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Welcome to the Osher Lifelong Learning Instituteat Sierra College Fall 2025 Registration Opens: Tuesday, July29th at 9am! Fall 2025 Term Dates: (M) August 25- (F) December 19 *Please Note: Sierra College is Closed on Fridays through August 8th > Fall 2025 Term > Author Spotlight Lunch Pail Series

Author Spotlight Lunch Pail Series   

Fall 2025

Select Fridays | at 12 Noon | Online via Zoom

Current OLLI at Sierra College Membership is Required to Participate
Become a Member / Renew OLLI Membership: Click Here!

Author Spotlight Series 2025

Series Description — Our region is home to a variety of terrific authors who write a wide assortment of books. This monthly series of interviews will introduce us to some of these interesting, local writers and their books.

An Added Benefit  Your class fee is a donation to the Sierra College Food Pantry. One hundred percent of the registration proceeds made from the Author Spotlight Lunch Pail Series will be donated to the Sierra College Food Pantry. Thank you for joining our cause to help end student food insecurity on our campuses and in our community. 

The Food Pantry is open to all Sierra College students experiencing food insecurity regardless of income. The Food Pantry’s stock consists of a variety of non-perishable items. Students must be currently enrolled at Sierra College to use the food pantry. There is a Sierra College Food Pantry located at both the Rocklin and Grass Valley campuses, which gives scores of local homeless and food insecure youth a weekly box of food. More information can be found on the Sierra College Food Pantry webpage or Click Here!

Thank you, OLLI members, for your support of this crucial resource for our Sierra College student body!

*Tip: To view the Author's book cover in larger scale, click on their Series' Title below (in dark gray box with white letters).

  • Author Spotlight Lunch Pail Series: Ann Van Hine – Pieces Falling – A 9/11 Survivor Memoir (September) 
  • Interviewer/Moderator: Joan Griffin
    Dates: 9/19/2025 (only)
    Days: F
    Times: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
    Sessions: 1
    Fee: $5.00 (SC Food Pantry Donation)
    Location: Online via Zoom 
    Recording: *This class is being recorded.
    *
    Recordings will expire after 30 days.
    Seats Available: 292 | Max Enroll: 299
    SKU: FalALIT171 

    September 19 – Ann Van Hine – Pieces Falling – A 9/11 Survivor Memoir

    Bio: Ann Van Hine lost her husband, a New York City firefighter, on 9-11. She has spoken to school groups about experiencing personal loss amid a national tragedy, led walking tours of the National 9/11 Memorial, and participated in a hearing at the European Parliament. Her story will be included in the Netflix documentary Turning Point 9/11. Ann believes that the stories of September 11, 2001 are like a mosaic. The stories don’t fit together like a puzzle. Instead, they lay next to each other to form the larger narrative of what happened that day and since. As the author of Pieces Falling: Navigating 9/11 with Faith, Family & the FDNY, Ann believes in the importance of humanizing history.

    Pieces FallingBook: As a wife and mom, church volunteer, and small business owner, Ann Van Hine prided herself on being in control of her life. Until 9/11. Pieces Falling is Ann’s story of navigating the very personal loss of her husband, Bruce—a New York City firefighter who died on 9/11—amid the very public tragedy that shocked the world. Her poignant reflections help answer the questions:

    • How do you cope when life lies in pieces around you?

    • How do you begin to rebuild in the face of all that has been lost?

    • How do you commemorate the past while creating space for your future?

    Ann’s journey parallels the evolution of Ground Zero from a place of death and destruction to the moving Memorial Plaza today and is a beautiful testament to the resilience of a woman, a family, and a nation.

    → Link to Ann Van Hine’s book trailer on YouTube for Pieces Falling: https://youtu.be/l6ipUBOXYp8?si=kVfZGh4nId5MaXR4
    *Proceeds will be donated to the Sierra College Food Pantry. Membership Required.
    *Class Dates: 9/19 (only). 
 

  • Author Spotlight Lunch Pail Series: Kelly Lardner – Family History Month – Rose Beads (October) 
  • Interviewer/Moderator: Joan Griffin
    Dates: 10/3/2025 (only)
    Days: F
    Times: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
    Sessions: 1
    Fee: $5.00 (SC Food Pantry Donation)
    Location: Online via Zoom 
    Recording: *This class is being recorded.
    *
    Recordings will expire after 30 days.
    Seats Available: 292 | Max Enroll: 299
    SKU: FalALIT181 

    October 3 – Kelly Lardner – Family History Month – Rose Beads

    Rose BeadsBio: Kelly Lardner, under the pen name Ké Ridolfi, writes historical fiction. She is a longtime member of Auburn's Gold Country Writers and has published two novels. She is currently trying her hand at writing a cozy mystery series.

    Book: Rose Beads is an epic saga of three generations of strong women and of the power of their love. In small town Lavender, Oklahoma, eleven-year-old Eva loses her mother and her home to flames. Her widowed father forsakes the hard toil of farming, leaving Eva in the care of her aunt, to seek opportunity in the city. The hardships Eva and her family encounter are typical of life in the early Twentieth Century. As a young woman, Eva’s life choices take her beyond the bounds of small-town America, where the restrictive social rules imposed on women collide with her determination to find love and achieve a better life. One loss after another knock her down, but each time she rises to pursue her personal journey, to unite her family, and to find happiness.
    *Proceeds will be donated to the Sierra College Food Pantry. Membership Required.
    *Class Dates: 10/3 (only). 
 

