Anais Nin on Facebook

Today there are 12,092 fans on this Facebook page.

And what an easy way to get involved with Anais Nin fans (or ninnies as my skeptical pal

William Rossa Cole used to call those who he considered fans of her work) since he brought me to meet Frances Steloff at Gotham Book Mart, how irritated could I get by his little jab/jest.

The contact person for the site is Corina Joy. You can reach her by email by signing up as a fan for the site or reading the Wall

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anais-Nin/6260799661

To distinguish her page from others on Facebook, look for this

picture of Nin (which I haven't seen in this format with the teapot)

I still prefer to think of her drinking coffee! being a tall Americano myself and my love of this quote of Anais which we use on

our ordering page  on AnaisNin.com for my favorite book on Anais, Benjamin Franklin's Recollections of Anais Nin by her Contemporaries. One of those out of print gems that you should search for on ABE.com you can buy a copy today for $3 or

click on Amazon's link to ask for it to be added to the Kindle

bookstore!

"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

Guestbook Over Run With Spam & A Blossom

We used to be able to afford to have an earlier web master (who we called our Amazon Warrior Princess) who delted the spam and smut entries over morning coffee. Of course she was paid, but it was a boring

irritating and frustrating task.

Because it became so difficult even with the security enabled News/Event board that Rochelle Holt monitored so effortlessly we had to completely stop it. Tonight we found in the endless spam for Chinese herbal products and mean spirited comments like "anais would laugh at you" this

entry from artist Ania.

She asks that you visit her site, of course this is the mythical Anais Nin quote that has become the most sought after quote. Sounds like her, but may be an urban legend, but it certainly is the most asked question over the years. (Commercial projects wanted to know the source so they can make a proper attribution) Even if it's apocryphal, the quote is beautiful presented! And the note cards are lovely!

If anyone finds the original source of this quote in Nin's work or Nin's speeches, let us know

and we'll buy a mug for you from the artist. You can follow her @aniaart.

Here's her post which we're finally adding to the guestbook but are sharing it with you.

Anais Nin quotes have drawn me in...I love useing her quotes with my artwork.

"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the

bud was more painful than to blossom.\\\"
That quote was perfect to describe my \\\"Blossom\\\" stillife, which depicts a life with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
http://www.zazzle.com/aniaart*
My name came before finding Anais Nin quotes!

Simone Lorenz and Bruce Cohen and Rupert Pole

Simone Lorenz and Bruce Cohen, spoke for Rupert Pole in the early

negotiations of the Anais Nin web site.

Here they are in the 1995 at Anais Nin's home in Silver Lake. Rupert Pole is on the right and they are on the left. Sharon Spencer is looking up at Simone who had compiled a beautiful edition of quotes from Anais which was at that time among the Nin fans, expected to be published soon.

Party at Silver Lake House 8/27/95: Bruce J. Cohen,Simone Marie Lorenz,Sharon Spencer, Bebe Barron, Renate Druks, Kazuko Sugisaki, Rupert Pole. (Photo by Simone Marie Lorenz, © 1995. All rights reserved.)

To read Simone's touching piece Remembering Rupert click here.

Recently we sent a couple of postcards from Valerie' Harm's generous offer (which the site has been mailing out) to Simone. we asked if it was okay to post a New Year's greeting that she and Bruce had sent out to friends on New Years. Here it is to inspire everyone today, as every day in a sense begins a new year, from that date! you begin writing your new day, new year message

in your journal.

From Simone" January 1, 2009

In my silent morning meditation, the attached reminder arose. While sharing the writing with Bruce, bright sunlight passed through the crystal hung in the window and then through the water in Bruce's drinking glass, sending dancing light and prisms of color across the page.

Delighted and in gratitude for this spontaneous display of beauty we wanted to share it with you...

Anais Observed: On DVD At Last!

Anais Observed is On DVD .... although with a different cover than the original video.

"A 60-minute color documentary on Anais Nin. The NY Times said, "All of her fans should be sure to see this movie." And James Leo Herlihy: "Robert Snyder gives us a deeply captivating experience of the 20th Century?s greatest art form..."

Order Form

http://www.mastersmasterworks.com/nin.html

You can also order the original book the film was based on and originally published by Swallow by Robert Synder (who passed away in 2004) There can't be many, so order now!

