Join us at the Mill Valley Library for a special conversation between accomplished local authors who have written about the experience of living in a different culture. Three writers whose lives span continents and cultures will discuss identity, belonging, and the craft of storytelling. Featuring Erin Van Rheenen, Inga Aksamit, and Joanna Kalbus. In conversation with Barbara Lane.

Inga Aksamit is an award-winning author, adventurer, and former oncology nurse. Raised in Pakistan, Peru, Bangladesh, Indonesia and California, her third-culture childhood inspired Between Worlds: An Expat’s Quest for Belonging. She also wrote Highs and Lows on the John Muir Trail and The Hungry Spork. She attended high school at Sir Francis Drake (now Archie Williams HS) and now splits her time between Sausalito and Sonoma.

Erin Van Rheenen has lived in Nigeria, Ireland, Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, where for several years she explored the country, researching Living Abroad in Costa Rica, a move-abroad guide, and The Manatee’s Big Day, a bilingual children’s book. She has contributed to many travel guides, and her work has been featured in Bellevue Literary Review, Atlas Obscura, BBC Travel, The Sun, and Best Women’s Travel Writing, among other places. You Could Be Happy Here is her first novel.

Joanna Choi Kalbus was born in North Korea. She made two critical migrations--from North Korea to South Korea after the Communist takeover, and then to the United States as a ten-year-old during the Korean War. She pursued her education in the United States, obtaining a Ph.D. in Educational Administration, and has been involved in education for thirty-five years. The Boat Not Taken is her first book.

Barbara Lane is a book columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, book reviewer for NPR, and several national newspapers, and author interviewer for City Arts & Lectures, the Commonwealth Club, and a number of literary festivals.