Speakers & Events
2013 St. George Area Book Festival
October 14th—19th, 2013
Jon Sebba, 2013 Utah Poet of the Year Recipient, was born in South
Africa. As a student in Jerusalem, he worked cataloging 19th Century medical
journals, as well as at the Hydrology Institute. He also worked as a laborer in
the construction of Jerusalem apartment buildings and of evaporation lagoons at
the Dead Sea (1400 feet below sea level) with summer temperatures topping
115°F.
When the 1967 Arab-Israeli
Six Day War began, he was married with one child. As a reservist, he was
mobilized to fight in Jerusalem. Among the things he learned from that
experience are: death in war is random; wars should definitely be avoided; and
given the choice, few soldiers would ever start one.
In 1968, Jon immigrated to
the US to study civil engineering, arriving the day before Rev. Martin Luther
King was assassinated. En route, he worked as a lorry driver in London for four
months. He has lived and worked as an engineer in six states, divorced and
remarried. He now lives in Murray, Utah, with his wife and muse, Chris.
Together they have four children scattered across the US. Jon has been writing
poetry since the 1970’s. In early 2013, he had a play produced at the Gallery
Theater in Ogden.
Venues:
Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Keynote speaker at Lexington Hotel
(RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Saturday October 19th Book Expo 10am Youth Poetry Guest
Speaker at Lexington Hotel (Free to the community)
Carolyn Howard-Johnson has been an instructor for nearly a decade at
the renowned UCLA Extension Writers' Program. She is an author of the multi
award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally books including the second edition
honored by USA Book News. She was the youngest person ever hired as a staff
writer for the Salt Lake Tribune—“A Great Pulitzer Prize Winning
Newspaper”—where she wrote features for the society page and a column under the
name of Debra Paige.
Later, in New York, she was an editorial assistant at Good Housekeeping Magazine. She also handled accounts for fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert who instituted the first Ten Best Dressed List. She has also worked as columnist, reviewer, and staff writer for the Pasadena Star-News, Home Décor Buyer, the Glendale News-Press (an affiliate of the LA Times), Myshelf.com, and others and has appeared in commercials and on dozens of TV and radio shows.
Carolyn’s experience in journalism and as a poet and author of fiction and nonfiction helped the multi award-winning author understand how different genres can be marketed more effectively.
Venue:
Saturday October 19th Book Expo 2pm Keynote Speaker at Lexington Hotel (Free to
the community)
Russell Estlack, the author of two award-winning collections of true
stories of the American West, and a history of the lost Spanish expedition of
1528. His recently released book from Cedar Fort Publishers, Shattered Lives,
Shattered Dreams is a documented history of the arrest, internment and repatriation
of German Americans during World War II has been nominated for a Pulitzer.
Venues:
Ivins Verteran’s Home Wednesday October 16th (contact VA for time and if open
to public)
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest speaker at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by
Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Darlien C. Breeze grew up on
a copper and gold mine located several miles into the hills from the Colorado
River where fresh meat consisted of game drilled by her crack-shot grandmother.
This unique upbringing was followed by occupations as schoolteacher, real
estate agent, beauty salon and Import/Export owner. Her publications include a
children’s novel, Small Pony, Import/Export and You, a textbook plus
many short stories. Her latest publications include Ghosts &
Gamblers of Las Vegas, A Life of Crime and Crusin’ for Crime the last of
that series, A Twist in Crime is due for publication in 2013 by Ink
and Quill.
Venue:
Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest speaker at Lexington Hotel
(RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
David Farland is a New York
Times bestselling author with 50 novels to his credit. He serves as lead
judge for one of the worlds largest writing competitions and has trained dozens
of authors who have gone on to become international bestsellers. His
latest novel, Nightinglae is set in Saint George and has won 6 awards,
including the International Book Award for Best Young Adult Novel of the Year.
Venue:
Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by
Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Penelope (Penny) Paine is an author, national educational trainer and
consultant. She has created publications and programs for educators and
is the author/creator of twelve children’s picture books. She
founded Paper Posie in 1999 to publish and manufacture books and
products for children at weddings. With To Press and Beyond she
now shares her publishing skills as a “book shepherd” helping many other
authors create, design and self-publish their work. Penny divides
her time between London, England and Santa Barbara, CA. Her six children
and four grandchildren are in England, Oregon, Texas, New Zealand and California.
