2013 St. George Area Book Festival

Speakers & Events

2013 St. George Area Book Festival

October 14th—19th, 2013

 

Jon Sebba, 2013 Utah Poet of the Year Recipient, was born in South Africa. As a student in Jerusalem, he worked cataloging 19th Century medical journals, as well as at the Hydrology Institute. He also worked as a laborer in the construction of Jerusalem apartment buildings and of evaporation lagoons at the Dead Sea (1400 feet below sea level) with summer temperatures topping 115°F.

 

When the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six Day War began, he was married with one child. As a reservist, he was mobilized to fight in Jerusalem. Among the things he learned from that experience are: death in war is random; wars should definitely be avoided; and given the choice, few soldiers would ever start one.

 

In 1968, Jon immigrated to the US to study civil engineering, arriving the day before Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated. En route, he worked as a lorry driver in London for four months. He has lived and worked as an engineer in six states, divorced and remarried. He now lives in Murray, Utah, with his wife and muse, Chris. Together they have four children scattered across the US. Jon has been writing poetry since the 1970’s. In early 2013, he had a play produced at the Gallery Theater in Ogden.

 

Venues: Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Keynote speaker at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

            Saturday October 19th Book Expo 10am Youth Poetry Guest Speaker at Lexington Hotel (Free to the community)

 

 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson has been an instructor for nearly a decade at the renowned UCLA Extension Writers' Program. She is an author of the multi award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally books including the second edition honored by USA Book News. She was the youngest person ever hired as a staff writer for the Salt Lake Tribune—“A Great Pulitzer Prize Winning Newspaper”—where she wrote features for the society page and a column under the name of Debra Paige. 

Later, in New York, she was an editorial assistant at Good Housekeeping Magazine. She also handled accounts for fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert who instituted the first Ten Best Dressed List. She has also worked as columnist, reviewer, and staff writer for the Pasadena Star-News, Home Décor Buyer, the Glendale News-Press (an affiliate of the LA Times), Myshelf.com, and others and has appeared in commercials and on dozens of TV and radio shows. 

Carolyn’s experience in journalism and as a poet and author of fiction and nonfiction helped the multi award-winning author understand how different genres can be marketed more effectively.

 

Venue: Saturday October 19th Book Expo 2pm Keynote Speaker at Lexington Hotel (Free to the community)

 

 

Russell Estlack, the author of two award-winning collections of true stories of the American West, and a history of the lost Spanish expedition of 1528. His recently released book from Cedar Fort Publishers, Shattered Lives, Shattered Dreams is a documented history of the arrest, internment and repatriation of German Americans during World War II has been nominated for a Pulitzer.

 

Venues: Ivins Verteran’s Home Wednesday October 16th (contact VA for time and if open to public)

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest speaker at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

Darlien C. Breeze grew up on a copper and gold mine located several miles into the hills from the Colorado River where fresh meat consisted of game drilled by her crack-shot grandmother. This unique upbringing was followed by occupations as schoolteacher, real estate agent, beauty salon and Import/Export owner. Her publications include a children’s novel, Small Pony, Import/Export and You, a textbook plus many short stories. Her latest publications include Ghosts & Gamblers of Las Vegas, A Life of Crime and Crusin’ for Crime the last of that series, A Twist in Crime is due for publication in 2013 by Ink and Quill.

 

Venue: Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest speaker at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

David Farland is a New York Times bestselling author with 50 novels to his credit.  He serves as lead judge for one of the worlds largest writing competitions and has trained dozens of authors who have gone on to become international bestsellers.  His latest novel, Nightinglae is set in Saint George and has won 6 awards, including the International Book Award for Best Young Adult Novel of the Year.

