Chaucer’s Books will host two local authors, Dale Zurawski on Monday, April 10, and Steven Gilbar on Tuesday, April 11, for book talks and signings, 6 p.m. both evenings, at 3321 State St., Santa Barbara.
Zurowski’s book “Bipolar, A Gift of Thorns” is a memoir, while Gilbar’s “Little Book of Montecito Actors” offers capsule biographies of almost 100 performers who have called Montecito home.
In “Bipolar,” the author is seven when her abusive father dies while on a secret mission for the U.S. military. Left with her four siblings and neglectful mother in a remote corner of New Mexico, Dale inherits her father’s complicated legacy of intelligence and instability.
After graduating from college, she succeeds at a top-secret nuclear weapons lab while abusing drugs and engaging in promiscuous sex. Quick to anger, Dale hops from one career to another, juggling technical challenges and her wild lifestyle.
After she marries, her husband develops life-threatening cancer, awakening the past trauma of her father’s sudden death.
Dale seeks the help of a psychiatrist, but is unprepared when she is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, leading her on a journey to understand her illness and manage her symptoms.
“Bipolar, A Gift of Thorns” shines a light on one woman’s journey and the stigma of bipolar disorder.
Gilbar’s hardcover illustrated book spotlights Montecito, which has possibly been home to more actors per capita than any place in America. Its residents have ranged from some forgotten silent film stars, to Hollywood Golden Age personalities like Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas and Jane Russell, to current movie and TV performers, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Steve Martin.
Gilbar has lived most of his life in Santa Barbara. In 1981 St. Martin’s Press published “The Book Book,” that would be the first of more than 25 non-commercial volumes he would see published. Gilbar later returned to local literary history with “Literary Santa Barbara,” co-written with Dean Stewart, and “Published & Perished Santa Writers Remembered” (2021).
Gilbar founded Speaking of Stories, Santa Barbara’s “page-to-stage” theater, and served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Santa Barbara Central Library.
In 2022 he honored all the authors who have lived in Montecito with “The Little Book of Montecito Writers.”
With a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and master’s degrees in chemical engineering and environmental management, Zurawski has had a successful career as an engineer, technical salesperson, and water-quality expert.
She published several technical papers and numerous travel stories before devoting her writing career to her memoirs. Her home base is Santa Barbara.