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12th Annual Out Loud! Author Series to Feature Three Nationally Recognized Authors

Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series brings another solid set of authors to the metro area this summer for the 12th consecutive year. The collaborative program of the Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha, and Marion Public Libraries will present Craig Johnson, Cristina Henriquez, and Jennifer Weiner on three Friday nights in June at the Hotel at Kirkwood Center.

The series will begin with Craig Johnson on Friday, June 7 at 7 p.m. Johnson is the author of eight novels in the Walt Longmire mystery series, which has garnered popular and critical acclaim. The Cold Dish was a Dilys Award finalist and the French edition won Le Prix du Polar Nouvel Observateur/BibliObs. Death Without Company, the Wyoming State Historical Association’s Book of the Year, won France’s Le Prix 813. Another Man’s Moccasins was the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award winner and the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers’ Book of the Year, and The Dark Horse, the fifth in the series, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. Junkyard Dogs won the Watson Award for a mystery novel with the best sidekick, and Hell Is Empty, selected by Library Journal as the Best Mystery of the Year, was a New York Times best seller, as was As the Crow Flies. The Walt Longmire series is the basis for the hit A&E drama, Longmire, starring Robert Taylor, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Katee Sackoff.

Register for Craig Johnson here.

Author Cristina Henríquez will continue the series on Friday, June 14, at 7 p.m. Cristina Henríquez is the author of The Book of Unknown Americans, which was a New York Times Notable Book of 2014 and one of Amazon’s Top 10 Books of the Year. It was the Daily Beast Novel of the Year, a Washington Post Notable Book, an NPR Great Read, and was chosen one of the best books of the year by BookPage, Oprah.com, and School Library Journal. It was also longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Henriquez is also the author of The World In Half (a novel), and Come Together, Fall Apart: A Novella and Stories, which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection. Cristina earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Chicago.

Register for Cristina Henríquez here.

The series will end with internationally bestselling author Jennifer Weiner on Friday, June 28, at 7 p.m. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Jennifer Weiner’s books have spent over five years on the New York Times bestseller list with over 11 million copies in print in 36 countries. She is the author of the novels Good in Bed (2001); In Her Shoes (2002), which was turned into a major motion picture starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine; Little Earthquakes (2004); Goodnight Nobody (2005); the short story collection The Guy Not Taken (2006); Certain Girls (2008); Best Friends Forever (2009); Fly Away Home (2010); Then Came You (2011); The Next Best Thing (2012); All Fall Down (2014), and Who Do You Love (2015). She is also the author of two middle-grade novels, The Littlest Bigfoot (2016) and Little Bigfoot, Big City (2017), and the nonfiction collection Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing (2016).

Register for Jennifer Weiner here. 

While no tickets are required, series organizers are requesting pre-registration. Alternately, patrons may contact any of the Metro Libraries or send an email to events@crlibrary.org.

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

 

11th Annual Out Loud! Author Series to Feature Three Nationally Recognized Authors

Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series brings another solid set of authors to the metro area this summer. The collaborative program of the Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha, and Marion Public Libraries will present Lisa Gardner, Jacqueline Woodson, and Matthew Dicks on three Friday nights in June at the Hotel at Kirkwood Center.

The series will begin with Lisa Gardner on Friday, June 1 at 7 p.m. Gardner is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of crime thriller novels, including Look For Me, Right Behind You, Find Her, and The Neighbor, which won the International Thriller of the Year Award. Hailed as “one of the best-known names in all of thrillerdom,” Lisa Gardner has an undeniable talent for creating irresistible page-turners. With over 22 million books in print in 30 countries, her compelling suspense novels captivate audiences all over the world. Gardner has appeared on TruTV and CNN, and four of her books have been adapted for the small screen (At the Midnight Hour, The Perfect Husband, The Survivors Club, and Hide). Her novel, The Neighbor, was recognized as the “Best Hardcover Novel” by the International Thriller Writers in the United States and received the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle in France. In 2000, Gardner received the Daphne du Maurier Award for The Other Daughter. She also received the Silver Bullet Award from the International Thriller Writers in 2017 for her work on behalf of at-risk children and the Humane Society.

Register for Lisa Gardner here.

Author Jacqueline Woodson will continue the series on Friday, June 8, at 7 p.m. Woodson is the 2014 National Book Award Winner for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor Award, the NAACP Image Award, and the Sibert Honor Award. She is also the author of New York Times bestselling novel Another Brooklyn (Harper/Amistad), which was a 2016 National Book Award Finalist and Woodson’s first adult novel in twenty years. In 2015, Woodson was named Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She is the author of more than two dozen award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a three-time National Book Award finalist, and a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Most recently, she was named the 2018 Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress.

Register for Jacqueline Woodson here.

The series will end with storytelling champion and internationally bestselling author Matthew Dicks on Friday, June 22, at 7 p.m. Dicks is author of the novels Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, Something Missing, Unexpectedly, Milo, The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs, and the upcoming Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling. His novels have been translated into more than 25 languages worldwide. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend was the 2014 Dolly Gray Award winner and is nominated for a 2017 Nutmeg Award in Connecticut. Matthew is a 35-time Moth StorySLAM champion and 5-time GrandSLAM champion whose stories have been featured on their nationally syndicated Moth Radio Hour and their weekly podcast. He has also told stories for This American Life, TED, and Literary Death Match, among many others.

Register for Matthew Dicks here.

While no tickets are required, series organizers are requesting pre-registration. To register, visit www.metrolibrarynetwork.org/outloud and select the author event you wish to attend. Alternately, patrons may contact any of the Metro Libraries or send an email to events@crlibrary.org.

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/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. Additional support comes from the Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Cedar Rapids Public Library, Friends of the Hiawatha Public Library, and Friends of the Marion Public Library, Hills Bank and Trust, and Nancy A. Miller.