Fifty cents of every Venice book sold in the U.S. is donated to Save Venice, Inc.
Venice Rising: Aqua Granda,
Venice, a city with 1200 years of tenacity and grace under her belt, is not new to struggle. From her earliest beginnings, she has endeavored to wrestle an existence out of a Lagoon that both protects and punishes her. In recent years, the wakes of cruise ships have battered her fragile stones as tourism and economic realities have driven local Venetians out of the city. Then the aqua granda of 2019 flooded the calli and campi, nearly carrying Venetian fortitude away on its outgoing tides. A soggy, somber winter led way to a hopeful spring, when the pandemic lockdown appeared to strike the final blow. Or did it? In April, as an elegant double rainbow arched its way over the marbled city, Venetians put on their masks and got to work, dreaming up a new Venice. Read their stories, letters, poems, posters, and conversations that ring in the vision of Venice’s rebirth.
All proceeds from this book are donated to We Are Here Venice, No Grandi Navi, and Venice Calls, local organizations that protect Venice’s cultural and ecological future.
First Spritz is Free: Confessions of
In First Spritz Is Free you can read about childhood memories when Monica arrived in Venice on the back of a Vespa or Marco escaped an angry vendor by hiding in a church. Join Laura as she views traditional glassblowers or Katia who visits a boat full of books. Roger imagines interviewing Attila the Hun, while Cecelia tells of being caught in a torrential summer storm, unable to return to Giudecca. You can see Venice as it awakens by walking with Philip on his way to work or be introduced to past Venetians by Judith. Iris sneaks us into a hidden garden her grandmother tends, and Greg reveals his gondola rowing episode that ended up in a dip in the canal. Venice addicts us in dozens of ways, revealed in these many chapters, edited by Kathleen González.
A Beautiful Woman in Venice
Poets and painters, racers and writers, composers and courtesans--Venice's women span the centuries with their talents. From founders and funders of benevolent institutions to the women who influenced the rulers, these beautiful women lived colorful and inspiring lives. Read about Veronica, Cassandra, Maria, and Gaspara, Modesta, Giustina, Angela, and Lucrezia, and all their sisters, to hear the full story of Venice's rich history. Women's beauty truly lies in all their myriad contributions to the city of light and water. Meet the women here.
“A world of beautiful, talented, determined women, each challenging the patriarchal rules of Venice in her own way, showing the men what women can do. Always attentive to their full selves, Gonzalez brings these women to life not just in the public squares, and calli of Venice, but also in their private spaces, with their families, friends and lovers, alone with their hopes and fears and desires. She tells their stories with affection, admiration and an infectious passion.”
--Nancy Isenberg, author-editor of Caro Memmo, the love letters of Giustiniana Wynne
A Living Memory: Immortality for
Sarra Copia Sulam
Denounced for heresy, pressured relentlessly to convert, accused of plagiarism, questioned for her learning, and literally robbed of hundreds of ducats in gold and goods, Sarra Copia Sulam faced travails that would have felled those fainter of heart. As a Jewish scholar in seventeenth century Venice, she had to remain steadfast in her faith while she brought together both Christian and Jewish scholars in her literary salon. Sarra kept her wits about her, utilized her learning, remained devout, and garnered the support of numerous friends and scholars who came to her defense when she was besieged. Her name means princess, and like one used to being followed, Sarra has inspired others for centuries. Sarra Copia Sulam created a “living memory,” her own immortality.
For sale through Supernova Edizioni
SALE! Half Price!
Seductive Venice: In Casanova's Footsteps
Few readers will tackle Casanova’s twelve volume memoirs, but here, in the seven guided walks in Seductive Venice, they’ll get all the juiciest Venetian morsels as well as a new look at Venice’s edifices and waterways. Ninety locations from the well-known Piazza San Marco to the unknown back alleys lead readers through a Venice they would otherwise never experience. Shocking, hilarious, romantic—let Casanova be a new kind of guide to this ancient city. See the sites here.
“Kathy Gonzalez is one of the bright lights in a new generation of Casanova scholars. She has left no stone unturned in her research for this very useful and readable book, which will prove irresistible to many of the more than 17 million tourists who visit Venice annually. Kathy’s book reflects not only original research done by her in Venice but also the learning of other Casanova experts around the world, whom she consulted.”
