Book ‘em: Writers’ Round-up at Tecolote

Prolific local literature lover Steven Gilbar, who probably spends as much time involved in books, research, and writing as he does practicing law, has just added another new title to his two dozen-strong published collection, this one sharpening the local angle to focus on writers who call Montecito home. Titled The Little Book of Montecito Writers: Mini-Biographies of Authors with Connections to Montecito, California, the new work grew out of a talk he gave at the Montecito Library last summer, and all profits from sales from what he calls “another of my shamelessly noncommercial enterprises” are earmarked for our charming little library. 

The launch party at the Upper Village’s Tecolote Book Shop from 3 – 5 pm on Saturday, March 19, is turning into a veritable Who’s Who of local literati. Elsewhere, Chaucer’s Books returns to in-person author events with William Peters, MFT, the founder of the Santa Barbara nonprofit Shared Crossing Project, whose mission is to positively transform relationships to death and dying through education and raising awareness. His book At Heaven’s Door comes from his exploration and research into the ways the living can accompany the dying on their journey into the afterlife. Peters discusses the book, shares stories and the implications of Shared Crossing for having both a better life and a better death on Monday, March 21. 

Writer, language scholar, and podcast host Amanda Montell, the author of the widely praised book Wordslut, has now applied her background and skills in analyzing how cult groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power. Through storytelling and original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate and QAnon but also pervade our modern start-ups and social media such as Instagram. Montell muses on such mass movements in, Cultish, at Chaucer’s on Tuesday, March 22. Call (805) 682-6787 or visit chaucersbooks.com.