David and Ginny Freeman and the Sonoma Valley Author's Festival
Our speakers for Thursday, February 15, 2024, were David and Ginny Freeman, co-founders of the Sonoma Valley Author’s Festival. Before retirement, David was in the financial services business for 30 years. He held senior management positions with a variety of companies and joined Ashford Capital Partners LLC as a partner when he moved to San Francisco in 1997. He served on a variety of boards of directors for charitable organizations in New York and San Francisco, including positions with Episcopal Charities and Cities in Schools. He was also the President of the Nor Cal Chapter of the American Liver Foundation. Ginny’s professional career spanned positions with Arthur Anderson & Co, the Bank of America (in tech support, IBM in sales, staff, and management roles), and as a self-employed Executive Assistant for high net-worth clients, businesses, and foundations. She also started PixElation LLC. Ginny has also been active in a private women’s club and as chair of the program committee, where she helped organize speakers, authors, and field trips for the membership.
David and Ginny created the Sonoma Valley Author’s Festival after David “retired” and they moved to the wine country. The main goal is to encourage literacy for children and adults by bringing in great authors for speaking engagements. The first events were in 2017, so they’ve had six live programs and one online program during the height of covid. The main live event encompasses three days and is held at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in April. The list of past speakers and break-out hosts is too extensive to include, but the 2024 speakers will include (among others) David Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager), Doris Kearns Goodwin (presidential historian and author), Admiral James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman (co-authors of 2034: A Novel of the Next World War), Amy Tan, Akhil Reed Amar (Yale Professor and Constitutional Scholar), and Dr. Deepak Srivastava (science and technology visionary).
Another Festival event is Student’s Day, when they bring more than a dozen authors and thought leaders to share their experiences and ideas with middle and high school students across the Sonoma Valley. Last year’s speakers included Silvia Vasquez-Lavado (humanitarian, mountaineer, and explorer), Ada Limon (24th Poet Laureate), and Danielle Feinberg (Pixar Studios). The Festival also hosts Authors on the Plaza, a free, family-friendly special event on the Sonoma Plaza. Some of the most recognizable recent speakers at Authors on the Plaza include Abraham Verghese, Poet Laureate Ada Limon, and humorist Dave Barry. The Festival also publishes Sonoma Valley Author’s Festival 360, a virtual version of the event. 360 is free and open for 30 days after first publication.
This year’s festival is set for April 26-28. Books by the speakers are for sale and also donated free to students in connection with Student’s Day (they’ve donated 3,000 books to students!). Putting on the event is very expensive; the speakers require speaker’s fees and travel expenses and the Mission Inn is not inexpensive. One-half of the ticket event price is used to pay the expenses for the free events.
Thank you David and Ginny for the marvelous presentation. The Festival is a wonderful addition to the artistic and educational culture of the wine country, and we appreciate all your outstanding efforts putting it on!
Click HERE to see a limited-time recording of Ginny and David's presentation.
