Katherine Neville’s Cherry Tree
Katherine wrote about her Cherry tree in her recent “Cherry Blossom & Chess Newsletter.” Here is the film she made of her 50-year-old Japanese cherry tree, planted by the famous Japanese potter, Teruo Hara:
The Real ‘Queen’s Gambit’
Grandmaster Susan Polgar Susan Polgar Click to enlarge Article from Forward.com: Original Article Here The Real ‘Queen’s Gambit’: Meet the First Woman to Qualify for the World Chess Championship PJ Grisar November 18, 2020 This article contains spoilers for “The Queen’s Gambit.” When it comes to the real queen of chess — not the orphaned, […]
Carnival in Malta
When I arrived in Valletta, Malta I was greeted by one of the best Carnival celebrations I’ve seen. They couldn’t bring the floats out for Carnival during the Traditional weekend because of high winds, so they asked for special dispensation from the Church to do Carnival the following week – during Lent. The Church was “evasive” (see […]
The Maltese Artist
The noted Maltese artist Joseph Barbara was commissioned by a British client, more than 30 years ago, to create a painting inspired by themes from The Eight. Subsequently he has created other works portraying my books, which are great fun and highly symbolic. Recently, during Carnivale, I visited Malta while doing research for my new […]
Pirate Contest
The Pirate Contest has concluded! Congratulations and thanks for joining in on my Pirate Contest! All winners were selected by random darts. Whenever a dart has landed on a line between two people, each will receive a book. All of your books are just being mailed this week due to postal backup in our area. […]
The Pardon at St Anne la Palud
I was invited to attend the Pardon at St. Anne la Palud in France where St. Anne, the Virgin Mary’s mother, is patron saint of Brittany. Gauguin joined many famous Breton artists in painting this beautiful tribute. At St. Anne la Palud this year a visiting bishop of Notre Dame in Paris joins the thousands […]
The Eight: Sir Isaac Newton’s Alchemy Notes
I have just led a private tour for ten of the Dibner Library of Science and Technology, one of the most fascinating of the twenty-one Smithsonian Libraries. Here’s one of my favorite documents – Sir Isaac Newton’s alchemy notes, written in his kitchen garden in Cambridge. The librarians brought this document out when we were […]
Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser designed a magical house, now a museum, where I used to have lunch when I lived in Vienna writing The Magic Circle. (The photos at end are the cardboard admission tickets to the museum.)
Japonisme Influences
Exposition Universelle Paris, 1867 Japan under the Shoguns was isolated from the world for over 250 years, from the early 1600s — and then emerged into the world at just the right moment. The Universal Expo of Art and Industry (Paris World’s Fair) opened on the Champ de Mars, April 1, 1867 — a date […]
The Lewis Chessmen
Katherine with Phil Pfeffer (Random House) and Kathryn Falk, Lady Barrow My friend, Kathryn Falk, Lady Barrow, (Director of Romantic Times Magazine), convinced a group of us authors to contribute our names to the floor tiles when they were remodeling the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Hence I came in contact with one of […]
Videos of Katherine’s Cherry Blossom Tree
Go back to KATHERINE NEVILLE’S Cherry Blossom Equinox Newsletter
Esalen Retreat
A typical visit at the conference center at Esalen. Karl Pribram was a good friend of Michael Murphy (author of the New Age classic: Golf and the Kingdom), who’d created the Esalen Institute on his family’s property in Big Sur, California–perched on the edge of a cliff with hot mineral baths and wild surf below. This […]
Horus the Hawk
The Burial of Horus the Hawk In April of 2020, my assistant Ludovico Orsini and I buried Horus with with rose, sage, Palo Santo wood from Ecuador, and Tibetan prayer flags in a “traditional Tibetan hawk burial.” 😉 (I am joking, of course.) The Death of Horus the Hawk Harry the Hawk grew up on my deck … […]
Esmé: The Other Friendly Ghost
Esmé: The Other Friendly Ghost Katherine Neville’s 150-year-old Gothic house, built on the Civil War’s “Hallowed Grounds,” is also home to Esmé, a prank loving, treasure hunting ghost. Featured on: The Line-Up · 20 Jul 2015 (Open Road Publishing) Photo: Nicholas DeSciose Esmé, our ghost, was first sighted on Hallowe’en Day of 2000, shortly after […]
Thomas Jefferson’s 275th Birthday
Tomorrow, April 13th, 2018, marks the 275th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birth. I have had a long relationship with TJ (as some of us call him here in Virginia) ever since I moved here thirty years ago. I was delighted when I learned that he had designed another house, after his famous home (a UNESCO […]
Venice in the Snow
Katherine was in Venice during the massive, unseasonal blizzard that swept through Europe and took these gorgeous photos of the city draped in a blanket of snow.
