Spy in the House of Anais Nin: Reviewed by Valerie Harms

Please see Valerie Harms review of Kim Krizans brilliant book at our new blog http://www.anaisnin.org/blog

Happy Birthday Anais!

“Joy appears now in the little things. The big themes remain tragic but a leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the taste of coffee–Joy accompanied me as I walked to the press. The secret of joy is the mastery of pain." Anais Nin

Happy Birthday Anais @115

Anaïs Nin Letters Her Correspondence with a Young Fan

This collection of letters from Anaïs Nin to Moira Griffin, mentioned in her last Diary, is being printed with the help of Greensfelder Design in Chicago so the letters will not disappear in the Archives of Avalon. Being a calligrapher for many years and having enjoyed the now long lost art of letter-writing, she still believes in the words of William James, “As long as there are postmen, life will have zest.” www.avalonarchives.com

We just received the wrap around cover of this book of letters from Anais to Moira Griffin.

We will post the cover as soon as we have a jpeg.

Although this book will be a limited edition because of the cost we hope to be able to post some

some of the pages on the blog when it has been upgraded by the end of spring.

Meanwhile, we wish to thank our premium kite flyer, Anais on the occasion of yet another 

birthday celebrating another year of kite-flying.

"Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country"....a new book!

Closer to Home

Nin intimate , Judith Citrin has written a book Closer to Home

(available on Amazon)

that was just published this summer.

As Judith writes:

This small book has had a very long gestation. Decades ago I felt the impulse to set down unusual happenings that were occurring in my apparently ordinary suburban life. Since then I have observed what seemed to be a thread connecting the events, both inner and outer, running through the many years of my journey to what I have known as truth. It is my hope that what I share here might help light the way for other wayfarers who may be in confusion as non ordinary events occur in their own lives. Included in this testimony are examples of words I heard and wrote down as they came in meditations over the course of 26 years. And now the time has come for the birth of my story.

This slim volume is a mesmerizing read. It does also describes Nin and Citrin's friendship. I kept thinking while reading it of Hafiz's lines.

"This place you are right now, God has circled on a map for you."

Best Summer Read: Apprenticed to Venus: My Secret Life With Anais Nin (Tristine Rainer)

Just  recently downloaded this best summer read,when Thinking of Anais Nin colleague, editor and writer Valerie Harms sent me an email telling me it was out. I checked out Trintine Rainer's site: http://www.tristinerainer.com and found this terrific review of her newest book. I would have purchased the hardcover version, but am traveling, so sent the hardcover to a friend.

NAMED A “BESN

“Getting to know lust, love, and Anaïs Nin….In 1962, Rainer (Your Life as Story, 1997, etc.) met Cuban-born Nin, the noted diarist, while on an errand for her godmother…So begins her spicy and saucy hybrid of memoir and novel…. Over the next 15 years… she became a close friend and mentor to Rainer(and) Rainer became a devotee of Nin’s philosophy of life: “A woman has an equal right to pleasure as a man.”…Over time, she realized that Nin was a “deeply flawed person—a narcissist, a bigamist, a liar, and a deviant,” but she was also “so lovable.” Feminists and fans of Nin’s work will enjoy this unique insider’s portrait…”
—KIRKUS

We will be redesigning this blog, and when the new template that will match our sites theme  is redesigned and we become comfortable with Word Press, we wanted you to be able to enjoy "the best summer read"

Apprenticed to Venus:
My Secret Life with Anaïs Nin

By Tristine Rainer

NAMED A “BEST SUMMER READ” BY ELLE MAGAZINE AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

In 1966, Anaïs Nin, author of the erotic bestseller Delta of Venus and Parisian lover to Henry Miller, published her intimate diaries and became a feminist icon of the sexual revolution, proclaiming:

“A woman has as much right to pleasure as a man!”

In reality, Nin was far from free, entrapped in a life of deception, married simultaneously to two husbands between whom she could not choose.

Tristine Rainer met Nin before her rise to fame. As an 18-year-old virgin from the San Fernando Valley, Rainer was sent on an errand to Anaïs’ Greenwich Village apartment and became entranced by the older woman’s world of sensuality and sophistication. She begged Anaïs’ guidance in becoming a woman, eventually following in her mentor’s footsteps of adventurous passion.

As Tristine is manipulated into running interference and spying to protect the secret of Anaïs’ bigamy, the danger and excitement of Anaïs’s life brings Tristine herself perilously close to the edge. A moving look at the intimacy—and risks—of the female mentor-protégé relationship, Apprenticed to Venus stories a deep friendship, for good or ill, with a pivotal historical figure.

Happy Birthday Anais! February 21, 2017

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.”

                                                   Read more at http://izquotes.com/quote/136073

The AnaisNin.com Site Was Started Two Years Before This Cartoon Was Published.

Glycee Print of Subpoenaed Diaries of Anais Nin No Longer Available.

However, Jack Ziegler's cartoon is still available check out the link below:


http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/The-Subpoenaed-Diaries-Of-Anis-Nin-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8539536_.htm

The Subpoenaed Diaries Of Anaïs Nin - New Yorker Cartoon

By: Jack Ziegler Item #: 8539536

Published November 23, 1998
The Subpoenaed Diaries Of Anais Nin

Court officers hauling piles and piles of diaries to courtroom.

http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/The-Subpoenaed-Diaries-Of-Anis-Nin-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8539536_.htm


We can't copy the cartoon here, as it can only be licensed through the New Yorker's Cartoon Bank so check out the link above.




The Cartoon Bank is the brain child of another great cartoonist, Bob Mankoff and author of a delightful memoir:

How About Never, Is Never Good For You?