[KHTS] – Local Author Night at the Valencia Barnes & Noble Booksellers attracted a large crowd to meet seven authors from Santa Clarita and surrounding communities on Oct. 24.

Sally Van Swearingen, author of “It’s Not Over Yet!: Reclaiming Your Real Beauty Power in Your 40s, 50s and Beyond,” signed dozens of copies of her book at the event. Photo by Michele E. Buttelman

Sally Van Swearingen, author of “It’s Not Over Yet!: Reclaiming Your Real Beauty Power in Your 40s, 50s and Beyond,” signed dozens of copies of her book at the event.

“I am so happy to be able to meet so many people tonight,” said Van Swearingen. “This is a great turnout.”

Van Swearingen is known as the Southern California bridal beauty guru and “One of the Best Make-up Artists in the Country” by Allure Magazine.

Other authors included in Santa Clarita Barnes & Noble “Local Author Night”:

Roma Khetarpal, a parentologist and CEO of Tools of Growth, is author of “The ‘Perfect’ Parent: 5 Tools For Using Your Inner Perfection to Connect with Your Kids.”

Khetarpal has been holding parenting classes in Santa Clarita for the past three years.

“I felt this message was very important to get out to parents,” Khetarpal said. “Everyone encouraged me to put these tools into writing so I could benefit a larger audience.”

Dave Berg, former writer and co-producer of the Tonight Show, The Jay Leno Show, The O’Reilly Factor and NBC News is the author of “Behind the Curtain: An Insider’s View of Jay Leno’s Tonight Show.”

Berg served 18 years as the producer of “The Tonight Show.”

Left, Steve Springer, former sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times is author of “Laker Girl” and at right, Dave Berg, former writer and co-producer of The Tonight Show, The Jay Leno Show, The O’Reilly Factor and NBC News. Photo by Michele E. Buttelman.

“This book gave me an opportunity to pay tribute to a wonderful institution, ‘The Tonight Show,’ now in its 60^th year,” Berg said. “It also gave me a chance to pay tribute to my former boss, Jay Leno, and to acknowledge the great legacy he leaves behind in late night.”

Leno has appeared in Santa Clarita several times to benefit charity, including a benefit for the Ewart family who were injured in a 2005 fire and in 2012 at “Comedy for a Cause,” to benefit the SCV Youth Project.

Chef Louis Eguaras is a former White House chef and author of “101 Things I Learned in Culinary School.”

Eguaras said he wrote his book with Matthew Frederick, author of “101 Things I Learned in Architecture School.”

“There is now an entire series of ‘101 Things I Learned…’ books,” said Eguaras.

His book includes such helpful tips as when to salt food, how to determine doneness of meat and proper knife technique.

Steve Springer, former sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times is author of “Laker Girl” (co-written with Laker Girl Jeanie Buss.)

“Jeanie Buss is a fascinating person,” Springer said. “She has quite a story to tell.”

David Derrick, Jr., a former DreamWorks animator who currently works with Disney Feature Animation, and author of “Play With Your Food” said he decided to write children’s books to find his own voice as an artist.

“I wanted to do a book that was about prehistoric animals, but not dinosaurs,” he said. “I try to have little educational things in all my books.”

Laurisa White Reyes is a young adult and children’s book author and editor-in-chief of Middle Shelf Magazine and author of “The Last Enchanter.”

“I have five kids of my own so everything I write is so they can read it and enjoy it,” she said. “The benefit is that other children can also read my books and enjoy them.”

Also attending the event were:

Kathleen McCoy, PhD, psychotherapist and award-winning author of a dozen books and author of “Purr Therapy;”

Shauna Miller, a fashion stylist, blogger and founder of PennyChic.com and author of “Penny Chic: How to Be Stylish on a Real Girl’s Budget;”

Andrew Smith, an award-winning author of several young adult novels and educator at Canyon High School and author of “Grasshopper Jungle.”

Guests were treated to samples of food from the Starbucks Café inside the Barnes & Noble as they chatted with the authors and waited to get their books signed.