Beijing International Book Fair - Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Gregory Kendall
Berkeley to Beijing Promotions Dept.
karen@kbkendall.com
Phone: 505-412-3793


“Berkeley to Beijing” to Be Featured at
Beijing International Book Fair Sept. 3 – 7, 2009

New Book Chronicles the Amazing Journey of a Young Activist in the 1960’s and 1970s

SANTA FE, N.M. – “My childhood was different from most,” writes Karen Boutilier Kendall in her new memoir, Berkeley to Beijing: The Journey of a Young Activist (published by iUniverse). “I lived, breathed and experienced history in a way that exposed me to amazing, fascinating and sometimes frightening situations.”

Kendall, a preacher’s daughter, recalls a unique upbringing living in communal strike houses with volunteer strike workers, runaways and prostitutes. Her playmates and babysitters were the children of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers. “While other kids drew in coloring books, I made picket signs. I went on civil rights and anti-war protest marches and walked picket lines,” she recalls. Kendall not only witnessed, but experienced the horrors of bigotry and violence while navigating both family and political upheaval.

In 1973, at age 12, Kendall received a call from actress Shirley MacLaine inviting her to travel with a group of women to China. Kendall had met MacLaine a year before while campaigning for George McGovern. The group, The First American Women’s Friendship Delegation, was among the first group to travel to communist China since the early 1950s. The resulting documentary of the group’s trip was nominated for an Academy Award.

“Berkeley to Beijing is the remarkable, well-written story of a young girl's coming of age in the midst of the turbulent 1960s & 1970s. It is also the untold story of a brave, committed family struggling to stay together while throwing themselves into the heart of Cesar Chavez' farm workers' movement,” exclaimed Rev. Chris Hartmire, former Director of the California Migrant Ministry.

Karen Boutilier Kendall currently lives in the mountains of northern New Mexico. She is the business operations manager for the Los Alamos County Utilities Department and will celebrate her 30th wedding anniversary this summer.More information about Berkeley to Beijing and Karen Boutilier Kendall available at http://www.kbkendall.com

Berkeley to Beijing will be a featured title at the Beijing International Book Fair, held Sept. 3 – 7, 2009. More information is available at www.bibf.net.

Berkeley to Beijing: The journey of a young activist
Available from: www.iUniverse.com, www.bn.com, and www.amazon.com
ISBN: 9781440141300 · 6 x 9 · Paperback · 212 pages · $17.95
ISBN: 9781440141317 · 6 x 9 · Hardcover · 212 pages · $27.95