 |
 |
 |
Elizabeth Pschorr of Mill Valley will talk about how she came to write her autobiography, "A Privileged Marriage" |
Colene Sawyer-Schlaepfer of San Jose, a marriage and family therapist, will discuss her book "Fishing by Moonlight: The Art of Choosing Intimate Partners." |
Photo by Dru Banerjee. |
Three authors who have written books about marriage from different perspectives will speak at a Los Gatos-Saratoga branch luncheon benefiting the Educational Foundation of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, at the Saratoga Country Club, 21990 Prospect Rd.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, a teacher of creative writing at Foothill College, will discuss her collection of fiction, Arranged Marriage, which contains stories of India-born women whose ties to tradition and memories of home intrude on their new lives in America.
The author, who lives in Sunnyvale, was born in India and spent her first 19 years there, before coming to the United States to continue her studies. She has written three acclaimed books of poetry, Dark like the River, The Reason for Nasturtiums and Black Candle, and has edited a cross-cultural anthology, Multitude, being used in colleges across the nation.
Elizabeth Pschorr of Mill Valley will talk about how she came to write her autobiography, A Privileged Marriage. As a woman of Jewish ancestry married to an Aryan husband in Germany during World War II, she escaped being sent to the concentration camps because of her influential family ties. But she and her children walked an increasingly fine line as persecution against Jews grew.
The book started as a family history for her grandchildren.
Pschorr marvels at how un- aware her family was of the coming horrors.
"Are we perhaps, even now, just as blind to threats against our existence?" she asks.
Fishing by Moonlight: The Art of Choosing Intimate Partners, by Colene Sawyer-Schlaepfer of San Jose, a marriage and family therapist, is about how to make good choices when selecting a mate.
Several years ago, Sawyer faced the end of her second marriage with a profound sense of failure. How, she asked, could she, "a marriage counselor, mother of four, daughter of a solid family, granddaughter of a Methodist minister," have made such wrong choices in her own life?
She set out to discover how to get it right. Her quest led her through texts, case studies and the experiences of both clients and friends. In Fishing by Moonlight, she distills what she has learned into a guide for those who want to grow and prosper in their relationships.
Sawyer was in the midst of writing the first draft of her book when she met Fred Schlaepfer, also a family therapist. Now married, they live in San Jose, where they work as psychotherapists in private practice.
The books will be available for the authors to sign. Reservations are $40. Call 354-6034.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 15, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.