This month's Grotto Night at the Library features Anoop Judge, Jennifer Christgau Aquino, and Tara Dorabji, speaking and writing on words of resistance.

Jennifer Christgau Aquino writes poetry, fiction, non-fiction, essays and journalism from her Northern California home. She began her writer’s life in journalism when printing presses hummed and newspaper routes were the norm. Currently, she’s a full time freelance writer and an adjunct professor of media studies. Her work delves into the multifaceted experiences of women's lives, unearthing both the beauty and the raw, unvarnished truths that shape them. Her stories and poetry have appeared in Wild Roof Journal, Third Wednesday, The Dime Show Review, BrainChild, The Huffington Post, and more. She received a 2024 Gullkistan residency and is a former Craigardan resident. 

Tara Dorabji is the author of the novel, Call Her Freedom, winner of the Simon. & Schuster Books Like Us first novel contest -- which launched this week. She is the daughter of Parsi-Indian and German-Italian migrants. Her documentary film series on human rights defenders in Kashmir won awards at over a dozen film festivals throughout Asia and the USA. Tara's publications include Al Jazeera, The Chicago Quarterly, Huizache, and acclaimed anthologies: Good Girls Marry Doctors & All the Women in My Family Sing. She lives in Northern California with her family and rabbit.

Born and raised in New Delhi, Anoop Judge is the author of four novels, The Rummy Club which won the 2015 Beverly Hills Book Award, The Awakening Of Meena Rawat, an excerpt of which was nominated for the 2019 Pushcart Prize, No Ordinary Thursday which was a First Reads selection, and Mercy and Grace.  Her short story What They Brought With Them is a 2024 Robert Day Fiction Award Finalist. Anoop calls herself a “recovering litigator” —she worked in state and federal courts for many years before she replaced legal briefs with fictional tales.  An Adjunct Professor at San Francisco Bay University, she has taught creative writing courses at Stanford Continuing Studies and through the Writers’ Grotto in San Francisco.

Connect:

Jennifer Christgau Aquino - Website

Tara Dorabji - Website

Anoop Judge - Website

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