A look back on the life and love of Maude Meehan

In 1979, Santa Cruzan Amber Coverdale Sumrall pulled her car up to a house in Boulder Creek and ventured inside. Her life changed completely. And it was all because of Maude Meehan, a muse who introduced young Sumrall to the colorful world of poetry. Meehan, then fiftysomething, was teaching poetry to a small group of women in her adorable country house. Her impact on Sumrall was tremendous—the elder became not only a mentor and teacher, but also a dear friend, whom Sumrall and many other Santa Cruzans are now mourning. The esteemed “poet to the people” passed away on Saturday, Aug. 25. She will be remembered with fondness, and hopefully a poem or two, by her literary friends, fans and her family.

Not even magic can stop the end of ‘Harry Potter’

It seems that Harry Potter has cast a spell on our hearts, minds and our checkbooks. The famous dark-haired, be spectacled, fictional boy, who poured out of J.K. Rowling’s colorful imagination, has single-handedly turned a generation of TV-loving, internet-obsessed young people into readers. And on top of that, young Harry has recaptured the love of reading in adults, too. And so it is with a huge slice of disappointment that the epic series of Harry Potter books has come to an end with the final installment, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

Award-winning local writer, Elizabeth McKenzie visits Bookshop Santa Cruz

Elizabeth McKenzie needs a strong cup of coffee. She just blasted into California on a plane from Italy and she’s a little wiped out. The up-and-coming member of literature’s elite is headed home to Santa Cruz, where she’ll begin another exhausting, but rewarding adventure—a book tour for her first novel, “MacGregor Tells The World.”

Rev. Deborah L. Johnson goes deep in her new book

Rev. Deborah L. Johnson answers the phone with a crackly voice. She apologizes for the froggy throat and explains that she just got sick—right in the middle of some important work in Washington D.C. Johnson, the founder of Inner Light Ministries in Soquel and a powerful speaker and activist, is in the nation’s capitol lobbying for the passage of the Employment Non-discrimination Act and the Local Hate Crimes Act. Both are pieces of legislation that would hopefully thwart how some gays are mistreated.

Flipping pages with author Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Lethem answers the phone with a deep voice. I blurt out, “I’m afraid you’re going to sound like Carl.” He laughs and quickly thwarts my worry, assuring me that he doesn’t have the same uncomfortable phone manners as Carl, a tacky and wacky character in Lethem’s new book, “You Don’t Love Me Yet.”