Famed Iowa Writers’ Workshop grad kicks off 2010 series for Metro Library Network

The 2010 edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series kicks off with a reading by Allan Gurganus. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Gurganus is a current visiting faculty member in the program. Gurganus will read from his work-in-progress, take questions from the audience, and sign books on Saturday, April 17 at 2 p.m. at Theatre Cedar Rapids. The event is free and open to the public; no tickets are required.

Gurganus will read from The Erotic History of a Southern Baptist Church, a companion to his best known work, Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tell All. Spending eight months on the New York Times bestseller list, Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All was also adapted into a television production that collected four Emmy Awards. Published in 1989, Gurganus’ first novel was declared “an old-fashioned book-lovers novel” by the Chicago Tribune.

Gurganus is also the author of Plays Well with Others, White People, and The Practical Heart, a collection of stories set in the same fictional North Carolina town as Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.

The author’s web site can be found at www.allangurganus.com.

Each year, the Out Loud! Author Series presents a writer with ties to the writing programs of The University of Iowa. In 2008, the first year of the series, Elizabeth McCracken and Edward Carey were part of the Out Loud! schedule. Lan Samantha Chang, director of the Writers’ Workshop, read from unpublished work during a 2009 Out Loud! event.

Upcoming Out Loud! Author Series events include Lisa Scottoline (May 1), Michael Perry (May 15), Charlaine Harris (June 18), and Sarah Prineas (June 26).

Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series is a project of the Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha, and Marion Public Libraries. The series is supported by the Giacoletto Foundation with media support from The Gazette and event book sales provided by Barnes & Noble Booksellers. More information is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org.

The planning committee for the annual community reading program known as Linn Area Reads has selected Population: 485 by author and humorist Michael Perry for the 2010 edition of the program. Perry will read from the book on Saturday, May 15 at 2 p.m. at Theatre Cedar Rapids. The reading is one of several Linn Area Reads events scheduled between now and May.

The reading will also be part of this year’s edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series. In addition to Perry, the series will feature appearances by Allan Gurganus, Lisa Scottoline, Charlaine Harris, and Sarah Prineas.

All Linn Area Reads and Out Loud! Author Series events are free and open to the public. Both are programs of the Metro Library Network, which is made up of the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha Public Libraries.

“Last year’s collaboration between Linn Area Reads and Out Loud! was such a success that we wanted to keep that momentum going,” said Rob Cline, series coordinator for the Out Loud! Author Series and a member of the Linn Area Reads planning committee. “Michael Perry is a perfect fit for both programs.”

Perry will read from Population: 485, take questions from the audience, and sign books during his May 15 appearance.

Allan Gurganus is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is a visiting faculty member in the program for the 2010 spring semester. He is perhaps best known as the author of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All which spent eight months on the New York Times bestseller list and was adapted into a television production that collected four Emmy Awards. Gurganus will read from his work, take audience questions, and sign books on Saturday, April 17 at 2 p.m. at Theatre Cedar Rapids.

Bestselling author Lisa Scottoline is the author of 18 books, including Hold Tight, the latest entry in her series featuring characters from the law firm Rosato & Associates, which will be released in March. Among other honors, she has received the Edgar Award, the most prestigious award given by the Mystery Writers of America. Scottoline will read from Think Twice, take audience questions, and sign books on Saturday, May 1 at 7 p.m. at Theatre Cedar Rapids.

Charlaine Harris is the author of the hugely popular Sookie Stackhouse novels which are the basis of HBO’s acclaimed series “True Blood.” The next entry in the series, Dead in the Family, will be released in May. Harris, who is also the author of several other popular series, will speak about the creative writing process, take audience questions, and sign books on Friday, June 18 at 7 p.m. at Theatre Cedar Rapids.

Sarah Prineas, who makes her home in Iowa City, is the author of The Magic Thief fantasy series for young readers. The books, which feature a boy who goes from a life on the streets to a life of magic, have received numerous honors. The third entry in the series, The Magic Thief: Found, will be released in May. Prineas will read from the latest book, take audience questions, and sign books on Saturday, June 26 at 2 p.m. at Theatre Cedar Rapids.

More information about both Linn Area Reads and 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. Additional support for Lisa Scottoline’s appearance has been provided by Bradley & Riley PC, Rush & Nicholson PLC, and Gray, Stefani & Mitvalsky, PLC.

Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series 2010 Events

Allan Gurganus
Saturday, April 17, 7 p.m.
Theatre Cedar Rapids
www.allangurganus.com

Lisa Scottoline
Saturday, May 1, 7 p.m.
Theatre Cedar Rapids
www.scottoline.com

Michael Perry
Saturday, May 15, 2 p.m.
Theatre Cedar Rapids
www.sneezingcow.com

Charlaine Harris
Friday, June 18, 7 p.m.
Theatre Cedar Rapids
www.charlaineharris.com

Sarah Prineas
Saturday, June 26 2 p.m.
Theatre Cedar Rapids
www.sarah-prineas.com

We are very excited to announce that Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels that are the basis for the HBO television series True Blood, will participate in the 2010 edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series!

More details on this and other events will be posted here as they become available.

Popular author will make Out Loud! stops in Marion, Hiawatha, and Cedar Rapids

Bestselling author Michael Buckley, author of the Sisters Grimm novels for middle grade and young adult readers, will make three presentations on Saturday, June 20 as part of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series. Each event is free and open to the public and no tickets are required.

“The Sisters Grimm novels are wonderful,” said Rob Cline, series coordinator for the Out Loud! Author Series. “Michael Buckley imagines a modern day town populated by fairytale characters. His storytelling is always engaging and exciting.”

The Sisters Grimm series follows the adventures of Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, two young descendants of the Brothers Grimm who find themselves in the enchanted town of Ferryport Landing. Together with their Granny Relda, they solve mysteries and set wrongs right while seeking to rescue their parents from the evil Scarlet Hand. The seventh and final book in the series, The Everafter War, was released in May.

Buckley will be at the Marion Public Library at 10 a.m., the Hiawatha City Hall multipurpose room at 1 p.m., and the Cedar Rapids Public Library Bridge facility at Westdale Mall at 4 p.m. At each event, he will read, answer questions, and sign books for fans.

The Sisters Grimm web site can be found at www.sistersgrimm.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 the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble. More information is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org.

Links to great local interviews with Mr. Block:

CorridorBuzz.com: Stepping through Lawrence Block’s career

Iowa Public Radio’s The Exchange: streaming audio or mp3

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master to appear in May 21 free event at TCR-Lindale

Bestselling author Lawrence Block, creator of several popular mystery and thriller series, will read from his new memoir, Step by Step, on Thursday, May 21 at 7 p.m. at Theatre Cedar Rapids-Lindale. Block will also take audience questions, and sign books. The event, which is a part of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series, is free and no tickets are required.

“Lawrence Block is one of my personal favorites,” said Rob Cline, series coordinator for the Out Loud! Author Series, “and we’re thrilled to present him just two days after the release of his new book.”

Block is one of the most prominent authors writing today with over 60 novels to his credit. Step by Step: A Pedestrian Memoir is a departure from his fiction. In this memoir, the creator of Matthew Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, and John Keller takes a look at his life through the lens of his adventures walking. Whether recounting the tale of how he walked to school as a child because he couldn’t ride a bike or the story of hitting the 70 mile mark in a 24-hour ultramarathon, he truly lets readers walk a mile in his shoes as he shares his heartwarming personal account of life’s trials and tribulations, discomforts and successes.

Block, a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, is a four-time winner of the Edgar Allen Poe and Shamus Awards, as well as a recipient of prizes in France, Germany, England, and Japan. He is a devoted New Yorker and an enthusiastic global traveler.

Block’s web site can be found at www.lawrenceblock.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 the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble. More information is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org.

Lan Samantha Chang will read from new work when she appears at Theatre Cedar Rapids-Lindale as part of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series. The event, which is free, is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6.

Chang is the director of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop as well as an alumna of the acclaimed writing program. The author of the novel Inheritance and the fiction collection Hunger: A Novella and Stories, Chang will also take audience questions and sign books.

“We’re very excited about this event,” said Rob Cline, series coordinator for Out Loud! “This is a wonderful opportunity for folks to experience beautiful writing and to hear about the world’s most famous writing program from a woman who knows it from the perspective of both student and instructor.”

The Chicago Tribune described Hunger as being made up of “spare and haunting tales that ask ordinary questions about that extraordinary emotion: love.”

