Bookfest Author: Susan Magnuson Walsh

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to announce that Susan Magnuson Walsh will be appearing at this year's festival. She is the author of Walking in Broken Shoes: A Nurse's Story About Haiti and the Earthquake. Susan will be appearing at Ten Thousand Villages, 499C Pennsylvania Avenue, from 10am to 1pm on June 18, 2011.

Susan will greet the public and discuss her book, which is a poignant account of her medical work in Haiti at the time of the January, 2010 earthquake. Susan and her medical team were just completing a week long medical mission at Mountain Top Ministries' clinic in Gramothe when the earthquake hit. She and her team became the first responders at a nearby hospital which had very limited supplies, one doctor, and a few nurses.

For more information about Susan's mission, listen to her interview with WBEZ's Global Activism segment of World View on March 17, 2011.

Part of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Little by Little, a nonprofit 501(C)(3) organization that supports medical mission work for improved health and well-being in Haiti.

We are please to welcome Susan Magnuson Walsh to Glen Ellyn.

Bookfest Author: Shayne Moore

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to announce that Shayne Moore, Wheaton mom and global activist, will be appearing at this year's festival. Shayne the author of Global Soccer Mom: Changing the World Is Easier Than You Think. She will be appearing from 10am to 1pm at The Bike Shop, 495 Main Street in Glen Ellyn on June 18, 2011.

Shayne will greet readers, neighbors and bicycle enthusiasts, and will discuss her book and her work with World Bicycle Relief. Come meet this dynamic neighbor who can teach us how to change the world one bike at a time. The event is free and open to the public. Book sale and signing available.

Featured Bookfest Author: Melanie Benjamin

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Melanie Benjamin will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011. Melanie will be appearing at Teas and Toes, 413 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn, from 10am to 11:30am, where she will discuss her historical fiction in a fun and relaxed setting. The event is free and open to the public, no registration is required.

Melanie is the New York Times Bestselling Author of Alice I Have Been, which has been The Bookstore's bestselling novel since Harry Potter. She is also getting prepared to launch her second novel in July, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. Melanie will greet fans and discuss the characters who have inspired her historical fiction, from Alice Liddell to Lavinia Warren Bump.

The Bookfest is thrilled to have a local treasure like Melanie Benjamin. Come show your support and enjoy some tea and perhaps a foot soak! More information about the full schedule of Bookfest activities is available on the Downtown Alliance website. You may also follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Bookfest Keynote Speaker: Mary Doria Russell

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to announce that the Keynote Speaker for this year's festival is the New York Times Bestselling Author and Lombard native, Mary Doria Russell. Mary will deliver the Keynote Address at 2pm at the Glen Ellyn Public Library. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Registration is available on the Glen Ellyn Public Library website, or by phone at (630) 469-0879.

As many of Mary's loyal fans know, Mary grew up in Lombard, Illinois, attended Glenbard East High School, and worked at the Helen Plumb Library as a teenager. In 2009, Glenbard East High School inaugurated the Mary Doria Russell Chapter of the National English Honor Society. Mary even named a character in her book Dreamers of the Day after her favorite high school English teacher from Glenbard East, Agnes Shanklin. We first met Mary when she appeared at the Helen Plum Library in 2009, where she absolutely charmed the crowd. (More about her prior appearance on our blog post here.) We are thrilled to welcome Mary back to the area.

Mary is the author of many highly acclaimed books, including The Sparrow (1996), Children of God (1998) Thread of Grace (2005 - Pulitzer prize nominee), and Dreamers of the Day (2008). Mary's newest book is Doc (Random House, May 3, 2011), the fictional account of a year in the life of Doc Holliday.

Mary Doria Russell has a broad range of talent, from science fiction to historical fiction and now western fiction. She admits she was addicted to books as a child, including the westerns of Zane Grey. You can tell. Doc has the voice and all of the hallmarks of a good western tale. As Mary herself said: "it's about vice, bigotry, violence and living with a terminal disease. Doc will break your heart."

Doc focuses on one year in the life of John Henry Holliday, who was born a Southern gentleman in Atlanta and was on the road to becoming a tame Dallas dentist before he lost his job in the economic panic of 1873. By 1878, he was a professional gambler in the wild west town of Dodge City Kansas, living with a Hungarian prostitute and nursing a horrible cough caused by tuberculosis. It's where his unlikely friendship with Wyatt Earp begins.

Fans of Mary Doria Russell will be delighted with this book. It's a new direction for her, but it's got all of the incredible storytelling talent that we have come to love in her writing. It's funny and colorful, compassionate and heartbreaking. It's got it all. For readers who have never discovered Mary Doria Russell, you're in for a new treat.

Mary will discuss her new book, as well as the myths and truths of Doc Holliday's life. Mary is a highly entertaining public speaker - this is an event you do not want to miss. The book is available at The Bookstore starting May 3, 2011. With a purchase of the book you will receive a priority ticket to the line for the book signing, which will follow the address.

We hope you can join us in downtown Glen Ellyn for a day during which a village celebrates books! The full schedule of events is available here. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Featured Bookfest Author: Leah Stewart

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that author Leah Stewart will be appearing at this year's festival on June 18, 2011. She will be appearing at Knickers of Glen Ellyn from 10am to 1pm, where she will meet readers and sign copies of her books.

Leah is the author of Husband and Wife (also available in paperback), The Myth of You and Me, and Body of a Girl. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, where she was the editor of the student newspaper, and received an MFA from the University of Michigan. She is the recipient of an 2010 NEA Literature Fellowship. She currently teaches in the University of Cincinnati's writing program, and lives in Cincinnati with her husband and two children.

