Elaine Petrocelli - Elaine Petrocelli is the owner of Book Passage in Corte Madera, an independent bookstore that is renowned for its event schedule of authors, reader events, conferences, and writing classes.
Elaine has been chosen "Bookseller of the Year" by Publishers Weekly magazine, and her constantly-updated list of book recommendations is followed by readers throughout the Bay Area and the nation.
Amy Tan - Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Opposite of Fate, and Saving Fish from Drowning. She has also written two children's books, The Moon Lady and The Chinese Siamese Cat. The latter became a children's television series for PBS called "Sagwa."
Amy is a member of the literary garage band, The Rock Bottom Remainders, for which she sings the Nancy Sinatra classic, "These Boots Are Made for Walking" to raise money for after-school literacy programs for inner city kids. Tan's rendition of the pop culture classic can be heard on the CD Stranger than Fiction, which benefits the PEN Writers Fund.
On an ill-fated art expedition into Burma, 11 Americans leave their Floating Island Resort for a Christmas-morning tour - and disappear. Through twists of fate they encounter a tribe awaiting the return of a leader and the mythical book of wisdom that will protect them from the ravages of the Myanmar military regime. Tan is the author of "The Joy Luck Club;" "The Bonesetter's Daughter" and "Opposite of Fate"- Book Passage