|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the third year in a row, local Author/Healer Janis Hunt Johnson will be a writer featured in the Spirituality Section of the annual Southern Oregon Book & Author Fair, held 10:00-4:30 this Saturday, November 20, 2010. This spring at New York City's Book Expo America, North America's premier annual event in the publishing industry, it was announced that Johnson's book, Five Smooth Stones: Our Power to Heal Without Medicine Through the Science of Prayer, had won Finalist in the Spirituality category of the 2010 National Indie Excellence Awards. The annual NIEA celebrates overall excellence in independent publishing.
Johnson will be one of over 50 Pacific Northwest authors available all day to autograph books for sale and answer questions. The event is once again taking place at the historic Ashland Springs Hotel, 212 E. Main, in the 2nd-floor Ballroom and Conservatory, and admission is free. Visit www.southernoregonbookfair.com for more information.
The next day, Sunday, November 21, 2010 Johnson will be teaming up with local singer/songwriter Laura Berman, originally from New York City, for an afternoon of inspiration through prayer, story, and song, entitled "Grace Notes: Discover the Healing Power of Gratitude." Johnson will share the importance of moving from gratitude to grace in order to find healing through the science of prayer. "Scientific prayer," she explains, "is an effective and proven way to stay healthy, and to heal when we get ill or injured, rendering medical treatment unnecessary."
Berman will add her extraordinary vocal talent to Sunday's event. "Laura's singing inspires me like no other music has," Johnson says. "To me, every song is a prayer for getting closer to who we are as God's child — each of us called to express God's healing love to the world in a unique way."
Rabbi David Zaslow, founder of The Wisdom Exchange, the Ashland publisher of Johnson’s book, met her in 2005 after she attended a Passover Community Seder meal. She started taking his classes, began studying Hebrew, and eventually edited Zaslow’s seminal interfaith work, Roots and Branches: The Jewish Roots of Christianity. Johnson told him about her own book, and ultimately he offered her the opportunity to publish it. Now Berman and Johnson both take Zaslow's Talmud class together.
Zaslow says, "The combined talents of Janis Hunt Johnson and Laura Berman is the joining of two of God's angels here on earth. The talents of these two women combined is more than just one plus one — it is an alchemical equation that promises revelation and personal transformation."
"Grace Notes" will be held at the Gresham Room of the Ashland Public Library from 2:30-4:00 p.m. 410 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, Oregon. Cost is $10, and refreshments will be served.
Johnson's book will be on sale for only $10 at the Book Fair and at Sunday's event. Laura Berman will also sell her CDs on Sunday.
LAURA BERMAN BIO:
Laura Berman was a New York City singer/songwriter who hired Craig Benelli to play in her band. She had already garnered critical acclaim for her debut CD Love Will, including Honorable Mention in the 2003 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Benelli was a guitarist who had recorded with numerous singer/songwriters and performed with a Broadway Touring Company. They eventually married and together wrote spiritual songs, which became their first CD, Detour. As 4 Stories High, they have become staple performers in the New Spirituality community nationwide, performing at such venues as the Agape Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, and alongside popular authors such as Neale Donald Walsch and Marianne Williamson. In 2009 they left the east coast to make Southern Oregon their home base. For more information about their music and touring schedule, visit www.4storieshigh.com.
 |