Just after Rupert Pole died, when the Lifestyle editor of the LA Times Janet Eastman was writing a piece in The LA Times on Nin's Home , in Silverlake, "Storied Past, Uncertain Future" the site lent this film (in video form) and the book with the other materials to the writer. In the story Eastman writes:

"Photographs and the 1973 documentary "Anaïs Nin Observed" by the late Robert Snyder show her posing, her hand gracefully holding her chin, at the mosaic-top dining room table alongside a bank of windows. Or sitting on an orange pillow on the coral carpet in the living room next to the glowing fireplace, her hair swept into a loose roll, lipstick perfect on her upturned smile, barefoot and wearing a scooped-neck caftan, her only accessory her diary in her hand. "

It's a Keeper.

Morning Song

On Jewel's 1995 album Pieces of You she wrote a "Morning Song" with the lyrics:

"You can be Henry Miller and I'll be Anais Nin /Except this time it will be even better/we'll stay together in the end."

This morning over morning coffee, I was thinking of this song, and realized

that not everyone knows about it...Years ago the site sent Rupert a copy of

the CD to show him how au courant Anais, ever current was still in the hearts of young artists.

Hard to believe that was almost a decade ago!

Louveciennes Maison Up For Sale Again

"Louveciennes has always known how to hide its secrets behind thick walls..."

Le Figaro, March 12th, 1996

Nin's former home in Louveciennes is for sale...

Check out the listing link and follow the chatter on

twitter.com/anaisninblog

And from our archives, read about

the amazing young woman

Barbara Sapp's valiant effort to save the the home last century.

Many came to the site and filled out

petitions in French and English.

We Write To Taste Life Twice

"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection."Anais Nin

This is a greeting card from Paper Lantern..design is done and copyrighted @ Lindsay Whiting 1995 available from:

Paper Lantern
PO Box 1871
Boyes Hot Springs, CA 95416
707-996-0302

We are writing the company to see if we can purchase some
sets...thought others might like to know about the card...on the back is this information about Anais:

Anais Nin (1903-1977)
Born in Paris to aristocratic artist parents, Nin's early years were spent in the company of some of the finest artists of the day. In 1914, her father abandoned the family, and Nin emigrated to the U.S. with her mother. On a ship bound for N.Y., Nin began the journal that would evolve into the most acclaimed of her literary career. largely self-taught, she left school at age 15, became a fashion and artist's model and studied Spanish dance. Nin was intensely
interested in unraveling women's inner lives. she underwent psychoanalysis, and even became a lay analyst. Along with other writers, she established Siana Editions to publish her work that was thought to be too controversial for the time. Through her novels, essays and short stories, and love affairs with men and women, Nin gained her reputation as a literary artist and sexual icon. She is best known for her relentlessly introspective diaries, comprised of 11 volumes from 1914-1974.

Kindle Revolution: Hearts A Fire

Here is a photo from Amazon.com's site of someone reading from the new Kindle. The Kindle is an electronic book, which one can tell from the reader reviews (3000 plus!) is really just a slim slate (and this reader swears by hers, although she wasn't able to "buy" books in places like Guatemala, it still allowed me to read samples of the 250,000 titles they have and which I had downloaded maybe twenty samples. and of course any titles I had already purchased,The real power of the Kindle hasn't even been tapped,

like it's name, its a movement that hasn't even begun to "catch fire" but it already gives a lovely light and definitely is a super way to travel with 100 books in one's purse or briefcase!

We see, the power of the Kindle in the deals it now makes with publishers when books are requested to be available on the Kindle. The ability for publishers to put their out of print books as well as their current lists on a Kindle and access readers without incurring massive production costs.

Most Kindle titles are $9.99.

Let's start a Kindle Anais Nin revolution. Sign on to our web site and from the bookstore links, ask that the Diaries be available on a Kindle. Follow this link

to see a sample link. This may take time and dedication, but we need your help! Everyday,(particularly all you wonderful followers!) log on to the bookstore and go down the list and where it says CLICK HERE TO ORDER just click on and when you see this image of a Kindle check the link that says: Tell the Publisher! I’d like to read this book on Kindle. Let's not all start with Fire!

15 Free Nin Postcards

Valerie Harms has been kind enough to send on a few postcards

from the Celebration weekend.

