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.