 

Venue: Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

 

Penelope (Penny) Paine is an author, national educational trainer and consultant.  She has created publications and programs for educators and is the author/creator of twelve children’s picture books.  She founded Paper Posie in 1999 to publish and manufacture books and products for children at weddings.  With To Press and Beyond she now shares her publishing skills as a “book shepherd” helping many other authors create, design and self-publish their work.   Penny divides her time between London, England and Santa Barbara, CA.  Her six children and four grandchildren are in England, Oregon, Texas, New Zealand and California. 

 

Venues: Thursday October 17^th Hurricane Library at 10:30am - Event: story time and chat with the parents about writing.

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

Gail M. Kearns is the president of To Press and Beyond, a full-service book shepherding agency. She helps manage projects from inception to completion and supports clients by implementing innovative plans for marketing and promotion. Books shepherded by To Press and Beyond have garnered such awards as the prestigious Independent Publisher’s Award, The Benjamin Franklin Award, Foreword’s Book of the Year Award, Reader’s Favorite Award, Best Books Award and the Next Generation Indie Book Award. Gail is a member of IBPA and APSS (formerly SPAN).

 

Venues: Thursday October 17^th Hurricane Library at 10:30am - Event: story time and chat with the parents about writing.

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

 

 

Cheryl Carpinello has a passion for working with kids. She regularly conducts Medieval Writing Workshops for local elementary/middle schools and the Colorado Girl Scouts. She is not the only one who loves Medieval Times and the King Arthur Legend. The kids thoroughly enjoy writing their own medieval stories complete with dragons, wizards, unicorns and knights! She loves to travel and her other job is with a major airline. Her favorite trip was a two week visit to Egypt with her husband that included traveling by local train from one end of Egypt to the other. Some of her favorite books include The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Once and Future King, and any by the duo Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

 

Venues: Friday October 18^th Santa Clara Library at 2pm

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

 

David W. Smith, perhaps it is because his name is about as common as door knobs and paperclips that he has always tried to lead as much of an unusual life as he could. Not that David has tried a lot of unusual things; he hasn’t! A lot of David's personality and abilities dealing with people came from six years as a “Cast Member” at Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom. At the same time he played tennis for California State University, Fullerton.

 

Writing for David started with short stories, written for no one and without any goal of publishing anything. But it initiated a strong desire to write more. Since tennis was such a big part of his life, and because he had such extensive experience teaching beginners to world-ranked players, David's first book attempt was in 2004, TENNIS MASTERY. The book has since been reprinted and has maintained its status as one of the top three best-selling tennis books in the country.

 

He later co-wrote the first of five books with Nancy Rodrigue, a Disney historian and aficionado. She was also a writer. In 2009, HIDDEN MICKEY: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales was born! The Hidden Mickey series has become the top-selling books at the Disneyland Resort as well as being one of the top-selling books at the LA Times Book Festival in 2011. The last of the series, HIDDEN MICKEY 5: Chasing New Frontiers, again a treasure hunt of sorts, is based on David's reality of working at Disneyland.

 

Venues: Wednesday October 16^th Snow Canyon Middle School

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

Saturday October 19th Book Expo 4pm Guest Speaker at Lexington Hotel (Free to the community)

 

 

 

 

Traci McDonald has been a writer since she figured out how to make words on a page. Traci wrote for English classes like most people, but she wrote everything else in between. Traci won minor competitions with short stories, poetry and lyrics before becoming visually impaired. That is just a political correct way of saying Traci McDonald is blind. Traci lost her eyesight 17 years ago, but it never stopped her from living life and following her dreams. She has struggled with her health and raising kids, prior to the publication of her first novel. Traci is very excited to see her dream in life coming true. She lives in a small cozy town in the Mojave Desert, less than 150 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

Traci McDonald has four other books in the process of becoming published and a whole list of others she plans to write.

 

Venues: Wednesday October 16th New Harmony Library at 7pm - Topic: Writing Blind

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

C. Michelle Jefferies practically grew up in a library. She spent her early years learning to love reading at her mother’s side. In high school, she met another writer who inspired her to write a full-length novel instead of just short stories. Michelle finished that 189 page handwritten novel the summer of her junior year.

