Book Signing For Local Author This Saturday On Main Street

A long-time Martinez resident and former Martinez News Gazette columnist will be signing copies of her new children’s book “Tell Me A Story, Nona” on Saturday at White Rabbit Boutique on Main Street.

Jacque Nevis Hall has been writing books since her husband died 19 years ago. Her first book, “What Does The Rabbit Say?” was written when she was almost 70, and was picked up by the publisher Random House.

“I started writing and taking writing classes,” she said. “I wrote a weekly feature for the Martinez News Gazette for nearly a year. They let me write on anything I wanted. I wrote about growing up during the Depression and World War II.”

Those columns have been compiled into a book called “Life As An Anecdote.” Copies of that book will also be available for sale on Saturday.

Hall has lived in Martinez since 1961. She and her family moved here from Berkeley when, she said, her kids were being bussed out of her neighborhood.

“We lived across the street from a really nice school,” she said. “I didn’t want them bussed out of the neighborhood.”

She found a great place to raise her kids in Martinez.

“My kids had horses, and all their friends had horses,” she said. “We loved it here. It was a great place for them to grow up. I think there was about 10,000 people here then.”

After her husband died, Hall said it was natural for her to start writing.

“I come from a family of storytellers,” she said. “When I was young we always had stories told and read to us. And I told my kids stories all the time.”

After her first story was published, Hall began publishing stories in magazines. So far, she has a total of five books published.

“I do it for a hobby,” she said. “I’m not writing the world’s greatest best seller. It’s just fun getting the positive feedback.”

Today, Hall, who is 84, continues to write books and have fun. She calls herself “very patriotic,” and points out that she has a life-sized copy of the Statue of Liberty in her front yard. Right now, it boasts a pointsetta where the torch would normally be, in a nod to the holidays.

The book signing will take place Saturday, Dec. 17, at 2 p.m. at White Rabbit Boutique, 529 Main St.