You read that right.

That’s me, bookended by two actual accomplished and brilliant authors at San Miguel de Allende’s monthly Prose Café. It is happening this Thursday, Dec. 3, 5-6 p.m. Central.

On Zoom. Not only is this free but no pants are necessary. You only need register right here in advance.

Fredrika, Molly and I will each read something from our own creations and then entertain, oh my, whatever it is that Zoom events generate. Questions? Observations? Static? (That last one’s my personal nightmare. Not theirs.)

I think I have this writing thing down fairly well. Reading aloud? Well, I’m working real hard at slowing down. Let’s leave it at that.

It should be fun.

Back when life was breezy and we were all free to gather in large groups with a common purpose, I would attend the Prose Café at Bellas Artes. Each time I would walk away dazzled at the level of literary talent that resides in this city.

I’ve checked out my companions for the evening and they are amazing authors. I can not wait to hear what they have planned for us. I, on the other hand, am not an author – if actually being published is the criteria. I am a blogger, a writer of unpublished prose, a newspaper journalist. This should be interesting!

Afterward, you are all invited over to my house for cookies and milk (OK, and vodka.) Virtually, of course.

Here is the official announcement from San Miguel Literary Sala:

Join Prose Café via Zoom for a literary Holiday Treat! Our December 3 live event, 5 to 6PM Central Time, features three outstanding authors reading stories that range from a dysfunctional family Christmas to one very rebellious seminarian. We’ll conclude our hour with a Q&A session between audience members and the authors. Pre-registration is required to attend. The event is free, although donations are gratefully accepted.

Until last year, memoirist Fredrika Sprengle, a Seattle native, lived on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Now she resides in San Miguel de Allende fulltime, where she is building the house of her dreams in the campo. Sprengle studied at the University of Houston’s writing program with Donald Barthelme, Phillip Lopate, and Vivian Gornick. Her latest work is forthcoming in Tusculum Review. A writing teacher, she offers workshops and coaching through her business Well Told Tales.

Robert J. Hawkins was a writer and editor for newspapers and an online news site for nearly 40 years. A story he wrote and posted late one Saturday night, known popularly as “don’t touch my junk,” about a Thanksgiving confrontation with TSA agents at the airport, eventually accrued 3 million page views and holds the record to this day at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Hawkins blogs about San Miguel de Allende and other stuff at sanmiguelmusesandmagic.com.

Our third writer, the marvelous Molly Giles, is the author of five award-winning short story collections: Rough Translations, which won the Flannery O’Connor Award, Creek Walk, which won the San Francisco Commonwealth Award, Bothered, which won the Split Oak Award, All the Wrong Places, which won the Spokane Award for Fiction, and, most recently, Wife with Knife, which won the Leap Frog Press Award. She taught creative writing for many years at San Francisco State University and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and has led fiction workshops at the Community of Writers, Naropa, and the San Miguel Writers Conference.

Founded in March, 2019, the San Miguel Prose Café is an all-volunteer organization presenting local and visiting writers, both established and emerging. For more information, please visit our Facebook page.