If you would like a postcard, please send a S.A.S.E. to

Anais Nin Web Site, PO Box 412 Beverly Shores, IN 46301.

Attention: MC Griffin

Or if you are overseas just send us your name and address

on a postcard! We'll send one back even if you are not in the US.

First fifteen responses will benefit from Valerie's generosity.

Valerie Harms Five Star Review

(picture of Valerie with Anais, cf Valerie's Memory on our Memories Page)

Valerie Harms reviews Anais Nin Character Dictionary and Index to Diary Excerpts by Benjamin Franklin V, published by Sky Blue Press, 2009. This publishing event deserves 5 stars.

We owe premier Nin scholar Dr. Franklin and publisher Paul Herron a huge debt of gratitude for this book. Benjamin Franklin is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of South Carolina. The author of many books about American authors, plus jazz greats, and several books about Anais Nin, Professor Franklin now gives us an invaluable reference book.

I wish I’d had it when I was reading all of Nin’s diaries and fiction. Even though I tried to sort out characters myself, especially as I read Nin’s early stories and novel in Northwestern University’s Special Collections Department and eventually compiled Waste of Timelessness and Other Stories as a rare edition. But now the book is available for longterm fans of Nin’s work as well as newcomers.

The character dictionary scrupulously tells who is who and where they are written about. I was especially interested in frequent characters—e.g. Djuna, Jay, Lillith, Lillian, and Sabina. Surprising to me were the frequent references to God and on p.36 the reference for “Don Juan” as “man who hates Dona Juana.”

Part Two gives a list of all Nin’s published fiction as well as a list of the characters who appear in each work. Very helpful.

The final part of the book indexes the diary excerpts that were not indexed in the published Diary of Anais Nin. Thus, many of these come from volumes of the Anais: An International Journal. Here one can trace the references to Hugh Guiler, Otto Rank, and many others.

This book belongs in the personal library of all those who love Nin’s work and to university and public libraries around the world. This 162 page paperback costs $19.95. Order from your bookstore or visit http://www.skybluepress.com/.

Quotes from reviewers:
This book will help readers more easily understand the origin of the repetitions, continuities and discontinuities within Nin’s oeuvre and to distinguish the intentional from the accidental. – Tristine Rainier, Director, Center for Autobiographic Studies.

Once again, Benjamin Franklin V has meticulously explored the domain into which too few Nin scholars have entered: the domain of facts. His achievement is a major gift to Nin scholars and to the future of Nin criticism. – Philip K. Jason, author of Anais Nin and Her Critics.

Additional note: A Café in Space, The Anais Nin Literary Journal, Vol. 6, 2009, edited by Paul Herron, is also available from Sky Blue Press. This issue features excerpts from a newly found trove of letters from Anais’ father, Joaquin Nin y Castellanos, to Anais. It’s fascinating the material available on the Internet now. I recommend viewing the interview with the elderly Bebe Barron at www.youtube.com/user/TheStevenReigns.

"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. " Anais Nin

This is Anais Nin's birthday weekend (she was born February 21, 1903) In her honor, fly a kite, start a new career, make a new friend or make plans to travel to a new country.

The official release date for Sky Blue Press's latest was on her actual birthday. We await a review from Valerie Harms and will link to it when it's posted.

Other news on her birthday weekend are notes from Jan- Christine Johnson who tell us about Annette Nancarrow who explains:

The beautiful and lively artist Annette Nancarrow comes to life in her memories and never to be seen photographs in "ANNETTE’S MEMORIES" -

The correspondence with Dr. Juergen Hocker was from May through August 1991. Nancarrow speaks of her relationship with Anais Nin, Hugh Guiler, and Rupert Pole in Acapulco, Mexico and New York City.

There are a few surprises for your www.anaisnin.com readers.

Nin painted an attractive portrait of Nancarrow in her writings - the lovely Lisa in "Collages" and the Diary.

New from Sky Blue Press foremost Nin scholar Benjamin Franklin V

has written the book book Anais Nin Character Dictionary and Index of Diary Excerpts

"Anaïs Nin Character Dictionary and Index to Diary Excerpts by Benjamin Franklin V is an alphabetical list of the name and description of every character Anaïs Nin used in her published fiction cross-referenced with the title(s) in which the character appears. Includes an index of persons, titles, and places included in every excerpt from Nin’s diary which has appeared elsewhere before publication in book form, including the remaining unpublished diary. A must for anyone studying Nin’s work, and a source of learning and fascination for even the most casual of readers

Franklin is the author of : Recollections of Anais Nin: By Her Contemporaries.

