The 8th Annual Kerrytown BookFest in Ann Arbor Michigan will celebrate Michigan authors and books on Sunday, September 12, 2010. Authors in this year’s event include three National Book Award finalists; several Edgar Award and Anthony mystery award winners and nominees; a Caldecott winner and numerous Michigan Notable Book Award winners.
The Kerrytown BookFest is unique according to Gene Alloway president of the BookFest Board and owner of Motte & Bailey Bookstore in Ann Arbor. Kerrytown is an historic neighborhood in the city which includes the Ann Arbor Farmers Market where the event is held.
“The BookFest is the only festival of the book to celebrate both authors and the artists and crafts people who help create books.”
As a special attraction, mystery writer and Edgar Award winner Doug Allyn of Montrose will interview the Kerrytown BookFest’s Community Book Award Winner, Whitmore Lake mystery and western writer Loren D. Estleman. Estleman has been a National Book Award nominee, an Edgar Award finalist and has won the Spur, the Shamus and the American Mystery Award.
Alloway said that the Book Award is given each year to a person who exemplifies the spirit of the BookFest.
“Estleman is a major literary figure in the Ann Arbor community and goes out of his way to support local writers and literary events.”
Events this year include panels on Northern Noir; Paranormal Fiction; Children’s Literature; Memoirs; Historical Fiction; and Michigan literature along with hands-on demonstrations from local craftspeople.
National Book Award finalist Thomas Lynch from Milford Michigan will be interviewed by Keith Taylor, head of the University of Michigan Undergraduate Creative Writing Program; another National Book Award finalist and Caldecott Award Winner, David Small, will be interviewed by Nicola Rooney of Nicola’s Books and the third finalist Bonnie Jo Campbell will participate in the panel on Michigan literature.
This year’s event also will have a special focus on children’s literature. Best Selling authors Sarah Stewart, Mendon; Debbie Taylor, Ann Arbor; Susan Kathleen Hartung; Portage, Deborah Deisen, Grand Ledge; author and illustrator Michael Monroe and Colleen Monroe of Brighton and Lansing author-illustrator Ruth McNally Barshaw will make presentations and do readings. A group of area teen poets will also do readings and story-teller Heather O’Neal of Ann Arbor will entertain with children’s stories from Nepal. Mother Goose will once again make an appearance.
Five Michigan authors at this year’s event have won the Michigan Authors Award presented by the Michigan Library Association. They are Steve Hamilton, Loren Estleman, Sarah Stewart, Thomas Lynch and this years’ award-winner John Smolens.
The Northern Noir panel is packed with award-winning mystery authors Steve Hamilton, Bryan Gruley and William Kent Krueger and moderated by Edgar and Anthony nominee Craig McDonald. Hamilton won the Edgar Award for his book “A Cold Day in Paradise” and Bryan Gruley’s book, “Starvation Lake”, was an Edgar Finalist. Krueger has won the Anthony Award three times. Gruley also was recently nominated for two Anthony awards for his first mystery “Starvation Lake”. Gruley’s most recent book, “The Hanging Tree” was selected as an Indie NEXT pick.
True crime writers Mardi Link and Gail Griffin a will discuss “Michigan Murders” –two cases about serial killers on college campuses. The University of Michigan Press also will release the updated version of the “Michigan Murders” a book by Edward Keyes about the serial killings in the Ann Arbor- Ypsilanti area during the late 1960s.
Michigan Notable Book Award winners on the BookFest program are: David Small, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Thomas Lynch, Donald Lystsra, Mardi Link, Steve Luxenberg, Loren Estleman, Steve Lehto, Steve Amick, Keith Taylor and Michael Zadoorian.
Also this year there are two literary arts competitions: the Book Cover Design and the Edible Book Contest. Entrants to the Book Cover Design Contest which is open to Michigan high school students are being asked to create a new cover design for Hamilton’s “A Cold Day in Paradise”.
Honorary chairs for this year’s event are Joe and Karen O’Neal (Kerrytown Market and Shops) of Ann Arbor. Last year more than 5,000 attended the one day event which includes more than 100 exhibitors, artists and book sellers.
Alloway said the BookFest will feature an outstanding array of illustrators, poets, letterpress printers, calligraphers, librarians, publishers, book artists and storytellers.
The BookFest also mounts a literary exhibit in the Ann Arbor District Library. This year’s theme is “Michigan Treasures” showcasing art, dust jackets and books that represent Michigan award-winning books.
The Kerrytown BookFest Board of Directors includes bookstore owners, retailers within the Kerrytown District and representatives from the media and community. This year four new board members were added: Lynn Yates of Zingerman’s Foundation; Kate Kehoe, Hatcher Graduate Library and artisan; Meg Brown, community representative and Lisa McDonald, proprietor of the Teahaus in Kerrytown.
