
Host & Guest
Guests
Tricia Cochée
Ravven White
Parvati Markus
Nadja
Gerry Haller
Host
Kathleen Kaiser
Adanna Moriarty
About This Episode
In this episode of Talking Book Publishing with Kathleen and Adanna, we continue with part three and our final installment of The LA Times Festival of Books series showcasing more talented authors and publishers in the Writers & Publishers Network (WPN) booth, which has a diverse group of individuals this year with a book for everyone.
Join us as we chat with Patricia Cochee and Ravven White, who will be at our Trousdale booth #200 on both days of the festival. Plus, some of our children’s authors, Parvati Markus, Nadja, and Gerry Haller. These three will be at our new-to-the-festival this year, WPNs children’s booth, #575.
The LA Times Festival of Books is a free event open to the public, located at USC in downtown LA on April 22nd and 23rd. So come out, enjoy the fresh air, and immerse yourself in the world of books. We can’t wait to see you there!
About the Authors
Parvati Markus

Parvati Markus is the author of Whisper in the Heart: The Ongoing Presence of Neem Karoli Baba (Mandala Publishing, 2022); Love Everyone: The Transcendent Wisdom of Neem Karoli Baba Told Through the Stories of the Westerners Whose Lives He Transformed (HarperOne, 2015); and a children’s book, Isabella Castaspella: The Happy Little Witch and Her Friends (SitaRam Press, 2022), with co-author Radha Baum. She is a substantive editor who has been midwifing spiritually-oriented, non-fiction books and memoirs since her first efforts with Ram Dass’s classic Be Here Now, and has helped with spiritual organizations (past President of the Board of the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram and Temple in Taos, NM) and events (as a development consultant for the Global Peace Initiative of Women). She is on the Board of Advisors for the Love Serve Remember Foundation.
Instagram: @parvatimarkus,
Pinterest: pinterest.com/parvatimarkus,
Facebook: facebook.com/parvatimarkus
Linkedin: linkedin.com/mynetwork

ISABELLA CASTASPELLA is an award-winning book for 5- to 9-year-olds (in print, digital, and audio) of ten chapters, all in verse, with full-page, b&w illustrations. It tells the story of Izzy’s struggles with Lavinia LaMeanie, a nasty bully who is always causing trouble for Izzy and her friends.
Each of Isabella’s friends expresses a particular aspect or behavior of childhood that young readers can identify with. Messy Tessy has trouble finding things because she doesn’t pick up after herself; MoonTune doubts his abilities as a musician; Daizy Dew is an artist who tends to be “scatterbrained”; Angel Cruz, the soccer champ, has trouble reading. Then there are the animals: Myron, a super-smart frog; Maxine, a purr-fect black cat with healing abilities; and Messy Tessy’s sweet pet Bruno, a drooling bulldog that is cursed by Lavinia LaMeanie. And let’s not forget Witchie the Wise—even magical little witches need a mentor.
The friends learn life lessons, find their strengths, and coalesce into a team that wards off Lavinia’s efforts, utilizing kindness, imagination, and the magic of love.
Ravven White

Curious Corvid Publishing is a small indie press that specializes in dark-themed literature. Representing 17 diverse authors and over 24 publications, Curious Corvid is passionate about bringing unheard and underrepresented voices to the forefront of indie literature. Each book is a labor of love and each story brings to the table conversations on important issues including racism, women’s rights, identity and expression, and LGBTQ+ representation.
Instagram: @curiouscorvidpublishing
Facebook: facebook.com/curiouscorvidpublishing
Twitter: @CuriousCorvidP

Nadja

After working many years in the public sector, Nadja reinvented herself as an artist and writer. Her joys include adventuring on the open road, drumming, dancing, healthy cooking, being in nature, Tai’Chi Gung, writing, and art. You can often find Nadja taking in the beauty and calming effects of nature somewhere in the forest, the mountains, the beach, or luxuriating in the healing waters of natural hot springs. She has published 20 books since 2011. She mainly writes for starseeds, empaths, and other people interested in Ascension and The New Earth.

The Tree and Me is a children’s picture book suitable for mass market. It is a gentle introduction to the wonders of the natural world. Readers and listeners will be delighted with the story and the beautiful watercolor illustrations. The Tree and Me ignites the same warm feelings as children’s classics such as Peter Rabbit, Winnie-the-Pooh, and other favorites. This book is a perfect children’s read-aloud for parents, grandparents, teachers, librarians, and others. It has a calming effect as it calls forth the healing energy of Mother Earth. Destined to be treasured in the hearts of children and their families for years to come.
Opens your heart to the meaning of presence and aliveness in nature. A true connection to Mother Earth. One of a kind. – April S.
Adorable. Magnificent artwork. My kids loved it. – Chana S.
A little book with a big message and a lasting impact. – Leigh C.
This book has two related coloring books both of which contain the story. One is for children only. The other is a unique design, a first for coloring books, that allows two people to color similar pictures in the same book at the same time sitting across from one another. The left-hand page has an upside-down detailed drawing for adults or older children to color in. The right-hand page has a children’s simplified version to color. This allows engaged eye contact and full body movement.
Tricia Cochée

Patricia (Tricia) Cochée, is poet, independent journalist, writer, cultural arts producer and promoter, massage therapist and health educator.
A co-founder of SWAAM (Spoken Word, Art and Music) poetry lounge, her poetry, prose and writing has been featured in many venues and publications.
Instagram: @triciaalkmia

Sensual, smart, sexy, signifying and sanctifying…that is…The Orisha Talks: Tales of Lust, Love and Herstorical Memory.
Tricia Cochée’s debut poetic memoir is a spicy masala or gumbo of joyful praise songs and truth-telling. A mediation between body, mind, and soul in place and time. She reveals life stories, chance encounters, and a musical soundscape of friendship, intimacy, sexual desire, love and betrayal, and ultimately the human dance of desire and yearning for the sacred, amongst a backdrop of social consciousness.
This memoir collection of deeply personal poems and prose encompasses the natural, human, and spiritual realms, and is bound together by the universal themes and landscape of the Orishas, the forces of nature personified, to guide the reader through both sunny days and stormy nights.
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