Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to welcome Shelby Hiatt to the store in celebration of the publication of her new novel, Panama, an erotically charged love affair that leads a young woman to raised consciousness about life and social injustice during construction of the Panama Canal. The launch party will be on Sunday, October 18th, at 3 p.m. From Kirkus Reviews - "The building of the Panama Canal, Federico's background and even the Wright brothers form a woderfully detailed backdrop that never overpowers the human story." Born in Evansville, Indiana, Shelby Hiatt at 16 went to school at Brillantmont in Lausanne, Switzerland, and from there to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where she received a BA degree in Political Science. During the Rollins years she spent a summer studying Spanish at Mexico City College and a summer at Harvard University on a Political Science scholarship. She did graduate work at the Universtiy of Geneva's Ecole d'Interpretes in Switzerland and has since worked for the United Nations Office of Public Information, been involved in a Broadway production of "Sign of Affection" as well as an off-Broadway adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' "The Sweet Enemy", and played nurse Jane Dawson for eight years on General Hospital, among other things. Shelby now lives and writes in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. Visit her website here.