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SLO NightWriters

The premier writing organization on California's Central coast

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SLO NightWriters General Meeting

  • Tuesday, March 08, 2011
  • 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
  • PG&E Education Center, San Luis Obispo, CA
SLO NightWriters general meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month, except during July and August, at The PG&E Education Center, 6588 Ontario Road, San Luis Obispo, CA, just off Highway 101 at the San Luis Bay Drive exit, 7 - 9 pm. Members and guests are welcome to attend. Tuesday, March 8, 2011 Program Speakers are described below. We hope that you'll attend.

March Has Two Tales to Tell

A Focus on Memoir: When the Back-Story Becomes the Story

Our first presenter is former SLO NightWriter Willma Willis Gore. At age 19 her first story was published in Westways Magazine. She has been prolific ever since. She’s credited with many more travel articles, poetry, profiles, photography and fiction published in more than 90 national and regional journals and in five anthologies, 19 children’s books, a humorous adult novel and three nonfiction titles. Her latest book is her memoir, Iron Grip. In 1945 her young lieutenant husband suffered the loss of both hands in an army camp accident. The story takes them through a marriage-long adventure with laughter and tears as they make her two hands serve as four until he masters the use of his hooks and becomes a model of amputee competence and breadwinner for their family of three sons.  Willma now lives in Sedona, Arizona actively leading writer workshops.

Liu Yu Next Liu Yu will share her life story Awakening the Sleeping Tiger: The True Story of a Professional Chinese Athlete. The memoir took 13 years to write.  Yu was silenced during the Chinese Cultural Revolution after she witnessed a venomous public trail of her mother’s co-worker and friend. Leaving her family at age 11 she trained to become an elite professional athlete. She lived the dream of most Chinese children, but it was also her nightmare as a prisoner for 10 years of rigorous martial arts training and coaching bickering. Yu ultimately broke from tradition seeking independence and ultimately her own voice. Liu Yu lives on the Central Coast with her husband and daughter and owns the Wushu Taichi Center in SLO.

We all have a story to tell.  Willma and Liu will share what prompted them to publish their life stories.

About the Author Liu Yu:  Liu Yu was a resident member of the Jiangsu Province Professional Wushu Team in Nanjing , China (1974-85) and a member of the Beijing University of Physical Education Collegiate Wushu Team (1985-89).  She graduated with a B.S. in Wushu and physical education (1989).  The highest award Liu Yu received honored her as China ’s 1986 National Collegiate Taiji Champion.  As a professional team member, Liu Yu toured Canada (1983), Hong Kong (1983) and Japan (1985) and performed as an actress in the movie, “Yao’s Young Warriors” (1983).  As a collegiate team member, she toured Tibet .  She taught at the Shaolin Temple in China (1989), as well as at two universities in Beijing .  As the coach of the U.S. Wushu Team (1997-1999), she traveled to international tournaments held in Rome (1997), Toronto (1998), and Hong Kong (1999).  Liu Yu is an internationally certified Wushu judge and has acted in that capacity at various U.S. and Canadian tournaments since 1991.  She and her husband are the owners of the Wushu Taichi Center in SLO.

For questions: email slonwpresident@gmail.com

Mailing Address:
1126 Nipomo Ave
Los Osos, CA 93402

Meeting Address:
11245 Los Osos Valley Rd
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405

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