“California is the only state in the Union that has flourished beyond all expectations, primarily because it has always been all things to all people. And like the seduction of the Muses, she always appears in the garb of our own desires…” So writes Thomas Steinbeck in “Montalvo, Myths and Dreams of Home,” one of twenty-seven stories featured in MY CALIFORNIA, an extraordinary creative outpouring from the state’s literary community in support of the California Arts Council. My California is a collaboration between Angel City Press in Santa Monica and CaliforniaAuthors.com.

All of the contributors to My California donated their work so proceeds of this book can benefit the beleaguered California Arts Council, an agency forced to suspend school writing and arts education programs in 2003. Fly-fish the pristine waters of the Owens River. Step up to the microphone in a California honky-tonk. Surf the biggest waves California has ever seen. Mingle with ducks in an urban oasis. Roller skate through LA’s Union Station.

My California is a collection of narrative travel and adventure stories by twenty-seven of California’s finest writers. My Califronia is labor of love by 27 authors to support the embattled California Arts Council. All of the contributors donated their work so that proceeds from this special anthology can benefit the embattled California Arts Council and writing programs for children statewide.

Join contributors Pico Iyer, Michael Chabon, Thomas Steinbeck, Dana Gioia, Matt Warshaw, Patt Morrison, T. Jefferson Parker, Edward Humes, Mark Arax, Deanne Stillman, Rubén Martínez, Percival Everett, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Mary Mackey, Gerald Haslam, Aimee Liu, D.J. Waldie, Héctor Tobar, Firoozeh Dumas, devorah major, Carolyn See, Chryss Yost, Anh Do, Derek M. Powazek, Daniel Weintraub, David Kipen, and Veronique de Turenne in a good read for a good deed!

 

Reviews

From Ray Bradbury, Author:

“These 27 essays prove once again that California is the Golden State.”

From the Los Angeles Times:

“ … Each of the contributors manages to transcend the thoroughly respectable genre of travel writing to achieve something more exalted.”

From David Freeman, Author:

“Here are views of this singular place from a dazzling roster of writers … by turns quirky and passionate and argumentative.”

From the Santa Barbara News-Press:

“My California is both a good book and a good idea.”

From the California Arts Council:

“This extraordinary gesture is a display of kindness, civic responsibility, and a great concern for…funding of the arts.”