Schedule By Day

Lives Up Close: Portraits and Appreciations

This event has been moved to the Charlottesville-Albermarle Convention & Visitors Info Center

Authors Charles Shields (Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee), Donna Lucey (Archie and Amélie), and Earl Hamner (Generous Women: An Appreciation) discuss their books capturing influential lives.

Moderator: David Plunkett

Poets on Teaching Poetry

Three poets and teachers of poetry will discuss approaches to helping students feel at ease with the language of poetry and how their own writing influences this process. Stephen Cushman will focus on Walt Whitman, Sharon Leiter on Emily Dickinson, and Charlotte Matthews on James Wright.

Moderator: Judy Longley

Shaping a Nation: History and Policy

Peter Wallenstein (Cradle of America: Four Centuries of Virginia History) and Richard Labunski (James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights) illuminate the varying visions citizens and politicians have had for Virginia and the constitution from this country's founding to the present.

Sponsored by the We the People Initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Moderator: Sheryl Hayes

Women Pushing the Boundaries

Lorraine Gates Schuyler (The Weight of Their Votes: Southern Women and Political Leverage in the 1920s), Caroline Weber (Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution), and Laura Browder (Her Best Shot: Women and Guns in America).

Moderator: Lawrie Balfour

Words and Images: How Can Art Help Us See?

How does art—verbal or visual--help to make us see? Scott Donaldson (Edwin Arlington Robinson) and James Heffernan (Cultivating Picturacy) will answer this question by discussing poetry of Robinson and photography by Sally Mann.

Moderator: Laura Jones

The Gift of a Lifetime!

Related Event

Author Nancy Ruth Patterson discusses how to write the story of your life for family, friends, or the best-sellers list. Open to the public.

Sponsored by Charlottesville Recreation Therapeutic Services; Piedmont Council of the Arts; Charlottesville-Albemarle District of VSA arts.

After Appalachia: Poets Moving the Mountains

Three lovers of Appalachia--Michael Chitwood (From Whence), Frank X Walker (Black Box), and Michael McFee (Shinemaster)--read from their work and discuss their own regional influences.

Hosted by South Atlantic Humanities Center (VFH-UVa-VT).

Moderator: Pablo Davis

Changing the Constitution: The 14th Amendment and Judicial Activism

Originally scheduled author, Kermit Roosevelt III, will not be able to attend this event.

Garrett Epps (Democracy Reborn), and Dahlia Lithwick (NPR and Slate.com judicial analyst) discuss Supreme Court activism, the Constitution and American society.

Sponsored by the We the People Initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Moderator: Dahlia Lithwick

Communities of Memory: Stories from the Holocaust and Beyond

With Daniel Mendelsohn (The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million), Robert Satloff (Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands) and Yaacob Dweck (tr., Haim Sabato's The Dawning of the Day).

Moderator: Burton Zisk

Current Literature in India and Pakistan

A brief introduction to the current literary scene of South Asia by Mehr Farooqi and Robert A. Hueckstedt. Readings of new translations from Hindi and Urdu, two major literary languages of the region, and time for discussion.

Moderator: Robert Hueckstedt

Fact and Artifact: Unearthing Jamestown

Join two preeminent Jamestown scholars, William Kelso (Jamestown, The Buried Truth) and James Horn (A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth Of America) for a journey below the surface of Virginia's first colony.

Sponsored by the Library of Virginia in celebration of the Virginia Literary Awards.

Moderator: Andrew Wyndham

Rescuing Dogs: From Katrina to Appalachia to California

Donald McCaig (A Useful Dog), David Rosenfelt (Sudden Death), Ken Foster (The Dogs Who Found Me) discuss their experiences training and rescuing dogs.

Sponsored by Writing for Pleasure Group at Senior Center, Inc..

Moderator: Glenn Short

The Full Matilda: David Haynes

David Haynes reads from The Full Matilda, the poignant story of a captivating African American woman who survives Washington, DC's upper-crust families and their web of secrets and worn-out social mores.

Hosted by African American Authors Book Club of Charlottesville.

Moderator: Bonnie Brewer

Singled Out: Taking on Singlism and Matrimonia

Related Event

Drawing from social science data, politics, and popular culture, Bella DePaulo presents a myth-busting, consciousness-raising, totally unapologetic take on singlehood.

Sponsored by Studies in Women and Gender, Vice-Provost for Faculty Advancement, Department of Psychology, Arts and Sciences Special Lectures Committee, American Studies Program, and the Women's Center.