Venues:
Thursday October 17th Hurricane Library at 10:30am - Event: story
time and chat with the parents about writing.
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Gail M. Kearns is the
president of To Press and Beyond, a full-service book shepherding agency. She
helps manage projects from inception to completion and supports clients by
implementing innovative plans for marketing and promotion. Books shepherded
by To Press and Beyond have garnered such awards as the prestigious Independent
Publisher’s Award, The Benjamin Franklin Award, Foreword’s Book of the Year
Award, Reader’s Favorite Award, Best Books Award and the Next Generation Indie
Book Award. Gail is a member of IBPA and APSS (formerly SPAN).
Venues:
Thursday October 17th Hurricane Library at 10:30am - Event: story
time and chat with the parents about writing.
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Cheryl Carpinello has a passion for working with kids. She regularly
conducts Medieval Writing Workshops for local elementary/middle schools and the
Colorado Girl Scouts. She is not the only one who loves Medieval Times and the
King Arthur Legend. The kids thoroughly enjoy writing their own medieval
stories complete with dragons, wizards, unicorns and knights! She loves to
travel and her other job is with a major airline. Her favorite trip was a two
week visit to Egypt with her husband that included traveling by local train
from one end of Egypt to the other. Some of her favorite books include The
Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Once and Future King, and any by the duo
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
Venues: Friday
October 18th Santa Clara Library at 2pm
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
David W. Smith, perhaps it is because his name is about as common as
door knobs and paperclips that he has always tried to lead as much of an
unusual life as he could. Not that David has tried a lot of unusual things; he
hasn’t! A lot of David's personality and abilities dealing with people came
from six years as a “Cast Member” at Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom. At the same
time he played tennis for California State University, Fullerton.
Writing for David started
with short stories, written for no one and without any goal of publishing
anything. But it initiated a strong desire to write more. Since tennis was such
a big part of his life, and because he had such extensive experience teaching
beginners to world-ranked players, David's first book attempt was in 2004,
TENNIS MASTERY. The book has since been reprinted and has maintained its status
as one of the top three best-selling tennis books in the country.
He later co-wrote the first
of five books with Nancy Rodrigue, a Disney historian and aficionado. She was
also a writer. In 2009, HIDDEN MICKEY: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales was
born! The Hidden Mickey series has become the top-selling books at the
Disneyland Resort as well as being one of the top-selling books at the LA Times
Book Festival in 2011. The last of the series, HIDDEN MICKEY 5: Chasing New
Frontiers, again a treasure hunt of sorts, is based on David's reality of
working at Disneyland.
Venues:
Wednesday October 16th Snow Canyon Middle School
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Saturday
October 19th Book Expo 4pm Guest Speaker at Lexington Hotel (Free to the
community)
Traci McDonald has been a writer since she figured out how to make
words on a page. Traci wrote for English classes like most people, but she
wrote everything else in between. Traci won minor competitions with short
stories, poetry and lyrics before becoming visually impaired. That is just a
political correct way of saying Traci McDonald is blind. Traci lost her
eyesight 17 years ago, but it never stopped her from living life and following
her dreams. She has struggled with her health and raising kids, prior
to the publication of her first novel. Traci is very excited to see
her dream in life coming true. She lives in a small cozy town in the
Mojave Desert, less than 150 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Traci McDonald has four other
books in the process of becoming published and a whole list of others she plans
to write.
Venues:
Wednesday October 16th New Harmony Library at 7pm - Topic: Writing Blind
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
C. Michelle
Jefferies practically grew up in a library. She spent her early years learning
to love reading at her mother’s side. In high school, she met another writer
who inspired her to write a full-length novel instead of just short stories.
Michelle finished that 189 page handwritten novel the summer of her junior
year.
When her
children were old enough for her to spend a few hours at the computer without
them burning the house down she returned to writing and hasn't stopped since.
She can often be found writing or editing with a child in her arms or under her
feet. With a passion for secret agents and all things Asian, she writes
futuristic thrillers and urban fantasies about bad boys turned good. She also
enjoys beating herself up in Karate class as she works toward her black belt in
Tang Soo Do.
