Writers & Photographers
Conference, August 13–16.
Local Page Turners
Book picks by Book Passage Events Coordinator Aliza Goldberg.
We sat down
with Point Reyes
Station’s Tom
Killion to discuss
his new book
created with Gary
Snyder, California’s
Wild Edge: The
Coast in Prints,
Poetry, and History.
