Bookfest Literary Luncheon Tickets Now Available

Tickets are now available for the Author Luncheon at the 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest. Tickets are available for $15 per person online or in person at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn.

The Featured Authors include Luis Urrea, Brigid Pasulka, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah McCoy. The luncheon is from Noon to 1:30pm on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at Glen Oak Restaurant, 479 Pennsylvania in Glen Ellyn. The luncheon theme is "Inspired By Our History."

The authors will rotate around the restaurant, greet participants and discuss their books, which all involve stories inspired by the authors' own ancestors, who herald from Mexico, Poland, Panama and Puerto Rico. Glen Oak Restaurant will pair their stories with unique ethnic menu choices created specifically for this event.

Tickets to the Bookfest Author Luncheon are $15 per person and are available at The Bookstore or online at the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Menu choices include: The Saint of Cabora's Chicken Sandwich, Huila's Savory Crepe, Pigeon's Prize Omlette, Babba Yaga's Veggie Delight, Mira's Half & Half Plate and Verdita's Pollo Americano Big Salad. Each menu item is based on a character or a theme in one of the books.

Come enjoy a unique literary themed luncheon with some very talented authors. Book sales and signings available.

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.

Cinco de Mayo With A Literary Twist: Luis Urrea at The Bookstore

The Bookstore is thrilled to be hosting a unique Cinco de Mayo Celebration with Luis Alberto Urrea on May 5th at 7pm, featuring margaritas, appetizers and stories among friends.

We'll be celebrating Luis' newest book, Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush (April 2010), a graphic novel based on the first short story in Urrea's Six Kinds of Sky (2002). Luis teamed up with muralist Christopher Cardinale to retell the story set in Rosario, Mexico, the town that Luis visited in the summers when he was growing up in Tijuana and San Diego. It's the kind of town that's full of "cousins and excitement and magical adventures and very pretty girls." Sounds like there's some good stories there!

Local book clubs are also excited to have the chance to talk with Luis about Into the Beautiful North (2009), a girl-power road trip story about a group of funny and brave young Mexicans who travel to the United States (all the way to Kankakee, Illinois) to recruit immigrants to return to Mexico and help them save their village. It's a fabulous book that challenges immigration stereotypes with a sense of humor and poetic insight. This would make a great selection for your May book club meeting if you haven't read it yet. Then you can come and chat with the author over margaritas and salsa.

We're also hoping to hear a little bit about Luis' current project, a sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter (2005), his magical epic, and of course, his Pulitzer-prize nominated nonfiction title, The Devil's Highway.

So if you enjoy a little literary levity, please join us for this unique Cinco de Mayo. Please call (630) 469-2891 or e-mail justbook475@yahoo.com to register. Book clubs can register as a group with an estimated head count. Purchase of at least one of Luis' books is required, but trust me, you'll want them all!

Brought to you in partnership with our sponsor, Chicks 'n Salsa, a local, independently-owned Mexican restaurant in Glen Ellyn.