Knickers owner Kathryn Hudson is a big fan of Leah Stewart's books, and is thrilled to be able to host an event called "Husband and Wife at Knickers." The event is free and open to the public.

Bookfest Mystery Authors

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is thrilled to announce there will be a Featured Group of Mystery Authors at this year's festival on June 18, 2011. They will be appearing in a free program called "Running into Trouble" at Run Today, 476 N. Main Street, from 10am to 1pm on Saturday, June 18, 2011.

The mystery authors confirmed as of this date include Joelle Charbonneau, the Chicago area author of Skating Around the Law, the first in the Rebecca Robbins mystery series by St. Martin's/Minotaur Press. The second book in the series, Skating Over the Line, will be released in September, 2011. Joelle is also working on a new show choir murder mystery called Murder for Choir, to be released in 2012 by Berkley Prime Crime.

Also appearing at the Bookfest Mystery Program is Robert Goldsborough, a Chicago area mystery writer. Goldsborough, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, has created a series about a wisecracking police reporter in Chicago in the 1930's and 40's. Terror at the Fair is his latest installment in his Snap Malek detective series, and is set during the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1949.

Book sales and signings will be available.

Featured Bookfest Author & Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is thrilled to announce that the Featured Children's Author for this year's festival is Tom Lichtenheld, a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of books for children. Tom will be appearing from 10-11:30am at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main St. in Glen Ellyn on June 18, 2011.

Tom is the illustrator of two New York Times bestselling children's books, Duck! Rabbit! and Shark vs. Train. He is the author of many other popular books, including the newly released Cloudette and Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site.

Other bookstore favorites include Bridget's Beret, What Are You So Grumpy About and What's Wrong With This Room? The book Duck! Rabbit!, which he created with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was actually read at the 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll.

There are no tickets required for this event; however, please call The Bookstore at (630) 469-2891 or email us to reserve a spot for your child. The purchase of one of Lichtenheld's books is required for each child attending. Books may be purchased in advance or on the day of the Bookfest. When registering your child, be prepared to tell us their age, your phone number and which of Tom Lichtenheld's books you would like to order. (A full list of his books can be found here.) If the event is not sold out in advance, children will be welcome on a first come, first serve basis.

Tom Lichtenheld will give a short, kid-friendly talk with drawings and audience participation. Children will have a chance to see up close how he comes up with his ideas and drawings. A book signing will follow the presentation.

Featured Bookfest Author: Luis Urrea

The Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Luis Urrea will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Luis will join Brigid Pasulka, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah McCoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. Tickets are $15 and are now available at The Bookstore or the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. It will be a perfect event for your entire book club. Space is limited, so purchase your tickets early.

Friends of The Bookstore may know Luis from one of The Bookstore's most interesting events last year, our Cinco de Mayo party. Luis is one of the best storytellers around, and now he is finished with the sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter. The sequel is called The Queen of America, and although it won't be released until December, we hope Luis will be sharing bits and pieces of it with us. In both books, Luis explores the history of his Mexican ancestor, Saint Teresita, in a captivating blend of history, magic and miracles.

We are especially thrilled that Luis will be paired with two other Chicago area authors whose books share a similar theme. In A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True, Brigid Pasulka writes about her own Polish ancestry, and in Half the World, Cristina Henriquez writes about a girl discovering her roots in Panama, the home of her grandparents. Finally, author Sarah McCoy will be joining the luncheon to discuss her own Puerto Rican ancestry, which is the subject of her first novel, The Time It Snowed In Puerto Rico.

All of these featured books, as well as Luis' many other books, are available at The Bookstore now - pick them up and read it before the luncheon, and enjoy the discussion even more. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Featured Bookfest Author: Brigid Pasulka

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Brigid Pasulka will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Brigid will join authors Luis Urrea, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah Mccoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. Tickets are $15 and are now available at The Bookstore and on the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Purchase of the book(s) is separate.

Brigid is a Chicago area author, English teacher and graduate of the Dartmouth College and the University of Illinois at Chicago Program for Writers. Her first book, A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True won the PEN/Hemingway Award in 2010, and was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. It also earned a blue staff pick card at The Bookstore!

We are very excited about Brigid's appearance, particularly since we read and reviewed A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True during our Chicago Writers Month project last October. Brigid based the book on her own travels to Poland after college, where she researched and learned more about her own grandparents' story. For more information, our earlier blog post can be found here. Brigid has a wonderful website with more information about the book, including a Reader's Guide, glossary and map.

We will make an announcement as soon as tickets for the Bookfest Literary Luncheon are available. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information. The entire schedule and program will be available soon.

Bookfest Author: Cristina Henriquez

The Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Cristina Henriquez will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Cristina will join authors Luis Urrea, Brigid Pasulka and Sarah McCoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30 pm. Tickets are $15 and are available at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main Street in Glen Ellyn, as well as the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Purchase of the book(s) is separate.

Cristina is a Chicago area author and a graduate of Northwestern University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She has written two books: her first, a short story collection called Come Together, Fall Apart, and the second, a novel called The World in Half. Her first book was a New York Times Editors' Choice selection, and Virginia Quarterly called her one of literature's "promising new luminaries." For more information about Cristina, check out her website or this Chicago Tribune profile.

The World in Half is based on Cristina's own childhood visits to her grandparents in Panama every summer. Her father grew up near the Panama Canal. In The World in Half, a young woman travels from Chicago to Panama to locate the father she never met, and discovers that it's not just the Panama Canal that cuts the world in half.

We are very excited about Cristina's appearance, particularly since Jen Karsbaek at Devourer Of Books gave The World in Half a glowing review during our Chicago Writers' Month last October.

A perfect event for your book club! Cristina's book is available at The Bookstore now - pick it up and read it before the luncheon, and enjoy the discussion even more.

In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.