  • Author Spotlight Lunch Pail Series: Meade Fischer – Summer Vacation Guide (August) 
  • Interviewer/Moderator: Joan Griffin
    Dates: 8/22/2025 (only)
    Days: F
    Times: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
    Sessions: 1
    Fee: $5.00 (SC Food Pantry Donation)
    Location: Online via Zoom 
    Recording: *This class is being recorded.
    *
    Recordings will expire after 30 days.
    Seats Available: 296 | Max Enroll: 299
    SKU: FalALIT161 

    August 22 – Meade Fischer – Summer Vacation – With the Sea Beside Me

    With the Sea Beside MeBio: Fischer, "The Tripper" has spent three decades exploring the coast as a kayaker, surfer, hiker, backpacker and camper. He's never met a back road or hidden beach he could ignore. Meade has written numerous travel books, and his writing has appeared in newspapers and travel magazines. Meade is a longtime OLLI at Sierra College member.

    Book: With the Sea Beside Me is a guide book, a running narrative and a collection of travel literature vignettes, a book that can be read for entertainment before departing and then referred to along the road. From Santa Barbara to the Oregon border, Fischer points out the great places to camp, outstanding hikes, kayaking and surfing spots, brew pubs, restaurants, lodging, interesting back roads and some of the fascinating people the traveler should stop to meet along the way. The road stories give the reader a sense of the places and the people, making each area feel familiar before arriving. Fischer brings over a quarter century of adventure travel to the traveler in this entertaining and informative road trip, featuring almost 200 photos and 17 maps.
    *Proceeds will be donated to the Sierra College Food Pantry. Membership Required.
    *Class Dates: 8/22 (only). 
 

  • Author Spotlight Lunch Pail Series: Patricia Puentes – International Showbiz Mysteries – Cluelessly Unscripted (November) 
  • Interviewer/Moderator: Joan Griffin
    Dates: 11/7/2025 (only)
    Days: F
    Times: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
    Sessions: 1
    Fee: $5.00 (SC Food Pantry Donation)
    Location: Online via Zoom 
    Recording: *This class is being recorded.
    *
    Recordings will expire after 30 days.
    Seats Available: 296 | Max Enroll: 299
    SKU: FalALIT191 

    November 7 – Patricia Puentes – International Showbiz Mysteries – Cluelessly Unscripted

    Cluelessly Unscripted: A Showbiz Romance MysteryBio: Patricia Puentes is a Barcelona native, expat, and recovering entertainment journalist who has been calling California home for almost 20 years. She can tell many funny (or just plain surreal) stories about the frequent times she has interviewed celebrities, but she mostly gets wowed by writers—and doggies. She writes open-door romance mysteries with a Hollywood setting and where the leads have non-stop banter. Patricia lives in Oakland, California, with her romantic partner and their rambunctious Border Collie, Boira (aka Peluchín diabólico).

    Book: Cluelessly Unscripted is a delightful rom-com with a dash of mystery, perfect for readers who love:

            • Swoon-worthy detectives ​​​​​​​
            •
    Sizzling age-gap romance (she's older) ​​​​​​​
            •
    International travel ​​​​​​​
            •
    Heartfelt second chances ​​​​​​​
            •
    Feel-good stories with some steam

    Warning: May cause giggling, swooning, and an urge to book a flight to Barcelona!
    *Proceeds will be donated to the Sierra College Food Pantry. Membership Required.
    *Class Dates: 11/7 (only). 
 

  • Author Spotlight Lunch Pail Series: Sidney Niemeyer – Atomic Peril: A Nuclear Forensics Thriller (December) 
  • Interviewer/Moderator: Joan Griffin
    Dates: 12/5/2025 (only)
    Days: F
    Times: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
    Sessions: 1
    Fee: $5.00 (SC Food Pantry Donation)
    Location: Online via Zoom 
    Recording: *This class is being recorded.
    *
    Recordings will expire after 30 days.
    Seats Available: 295 | Max Enroll: 299
    SKU: FalALIT201 

    December 5 – Sidney Niemeyer – Atomic Peril: A Nuclear Forensics Thriller

    Atomic Peril: A Nuclear Forensics ThrillerBio: Sidney Niemeyer has been called a “founding father” of the new field of nuclear forensics. Among his scientific leadership roles at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), he articulated the need for the U.S. to develop a nuclear forensics capability to address the new reality of a post-Cold-War world. Believing global cooperation was essential, he chaired an international conference in 1995 that led to the formation of the Nuclear Forensics International Technical Working Group, which he co-chaired for twelve years. Over the years, he became painfully aware that few people have even heard of the field of nuclear forensics. Drawing upon his love of science and thrillers, he wrote Atomic Peril to show the critical importance of this capability for deterring nuclear terrorism. When he’s not writing, or visiting his children and ten grandchildren, he can often be found on his road bike, navigating the hills surrounding the lab where he once worked.

    Book: In this high-octane thriller, a laboratory scientist races to stop terrorists from detonating a nuclear bomb on American soil. Tasked by the FBI to analyze a small amount of highly enriched uranium found on a smuggler in Moldova, nuclear-forensics scientist Steven Carter’s initial results suggest a serious terrorist threat. Unconvinced by his findings, the FBI calls a halt to further investigation. But Carter goes rogue, secretly continuing to analyze the material and discovering compelling evidence that somebody has enough uranium to make a nuclear bomb. With no other recourse, Carter risks his career by taking his evidence to the CIA.


    Review: "A terrific nuclear thriller from a founding father of nuclear forensics. Readers who enjoyed Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears will love this book." ~ Rick Acker
    *Proceeds will be donated to the Sierra College Food Pantry. Membership Required.
    *Class Dates: 12/5 (only). 
 

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