Raymond Carver

According to one of the attendees at the book launch party for A JOURNEY THROUGH LITERARY AMERICA, there are over 120 publishers in Santa Barbara. On 10/10/09, it was one Napa Valley publisher’s turn to shine in Santa Barbara as Tamra Dempsey and Thomas Hummel celebrated the launch of their book, published through Val de Grâce Books. Various luminaries from the Santa Barbara publishing world were in attendance, including the publisher of a well-known Santa Barbara calendar and coffee table book, many representatives from Serbin Communications, whose publications run the gamut from a photography magazine to inordinately high end, limited-edition books, to a former classmate of Raymond Carver’s turned private eye, to a legendary team of book designer and editor, to representatives of the world’s largest printing company, and members of the next generation of writers, photographers and publishers.               Theil Shelton hosted a classy and intimate event where the conversation often turned to literature. Against an inspiring backdrop of gold foil-stamped leather-bound classics, how could it not? American literature has a proud tradition of passion, innovation, and respect for what has come before. A taste for all of those characteristics was in evidence [...] Read More »