Join us for the San Francisco book launch of The Nutcracker Chronicles: A Fairytale Memoir.
Janine Kovac was seven years old when she got a fluttery feeling in her chest while watching her first performance of The Nutcracker. From that moment, she knew she wanted to be a ballerina. It wasn’t long before she herself was dancing the part of a snowflake, flower, mouse, soldier, and Fritz, Clara’s brother, who snatches the nutcracker from her and yanks off its head—all in search of the magic she felt only on the stage. Over a twelve-year career, Janine dances with ballet companies in San Francisco, Seattle, Germany, Iceland, and Italy, returning home every holiday season to perform The Nutcracker with Ballet El Paso. Despite the challenges of the ballet world, Janine can’t resist the inner glow and effortlessness she feels on stage, under the lights, dancing to Tchaikovsky in the Land of Sweets, ruled by a sugar plum fairy. Eventually, however, she is relegated to watching other people dance—her husband, her children, her students—and her claim to the spotlight is replaced by the quest to find joy in her new roles.
JANINE KOVAC enjoyed a twelve-year career as a professional ballet dancer in Iceland, Italy, Seattle, San Francisco, and her hometown of El Paso, Texas. Outside of the ballet world, her distinctions include U.C. Berkeley’s Glushko Award for Distinguished Research in Cognitive Science, an Elizabeth George Foundation Fellowship from Hedgebrook, and the Calderwood Fellowship for Journalism from MacDowell. Janine is the author of Brain Changer: A Mother’s Guide to Cognitive Science and Spinning: Choreography for Coming Home, which received a National Indie Excellence Award. She lives in Oakland, California. Learn more about her life and work at: https://www.janinekovac.com/
Kaitlin Solimine is a writer, mother, start-up founder, and an advisor to impact-driven early-stage companies. Her debut novel, Empire of Glass, was a finalist for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the Firecracker Awards for Independent Literature, and the Eyelands Book Awards. Kaitlin is the host of The Postpartum Production, a podcast about postpartum and creative practice.