Think (Millennial) Pink for Valentine’s Day
Katherine in Japan In celebration of Valentine’s Day, I’ve collected some of my favorite pink things to share! I love pink in all its various hues and was thrilled to learn that my MacBook Air is, in fact, ‘millennial pink’ and it matches my Italian designer, Fratelli Rossetti, shoes. (My only concession to brand names […]
Ludovico’s Santiago Pilgrimage
Last winter, my young millennial assistant Ludovico Orsini told me that he aspired to gain speedy fluency in the French language, so he could apply for a special graduate program in France. I suggested that he spend a highly-intensive period in a part of France where no one spoke English (or where people didn’t know […]
Ludovico’s Nepalese Pilgrimage
My assistant, Ludovico, just completed another fabulous adventure. This time he journeyed through Nepal and decided to hike to Everest’s Base Camp. Below are some photos he took along the way and a description of his experiences. Ludovico’s Pilgrimage II: Nepal After crossing Southeast Asia I found myself in Kathmandu, Nepal sans plan. I spent […]
The Way of Santiago
Pilgrimage is one of the oldest forms of Quest, and is celebrated by religions and cultures all over the world. Since everyone knows that my characters and I are aficionados of Quests of all sorts, it’s no surprise that this is one of my favorites! Some years ago, I was invited to lecture in Spain […]
My Cherry Blossom Tree
Cherry blossom festival is the best week in Washington DC, and always falls on my birthday. I wrote an entire scene in The Fire set during that first week in April. Here is a vase filled with cherry blossoms from my own tree, a 60-foot tall ornamental cherry planted fifty years ago by the famous […]
Smithsonian Libraries 50th Birthday Celebration
Smithsonian Libraries 50th Birthday: A Tribute from Great Authors! This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Smithsonian Libraries being united under one umbrella. To celebrate this event in an exciting and original way, I invited famous authors to say “Happy 50th Birthday” to the Smithsonian Libraries, and asked each to speak for a few […]
Book Research at the Sailboat Show
Visiting the Annapolis Boat Show: the sailboats in the yacht harbor have more space and amenities than my old Sausalito tree house where I wrote my first two books! I had great fun updating my skills at the National Boat Show in Annapolis: shopping for sailboats to use in my next book.
Mysterious Return of the Bowls
Scott, the director of my heating & plumbing company, sent me a surprise that he’d found in his mother’s attic, along with this story… When Teruo Hara built my Japanese house in 1965, Scott was a child and his own father was Mr Hara’s mortgage banker. In the course of constructing the home & kilns […]
Grand Central Station Market
Whenever I’m in New York for the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, I always drop downstairs to the Grand Central Station Market and pick up things to take home, wonderful teas, spices, cheeses, fruits and seafood from their vast selection of gourmet provisions from all over the world: the healthiest and most delicious carry-out! Below I’ve […]
Pre-Roman Sacred Spring
While traveling through Brittany I visited this beautiful pre-Roman Sacred Spring.
Poplar Forest & Monticello (Esoteric & Exoteric)
Thomas Jefferson’s Houses and Gardens [TJ’s Houses and Gardens] Copyright 2007 Katherine Neville Please contact Katherine Neville for permission to quote from this article. From: Katherine Neville To: Lynn Beebe, President and Travis McDonald, Historian of Poplar Forest May, 2007 Dear Lynn and Travis– Here are my notes on TJ’s two kinds of architecture: esoteric and exoteric. As I […]
Secret Smithsonian Castle Tour
A memorable way to spend my birthday! April 4th private tour for 50 guests, of the legendary Smithsonian Castle: my fellow author and fellow board member of the Smithsonian Libraries, Steve Berry, led a guided tour of hidden locales in the Castle.
