FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NOVELIST AND SCREENWRITER KARL ALEXANDER TO SPEAK AT MARCH 8TH MEETING OF VCWC

Meeting will be held in temporary new location in Thousand Oaks at Glen Kendall Ballroom

(Ventura, CA – February 26, 2011) How to take life experiences, both positive and painful, and develop them into characters will be the topic that novelist and screenwriter Karl Alexander will discuss at the March 8th meeting of the Ventura County Writers Club. He will review parts from his own novels and screenplays to illustrate examples. Raised in a family of screenwriters, Alexander has been an insider to many of the top movies ever produced. The Disney classic “Old Yeller” was written by his father while his uncle stakes claim to the highly respected, “Ben Hur.”
With the closure of Borders Books on Oxnard, the club has had to move a second time in less than three months. While searching for a permanent, the club will be meeting at the Glen Kendall Jr. Ballroom at Los Robles Greens in Thousands Oaks.  The address is 299 S Moorpark Rd, on the south side of the 101 Freeway.  The public is invited and all attendees are asked to park near the far end of the building, using the West Entrance.

The March speaker, Alexander Karl, forged his own path with an incredibly diverse education and experience.  From thinning pears on an Oregon orchard to receiving a philosophy degree from Brown University, this fifth generation Angeleno seems to pace himself to successful writing. After serving a commission as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam era, he returned to San Francisco State University where he earned a Master’s Degree.  With the G.I. Bill, he honed his skills as he secured a M.F.A. from the University of Iowa and set about the world to enrich his life experiences.  While lingering in Cuba, he gained a perspective for his first novel, “Papa and Fidel.”
   
Recently, his most popular novel, “Time After Time,” has been reprinted by Tor Books in paperback format.  Not only has this novel found its way to the screen, but also as a musical which opened last spring at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.  “Jaclyn The Ripper,” the sequel to a 1979 novel, had made its appearance in 2009 to amazing reviews. To the list of his credits, Alexander has optioned ten screenplays, written two television pilots for NBC, and has published five novels.

Opening the evening will be club favorite, Greg Elliot, with a mini-grammar session. Elliot is a past president of the club, a writing professor at UCLA, and a noted grammarian who makes complicated problems easy to understand.

The meetings begin promptly at 7 PM at the club’s new meeting place, the Oxnard Borders Books in the Esplanade Center just off Highway 101 between Vineyard and Oxnard Blvd exits. The public is welcomed to all meetings, which are free.

CALENDAR INFORMATION
March Meeting of the Ventura County Writers Club
March 8, 7 PM
Glen Kendall Jr. Ballroom at Los Robles Greens
299 S. Moorpark Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA
Guest speakers: Karl Alexander and Greg Elliot
Open to Members and non-members.  No fee.

For more information on the Ventura County Writers Club, visit: http://www.venturacountywriters.com/
 
About Ventura County Writers Club

Since its formation in 1933 with four members in Ojai, the club has grown to more than 150 members and holds regular monthly general membership meetings. Members may attend, free of charge, a variety of Writers Workshops, groups that meet one or more times a month throughout the county to read and critique manuscripts and discuss many aspects of the business of writing. Monthly meetings are open to all interested writers and are held the second Tuesday of each month (except December) at Borders Book in Oxnard at the Esplanade Center. This is a new location beginning January 2011

For more information, contact: Kathleen Kaiser, 805-524-6970, Kathleen@KathleenKaiser.com