Venues:
Wednesday October 16th St. George Library at 6:30pm
Thursday October 17th Santa Clara Library at
1pm
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
J.L. Adams has enjoyed
reading and writing fantasy since the third grade when he began writing short
stories. He lives in St. George, Utah, with his wife, Rebecca, and their dog,
Toby. When he’s not reading and writing, he enjoys hiking and watching movies.
Flames of Alnara is his first published novel.
Venues:
Tuesday October 15th Enterprise Library at 7pm
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
VS Grenier is an Award-winning Children's Author, Silver Mom's Choice
Honoree, a League of Utah Writers Silver Quill Winner, an Award-winning edit
and Blog Talk Radio Host for the Featured BTR World of Ink Network.
In 2007 & 2008, Grenier
was voted one of the Top Ten Editors in the Preditors and Editors Reader’s
Poll, won 2nd place for her article on, “Yes, Virginia, There IS a Santa
Claus" and 7th place for her article, “Dinosaur Tracks in My Backyard” in
the Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll for Best Nonfiction.
Her works include:
Babysitting SugarPaw, the Best of Stories for Children Magazine Volume 1
anthology, and over 50 short stories, articles and crafts for children, parents
and writers.
Venues:
Monday October 14th Washington Elementary School
Tuesday
October 15th Red Mountain Elementary School
Friday
October 18th St. George Library 11am StoryTime
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Amy Jarecki's historical Novel, Koicto, won the League of Utah Writers
award for Best In Show, and the 2011 St. George Book Festival Spark Book Award.
She also writes contemporary romance and Scottish historical romance. For fun,
she hikes, bikes and plays a mean game of golf.
Venues:
Tuesday October 15th Springdale Library at 7pm
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Lin Floyd is the author of Looking Back…At the Good Old Days,
Family Home Evenings for Empty Nesters and Singles, Nature Notes for Kids-a
collection of children’s poetry, and Find Your Voice: Write Your Life
Story. Floyd writes a weekly column of self-help advice for the Senior
Sampler newspaper, and teaches community education classes in creativity,
poetry, journaling, and family history writing in St. George, Utah. She speaks
from experience and teaches workshops as a life coach as well as blogs online (www.lettersfromlin.blogspot.com).
With bachelor and master degrees in both Education and Psychology plus graduate
work in the trenches, she speaks wisely and with humor about the process called
LIFE. Her latest book is DISCOVER YOUR VOICE AFTER DIVORCE: Writing
Workbook for Healing and Recovery.
Venues:
Wednesday October 16th Washington Library at 7pm
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Marilyn Richardson is a
retired dance educator, moved to Ivins, in 1994. Walking in the red dirt,
reading and travel, all hold great appeal. As does writing. ”I’ve had over 50
articles published in magazines but my focus now is on books for children and
YA and four of these are now available on kindle."
Venues:
Thursday October 17th St. George Library at 6pm
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Dawn McLain has been heavily
involved in both print and television media over the past 20 years. As a
respected professional she has led educational programs on media relations to
non-profit agencies, and the business community. McLain has also headed up
School to Career programs. Dawn enjoys her work in PR Marketing and
specifically with the non-profit sector.
Dawn has been a published
author since 1986, when her poetry first appeared in Young Kansas Writers.
Since that time, she has written a children’s book, Too Much for Dinner, and
written/reported for many publications and media outlets.
Venues:
Thursday October 17th Santa Clara Library at 11am Storytime
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Shane D. Williams was born at
the tender age of 0. He survived the ordeal and quickly moved onto other
things…walking for example, which by the way, he still does quite well.
Other adventures followed but to make a long story short…He's him.
Venues:
Monday October 14th Coral Canyon Elementary School
Tuesday October 15th Blooming Elementary
School
Friday
October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th
for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)
Library Speaker Schedule:
Oct. 15th
Enterprise - Lance Adams (7pm) Topic:
From Inspiration to book
Springdale - Amy Jarecki (7pm)
Topic: Process of Writing Historical Fiction
Oct. 16th
Washington - Lin Vernon Floyd (7pm)
Topic: Writing Personal Histories
New Harmony - Traci
McDonald (7pm) Topic: Writing Blind
St. George - C. Michelle Jefferies
(6:30pm) Topic: The Writing Process and Road to Publication with Known Authors.
