15 Minutes of Fame

15 Minutes of Fame

Andy Warhol said everyone gets 15 minutes of fame.  But who would have thought mine would be in Bangladesh.  It’s true, the editor of the Weekly Blitz, an English language magazine interviewed me and has put that interview on page one along with Bin Laden’s secret meeting with absconding Bangladeshi terrorists and Radical suicide squad in kindergarten schools!
Blitz Exclusive
 
I wrote answers to such probing questions as, [Your] promotional says, this book is a story of murder, adultery and regular church attendance…How do you personally look into adultery as a human being?  

You can see it all for yourself at: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV13/front.htm

Belle's Book Tour

Belle’s Book Tour

William Morrow/HarperCollins gave Belle Cantrell in spite of her disreputable conduct.  I tagged along.

Sept 15, 2005 – Winston-Salem, NC
Belle sashayed over to Winston-Salem, North Carolina where I spoke about her at the Southeastern Book Sellers Association or SEBA.

Sept. 27, 2005—Beverly Hills, CA
Belle debuted in style at Barnes and Noble’s – store at the Grove in Beverly Hills, where over one hundred people showed up for a celebration of Louisiana.  I donated half my royalties to victims of Katrina.

October 2, 2005—Memphis, TN
Belle’s tour began in earnest when I flew to Memphis.  

October 3, 2005—Memphis
Bright and early the next morning I was dressed and smiling for “The Morning Show” on FOX 13 at 7:15 AM.  Belle was of course ready, gazing beguilingly from the cover of her book. From there we went over to WREG CBS Channel 3 where I was “Live at Nine.”  That evening the wonderful bookstore, Davis Kidd hosted a “Bad Girls’ Night Out” with champagne and chocolates for Miss Belle.  

October 5, 2005—Blytheville, AK
I met Mary Gay Shipley and read at That Bookstore in Blytheville, one of the great independents in the nation.  If you-all have the good fortune to be in Blytheville drop in on Mary Gay and bask in her cultural oasis.

October 6-9 2005—Nashville, TN
The Southern Festival of Books greeted Belle with enthusiasm.  Too bad it was pouring down rain most of the weekend.  But the wonderful people at the Festival gave me the auditorium for my speech.  I met the delightful people at Joseph-Beth Booksellers as well as some fascinating writers, such as Juno-award winning singer-writer Connie Kaldor & and her husband, music producer Paul Campagne, from Montreal, who were there with her children’s book and music. Belle and I joined Ray Brassfield at WKCT-AM, “Drive Time,” and I was able to visit the beautiful capitol building.  It was a real thrill to walk around the Assembly Room where women finally got the right to vote.

October 10, 2005—Birmingham, AL
I began at “Good Day Alabama.” WBRC-TV (FOX) and spent the rest of the day with the delightful ladies of the Birmingham Junior League.  My special thanks goes to Juliet “Juju” Beale who accompanied me to all three bookclub meetings and who was too much a lady to act as bored as she must have been when I was asked the same question for the third time.

October 11, 2005—Atlanta, GA
My very social cousin, Joel Lowenstein and her husband, Irwin, were kind enough to give me and bad girl Belle a book signing party before I went to the Chapter 11 for my official book signing there.

October 12, 2005 I flew back to LA, the first leg of my book tour over.

With my hair uncovered

Here's a picture of me as seen in Bangladesh. 

IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE

WHO KNEW?

I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine.  Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.  

I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder.  That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case.  I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador.  We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.  

PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them.  So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again.  Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.  

He published my picture in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz.  The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there.  A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists.  When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.  

In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm  or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net

That's me receiving the award for my Bangladeshi friend 

 

IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE

WHO KNEW?

I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.

I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.

PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.

He published the picture on the right in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:

"Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury."

Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.

In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net 

IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE

WHO KNEW?

I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.

I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.

PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.

He published the picture on the right in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.

In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net 

IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE

WHO KNEW?

I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.

I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.

PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.

He published the picture on the right in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.

In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net