CLUBS AND WORKSHOPS

CLUBS AND WORKSHOPS

Book club sessions

WARREN — The Salvation Army, 270 Franklin St. S.E., will host meetings of two groups, a Women’s Book Club, and the “Bad Girls of the Bible” Club.

The Women’s Book Club session will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday to discuss the book, The Last Sin Eater” by Francine Rivers. Other sessions are planned for Sept. 10 and 24.

The “Bad Girls of the Bible” Club will start meeting at 10 a.m. Sept. 5, and continue the first Wednesday of each month for 10 months. The Salvation Army has copies of the book available for $11.

Participants are asked to read assigned chapters before the meetings. For more information or registration, contact Major Jody Kramer at (330) 392-1573 or send e-mail to JodyKramer@USE.SalvationArmy.org.

Writing workshop

VILLA MARIA, Pa. — Villa Maria Education and Spirituality Center will offer a writing program, “Where Many Rivers Meet: “A Writing Workshop Honoring Life Transitions,” from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sept. 22.

Drawing inspiration from the poetry of David Whyte, facilitator Laurie Arnold, certified applied poetry facilitator, will instruct participants in the written word’s ability to lead into new frontiers and clearer self-direction.

Registration is required. The cost is $40 a person; $35 a person if received by Sept.7. Lunch is included. For more information or to register, contact Tina Fanfer at
(724) 964-8920, Ext. 3387 or cfanfer@humilityofmary.org.

BOOK SIGNINGS

Doug Dobransky

YOUNGSTOWN — Valley native turned Hollywood photographer Doug Dobransky will return to the area Sept. 5 to sign copies of his new book, “Autumn’s Sister,” from 7- 9 p.m. at Anthony’s-on-the-River, 15 Oak Hill Ave.

Dobransky is a native of Butler, Pa., and Youngstown. He graduated from Chaney High School in 1965 and attended Youngstown State University until his service in Vietnam from 1967-68. In 1969, the decorated Vietnam veteran moved to Los Angeles., where he has spent the past 28 years photographing celebrities in the entertainment, motion picture, advertising, political, sports and music industries including Marlon Brando, Mickey Rooney, James Coburn, Juliette Lewis, and Dennis Haysbert. He also worked as an associate vice president in the city’s banking industry.

“Sister” is a personal account and journal chronicling the laughter, tears, courage, inspiration and grace shared between a brother, a family and a sister who is terminally-ill with cancer. Dobransky wrote it as a tribute to his sister, the late Cheryl Dobransky Kraynik, who had lived in Poland and Canfield. Kraynik, a 1974 Chaney grad, was a long-time employee at Bank One and director of human resources at CNAC Finance, both in Youngstown.

“Our [thefamily’s] motto was: The first three letters in funeral are f-u-n,” Dobransky writes. “ And, that is what we tried to do.”

The 323-page paperback also includes photographs. Published by Mill City Publishing in Minneapolis, it lists for $17. 95 and is available online through Amazon and, after Sept. 10, at www.autumnsister.com.

Brian K. West

NILES — Brian Keith West of Youngstown will sign copies of his latest book, “The Lord and the Serpent. The Quest for the Sin Box” (PublishAmerica), from 4:30 to 8:15 p.m. Saturday at Borders Books, 2102 Niles-Cortland Road S.E. The event also will feature music and singing.

“The Lord and the Serpent” is the third book in West’s “The Method Eight” series, which focuses on the epic struggle between good and evil and the Method Eight theory of what goes around comes around. This installment introduces the reader to a world where democracy has crumbled and the end days prophecy of the Book of Revelations is coming true. In it, King Immanuel and Queen Anaya join forces to recover a wicked relic before it falls into the wrong hands, chiefly those of Nathan Hitcock who is bent on finding it first so he can rule the world as the Anti-Christ.

Combined dispatches