About the Event

Adventures by the Book™ is pleased to partner with the Carlsbad City Library for a free Around the World Library Adventure with acclaimed authors Judy Bernstein, Eldonna Edwards, Kimberly Robeson, and Kris Waldherr. 

Join us as we travel around the world, with some very special authors and their books! Experience the life of a refugee from Sudan with Judy, visit a 1970’s California commune with Eldonna, journey through Egypt and Greece with Kimberly, and take a trip to England with Kris!

This free Adventure includes a book discussion, Q&A, book signing, and the opportunity to meet all four authors up close and personal.

About the Authors

As a volunteer mentor in 2001, Judy met refugees Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, and Benjamin Ajak. Awed and deeply touched by their tragic childhoods, epic journey, and heroic survival, she helped them develop their poignant stories. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky was published in June 2005 and won many awards and excellent reviews.

Her second book, a memoir, Disturbed in Their Nests, follows Judy’s journey as a suburban mom, who met and mentored Alephonson Deng during his first year in America, from their initial misunderstandings, their growing trust, and their lasting friendship.

Judy travels and speaks with her co-authors about the situation in Sudan and the refugees who have placed their hope in America. Outside her volunteer activities, she enjoys traveling with her husband Paul, a surgeon and fellow author, and growing organic avocados.

Eldonna Edwards is a beloved writing instructor, keynote speaker and former creative journaling facilitator, who grew up in a large family nestled between cornfields and churches in the provincial Midwest, an upbringing that provided a fertile background from which to harvest setting and characters. The voice in her best-selling debut novel  This I Know comes straight from the heart, and won over the hearts and minds of readers everywhere when she was named a Delilah Book Club selection.

In her new novel, Clover Blue, Eldonna once again explores themes of otherness and belonging, and the true definition of home. She is also the subject of the award-winning documentary “Perfect Strangers” that follows one kidney patient and one potential kidney donor in their search for a possible match. Her memoir Lost in Transplantation also chronicles this life-changing decision.

Kimberly K. Robeson is a Greek-American assistant professor at Los Angeles Valley College where she teaches world literature, creative writing, and composition. She is the co-advisor for
the college’s LGBTQIA+ Club.

She has lived in Venezuela, Borneo, and Spain, but grew up in Greece, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United States. She received a master’s degree in
comparative literature and has taught English in Greece, Peru, and the United States for the
past twenty-seven years. She has a voracious appetite for travel, not only to experience new
places, but more importantly to hear people’s stories first-hand.

Kimberly, like her
grandmother, has always been a storyteller and Greece is always in her heart. Kimberly
currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Hugo, and their three bulldogs: Achilles, Oia, and Opa. The Greek Persuasion is her debut novel.

Kris Waldherr’s books for adults and children include Bad Princess, Doomed Queens, and The Book of Goddesses. The New Yorker praised Doomed Queens as “utterly satisfying” and “deliciously perverse.” The Book of Goddesses was a One Spirit/Book-of-the-Month Club’s Top Ten Most Popular Book. Her picture book Persephone and the Pomegranate was noted by the New York Times Book Review for its “quality of myth and magic.” Her fiction has won fellowships from the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts, and a works-in-progress reading grant from Poets & Writers.

In her captivating debut novel, The Lost History of Dreams, Kris shares her belief that all love stories are ghost stories in disguise. In 1850’s London, a post-mortem photographer unearths dark secrets of the past that may hold the key to his future.

As a visual artist, Waldherr is the creator of the Goddess Tarot, which has a quarter of a million copies in print. She has had illustrations published as greeting cards, book covers, and in calendars and magazines. Her art has been exhibited in many galleries and museums including the Ruskin Library, the Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

For Book Clubs

Are you in a book club, seeking fabulous authors who are excited and available to meet with you? Then you will be delighted to know that Eldonna Edwards, Kimberly Robeson, and Kris Waldherr are all three part of our wonderful community of NovelNetwork authors, available to meet with book clubs via video chat or sometimes even in person (if local).

NovelNetwork is the nation’s first and only match(dot)com for authors and book clubs to find each other, so check it out today. Book clubs join for free and gain access to our database of dozens of authors, from NYT and international bestsellers, to debut authors, cookbook authors, mystery and non-fiction authors, and representing various regions of the United States, and even Alaska and Hawaii, all of whom want to meet with you!

To schedule a book club visit with Eldonna, Kimberly, Kris or any of our nearly 100 authors, join for free here.

Event Registration

Event is free and open to the public (on a first-come, first-served basis); registration is not necessary. Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event. Only books purchased at the event will be eligible for signing. Questions about the event may be directed to the Carlsbad City Library at 760-602-2049.