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 Hotel at Kirkwood Center on Friday, April 27 at 7 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public, and no tickets are required. The Out Loud! Author Series is a program of the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha Public Libraries.

Brockmeier is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is currently a visiting faculty member in the program. His most recent novel, The Illumination, investigates how the world might be different if physical pain manifested itself to others as a bright light.

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.

Following his presentation, Brockmeier will take questions from the audience and then sign books. The Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble will be on hand with copies of Brockmeier’s work available for purchase.

All attendees can enter to win one of three $50 Barnes & Noble gift cards that will be given away at the event. Additionally, attendees can enter to win one of two Nook Color e-readers that will be given away at the end of the Out Loud! season.

The Out Loud! Author Series will present six additional authors in 2012 including legendary children’s author/illustrator Marc Brown (May 3), Linn Area Reads author Nicolette Hahn Niman (May 11), comics creator and scholar A. David Lewis (June 8), paranormal teen romance writer Wendy Delsol (June 21), bestselling thriller writer James Rollins (July 1), and science writer Sam Kean (July 13).

More information about the Out Loud! Author Series is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org/outloud.

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. Brockmeier’s event is funded in part by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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.

The event—which is free and open to the public with no tickets required—will take place in the Hotel at Kirkwood Center. The Out Loud! Author Series is a program of the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha Public Libraries.

Hemley, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will read from Do-Over! The book’s subtitle—In Which a Forty-Eight-Year-Old Father of Three Returns to Kindergarten, Summer Camp, the Prom, and Other Embarrassments­—is an accurate description of Hemley’s adventures in revisiting his past.

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.

Following his presentation, Hemley will take questions from the audience and then sign books. The Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble will be on hand with copies of Hemley’s work available for purchase.

All attendees can enter to win one of three $50 Barnes & Noble gift cards that will be given away at the event. Additionally, attendees can enter to win one of two Nook Color e-readers that will be given away at the end of the Out Loud! season.

The Out Loud! Author Series will present seven additional authors in 2012 including fiction writer Kevin Brockmeier (April 27), legendary children’s author/illustrator Marc Brown (May 3), Linn Area Reads author Nicolette Hahn Niman (May 11), comics creator and scholar A. David Lewis (June 8), paranormal teen romance writer Wendy Delsol (June 21), bestselling thriller writer James Rollins (July 1), and science writer Sam Kean (July 13).

More information about the Out Loud! Author Series, as well as information about the Linn Area Reads program, is available at the Out Loud! website. Robin Hemley’s web site can be found at www.robinhemley.com.

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.

Fiction, nonfiction, comics, and books for young people will all be featured during the 2012 edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series. The collaborative program of the Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha, and Marion Public Libraries will grow to eight events this year, all free and open to the public. Seven of the eight events will be held at the Hotel at Kirkwood.

The lone exception is the Thursday, May 3 appearance by Marc Brown, creator of the beloved “Arthur” series for children. Brown’s stories about a young aardvark, his friends, and his annoying little sister have entertained children for years and are the basis for a popular PBS animated series. Brown will give two presentations for second graders in the Linn-Mar, Marion Independent, and Cedar Rapids Community school districts during the school day. At 7 p.m., he will give a third presentation that will be open to the public. All three events will be held in the Linn-Mar High School auditorium. 

Prior to Brown’s visit, the series kicks off on Saturday, April 21 at 1 p.m. with Robin Hemley. The director of the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program will read from Do-Over! which recounts his adventures upon returning to such childhood rites-of-passage as kindergarten, summer camp, and the high school prom. Hemley, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, has two new books—one fiction, the other nonfiction—scheduled for release this spring.

On Friday, April 27 at 7 p.m., Kevin Brockmeier will read from his latest novel, The Illumination. Brockmeier is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is currently a visiting faculty member for the program. In The Illumination, everyone’s physical pain manifests as a bright light shining from his or her body. Brockmeier’s other work includes the short story collection Views from the Seventh Layer and the novel A Brief History of the Dead.

Nicolette Hahn Niman, author of the Linn Area Reads selection Righteous Porkchop will be featured on Friday, May 11 at 7 p.m. Hahn Niman first became immersed in issues surrounding food production when she served as the senior attorney for Waterkeeper, an environmental group headed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. That work is the jumping off point for Righteous Porkchop. In March and April, the Linn Area Reads program will host several related events.

On Friday, June 8 at 7 p.m., A. David Lewis, a comics creator and scholar, will discuss Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels, which he co-edited and in which an 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. He will be sending a collection of comics art that will be displayed in the weeks leading up to his event at the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha public libraries as well as the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble.

Wendy Delsol, who hails from Des Moines, will appear on Thursday, June 21, at 7 p.m. She is the author of the teen paranormal novels Stork, Frost, and the forthcoming Flock. Grounded in Norse mythology, the series follows the teenaged Katla Leblanc, whose family moves from L.A. to Minnesota where Katla discovers she has secret connections to a mysterious group of women. Delsol is also the author of The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls.