By clicking on this Look Inside Link you can access a recollection or two.

Valerie Harms sent us an article from the NY Times on the second day in January. It hasn't been posted until now as this writer has been in Guatemala.

NY REGION January 02, 2009 City Room: Gotham Book Mart Holdings Are Given to Penn By Sewell Chan The University of Pennsylvania Libraries are now home to about 200,000 items from New York's landmark Gotham Book Mart, which closed in 2007.

About 200,000 items from the Gotham Book Mart, which closed in 2007 after 87 years as a New York literary haven of international stature, have been donated to the University of Pennsylvania.

Readers of the Diaries will be familiar with Anais's descriptions of the Gotham Mart along with her friend, the amazing Frances Steloff who lived in an apartment above the store even after it was sold in 1967. She died in 1989 at the age of 101. The photo above is taken by Adele Aldridge who has this memory of Steloff on her web site

You can read Frances's reminiscences about Gotham in Celebration by Valerie Harms and Adele Aldridge which is on our site. You can also try to find an original copy on Abe.com. Listed in order of price, the last

book shown is signed by Nin and is $80.

This photo of Anais's brother is taken from the UC Berkley press release on January 20. 2004 announcing his death. Photo credits and a print quality image link are available below, or link directly through the press release by Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations

Joaquin Nin-Culmell (UC Berkeley photo)
Print-quality image available for download

Thanks to Jan Johnson for this link

You can find the Nin poetic warmth and gentleness in Joaquin Nin-Culmell's "Six Variations of a Theme by Luis Milan" on You Tube. Leo Brouwer is the guitarist. There are a number of photographs of Professor Nin-Culmell that I have never seen. The You Tube site is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG0zmn7iOH0 . It is a new gem of a posting. Many thanks to "grenouilleGG" of Espana.

This image was taken from a blog on my space, we grabbed the image from Google Images, and wanted to attribute the beautiful artwork and encourage visiting such a creative site. We post it
because this is the quote the site is most asked attribution for...
we don't know if it's apocryphal if might have been a line in a lecture, many of these lectures were transcribed by Evelyn Hines whose book The Sensitive Man and Other Essays published by Swallow Press had "summarized" many of the lectures Nin gave in the last years of her life. It's really a marvelous little book and
we'd encourage everyone to try and grab a copy on a site like abe.com. To our knowledge, the quote is not in the Diaries or the fiction...but like any urban legend, it's true even if it never happened!

Apologies for linking to a fabulous interview in an earlier post which was posted on you tube and taken down because of copyright infringement. Perhaps those of you that are French speaking can find it from the above note (taken from a great web site on Miller which notes:

Le sel de la semaine TV show interviewed Anais Nin ten months later, in 1970. You can view the full hour interview (in French) for free on your computer by visiting the Radio-Canada (CBC) Archives website

Happy Hunting! in the Les Archives of Radio-Canada. We'd love it if someone would volunteer to translate the below for the site.

It looks like you might be able to link to it (juin 18, 1970) by linking here! which will bring you here

and this photo speaking of copyright issues is from brittanica.com Anaïs Nin, c. 1972.
© Bettmann/Corbis

Jan-Christine Johnson wrote us about a new book of poems entitled Dear Anais (with a preface by Tristine Rainer)it's available on Amazon. This is what the author, Diana Raab wrote about her recent work on her very nice Wordpress blog Diana's Notebook in the post Poetry and Journals,

"Excuses are made by those who make mistakes. Apologies are made by those who did something wrong. I did neither, but I do want to explain my lapse in writing. My new poetry collection DEAR ANAIS: MY LIFE IN POEMS FOR YOU (preface by Tristine Rainer), was released this week and I have been busy with the preliminary publicity.
I hope my readers buy this book not only because I admire Nin and her wise words about writing, love and life, but the collection is a good example of how poems can be culled from journals. All the poems in the book were born on the pages of my journal. (BTW, if you read the book and enjoy it, please consider posting a review on Amazon…it will help other readers and me of course!)Many of the poems were inspired by a famous quotation, a compelling line or an observation. These all serve as good launching points. Poetry is all about observations and the more you see, the stronger your poetry will be.
Until next time—happy reading and happy writing!"

