The Buzz: Petaluma speaker series announce 2020 line-ups

Lagunitas CEO Maria Stipp kicks off Women’s Club speaker series: Titled “Conversations with Women Leaders in Our Community,” the newly announced lecture and conversation series will begin on Monday, Jan. 20 with a talk by Maria Stipp, the CEO of Petaluma’s Lagunitas Brewing Company. The one-hour event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Petaluma Woman’s Club, 518 B Street, and will take place every other month at that time throughout 2020. Following the January talk, the rest of the series is as follows. March 3: Dr. Jane Saldana, Vice President of Santa Rosa Junior College, in conversation with Dr. Catherine Williams, Dean of the SRJC Petaluma campus. May 26: Peggy Smith and Sue Conley, co-founders of Cowgirl Creamery. July 28: Dr. Bonnie Bergin, founder of Canine Companions for Independence and the Bergin University for Canine Studies. Sept. 15: Katherine Rinehart, manager of the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library. All seats are $15, and are available at PetalumaWomansClub.com.

Writers Forum announces 2020 line-up of presenters: Since we’re spreading the word on the Woman’s Club’s speaker series, let’s continue on that theme, with the 2020 line-up of speakers at this year’s Write Spot Writers Forum, held the third Thursday of every month, February through August, at Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma. The series begins on February 20 with an appearance by the Argus-Courier’s Community Editor David Templeton, taking the microphone to talk about the art and adventure of playwriting, followed on March 19 by Joan Gelfland, author of “You Can Be a Winning Writer: The 4 C’s of Successful Authors.” April 16: Stacey Dennick, a creative writing teacher through Santa Rosa Junior College’s Older Adult Program. May 21: Nicole Zimmerman, a journalist and travel writer, and the 2019 recipient of the Discovered Awards for Emerging Visual and Literary Artists. June 18: Brenda Knight, author and publisher. She’s shepherded the works of such authors as Paolo Coelho, Marianne Williamson and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, was named Publisher of the Year in 2014 by the American Library Association, and wrote “Wild Women and Books,” “Women Who Love Books Too Much,” “The Grateful Table,” “Be a Good in the World” and “Women of the Beat Generation.” July 16: Kara Vernor, writer of fiction and essays, whose flash fiction chapbook, “Because I Wanted to Write You a Pop Song,” is now available from Split Lip Press.

(Got an idea for a good BUZZ item? Drop a line to Community Editor David Templeton at david.templeton@arguscourier.com)