Menhirs and Dolmens of Brittany
After my arrival at le Chateau in Brittany, France… I soon found these fantastic menhirs, nearby to the Chateau, in Carnac. (Menhir – from the Brittonic languages – ‘maen’ or ‘men’ meaning stone and ‘hir’ or ‘hîr’ meaning long) And then journeyed to Lagatyar, north of Carnac, for even ‘longer’ stones and a small dolmen. […]
Preview ‘The Lunar Society’
Preview of Katherine Neville’s short story, “The Lunar Society” Read more from Katherine on the Lunar Society (the real society of scientists and humanists) For review purposes only. Read more from Katherine about the Lunar Society on the history and background of the real society of men
The Lunar Society
What’s Inside the Box? Katherine Neville introduces the fascinating history behind her Mystery Box story, “The Lunar Society.” See a preview of Katherine Neville’s short story: here. As a former technological person myself, who’d participated in the early commercial phase of the computer revolution, I had long been fascinated by its predecessors: that handful of scientific entrepreneurs […]
How I Became a Basque Celtic Sorceress
How I Became a Basque Celtic Sorceress: Protectress of the Sacred Forest of Oma, Spain I was attending a private retreat at a Basque farm, following a conference of the World Congress of Music Therapy in Vittoria-Gasteiz, in northern Spain. The scientists at our retreat were sitting outside on the farmhouse porch, giving talks on […]
Views from Olana and Church’s Paintbox
View from Olana Returning from my editor’s memorial, I revisited Hudson River artist and naturalist Frederick Church’s wonderful home, Olana. Chock full of ‘Orientalist’ items like Persian rugs, Moroccan Windows, and even a stuffed peacock, it reminded me of a huge version of the treehouse in Sausalito where I wrote my early books. Inspiration! Here […]
The Caves of Cappadocia and Mural of St. George
Over the years, I was invited to Turkey many times, to lecture and to visit with the Sufis in Konya. On one trip, in the dead of winter, I hired a driver and went to Cappadocia. There are many caves that were hollowed out of the soft pumice, and provided the residences of early Christians, […]
My Visit to Mont St Michel & Chartres
Mont St Michel & Chartres Mont St. Michel One of the questions on the Graduate Record Exam before I got into grad school was: “The author of Mont Saint Michel & Chartres was also the author of what other book?” Answer: The Education of Henry Adams! Having read Henry Adams’ autobiography (written modestly in third […]
An Ode to St. George, Patron Saint of Books!
I’ve just returned from doing research in London, where I met up once again with St George, one of my favorite saints! As the card states, “In Genoa, the houses were often built in narrow, steep streets. This made the lintel the best place for any exterior decoration. It was often carved with images of […]
French Book Tour and Palm Sunday Mass at Notre Dame
Cathedral of Notre Dame (Photo: Katherine Neville) I went to Paris for my French book tour, and over that weekend, I tried to go to Notre Dame on my birthday. But instead, I ended up going to a wonderful restaurant on the Left Bank and some art supply stores. The next day happened to be […]
Adventure in Virginia Horse Country
Taking a ride with my neighbor’s Belgian ponies. Living here in Virginia horse country reminds me that, in the eras I like to write about, horses were the chief means of land transportation. To refresh my memory, I took off for a two hour cross country carriage ride with my wonderful French neighbors and their […]
Maya Angelou: Christmas 1989
Maya Angelou: Christmas 1989 Maya Angelou and I had many interesting encounters and many mutual connections; a few are included here. When Karl Pribram and I left Stanford University in 1989, we barely had time to cross the country and get to Virginia with our pets, unload the moving van with our 26,000 pounds of […]
Magic Circle: Further Reading
For those Readers who wish to pursue these topics further, here are some lists of suggested reading. On Russia, Central Asia, the East Not long before my final Russian research trip, the Treasures of Schliemann’s Troy had been found in boxes in a basement in Moscow and were on public display, at the Pushkin, for […]
