Swimming Naked with Jellyfish
2009 Eric Hoffer Awards-Montaigne Medal Finalist Award
Thought Provoking Books and Excellence in Independent Publishing
Contact information and to schedule an interview:
Shelley Gilbert
914-762-0681 phone/fax
Email: shelley@shelleyjoygilbert.com
Blog: www.shelleygilbert.wordpress.com
View all my books on my Amazon Author Page: http://tinyurl.com/6z7t2ob
OSSINING AUTHOR’S DEBUT NOVEL WON
2009 ERIC HOFFER AWARD-MONTAIGNE MEDAL FINALIST AWARD
The Eric Hoffer Book Award Announces
2009 Montaigne Medal Winners
Ossining, NY – June 1, 2009 – Ossining author, artist, publisher Shelley Gilbert’s debut autobiographical novel Swimming Naked with Jellyfish has won the 2009 Eric Hoffer Award-Montaigne Medal Finalist Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing and for Thought Provoking Books that either illuminate, progress, or redirect thought. The Montaigne Medal is given in honor of the great French philosopher Michel de Montaigne who influenced Shakespeare, Descartes, Nietzsche, Rousseau, Emerson, Eric Hoffer.
Swimming Naked with Jellyfish is the coming-of-age story of a girl who hates semicolons, loves extremes and lives her life exposed. This 350-page trade paperback was self-published by Ms. Gilbert in August 2008 and sells on Amazon.com. She is currently writing the sequel.
“Shelley Gilbert’s prose is wonderfully vivid and straightforward…the writing is compelling…and though the story confronts rather grave issues, Iris’s witty, accessible tone makes an ideal balance that encourages readers to keep the pages turning.”
She teaches the totally supportive, non-critical Vignette Method, A Fast Track Memoir Writing Workshop, All Ages, using a simple technique she developed while writing her autobiographical novel. Her next 4-session workshop will be held in May in Bedford and Irvington, NY and in September at Westchester Community College/Valhalla, Pleasantville Recreation Dept and Bedford Recreation Dept.
The author also teaches How to Self-Publish Fiction and Nonfiction Books, An Information Gathering Lab.
Ms. Gilbert is an award-winning visual artist. Her first book, Islands, A Coloring Book for Adults, is gift quality and is selling on Amazon since 2002. She published Islands, A Coloring Book for Teens and Kids, 30 Hand-Drawn Drawings, 30 Poems and Recipes, published on May 18, 2010 and selling on Amazon in early June 2010. Past professions were gift shop owner/operator, taxi driver, sign engraver and secretary. Ms. Gilbert was born in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. She graduated from SUNY Empire State College, NY with her BS in Creative Writing. She lives in New York with her husband, Hank Teller.
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