Moderator: Rina Williams

Disasters in Fact and Fiction

Authors Katharine Weber (Triangle: A Novel), Stefan Bechtel (Roar of the Heavens), Ken Foster (The Dogs Who Found Me), and Elise Blackwell (The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish) discuss stories surrounding famous fires, storms, and floods.

Moderator: Larry Baker

Eating Disorders: Recognition to Recovery

Aimee Liu (Gaining: The Truth About Eating Disorders) blends research, memoir, and personal interviews to examine the new explanations and old myths surrounding bulimia and anorexia.

Hosted by The Women's Center, Mental Health Association.

Moderator: Charlotte Chapman

Inquiring Minds, Active Voices: A Great Books Approach

Related Event

David Rubin will conduct a free workshop focusing on ways reading group members can identify significant interpretive problems, frame sound questions, and engage each other in probing critical discussion, with the assistance of an impartial, socratic moderator. A brief introduction and demonstration. Limit 15 participants; to register email: dlr7r@yahoo.com

Making Research Accessible: Academic Writing Forum

Discuss options for academic research and writing with Mary Bisbee-Beek (Trade Marketing Manager, University of Michigan Press), James Fox (Australian National University), and Penny Kaiserlian (Director, UVa Press).

Moderator: Karen Wikander

Music of the Spheres: A Poetry Reading

A lyrical, spiraling, widening gyre of poetry performances. Debut collections by Victoria Chang (Circle), Ann Hudson (The Armillary Sphere) and Eric McHenry (Potscrubber Lullabies).

Moderator: Jennifer Chang

Not in a Vacuum: Science and Belief

Explore contexts of discovery where science and religion challenge each other. With Jeremy Campbell (Many Faces of God: Science's 400-Year Quest for Images of the Divine) and Joe Jackson (A World on Fire: A Heretic, An Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen).

Sponsored by Tthe Library of Virginia in celebration of the Virginia Literary Awards.

Moderator: Stephen Macko

Treasures of Black History: Three Perspectives

Thomas C. Battle (Legacy: Treasures of Black History) and co-editor Donna M. Wells (Legacy) editor Christina Draper (Don't Grieve for Me), Jeanne Siler (Fayette Street), and Frances Latimer (Landmarks: African America Historic Sights on Virginia's Eastern Shore) discuss books on African American history that engage research on the local, state and national levels.

Hosted by South Atlantic Humanities Center (VFH-UVa-VT).

Moderator: Pablo Davis

Bilingual Poetry: Rei Berroa

Join poet and professor Rei Berroa for a bilingual poetry reading (Spanish/English).

Hosted by UVa Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

Moderator: Fernando Opere

Celebrate Women Writers Reception

Join us for a joyous celebration of women authors! This event is open to all and brings together local writers, University authors, students, and Virginia Festival of the Book participants. R.S.V.P. to sml6r@virginia.edu

Sponsored by UVa Women's Center.

Collecting Dante in Tuscany: A Bibliographical Tour

Daniel Willard Fiske (1831-1904) left his post as Cornell University's first librarian to live in Florence and collect books by and about the greatest Italian poets, Petrarch and Dante. Christian Dupont tells why and how he did it, and the impact on America.

Hosted by Bibliographical Society of UVa.

Moderator: G. Thomas Tanselle

Early American ABCs: Women, Children, and Reading

Jennifer Monaghan (Learning to Read and Write in Colonial America) examines the literacy instruction of boys and girls as Catherine Kerrison (Claiming the Pen: Women and the Intellectual Life in the Early American South) explores Southern women's 18th-century novels and their emerging sense of authority. 

Hosted by Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville-Albemarle.

Moderator: Jane Fruchtnicht

Graphic Nonfiction: Brave New Genre

Please note: This event has been moved to the Omni

Comics editor Sid Jacobson and artist Ernie Colon (creators of The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation) and comic biographer Andy Helfer (Ronald Reagan, Malcolm X) display and discuss their recent forays into nonfiction.

Moderator: Beau Eichling

Our Part in the Past: A Poetry Reading

Places, histories, and our relationship to them with Darnell Arnoult (What Travels with Us), Constance Quarterman Bridges (Lions Don't Eat Us), and David Roderick (Blue Colonial).

Moderator: Aaron Baker

Short Suite: Fiction Trio

Reading and discussion from short story writers Steve Watkins (My Chaos Theory), R.T. Smith (Uke Rivers Delivers), and David Lynn (Year of Fire).

