Early Signers for the 14th Virginia Festival of the Book

(Charlottesville, VA…Nov. 9) The Virginia Festival of the Book is pleased to announce the list of “early signers”—those who have committed to appear in its 14th annual celebration of books and literacy, March 26-30, 2008.

Fiction luminaries include Colm Toibin (Mothers and Sons) and Nathan Englander (The Ministry of Special Cases). Authors participating in the annual “Crime Wave” of mystery and thriller writers include David Ignatius (Body of Lies: A Novel), Margaret Coel (The Girl with Braided Hair), James W. Hall (Magic City: A Novel), and Jacqueline Winspear (Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel).

The Festival will feature nonfiction writers like international philanthropist Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time), Spanish journalist and award-winning author Rosa Montero (Historia del Rey Transparente - Story of the Transparent King), and chroniclers of extraordinary yearlong pursuits: Logan Ward (See You in a Hundred Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America) and A. J. Jacobs (The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible).

Two recent Pulitzer Prize winners in poetry, Natasha Trethewey (Native Guard) and Claudia Emerson (Late Wife), will read at the Festival; Heather McHugh (Eyeshot), Charles Wright (Littlefoot: A Poem), David Kirby (The House on Boulevard Street) and Barbara Hamby (Babel) are among the other celebrated poets participating in readings sponsored by the UVa Women’s Center, the UVa Creative Writing Program, and the Best New Poets anthology.

Hosts of the annual Authors Reception are figures familiar to Virginians as a gubernatorial family with an unforgettable role in the racial de-segregation of public schools. Woody Holton (2007 National Book Award nominee for Unruly Americans) will be joined by his mother, former Virginia First Lady, Jinx Holton, and his father, former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton, whose memoir Opportunity Time will be published in spring. The Holtons will participate in free-and-open-to-the-public programs; tickets for the Saturday, March 29 Authors’ Reception at the home of the UVa President are online at vabook.org ($25 each).

Additional authors will continue to be posted online with the full program appearing by January 31. The Virginia Festival of the Book, produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is a celebration of books, authors, and reading; most of its 200 events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit vabook.org.

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Early Signers for the 14th Virginia Festival of the Book

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