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Oct. 9, Macungie, PA \u2013 Three novels, read on a tablet or pages turned by hand, and three authors, from different backgrounds, masters of different conversations, forged powerful bonds with close to two hundred Lehigh Valley women Friday during the Society of the Arts (SOTA) annual Luncheon With the Authors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we wanted to do was have books for different reading interests, but we also realized that there is a common thread of celebration of humanity in its joy and in its sorrow.\u00a0 There are some painful moments in these novels, but there is also resilience and compassion. Those are the things we share,\u201d said SOTA member Carol Shiner Wilson. Wilson, Betty Moran, the luncheon committee co-chair, and Terri Bartholomew serve as lead members of the SOTA committee that selected the novels and authors for the 2017 event. The committee sought authors who brought local and global perspective to their works. Luncheon emcee Ashley Russo, two-time Emmy\u00ae award-winning executive producer and host of The PEAK TV, steered the author conversation with questions about writing style, inspiration, family, honesty, happiness, and authenticity.<\/p>\n
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Narges Mohammad Mahdi, a Muhlenberg College senior, sat at a table with author Hala Alyan who wrote Salt Houses, <\/em>a novel about four generations of a Palestinian family in exile and the generational differences that mold the meanings of home, displacement and the historical context of immigration.<\/p>\n \u201cHer experience in life resonates a lot with mine,\u201d said Narges, who was a refugee in Pakistan for ten years and is from Kabul, Afghanistan. \u201cThe biggest thing for me is to meet the amazing women contributing to literature. To get a glimpse of their lives in their stories,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hala Alyan is a Palestinian-American author and psychologist who works with survivors of sexual violence, asylum seekers and prisoners and is liaison with the Islamic Center at NYU.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaces that were once refuge and havens have become, in the blink of an eye, places people are fleeing from,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cOne of the best examples right now is Syria.\u00a0 Syria for a long time, during civil war in Lebanon, for Palestinian refugees, was where people went to seek refuge and now is a place people are fleeing from. I am interested in the psychology of what happens when there is no safe refuge,\u201d Alyan said.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up loving books and loving words,\u201d Egan said. \u201cTurning to books throughout my life especially in the form of self-help.\u00a0 Pretty much whatever stage of life I find myself in I\u2019m always looking for the novel that reflects where I am. A couple of years ago I found myself in a moment of life when I couldn\u2019t find the book that reflected where I was,\u201d she said. Hence the inspiration for her novel A Window Open<\/em>s about a woman who straddles the challenges of motherhood, career and family.<\/p>\n Local author, Karen Katchur, who now lives in Bethlehem, grew up in eastern Pennsylvania and uses the mountains, trails, lakes, the Delaware River and the beauty of the region as the basis for her mystery novels.<\/p>\n \u201cI think of how we played in the woods, we hiked the trails, we fished in the lakes, we swam in the lakes, we tubed down the Delaware River. I even swam in the slate quarry.\u00a0 Everything that we did was in such a beautiful area, but there was always an element of danger.\u00a0 And I think that is just built in with nature.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s that juxtaposition of nature, the beauty of where we lived, and this danger that really inspired me to write mystery suspense novels.\u201d Her most recent novel, The Sisters of Blue Mountain<\/em>, takes place in a fictional town in the Pocono Mountains.<\/p>\n Luncheon With the Authors<\/a> is the annual fundraiser sponsored by the Society of the Arts (SOTA<\/a>) of the Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley<\/a><\/u>.\u00a0 Friday\u2019s<\/span><\/span> luncheon at Brookside Country Club in Macungie brought together close to 200 women from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.<\/p>\n SOTA\u2019s fundraising benefits educational programs at the\u00a0Allentown Art Museum<\/a>, the SOTA Print Fund and the SOTA Education Endowment.\u00a0 For more information about SOTA check out our website sotapa.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Information & Images Provided By: <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/6-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAuthor Elisabeth Egan mastered the co-mingling of humor, self-realization and the idea that \u201ccoming of age\u201d is a constant process throughout life and not just for adolescents.<\/div>\n\n
\nCarolynn Fedor<\/p>\n
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