Moderator: Mitzi Ware

Thomas Jefferson on Wine: The Man, the Grape, Their History

John Hailman discusses his new book, Thomas Jefferson on Wine. A definitive study of the character of this great American as revealed in Jefferson's hundreds of letters devoted to the "restorative cordial."

Sponsored by Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Monticello.

Moderator: Mary Scott-Fleming

Wild Abandon: Change and Natural Landscapes

Follow Bland Simpson (The Inner Islands: A Carolinian's Sound Country Chronicle) and Charles Bowden (Inferno) into landscapes that have become crucibles of cultural, environmental, and economic concern.

Moderator: Jon Lohman

William A. James, Sr.: In the Streets of Vinegar Hill Booksigning

Related Event

William A. James, Sr. will speak about and sign copies of his newest book, In the Streets of Vinegar Hill.

Hosted by Angus Bull Antiques.

Displaced Persons: Fiction Reading

Characters adapting to foreign environments with Marsha Mehran (Pomegranate Soup), Mary Sharratt (The Vanishing Point), and Peter Orner (The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo).

Moderator: Bella Stander

DNA and Justice

Kirk Bloodsworth will discuss his experiences as chronicled in Bloodsworth. He was the first death row inmate exonerated by DNA and now works for The Justice Project.

Moderator: John Terzano

How! and Other Approaches to American Indians

American Indian historians and authors Gabrielle Tayac (Meet Naiche) and Karenne Wood (Markings on Earth) discuss ways in which American Indians have been marginalized through history, through the construction of their histories by non-Native scholars, and through the perpetuation of stereotypes in Hollywood, museums, and among the general public.

Hosted by Virginia Council on Indians.

Moderator: David Bearinger

Novels to Keep You Up at Night: Romance! Suspense!

Please note: new location, additional participants

Best-selling Novelists Kathryn Caskie, Sarah Langan, Cathy Maxwell, Sophia Nash and Kathryn Smith discuss their novels of romance and suspense.

Moderator: Cathy Maxwell

Want to Live the Uncommon Life?

John St. Augustine (Living an Uncommon Life: Essential Lessons from 21 Extraordinary People), a radio commentator and producer for Oprah & Friends Radio, joins success coach Michelle Prosser to discuss creating a greater life experience. Reception following sponsored by LeClair Ryan.

Hosted by Charlottesville Company of Friends and Hampton Roads Publishing.

Moderator: Tracey Linkous

Women, Violence and Survival

Ann Jones (Kabul in Winter) and Terri Jentz (Strange Piece of Paradise) will discuss their experiences with violence, both personal and war-related.

Hosted by Amnesty International.

Moderator: Roberta Culbertson

Divine Judgment, Providence, and Scriptural Witness

Related Event

"Where Shall Wisdom be Found?" Three biblical scholars-Dan Via (Divine Justice, Divine Judgment), Gerald McDermott (Gods Rivals) and Samuel Balentine (Bible Commentary: Job)--grapple with God's role in today's events and the real world relevance of the Bible.

Hosted by Splintered Light Bookstore.

Moderator: Jorge Secada

Paul Curreri CD Release Party for "The Velvet Rut"

Related Event

Songwriter/guitarist Paul Curreri performs from his new CD "The Velvet Rut". Tickets are $8 and can be ordered from http://gravity-lounge.com/

Interrogations: A Poetry Reading

Join Kevin Young (For the Confederate Dead) and David Wojahn (Interrogation Palace: New and Selected Poems) for poems of cultural inquiry and spirit-searching.

Sponsored by the City of Charlottesville.

Moderator: Kevin McFadden

Muggles and Vampires: Fantasy Folklore

George Beahm (Fact, Fiction and Folklore in Harry Potter's World; Muggles and Magic) and Bruce McClelland (Slayers and Their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead) trace fantastical characters who dominate popular imagination.

Moderator: Karen Wikander

Murder in the Making: Mystery Writers

A special event with authors Lee Child (The Hard Way), Tess Gerritsen (The Mephisto Club), Laura Lippman (No Good Deeds) and George Pelecanos (The Night Gardener). No admission, but this is a limited seating event; free tickets will be handed out beginning one hour before start time.

Moderator: Willetta Heising

Travel to Difficult Climes

Explore with John Kropf (Unknown Sands: Journeys Around the World's Most Isolated Country), Gary Geddes (Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things: An Impossible Journey from Kabul to Chiapas), and Mark Jenkins (Worlds to Explore: Classic Tales of Travel and Adventure from National Geographic).

Moderator: Lisa Thomas