On Sunday, July 1 at 1 p.m., thriller writer James Rollins will read from Bloodline, the eighth entry in his bestselling Sigma Force series. Rollins is also the author of six standalone thrills and the Jake Ransom series for young adults. In Bloodline, a genetic abnormality might hold the key to immortality, but the truth is shrouded in a centuries-old conspiracy. James Rollins’ appearance is a Freedom Festival affiliate event.

Science writer Sam Kean will be the final Out Loud! author of the season on Friday, July 13 at 7 p.m. He is the author of The Disappearing Spoon And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. This July, his second book, The Violinist’s Thumb And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code, will be released. This event is a collaboration with the Iowa City Book Festival. Kean will appear at the festival on Saturday, July 14.

All Out Loud! authors will take questions from the audience and sign books following their presentations.

More information about the Out Loud! Author Series, as well as information about the Linn Area Reads program, 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.

Show your support for our great annual author series in three different ways.

Visit Barnes & Noble in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, July 13. Just mention Out Loud! when you check out, and our series will get a percentage of your purchase price. Doesn’t matter what you buy: a book, a magazine, a cup of coffee, a sandwich – mention Out Loud! as you pay and the clerk will hit the secret “donate to Out Loud!” button on the register: it’s magic! And it will help us continue to bring amazing author events to you in coming years.

All book sales at the Meg Cabot author event the previous evening will also qualify, so come early and buy lots! Then you can have her sign everything.

Can’t make it to see Meg Cabot on the 12^th or to Barnes & Noble on the 13^th? No worries! Online purchases also qualify for five days, from July 13^th through the 18^th.  Just enter Bookfair ID #10518447 at checkout so we’ll get the benefit of your purchase.

All this and there is absolutely no cost to you. Who said there’s no free lunch? Or, anyway, free author events?

Meg Cabot will read from Overbite, her newest novel for adults, and discuss her career as a writer for adults and young adults on Tuesday, July 12 at 7 p.m. in the final event of the 2011 edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series.

The event—which is free and open to the public with no tickets required—will take place in Ballantyne Auditorium on the Kirkwood Community College campus. The Out Loud! Author Series is a program of the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha Public Libraries.

Cabot is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of books for both adults and tweens/teens. After working for ten years as an assistant residence hall director at New York University, Cabot wrote the Princess Diaries series, which was made into two hit movies by Disney, sold over 16 million copies, and has been translated into 38 languages.

Cabot’s newest series include the tween hit Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls, the YA trilogy Airhead, and Abandon, the first book in a new paranormal series for young adult readers (the sequel, Underworld, will be in stores in spring 2012). Overbite is a sequel to Insatiable, Cabot’s first paranormal romance for adult readers.

Following her presentation, Cabot will take questions from the audience and then sign books. The Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble will be on hand with copies of several of Cabot’s books, including Overbite, available for purchase.

A portion of the purchase price of any books purchased at the event, as well as any qualifying purchases made at the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble the following day, will support future Out Loud! events.

More information about the Out Loud! Author Series is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org. Meg Cabot’s website can be found at www.megcabot.com.

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 political season is heating up in Iowa, but nothing on the campaign trail is likely to rival the intrigue on display in Steve Martini’s political thrillers. Martini will read from his latest novel, Trader of Secrets, for Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series on Friday, June 24 at 7 p.m.

The event—which is free and open to the public with no tickets required—will take place in Ballantyne Auditorium on the Kirkwood Community College campus. The Out Loud! Author Series is a program of the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha Public Libraries.

Martini introduced his popular character, attorney Paul Madriani, in 1992’s Compelling Evidence. The recently released Trader of Secrets is the twelfth novel featuring Madriani. Prior to the publication of his first novel, The Simeon Chamber in 1987, Martini had careers as a journalist and an attorney.

Following his reading, Martini will take questions from the audience and then sign books. The Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble will be on hand with copies of Trader of Secrets and other Martini titles available for purchase.

Martini’s event is the fifth of six Out Loud! events in 2011. Meg Cabot, bestselling author for youth and adults, will wrap up this year’s season on Tuesday, July 12 at 7 p.m.

More information about the Out Loud! Author Series is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org. Steve Martini’s website can be found at www.stevemartini.com.

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. Additional support for Steve Martini’s event comes from Gray, Stefani & Mitvalsky PLC and Rush & Nicholson PLC.

Laurell K. Hamilton, author of the bestselling Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter and Meredith Gentry series, will answer questions from readers as part of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series. Hamilton’s event, which will include adult content and is therefore not appropriate for children, is set for Friday, June 10 at 7 p.m.

