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.
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Kerrytown BookFest announces its 2010 program
Saturday, June 26th, 2010Michigan Notable Book Award Winner Mary Ellen Geist to talk at Kerrytown BookFest
Friday, August 21st, 2009The Kerrytown BookFest is hosting Michigan Notable Book Award Winner Mary Ellen Geist as one of the featured author’s at the 7th Annual BookFest. Geist will speak 3 P.M. Sunday, September 13 at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market. Geist’s book “Measure of the Heart” has received critical acclaim for its intense and warm look at a daughter who comes home to help her mother care for her father who has Alzheimer’s.
Geist was an international correspondent with CBS Radio who walked away from her job to come home to Michigan and help her mother care for her father. In her book, she tells the dramatic story of her father’s battle with Alzheimer’s and her ever-evolving relationship with him.
Of all the awards in her career, having “Measure” selected as a 2009 Michigan Notable Book may be the one she´s proudest of. “I don’t care about the decision I made about my career,” Geist said. “Other values took over. I had to come home.”
After spending the day caring for her father, Geist said she would wake at 3 a.m. and write for personal therapy with no idea that her writing would ever become a book. But after giving a presentation to a group in New York, a New York Times writer who was in the audience wrote a front page feature for Thanksgiving Day 2005 that propelled Geist into a new world. Geist said the response to that article was more than she had ever received in her professional career (during which she had covered Princess Diana and the O.J. Simpson trial).
“Agents started calling,” she said.
Since then, Geist has been on the other side of the microphone, giving interviews on major media outlets, including NBC’s “Today” show and NPR’s “Diane Rehm Show.” This past spring, a portion of her father’s story was included in the four-part HBO documentary “The Alzheimer’s Project.”
Geist believes her book helped open a new discussion. “There is often a sense of shame for the caregiver’s job,” she said. “When people would tell me I should get another job, I thought, ‘There is pride in this job.’”
The author considers her book to be a “gift from her father.” In addition to helping her tell a compelling story about one family’s relationship with Alzheimer’s, Geist said her father’s illness also spurred her to take up jazz singing again; she found that singing together (her father sang in an a capella group) reunited them.
Geist’s experience of taking the everyday and putting it to words may be, as Nancy Robertson, director of the Library of Michigan, said, the unifying feature of the Michigan Notable Books. Visit Geist’s website by clicking here.
Jefferey Deaver and Jane and Michael Stern headline the 7th Annual Kerrytown BookFest
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
The world’s leading thriller writer, Jeffery Deaver, headlines a group of more than 30 distinguished authors who will be appearing at the 7th annual Kerrytown BookFest Sunday September 13 at the Farmers’ Market in Ann Arbor Michigan.
Deaver, who has written 25 thrillers in his more than 20 year career, is a former journalist, lawyer and folk singer. His book “The Bodies Left Behind” was recently named as the “Best Thriller of the Year” by the International Thriller Writers Organization.
Many will remember the movie “The Bone Collector” starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie which was based on his book of the same name. His books, featuring series characters Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance, are always at the top of best sellers’ list. His newest book is “Roadside Crosses”.
Deaver will discuss his work and sign books beginning at 4 P.M. His appearance is sponsored by Aunt Agatha’s mystery book shop and Amelia Musser.
The award winning author joins other national, state and local authors at the one day event which this year is focusing on Michigan culinary books and writers. In addition, numerous true crime writers; husband-wife writers; culinary mystery writers; children’s authors and counter-culture and music writers will participate in discussions, demonstrations and readings.
Ari Weinzweig co-founder and author of “Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon” will join a panel discussion with Jane and Michael Stern, NPR road show personalities and authors of 20 books on pop culture, along with Jan Longone, culinary historian at the U-M Clement’s Library. The panel is sponsored by Michigan Radio and begins at noon. (more…)