Well, it's nearly upon us.
43 authors and 15 Chestertown venues will be participating in the 38 events that will make up the first-ever Chestertown Book Festival this weekend, November 13th and 14th, 2009. And I sure do hope you'll come experience a part of it. There's literally something for everyone at this year's ChesBookFest: highlights include the lit of love and war to mysterious historical muckraking, paranormal regency romance and giant gingerbread houses, the art and craft of memoir, letterpress demos and cocktails.
If you haven't seen the schedule of events yet, please head to http://chestertownbookfestival.org post-haste! There's still space at all author brunches/lunches - call Kate at 410-778-7899 to reserve your spot - and Barry Louis Polisar's 7pm Prince Theatre event is FREE, family-friendly, and is not to be missed.
Still not convinced? The
inaugural year of ChesBookFest seeks to celebrate literary life on the Eastern Shore of
Maryland. Participating authors
include former Maryland Poet Laureate Michael Collier (who'll be reading Friday night at 7pm at Bookplate), NPR Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan (who discusses why her favorite books are her favorites at 1:30pm on Saturday at Bookplate), and author/illustrator Marc
Castelli (who'll show off his works at 11:30am on Saturday at Chestertown Old Book Co.). The wide
variety of events include author lunches, readings, signings, panel and roundtable discussions, and
a musical finale by Barry Louis Polisar, whose 1977 song “All I Want is You” was chosen for the Grammy Award-winning
Juno soundtrack.
Events kick
off on Friday, November 13th at 7 p.m. with a reading by Michael
Collier, 2001 Maryland Poet Laureate, director of the Bread Loaf Writers’
Conference, and author of Dark Wild Realm
(2007) at Bookplate, 112 S. Cross St., Chestertown, MD 21620.
Festivities
continue on Saturday, November 14th,
starting at 9 a.m., with events with Terwana Brown, Robert Earl Price, Robert Ortiz, Meg Founds, Terence T. Finn,
Eric Mills, Maureen Corrigan, Marcy Dunn Ramsey, Cynthia Bowers Fulton, Peter
J. Heck, Alix Rickloff, Bill Thompson and Jenna Moore; panel discussions by
Maureen Stack Sappey, Carol Larese Millward, James Dissette, Dawn L.C. Miller,
Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson of Idiots’Books, Emily Kalwaitis and Lindsay
Lusby of Thread Lock Press, Gail Johnston, Edith Noordewier Foley, Michael
Collier, Elizabeth Arnold, Robert Garson, Robert Earl Price, Sue Ellen
Thompson, and Mary Wood; author lunches with Erasmus H. Kloman, John Elsberg of
Bogg: A Journal of Contemporary Writing,
Art Bounds of Pegasus, Jehanne
Dubrow, Meredith Davies Hadaway, Nancy Taylor Robson and representatives from Delmarva Review; exhibitions by Ian and
John Murray, Master Printer T. Michael Kaylor, Shirley Hampton Hunt, Marc
Castelli, Heather R. Davidson; and the semi-annual Kent County Public Library
Friends of the Library Used Book Sale.
The Rose O'Neill Literary House has worked its butt off on this one. And we couldn't have done it without Artworks, Bookplate, Chester River Press, Chestertown Old Book Co., the Compleat Bookseller, and the Kent County Public Library. Special thanks goes out to our the Friends of the Kent County Public Library, the Friends of the Clifton M. Miller Library, and the Kent County Arts Council.
Visit our blog for the latest news: http://chesbookfest.blogspot.com/
DONATE TO THE BOOK CAUSE!
The Chestertown Book Festival Fund is a component fund of
the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, a public foundation designated as a
501(c)(3) charity. Gifts to the
Fund are fully tax-deductible as allowable by law. A copy of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation’s financial
statement is available at www.mscf.org or by
calling 410-820-8175. Information
about Mid-Shore submitted under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act can
be obtained from the Office of the Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis,
MD 21401.
Questions? Write Lindsay at chesbookfest@gmail.com or call Kate at 410-778-7899. We're at your literary service.
KAB
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