The event—which is free and open to the public with no tickets required—will take place in Ballantyne Auditorium on the Kirkwood Community College campus. The Out Loud! Author Series is a program of the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha Public Libraries.

Hamilton will be on tour for Hit List, the twentieth book in the Anita Blake series, which first entranced readers with 1994’s Guilty Pleasures. Hamilton is recognized as a pioneer of the “urban fantasy” genre, and her books are well known for their blending of mystery, horror, romance and erotica, and fantasy—all spiced with dark humor.

Hit List will be released just a few days prior to Hamilton’s Cedar Rapids appearance. Hamilton’s Out Loud! appearance is one of just three tour stops currently scheduled in support of the new book, and the only one that is free to attend.

Following the question and answer session, Hamilton will pose for pictures with members of the audience.

While Hamilton will not be signing books at the event, the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble will be on hand with pre-signed copies of Hit List available for purchase.

The Out Loud! Author Series will present two additional authors in 2011 including Steve Martini, author of the thrillers featuring Paul Madriani, on Friday, June 24, at 7 p.m.; and Meg Cabot, bestselling author for youth and adults, on Tuesday, July 12 at 7 p.m.

More information about the Out Loud! Author Series is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org. Hamilton’s web site can be found at www.laurellkhamilton.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.

Andrew Shaffer, who grew up in Cedar Rapids and once worked for the Cedar Rapids Public Library, will be the next author to read as part of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series. Shaffer’s event is set for Sunday, May 22 at 2 p.m. All series events—which are free and open to the public with no tickets required—will take place in Ballantyne Auditorium on the Kirkwood Community College campus. The Out Loud! Author Series is a program of the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha Public Libraries.

Shaffer will read from his irreverent non-fiction book, Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, which examines in hilarious detail the romantic tribulations of some of the world’s most famed thinkers, including Socrates, Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and Bertrand Russell, among many others.

Publisher’s Weekly said of the book, “Shaffer’s jaunty compendium of highbrow heartbreak provides proof positive that even the most brilliant of minds can fall afoul of Cupid—and offers some measure of hope to the lovelorn.”

Following his reading, Shaffer will take questions from the audience and then sign books. The Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble will be on hand with copies of the book available for purchase.

The Out Loud! Author Series received a grant of $500 from Humanities Iowa, a state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, in support of Shaffer’s reading. The event will also include comments and questions for Shaffer from Professor Chris McCord of the Kirkwood Community College philosophy department. McCord has published “Teaching Ethics with Scrooge” and “Frankenstein Meets Kant” in Teaching Philosophy.

The Out Loud! Author Series will present three additional authors in 2011 including Laurell K. Hamilton, author of the popular the “Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter” novels, on Friday, June 10, at 7 p.m.; Steve Martini, author of the thrillers featuring Paul Madriani, on Friday, June 24, at 7 p.m.; and Meg Cabot, bestselling author for youth and adults, on Tuesday, July 12 at 7 p.m.

More information about the Out Loud! Author Series is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org. Shaffer’s web site can be found at www.greatphilosophersbook.com.

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. While this event is supported by Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of either organization.

Mary Helen Stefaniak, an Iowa City resident and graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will be the next author to read as part of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series.

Stefaniak’s event is set for Sunday, May 15 at 2 p.m. All series events—which are free and open to the public with no tickets required—will take place in Ballantyne Auditorium on the Kirkwood Community College campus. The Out Loud! Author Series is a program of the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha Public Libraries.

Stefaniak will read from her second novel, The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia, which has been awarded a 2011 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction. The Anisfield-Wolf awards “recognize books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of the rich diversity of human cultures.”

Juror Rita Dove described the novel as “a rollicking tale that manages to speak seriously to the tragedy of ignorance and the damage caused by fear.”

Previous winners of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award include Martin Luther King, Jr., Toni Morrison, and Alex Haley.

The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia was also selected by independent booksellers as an Indie-Next “Great Read” in September 2010.

Stefaniak’s first novel, The Turk and My Mother, won the 2005 John Gardner Book Award and has been translated into several languages. Her first book, Self Storage and Other Stories, received the Banta Award for Literary Excellence from the Wisconsin Library Association. Stefaniak is currently an Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing at Creighton University in Omaha.

Following her reading, Stefaniak will take questions from the audience and then sign books. The Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble will be on hand with copies of her work available for purchase.

The Out Loud! Author Series will present four additional authors in 2011 including Andrew Shaffer, author of Great Philosophers who Failed at Love, on Sunday, May 22, at 2 p.m.; Laurell K. Hamilton, author of the popular the “Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter” novels, on Friday, June 10, at 7 p.m.; Steve Martini, author of the thrillers featuring Paul Madriani, on Friday, June 24, at 7 p.m.; and Meg Cabot, bestselling author for youth and adults, on Tuesday, July 12 at 7 p.m.