Other Board members are: Gene Alloway, proprietor of Motte & Bailey Bookstore; Robin Agnew, proprietor of Aunt Agatha’s mystery bookstore; John Hilton, editor of the Ann Arbor Observer, Bill Castanier, literary critic and mittenlit.com blogger and Cindy Hollander¸ co-owner of Hollander’s, a Kerrytown shop specializing in decorative paper, bookbinding supplies and workshops.
For more information on the BookFest and for a complete listing of authors and programs visit www.kerrytownbookfest.org.
The BookFest is sponsored by the Michigan Humanities Council¸ Ann Arbor Bank, The Grand Hotel, Kerrytown Market and Shops, MAV Development and the Ann Arbor Observer.
Jeffery Deaver
Thrilling, riveting, suspenseful, page-flipping, sleep-depriving: all of these descriptions have been used about previous Jeffery Deaver novels. Unless Webster’s dictionary has coined a brand new term for heart-pounding, change-of-direction thrillers then Deaver’s recent novel Roadside Crosses will have to be described as just that.
Jeffery Deaver, the mega-hit-selling author of numerous best sellers such as The Bone Collector, The Vanished Man, and The Stone Monkey, featuring quadriplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme, has returned once again with another winner spinning a multilayered web of deceit with his newest novel showcasing heroine, Kathryn Dance. Deaver has delivered as the master of suspense with a technological thriller that preys on all our modern fears of cyber space and the mysterious world of serious online role-playing gamers.
Dance, an up and coming investigator with the California Bureau of Investigation possesses an uncanny ability to detect falsehoods simply by gauging others’ verbal and non-verbal cues. Dance, appearing in her third novel, uses her sixth sense to track down a vicious killer who uses a modern tactic of cyber-bullying and stalking through social networking and cyber space to fuel a streak of savage attacks that leave the victims either brutally murdered or clinging to their lives. As the novel progresses, the reader will discover that nothing is as it appears in our real world as well as online.
Kathryn Dance is fresh off a case (The Sleeping Doll) in which a brutal string of incidents left gaping open wounds among not only the public, but her family and colleagues as well. Now in Roadside Crosses, she must tackle a psychopath in a classic Deaver plot ripped (now cut and pasted) straight from 2009 headlines.
An opinioned and arrogant blogger, James Chilton, has been attempting to make a splash on the general California population with his headline grabbing and extremely controversial blog. In an attempt to garner as large as audience as possible, Chilton hosts a site (for the dedicated readers and Deaver fans you can check out the interactive site at www.thechiltonreport.com) that engages a wide variety of divisive topics ranging from homosexuality to environmental issues and even teen tragedies. Chilton’s increasingly popular blog spot provides an outlet for teens tragedy especially for the troubled and angered students looking for answers. Travis Brigham, a disturbed and isolated teenager, becomes the target for the angry mob of online protestors because of his involvement in the fatal car accident that took the lives of two young teenagers. Subsequently a string of brutal attacks and murders occur and the victims all have one thing in common; prior posts on The Chilton Report.
Although Dance is still dealing with the repercussions of her previous case, she is thrust into the investigation after the violence escalates and puts the community into a frenzy both in the real world as well as in the cyber world. She soon finds herself pursuing Travis Brigham, the troubled teen, who finds his sanctuary in online role-playing games where the violence is all too real.
In an intoxicating novel, Deaver utilizes twists and turns to keep the reader flipping pages into the early morning hours. Never is anything as it seems. Visit Deaver’s website by clicking here.
Jeffery Deaver will make a rare Michigan appearance at the Ann Arbor Kerrytown BookFest, 4 P.M., Sunday September 13. Click here for a complete BookFest Schedule.
It’s a crime
Several leading true crime writers will share a panel discussion at the Ann Arbor Kerrytown BookFest Sunday September 13 at 1:00 P.M.
Joining moderator and author Laura James are Mardi Link (“Isadore’s Secret”), Patrick Brode (“The Slasher Killings”), Steve Miller and Andrea Billups (“The Tara Grant Murder”).
The authors will talk about contemporary and historical true crime writing especially the importance of accuracy in detailing crime and its victims. Miller and Billups have written a contemporary true crime story while Brode and Link have written about crimes in the past,
James and Link have been selected by the University of Michigan Press to contribute to the reprint of the seminal “Michigan Murders” book. To be published next year.
James is the blog editor of the popular blog CLEWS which provides in-depth coverage of historical true crime and is the author of “The Love Pirate and the Bandit’s Son”.