Oct. 17th
Hurricane - Penny Paine & Gail
Kearns (10:30am) Event: story time and chat with the parents about writing.
St. George - Marilyn Richardson (6pm)
Topic: Memoir Vs. Fiction
Santa Clara - Dawn
McLain (StoryTime 11am)
Santa Clara – C.
Michelle Jefferies (1pm) Topic: Talking about writing and latest book
Oct. 18th
Santa Clara -
Cheryl Carpinello (2pm) Topic: Using technology to reach readers and write
St. George - VS Grenier (11am) Event:
Story time, coloring pages and chat with parents about the importance of
picture books.
School Visit Speaker Schedule:
Coral
Canyon Elementery Oct. 14th
Blooming
Elementery Oct. 15th
Shane Williams
Washington
Elementery Oct. 14th
Red
Mountain Elementery Oct. 15th
VS Grenier
Lava
Ridge Inter. Oct. 16th
Stephanie Jaeger
Snow
Canyon Middle Oct. 16th
David W. Smith
Book
Expo Extravaganza! (Lexington Hotel)
From 9am to 6pm, enjoy dozens of authors, speakers, presenters, and
performances at this year’s premier book and author event!
Readers of all ages and genres will get a chance to meet prolific
authors, discuss books and ideas, and learn what it takes to be a successful author!
Purchase personalized and autographed books for yourself, your family
and your friends!
FREE To
Everyone!
Book Expo Schedule:
10am—Youth Poetry Contest Winners Announced
11am—Guest Speaker: Jon Sebba, 2013 UTSPS Poet of the Year (Topic: The
Poetry App -- Better than Tweeting)
1pm Vista Charter School performance/Author readings
2pm—Keynote Speaker: Carolyn Howard Johnson, Author of “The Frugal
Book Promoter” (Topic: Marketing and Editing: To win you need to foster
way before your book is published and use long after its release date)
3pm Vista Charter School performance
4pm Guest Speaker: David W. Smith, Creator, author HIDDEN MICKEY Disney
Series (Topic: If you Can Dream It, You Can Do It)
5pm Author Readings
Washington County Library at Book Expo:
Used book sale
Laptop with demo’s on databases
Off-site library card registration
Charity Author
Dinner
(Lexington Hotel) Oct. 18th, 6pm
Join over a dozen successful authors for an intimate dinner and
poignant conversation!
Keynote Speaker: Jon Sebba, 2013
UTSPS POET OF THE YEAR.
His war experiences as a young man and his urgent crusade for peace, is a message each of us needs to hear.
Topic: How War Drove me to Poetry
His war experiences as a young man and his urgent crusade for peace, is a message each of us needs to hear.
Topic: How War Drove me to Poetry
Guest Speakers scheduled:
Darlien Breeze, author
of “Ghosts and Gamblers, A Life of Crime.”
Russell Estlack, Pulitzer Prize Nominee
Table Authors Scheduled: Amy Jarecki, David W. Smith, VS Grenier,
David Farland, Lance Adams, Stephanie Jaeger, Penny Paine, Gail Kearns, Lin
Floyd, Cheryl Carpinello, Dawn McLain, and others.
(Subject to change.)
Gain valuable insights, discuss writing secrets and learn from those
who have successfully navigated within the writing industry!
Pricing:
$40 per person for adults
$25 per person for 17 years old and younger.
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR. DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY.
________________________________________
Net proceeds will benefit the Washington County
School District Foundation. DEADLINE IS October 12th! So Hurry and Reserve your
spot TODAY at
This annual
FREE festival is the Utah Humanities Council’s gift to the community,
allowing us
to explore all sorts of ideas by interacting with great writers.
Our Sponsors and Supporters
This year, there are 20 locations all over the state of Utah
hosting over 150 book festival activities throughout October, which is National
Book Month. The complete program is available at www.utahhumanities.org.
Our thanks to the Utah Humanities Book Festival’s major
sponsors:George S and Dolores Dore [pronounced door-A] Eccles Foundation, the
R. Harold Burton Foundation, Chevron, the Utah Office of Tourism, and Zions
Bank, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities and National
Endowment for the Arts.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete