Book Digest

WRITERS' FORUMS . . . The series of free Palo Alto Centennial Writers' Forums continues Feb. 13 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. with a session on Novels, Mysteries and Science Fiction at the Mitchell Park Library. Local authors including Tom Parker, Alfred Coppel, Millicent Dillon, Carl Djerassi, Laura Roberts Smith, Victoria Nichols and Susan Thompson will discuss their work and how it was influenced by Palo Alto's "sense of place." Book signings will follow the presentation.

EARLY BOOK . . . Also on Feb. 13, Joyce Wilson will lecture at Stanford on "The Making of the 'Nuremberg Chronicle'" at 3:30 p.m. in Building 200 (History Corner), Room 205. Published just over 500 years ago, the "Nuremberg Chronicle" is a landmark in early book design and represents one of the most ambitious publishing projects of the 15th century. It contains a dazzling repertory of woodcut illustrations. Accompanying the lecture is an exhibit on the book. For more information, call 723-9426.

OF LOCAL NOTE . . . Recent publications by local authors include "Face Value: a Laura Di Palma Mystery" by Lia Matera, a former teaching fellow at Stanford Law School who now lives in Santa Cruz. Dr. Matthias Rath director of cardiovascular research at the Palo Alto-based Linus Pauling Institute and founder of Health Now, a company promoting nutritional medicine, has written a book titled "Eradicating Heart Disease." The recently released publication is a guide to how nutrition can help improve the health of patients with severe heart conditions.

FOR YOUNG READERS . . . Local children's book authors have been busy, too, with several new titles due out this spring. Simon and Schuster will publish two books by Palo Alto author Dayle Ann Dodds for young children, "Someone is Hiding" and "The Shape of Things." Nancy Farmer of Menlo Park will publish "The Ear, the Eye and the Arm," about three African children in the 22nd century swept up in a plot to overthrow their culture and country. Palo Alto author Kevin Kiser has "Sherman the Sheep" coming out from Macmillan, and SuAnn Kiser has "Hazel Saves the Day" from Dial. Finally, Kathy Pelta of Los Altos Hills has written "California" and "Vermont" in the "Hello USA" series.

AUTHOR, AUTHOR . . . February events at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park include a reading on Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. by Malcolm Margolin from his recently released work "The Way We Live: California Indian Reminiscences, Stories and Songs" and "The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area." Joining him will be Julian Lang author of "Ararapikva: Traditional Karuk Indian Literature from Northwestern California." At the same time on Feb. 8, Thomas Moore will read from his new book "Soulmates."

JUST FOR KIDS . . . In honor of Black History Month, Kepler's will hold a series of events for children, including a talk on Feb. 5 at 10:30 a.m. by Yolanda Rhodes, a local storyteller beloved for her tales about Africa, the Caribbean and the Southern United States. Kepler's also will co-sponsor a Love-a-Book-Festival on Feb. 26 at 11 a.m. at the East Palo Alto Library.

Items for Booktalk, including news of local authors or events of interest to local book fans, may be sent to Don Kazak, Title Pages editor, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, by the last Wednesday of each month.