Diana Anhalt & Mitchell Ditkoff || San Miguel Literary Sala

San Miguel Literary Sala Presents:

Diana Anhalt
A Gathering of Fugitive 

and

Mitchell Ditkoff
Storytelling for the Revolution

Thursday, January 10
5 to 7 PM

 Hotel Posada de Aldea
Ancha de San Antonio #15

$100 pesos ($50 pesos for Literary Sala members)

Complimentary Wine Reception

 Expats Who Came to Mexico to Escape McCarthyism

By Carole Schor

The first Literary Sala of 2019 brings two storytellers, Mitch Ditkoff and Diana Anhalt, to tell tales of displaced expatriates moving to Mexico to escape their McCarthy-era oppression in the United States, and to tell us how to write stories of our own.

Mitch Ditkoff

Mitch Ditkoff divides his time between San Miguel and Woodstock, NY, centers of innovation and creativity.  He is the co-founder and President of Idea Champions, a highly acclaimed management consulting and training company that specializes in helping forward thinking organizations go beyond business as usual and establish dynamic, sustainable cultures of innovation.

When he’s not creating leadership programs or writing his popular blog, “The Heart of Innovation,” voted #1 innovation blog in the world, Mitch contributes to Huffington Post and is the author of the recently published Storytelling for the Revolution: Making Way for the Ultimate Uprising of Insight, Wisdom and Love.

Mitch feels everyone knows how to tell a story and “everyone in the world has wisdom inside, not just the experts and great teachers. Everyone.” He believes that storytelling is at the heart of evolution, creating culture and enabling people to know each other meaningfully. “When people tell their stories to each other and are heard, magic happens. People bond. Barriers dissolve. Connections are made. Trust increases. Knowledge is transmitted. Wisdom is shared.”

Diana Anhalt

Diana Anhalt weaves her own fascinating story in A Gathering of Fugitives, about the dozens of American families who fled to neighboring Mexico to seek refuge there as the hostilities of the McCarthy era grew to a fever pitch and the Cold War flared.

Anhalt was forced to leave her comfortable life in the third grade in New York as her father, an outspoken political activist, became drawn into the Communist Party because of growing concerns about fascism and the injustices of the American “system,” particularly against Jews, Catholics, Asians and African-Americans.  Anhalt’s book speaks of times eerily like those of today, during “The Red Scare” when the Smith Act declared it unlawful to advocate, teach, or belong to any group advocating the forceful overthrow of any government in the United States. A Gathering of Fugitives captures a unique time in American history where people stood up for their beliefs, but had to do so beyond the borders of the nation of their birth, during a politically chaotic time.

Join us for an inspiring look at personal storytelling on January 10 at 5 PM at the Hotel La Aldea.  Admission is 50 pesos for members and 100 pesos for non-members, including a wine and snack reception. Membership in the Literary Sala supports not only the literary life of San Miguel including scholarships for teens and reading projects for children in the campo, it also offers attractive benefits like reading groups, discounts at the monthly author readings, as well as discounts and priority seating at the Annual Writers’ Conference.  You may join at this Sala meeting or on line at www.sanmiguelliterarysala.org.