For Immediate Release
Contacts: Paxson MacDonald
(804) 977-1747
Charlottesville, VA -- The seventh annual Virginia Festival of the Book (VABook!) will be held March 21-25, 2001 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the Festival is a five-day literary feast featuring authors of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and special interests, as well as publishing professionals and programs for children and families.
The centerpiece of this year’s poetry program is the evening of Thursday, March 22 when Charlottesville poet Gregory Orr and U.S. Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz will read together, followed by Jazz Poetry performances by Cornelius Eady and Jayne Cortez (musicians to include John D’earth, Bill Cole, Warren Smith, William Parker and Cooper Moore). Prize-winning poets abound at this year’s Festival, including Davis McCombs (Yale Series of Younger Poets), Deborah Tall (Kathryn A. Morton Prize), Katherine Soniat (Iowa Prize) and Charles Wright (Pulitzer Prize). Also, readings by the African American Poetry Workshop Cave Canem and the prize-winning Shenandoah and Meridian magazines. Other honored poets featured at the festival include David Budbill, Alan Shapiro, Robin Becker, Myra Sklarew, Richard Chess, George Garrett, Fernando Operé, James Reiss, Kate Daniels, R.T. Smith, Eric Pankey, Mary Ann Samyn and Katherine Stripling Byer.
If you were worried that you wouldn’t catch novelist and MacArthur Fellow Paule Marshall at the Festival Luncheon (sold out), Marshall will read at the Culbreth Theater later on Friday, March 23 with Southern novelists Lee Smith and Clyde Edgerton. Lee Smith will be on hand for signings and will open the festival at noon on Thursday with best-selling author David Baldacci. At the Culbreth on Saturday, March 24, the fiction spotlight falls on internationally renowned novelists John Banville (Ireland) and Amitav Ghosh (India). Of special interest this year are several panels of mystery writers; graphic novelists Ben Katchor, Jessica Abel and Matt Madden moderated by Calvin Reid; and a panel of novelists who write for TV including Mark Richard, Elwood Reid, Matt Witten. Established novelists attending include Agymah Kamau, Robert Morgan, Clint McCown, Thane Rosenbaum, Ann Hood, Graciela Limón, Heather Ross Miller, Curt Leviant, Lois Gould, Carrie Brown, John Gregory Brown and Barbara Esstman; with readings by first novelists Martin Clark, Leah Stewart, Julianna Baggott, Matt O’Keefe, Jonathan Tropper, Carl Weber, Karen Shepard, Patricia Elam, Robert Finley, John Searles, Geoff Schmidt, Maud Casey, David Wong Louie and Thomas Glave.
The Festival is honored to welcome Dr. Sylvia Rimm (See Jane Win, How Jane Won) discussing her interviews with successful women and Dr. Harlan Lane (The Wild Boy of Aveyron, Journey into the Deaf World) speaking on the social constructions of deafness. Renowned African American, feminist theorist bell hooks (Ain’t I a Woman, All About Love: New Visions) will give a talk sponsored by UVa’s Curry School of Education. Some other features of this year’s festival include a panel on bioethics with experts Allen Buchanan, Jonathan Moreno, Eric Meslin, James Childress and Doris Zallen; a panel on cultural criticism by Gadfly magazine editor John Whitehead, David Brooks (Bobos in Paradise), James Hunter (The Death of Character) and Frankie Bailey (Law Never Here); and a panel on sports and culture with James Watterson (College Football), Murray Sperber (Beer and Circuses), Steve Fainaru (The Duke of Havanna) and Ronald Smith (Sports and Freedom). Other authors who will read from and discuss their books include Richard Wertime, Donovan Webster, Tom Tiede, Joan Richards, Rebecca Goldstein, Leonard M. Adkins, Catherine Allgor, Nell Casey, Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Karl Evanzz, Martin Goldsmith, Steven A. Holmes, W. Nathaniel Howell, David Newsom, McKay Jenkins, Katherine McNamara, Kathleen O’Shea, Mary Lou Randour, Joan L. Richards, Dana Sachs, Joseph Mark Scalia and Earl Swift, and Ji-li Jiang.
The Festival maintains a strong commitment to family and children’s literacy as is evidenced by its numerous family programs. This year, the Festival presents an exceptional group of authors, including singer and storyteller Pete Seeger (Pete Seeger’s Storyetelling Book) and young-adults author Norma Fox Mazer (After the Rain, Out of Control). Topics such as global connections through art, literature and second language for K-6 students by author Gail McEachon and educator Ames Morton-Winter. This year’s Festival will once again include Motheread/Fatheread Day, four hours of programming for children and families to be held at the Terrace Room of the Charlottesville Ice Park. Motheread and Fatheread Day participants include "The Sugar Lady," poet Arlene Carter/Pounds, author Kathy May (Molasses Man), Mark Teague (illustrator), Phil Hoose (singer) and Akaela S. Michels-Gualtieri (ten year-old author of Born to Be a Sister) and her mother, Dia Michels.
2001 VABook! Publisher’s Day has the theme "The eBook: Publishing and Promoting Books Online." Four informative panels will take place with representatives from Xlibris, BN.com, Amazon, Peanut Press, Booklocker.com, GreatUnpublished.com, BookSurge,com, International e-Book Award Foundation and the University of Virginia’s eText Center will join successful e-Authors M. J. Rose, Douglas Clegg and Pauline Jones in discussing the industry and opportunities for established and potential e-Authors and e-publishers. Hosting the presentation of the first Independent e-Book Awards, judged by affiliates of the Mystic-Ink community(contact Sunny Ross). Luncheon co-sponsored by Xlibris and BN.com. ($35 tickets required for this event; luncheon included; call 804-924-6890). Publisher’s Day does include a vendors fair for suppliers to exhibit their works.
Events designed especially for writers this year include an agents panel with Al Zuckerman and Bill Gladstone; a freelance writers panel with Elizabeth Howard, Kathleen Phalen, Gail Ross and Susan Tyler Hitchcock; and a panel discussion on the frontier of electronic publishing with Amazon.com’s Diane Zoi, John Feldcamp of Xlibris, Archipelago.org editor Katherine McNamara and e-Author Charlie Clark.
Two items for cartoon fans: Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette, creator of the comic strip Kudzu, and local cartoonist Don Berard will each be featured at events in 2001 VABook!
An African American, DNA-tested descendant of Thomas Jefferson, author Byron Woodson, will discuss his book, A President in the Family.
In photos and prose, authors Craig Marberry and Michael Cunningham celebrate Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats. A slideshow and discussion—wear your hat!
A new Business Breakfast featuring Michael J. Gelb, author of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci.
A two-day symposium on Music Suppressed by the Third Reich (sponsored by UVa’s McIntire Department of Music, and the Departments of History, French, Judaic Studies). For more information on the events visit http://www.people.virginia.edu/~bhl4n/Convention.html.
