Out Loud! Author Series to feature Patchett, Flynn, and Lehane in June events
Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series will present three of the most famous names in fiction this June. The collaborative program of the Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha, and Marion Public Libraries will present Ann Patchett, Gillian Flynn, and Dennis Lehane in free events at the Hotel at Kirkwood Center.
Patchett, an alumna of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will open this year’s series on Friday, June 7 at 7 p.m. Patchett is the author of five novels including State of Wonder, Run, and Bel Canto, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Orange Prize, the BookSense Book of the Year, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is also the author of two nonfiction books, including the memoir Truth & Beauty, which recounts her friendship with fellow author Lucy Grealy. In 2012, she was named one of Time magazine’s “World’s 100 Most Influential People,” in part due to her highly publicized decision to open an independent bookstore—Parnassus Books—in Nashville, Tenn., bucking trends in the book business.
Flynn, author of the runaway bestseller Gone Girl, will appear on Friday, June 14 at 7 p.m. She is also the author of Sharp Objects and Dark Places, two acclaimed thrillers. But Gone Girl, which topped the bestseller list in 2012 and has remained in the top 10, elevated her career to a new level. Reese Witherspoon is producing the movie adaptation of the novel, which is a taut he-said-she-said tale of a marriage gone horribly awry.
Lehane, one of the biggest names in the mystery genre, will close out the series on Friday, June 28 at 7 p.m. Lehane is known for his series featuring Boston private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Genaro, as well as for standalone novels including Shutter Island, Mystic River, and Gone Baby Gone, each of which has been made into a major motion picture. His most recent bestseller is 2012’s Live by Night.
While no tickets are required, series organizers are requesting preregistration for this year’s events. To register, visit http://bit.ly/OutLoud and navigate to the event dates. Alternately, patrons may contact any of the Metro Libraries or send an email to outloudauthorseries@hotmail.com.
All Out Loud! authors will take questions from the audience and sign books following their presentations.
More information about the Out Loud! Author Series is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org.
Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series is supported by the Giacoletto Foundation with media support from the Gazette and event book sales provided by Barnes & Noble Booksellers.
The final event of the 2012 edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series will feature bestselling science writer Sam Kean. The presentation, which is free and open to the public with no tickets required, will take place on Friday, July 13, at 7 p.m. at the
Kean is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Disappearing Spoon—an anecdotal investigation into the periodic table of elements—which was also a runner-up for the Royal Society’s book of the year for 2011. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Mental Floss, Slate, and New Scientist, and has been featured on NPR’s Radiolab and All Things Considered.
His newest novel, Bloodline, finds Sigma Force engaged in a rescue mission that raises issues grounded in the secrets of the human genetic code. The team finds itself faced with two questions: Is it possible to live forever, and would you want to?
Delsol’s trilogy follows the adventures of Katla, an L.A. teen transplanted to Minnesota who discovers she has ties to a mysterious group of women who have the ability to place souls on earth. The series is grounded in Norse mythology as well as Icelandic folklore and Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” Stork was published in 2010 and received the Westchester Fiction Award. Frost was published in 2011, while Flock will be published this fall.
A. David Lewis will discuss the role of religion and the religious in comics and graphic novels on Friday, June 8 at 7 p.m. at the 
During his event, Lewis will discuss Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels, which he co-edited and in which his essay centered on Superman appears. Other essays in the book consider the work of comics creators such as Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Grant Morrison. Lewis is the author of comics with religious themes including The Lone and Level Sands, Mortal Coils, and Some New Kind of Slaughter.
Nicolette Hahn Niman, author of the 2012 Linn Area Reads selection “Righteous Porkchop,” will give a presentation on Friday, May 11, at 7 p.m. at the 
Waterkeeper, Hahn Niman was quickly immersed in the world of factory farms. Horrified by what she found, she began a passionate fight to reform the industry. “Righteous Porkchop” is an account of the troubling practices of industrial animal operations. Hahn Niman also offers alternatives for more sustainable livestock farming and recounts her personal love story along the way.
Marc Brown, creator of the popular Arthur series for young readers, will be the third author in 2012 edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series. Brown will appear in the 
The Arthur series—which features an adventuresome aardvark, his quirky group of friends, and his precocious little sister D.W.—has been delighting young people since the publication of Arthur’s Nose in 1976. The books are the basis for the PBS television series Arthur.
Kevin Brockmeier will be featured during the second event of the 2012 edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series. Brockmeier will appear at the 
He is also the author of two additional novels for adults (The Truth about Celia and A Brief History of the Dead), two books for younger readers (City of Names and Grooves: A Kind of Mystery), and two short story collections (Things That Fall from the Sky and The View from the Seventh Layer). He has won the O. Henry, Nelson Algren, and Italo Calvino Short Fiction awards and was named one of the Best Young American Novelists by Granta in 2007.
This year’s edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series gets underway on Saturday, April 21 at 1 p.m. with Robin Hemley, a writer of both fiction and non-fiction and the director of the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program.
Reply All, Hemley’s third short story collection will be released in June, while his new nonfiction title, A Field Guide for Immersion Writing: Memoir, Journalism, and Travel, is available now.