When she was a young girl, Diane Marie Brown had a penchant for writing.
She wrote a lot of what she called “make believe stories” for her mother and friends through her high school years.
But she never thought that she would write a book like “Black Candle Women,” her debut novel which has been described as a spellbinding story of family, heartache and a fatal curse with a magical twist that takes place in Long Beach and New Orleans. The decades-old curse, put in place by a Voodoo sorceress in 1950s New Orleans, kills anyone with whom the women fall in love.
Diane Marie Brown enthralled 800 women attending the 42nd annual Literary Women Festivalof Authors at the Long Beach Convention Center with stories about her writing journey andpublication of her first book at age 50 which may be turned into a television series. Photo: Rich Archbold
On Saturday, Brown enthralled 800 women attending the 42nd annual Literary Women Festival of Authors at the Long Beach Convention Center with stories about her writing journey and publication of her first book at age 50 which may be turned into a television series. Throughout her talk, she showed a wonderful sense of humor about herself.
Brown, who lives in Bixby Knolls, was one of seven authors from around the nation to speak at the popular Literary Women event which has become one of the hottest and hardest tickets to get in Long Beach.
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The event was started in 1982 by Harriet Williams, then a member of the Long Beach School Board, who was appalled that there were 98 male authors and only two women authors on a reading list of 100 books brought home by her son who was a student at Wilson High School.
Williams enlisted the aid of a friend, Virginia Laddey, to bring women authors from around the nation to Long Beach to showcase their talents.
Anne Emigh, chair of this year’s event, said that in 1982 only 10 percent of American published authors were women.
“I am happy to report that today 50.4 percent of American authors are women,” she said. “I’m just sure that Long Beach Literary Women has contributed to that turnaround!”
Other authors who spoke Saturday included:
–Ann Napolitano, a New York Times best-selling author, and her latest novel, “Hello Beautiful.”
–Shelley Read and her debut novel, “Go As a River.”
–Kim Fu and her collection of short stories, “Lesser Monsters of the 21st Century.”
–Lily Brooks-Dalton, best-selling author of several books, the most recent, “The Light Pirate.”
–Rebecca Makkai, author of four novels and a Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist.
–Shelby Van Pelt and her best-selling debut novel, “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” sometimes referred to as “that Octopus book.” It is a story about a widow’s connection with a giant Pacific octopus.
Warsan Shire, a writer and poet, also was scheduled to appear but had to cancel for health reasons, Emigh said.
In her remarks, Brown said she first thought about becoming a writer in her early 20s. However, she said she hadn’t put it together that books were written by people.
“I thought of them as products, manufactured in some literary factory in middle America,” she said as the audience laughed.
In her naivete, she said she hadn’t fathomed that she could pursue an education that supported a creative career. Instead, at 17, she left her hometown of Stockton for UCLA as an economics major. Ultimately, she graduated with a degree in sociology and returned for a master’s degree in public health.
It was around this time, she said she discovered Terry McMillan, the bestselling author who told stories about Black women. “And that’s when it clicked: I could become a writer,” she said. But she discovered she still had a long way to go in figuring out all that went into writing and publishing a book.
She attributed her confidence to her mother, Deloris K. Hebert, an elementary school teacher who, she said, gave her “a parenting gift that truly shaped me: opportunities to try things out, along with that bold naivete of mine.”
She added: “My mom allowed me to try and explore and fail and quit. And, because of that, I found what I was truly passionate about.”
She tried all kinds of writing projects, including short stories, children’s books, an online soap opera, one-act play and other books. All fizzled.
She also applied to a creative writing program at USC. In a fiction workshop she wrote a scene about a woman who finds herself cursed, with repercussions affecting her descendants. The scene became a chapter and these pages ended up being her program thesis. The thesis became a book after she graduated, but it could not get published.
All this time, she worked in public health, first at the Los Angeles County Health Department and then with the Long Beach Department of Public Health where she oversaw HIV, STD and teen pregnancy prevention programs. Later, she coordinated the city’s bioterrorism and public health emergency management program while also teaching health education part time at Long Beach City College. In 2005 she graduated from that year’s Leadership Long Beach class.
And she also was married and raising four children.
She left the city for a full time teaching position at Orange Coast College, giving her a more flexible schedule. She tried more revisions with her “Black Candle Women” book, but still no publishers.
But then a break came. There was an opportunity for an open call for Black women writers to submit sample chapters directly to a publishing house, and they would offer feedback. In March, 2021 she got the good news that Graydon House Books wanted to publish her book.
“It’s been a wild and fun ride ever since,” she said.
In an emotional moment, Brown said her mother had read an early version of her book but didn’t get to see the finished version because she passed away before all the revisions were made.
“But it only exists because of her,” she said. “While many of my extracurriculars weren’t specific to my publishing journey, they shaped me, particularly the things I tried that didn’t work out. And so I realize that the best thing my parents gave me was the privilege of failure. It took 50 years to get a published book out of me, but I’m certain that this was always the right time for me.”
In a dedication at the beginning of her book, Brown said, “To my dad, who read me stories. To my mom, who encouraged me to make up my own.”
In addition to its author program, Literary Women also established the Harriet Williams Emerging Writer’s Program in 2016 to support and encourage newer writers. This year’s Emerging Writers who were recognized Saturday are Charity Griffin, Chapman University; Jessica Mendoza, Cal State Long Beach;Yvette Park, Cal State Long Beach; Tlotlo Tsamaase, Chapman University; Alisha Westerman, Santa Barbara College of Creative Studies, and Vickie Wipple, Long Beach City College and winner of Long Beach’s Greatest Storyteller competition.
Also recognized was Claire Beeli, Long Beach’s inaugural youth poet laureate.
The next Literary Women Festival will be held on April 5, 2025. When tickets go on sale, be prepared to act quickly because it almost certainly will be a quick sellout just like it has been for the past 42 years.