Author: Caroline Paul, Why Fly

From the New York Times bestselling author Caroline Paul, Why Fly is a thrilling, gravity-defying book that takes us skyward to explore the art of aeronautics-and the depths of the human heart.

Flying has long represented the beautiful, high-stakes human drive to invent, to explore, to experience. Caroline Paul has known this since becoming a pilot at twenty years old. Now she's in her fifties, and her long-term marriage is dissolving beneath her. She begins to fly a gyrocopter. Isn't it easier to learn a landing than a human heart?

As Paul examines the descent of love through the ascent of flight, she turns her eye to the history, the physics, and the deep impact of flying on others. From the brave Night Witches who flew biplanes against the Nazis, to the ultralight pilots who believe they can save endangered birds by becoming one of the flock, to the many people afraid to step onto a passenger plane, Why Fly examines the ways flight, like love, confounds and yet transforms us. Often we soar. But we also crash land. Still, we want to fly. Why?

Caroline Paul is the author of eight books, including the New York Times bestseller The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for your Life of Epic Adventure, and Tough Broad: From Birdwatching to BASE Jumping - How Outdoor Adventure Improves our Lives as We Age, as well as the illustrated memoir Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology. She is a longtime member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto.

Britta Stromeyer is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her writing appears in The Common, Tupelo Quarterly, Necessary Fiction, On The Seawall, Beyond Words Literary, Flash Fiction Magazine, Bending Genres Journal, Marin Independent Journal and other publications. Britta has authored award-winning children’s books and holds an MFA from Dominican University, CA, an M.A. from American University, and a Certificate in Novel Writing from Stanford University.

The Writers Grotto is a community of working writers and narrative artists who connect in physical and virtual space, pooling their talents to support each other, mentor and teach others, and engage the wider world. The Grotto fosters a literary culture that is generous in spirit and deeply inclusive, elevating writers of all backgrounds. 

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This program is part of Grotto Nights at the Library.