Marco Leeflang, Editor of L'Intermediaire des Casanovistes
Casanova's Venice: A Walking Guide
Casanova's Venice is the Italian edition of Seductive Venice--the same book, in English, but published by Supernova Edizioni in Italy. Like Seductive Venice, it contains all seven walking tours of Casanova's Venice, including the maps, with the addition of photos and drawings of Venetian sites. When you visit Venice, be sure to pop into a bookstore or museum and pick up your own copy!
Also now available in Italian as A Venezia con Casanova and in German as Mit Casanova in Venedig from Supernova Edizioni.
Contact Supernova Edizioni or check bookstores and museums in Venice.
Free Gondola Ride
Kathleen went to Venice with a goal and a plan. The goal was to write about the lives of a cliched group of men, the gondoliers. The plan included a camera, a notebook, and the perseverance of a serious journalist. But sometimes plans must change.
From skinny dipping off a gondola under the full moon to sharing watermelon and prosecco with a crowd of stripe-shirted gondoliers, Free Gondola Ride takes the reader on a summer full of adventures and beautiful moments. Meet these gondoliers here.
"I enjoyed your book. It made the gondolas much more interesting to me—and I certainly appreciated the gondola history and lore you provided."
Sandra Gustafson, Author of the Great Eats, Great Sleeps series
"My g-g-g-grandfather was a gondolier at the San Toma Traghetto. Few books have been written about the gondolier, and none in Kathy’s down to earth and realistic style. I read this book in a few days after returning from Venice and it is indeed one of the best books I’ve read, true and honest to the last. Much recommended – it has the gondoliers down to a tee!"
--Claudia Oliver, author of A Most Faithful Attendant: The Life of Giovanni Battista Falcieri
A Small Candle: The Impact of Camp Everytown on Our Lives
You’ve seen those kids who sit silently in a corner, all but invisible. And you’ve seen the natural leaders, sometimes leading others astray. You’ve heard “That’s gay” too many times to count, and you’ve seen students at lunchtime clumped together by race. Camp Everytown has been a program that addresses these as well as many other issues that students face.
In an effort to raise money for camp, and with a desire to capture the inspiring stories that Gonzalez heard from camp participants year after year, she has written a book called A Small Candle: The Impact of Camp Everytown on our Lives. It contains stories about 15 students and staff who attended camp and experienced its power to positively shape their lives and bring an inspiring light to their community.
Read more student stories here.
As Dr. Barbara Clarke Mossberg, President Emerita at Goddard College writes, “To read these stories by Kathy Gonzalez is to know something indispensable to our lives: in every person exists a desire to be good, to do good, to be a force of positive change for themselves and others.”
"These dynamic stories represent only a few of the thousands of young people who have been impacted by this unique leadership and self-development experience called Everytown."
Richard Valenzuela, Program Director for Camp Everytown, Silicon Valley FACES
Latina: Women's Voices
from the Borderlands
This collection of essays and stories is edited by Lillian Castillo-Speed and published by Simon & Schuster. Gonzalez's story "That Was Living" is a reminiscence of her father growing up in Santa Clara during the Great Depression. Anecdotes include an uncle's penchant for nicknaming everyone in the family, to carrying wagonloads of watermelon hearts home from the pickling plant. This story won a first place Phelan Award at San Jose State University. Other authors in Latina include Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, and Ana Castillo.
Many Voices: A Multicultural Reader
Gonzalez's story "That Was Living" also appears in this anthology of stories and essays. Editor Linda Watkins-Goffman provides activities and exercises with each story, including writing topics, discussion questions, and vocabulary.
Teaching Writing Grades 7-11 in an Era of Assessment: Passion and Practice
Gonzalez contributes three sections to this compendium on the I-Search paper, portfolios for assessment, and managing the grading paperload. Each chapter is replete with handouts and student samples to make this book one that any teacher can employ in class immediately.
"In an amazing performance, two writing project co-directors and 14 teacher consultants/classroom teachers from the San Jose Area Writing Project bring together theory and practice, practice and passion, thinking and doing, teaching and assessment, and more. They seem to have crossed every boundary that exists in the complicated and controversial field of writing pedagogy to investigate and share what they know not only about why students should want to write with passion, but more importantly, how these teachers create, across grades and schools and socioeconomic contexts, the environments in which students do just that." Tanya Baker, National Writing Project