Inheritance, which spans seven decades in China and America and explores the lives of two sisters, was praised by Joanne Wilkinson in Booklist: “Chang fulfills the promise of her haunting short-story collection, Hunger, with an elegant first novel that seems impossibly wise about the strictures of love and culture.”

While a student at The University of Iowa, Chang was the winner of the James-Michener-Copernicus Award. She has also been honored as the California Book Award Silver Medalist, as a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award, and with a Bay Area Book Award as well as with literary awards from the Greensboro Review and the Transatlantic Review. Her work has been nominated for the PEN Center USA West Award and the PEN/Hemingway Literature Prize and has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, and The Best American Short Stories.

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 the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble. More information about the series is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org.

V.I. Warshawski creator’s visit second event of 2009 Metro Library Network series

Bestselling author Sara Paretsky, creator of the popular V.I. Warshawski series of detective novels, will give a talk, take audience questions, and sign books on Saturday, April 18 at 7 p.m. at Theatre Cedar Rapids-Lindale. The event, which a part of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series, is free and no tickets are required.

Paretsky, who was born in Ames, is often credited with revolutionizing the role of women in detective fiction with the introduction of Warshawski in 1982’s Indemnity Only. Her most recent novel, Bleeding Kansas, is set in the Kaw River Valley where she spent much of her childhood. The forthcoming Warshawski novel is entitled Hardball.

“Sara Paretsky is a perfect fit for our series,” said Rob Cline, series coordinator for the Out Loud! Author Series. “Not only is a great and popular mystery writer, she’s also a passionate advocate for libraries.”

By creating a strong female investigator who uses her wits as well as her fists, Paretsky challenged the conventions of a genre in which women traditionally were either vamps or victims. Eleven other Warshawski novels followed, all national bestsellers, including her most recent, Fire Sale. The Los Angeles Times says, “Paretsky is unique among the women writing about women,” while Publishers Weekly claims, “Among today’s P.I.’s nobody comes close to Warshawski.” In addition to her Warshawski novels, Paretsky’s has written Ghost Country, which blends comedy, magic, and a gritty realism in Chicago’s mean streets. She has also edited three collections of short stories and her books are published in twenty-four languages.

Paretsky’s deep-rooted concern for social justice, the hallmark of her novels, has carried her voice beyond the world of crime fiction. In Writing in an Age of Silence, she explores the traditions of political and literary dissent that have informed her life and work. As a frequent contributor to The New York Times‘ op-ed page, and a speaker at the Library of Congress, Oxford University and the University of Chicago, she is an impassioned advocate for those on society’s margins.

Not only has Paretsky broken barriers with her work, she has also helped open doors for other women writers in the field. Her role in founding Sisters in Crime, an organization that supports women mystery writers, caused Ms. Magazine to name her Woman of the Year in 1988. In 2002, the British Crime Writers Association awarded her the Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement. Paretsky has been a visiting scholar at Oxford University and a visiting professor at Northwestern University. Her work is celebrated in the documentary, Women of Mystery and she has been the recipient of three honorary doctorates. To give back to the community, Paretsky has established scholarships at the University of Kansas, including a special prize for students doing creative work in the arts or sciences. In 2001, she established the Sara and Two C-Dogs Foundation, which primarily supports girls and women in the arts, letters and sciences. She has also mentored students in Chicago’s inner city schools.

Growing up in eastern Kansas, she and her four brothers attended a two-room country school where Paretsky began her lifelong love of baseball and underdogs, playing third base for a school team that always finished at the bottom of its rural league. Her first published writing, which appeared in The American Girl magazine when she was eleven, told a tale of surviving a tornado with her schoolmates. While at the University of Kansas, Paretsky went to Chicago to do community service under the direction of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She received both a doctorate in history and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Paretsky’s web site can be found at www.saraparetsky.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 the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble. More information is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org.

Sandra Dallas, the first Out Loud! author of 2009, drew 150 people to Theatre Cedar Rapids-Lindale! She entertained the crowd with stories from her career and about the writing of Tallgrass, this year’s selection for Linn Area Reads. Following her talk, she graciously signed books for her many eager fans.

More photos available here.

“Volvos from Florida,” an Op-Ed in the New York Times by Lan Samantha Chang, was published on March 7, 2009 (link).