This Photo of Anais Nin in 1932 was lifted from an early Nin web site now defunct. However, in honor of Google's tenth anniversary, they opened a window to the old search engine...and we found the entire site on the wayback machine an entire site with lots and lots of very fine academic stuff (from Leipzig) the pages were maintained byAnja Beckmann. Thanks Way Back Machine...and don't lose this link. We hope it works for a long time as the original URL is no longer functioning.

Check out this link. It is an amazing resource....as a starter...

Anais Nin's mother, Rosa Culmell y Vaurigaud, was born in 1871, the eldest daughter of the Danish consul to Havana, Thorvald Culmell Christensen, who was born in Denmark, and his wife Anais Vaurigaud y Bourdin, of French descent but born in Cuba. Thorvald was a successful businessman and they lived in a big house on the Malecon beachfront, a fashionable area of Havana. The couple eventually had 9 children, 5 daughters and 4 sons, and were of the highest social standing in Havana. Anais Vaurigaud, the grandmother of Anais Nin, left her husband and her children and moved into her own house in Havana where she lived as she pleased. As Rosa was now the oldest daughter it fell to her to organise the household, a task for which she was well prepared during her education in the exclusive Brentwood catholic convent school in Long Island, New York, where she also learned perfect English. Due to her important role in the Culmell household she was still single at the age of 30. She had singing lessons and was said to have a beautiful voice.
Anais Nin's father, José Joaquin Nin y Castellanos was born in Havana in 1879, the first son of a Spanish Cavalry officer, Joaquin Nin y Tudo, and his Cuban wife Angela Castellanos y Perdomo. The family moved to Barcelona in 1880 and Joaquin Nin stayed there until he was 21. He studied the piano and eventually became a concert pianist, he departed for Havana in 1901 and gave his first concert there in february, he had to live with money from relatives, though, as he had not yet made a name for himself.
Joaquin and Rosa met in a music store in Havana. She was independent, much older and more mature than him but they shared a love for music. She fell for the romantic image that he cultivated and he sensed that she would help him to further his career. Her father was against a marriage with the poor musician from Barcelona but allowed Rosa to have singing lessons with him and they soon gave their first joint concert. They married on April 8, 1902, and Rosa's father paid fro them to go to Paris and live there until Joaquin could look after the family with his own income.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010801160612/stinfwww.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/~beckmann/nin.html

Happy Birthday Google! and hey thanks for these oldies but goodies and reminding us of the Wayback Machine.

Valerie Harms has solved the lack of photos of Ian Hugo! She advised us that she went to Google/Images and typed in
Hugh Guiler and eh voila! there are many pictures. We agree with Valerie, the first one in the list, one of Nin and Guiler is the best!

Valerie's memory of Hugh Parker Guiler(Ian Hugo) is now up on our site. It's listed in Memories as well as Scholarship on www.anaisnin.com.

Other photos of Ian Hugo can be found at roberthaller.com.

A video link to one of his films is here. Music is by Bebe Berron.

Steven Reigns, who produced the fantastically successful celebration of Anais@105 at the Hammer Gallery at UCLA February 23, 2008 met Bebe Barron and interviewed her
for the event. A few weeks later, Barron died, and Steven was asked to speak at her memorial.

Here is the link of Nin Scholar and Poet Steven Reigns at Bebe Barron's Memorial.

Steven's latest book of poetry (he's editor)with amazing portraits by Jenny Walters can be ordered on Steven's website.. This photo we have used is by Jenny Walters and is scanned from the book.

The book is breathtaking.

"I’m so proud of this collection. It is an anthology of autobiographical poetry written by gay, lesbian, and bisexual seniors. I felt honored to teach this group for over 16-weeks. The writings in the book were born out of a weekly workshop. I edited the collection, Jenny Walters took AMAZING portraits of the participants, novelist Dorothy Allison wrote the preface, and Thaddeus Root designed the book"

An on-line video of the workshop from which the collection that Reigns edits, can be found here. Apologies that we don't yet know how to add videos to this blog so they are embedded!