When her children were old enough for her to spend a few hours at the computer without them burning the house down she returned to writing and hasn't stopped since. She can often be found writing or editing with a child in her arms or under her feet. With a passion for secret agents and all things Asian, she writes futuristic thrillers and urban fantasies about bad boys turned good. She also enjoys beating herself up in Karate class as she works toward her black belt in Tang Soo Do.

 

Venues: Wednesday October 16th St. George Library at 6:30pm

            Thursday October 17^th Santa Clara Library at 1pm

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

J.L. Adams has enjoyed reading and writing fantasy since the third grade when he began writing short stories. He lives in St. George, Utah, with his wife, Rebecca, and their dog, Toby. When he’s not reading and writing, he enjoys hiking and watching movies. Flames of Alnara is his first published novel.

 

Venues: Tuesday October 15th Enterprise Library at 7pm

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

 

VS Grenier is an Award-winning Children's Author, Silver Mom's Choice Honoree, a League of Utah Writers Silver Quill Winner, an Award-winning edit and Blog Talk Radio Host for the Featured BTR World of Ink Network.

 

In 2007 & 2008, Grenier was voted one of the Top Ten Editors in the Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll, won 2nd place for her article on, “Yes, Virginia, There IS a Santa Claus" and 7th place for her article, “Dinosaur Tracks in My Backyard” in the Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll for Best Nonfiction.

 

Her works include: Babysitting SugarPaw, the Best of Stories for Children Magazine Volume 1 anthology, and over 50 short stories, articles and crafts for children, parents and writers.

 

Venues: Monday October 14^th Washington Elementary School

Tuesday October 15th Red Mountain Elementary School

Friday October 18^th St. George Library 11am StoryTime

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

 

Amy Jarecki's historical Novel, Koicto, won the League of Utah Writers award for Best In Show, and the 2011 St. George Book Festival Spark Book Award. She also writes contemporary romance and Scottish historical romance. For fun, she hikes, bikes and plays a mean game of golf.

 

Venues: Tuesday October 15th Springdale Library at 7pm

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

 

Lin Floyd is the author of Looking Back…At the Good Old Days, Family Home Evenings for Empty Nesters and Singles, Nature Notes for Kids-a collection of children’s poetry, and Find Your Voice: Write Your Life Story. Floyd writes a weekly column of self-help advice for the Senior Sampler newspaper, and teaches community education classes in creativity, poetry, journaling, and family history writing in St. George, Utah. She speaks from experience and teaches workshops as a life coach as well as blogs online (www.lettersfromlin.blogspot.com). With bachelor and master degrees in both Education and Psychology plus graduate work in the trenches, she speaks wisely and with humor about the process called LIFE.  Her latest book is DISCOVER YOUR VOICE AFTER DIVORCE: Writing Workbook for Healing and Recovery. 

 

Venues: Wednesday October 16th Washington Library at 7pm

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

Marilyn Richardson is a retired dance educator, moved to Ivins, in 1994. Walking in the red dirt, reading and travel, all hold great appeal. As does writing. ”I’ve had over 50 articles published in magazines but my focus now is on books for children and YA and four of these are now available on kindle."

 

Venues: Thursday October 17th St. George Library at 6pm

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

 

 

 

 

Dawn McLain has been heavily involved in both print and television media over the past 20 years. As a respected professional she has led educational programs on media relations to non-profit agencies, and the business community. McLain has also headed up School to Career programs. Dawn enjoys her work in PR Marketing and specifically with the non-profit sector.  

 

Dawn has been a published author since 1986, when her poetry first appeared in Young Kansas Writers. Since that time, she has written a children’s book, Too Much for Dinner, and written/reported for many publications and media outlets. 

 

Venues: Thursday October 17th Santa Clara Library at 11am Storytime

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

 

 

Shane D. Williams was born at the tender age of 0. He survived the ordeal and quickly moved onto other things…walking for example, which by the way, he still does quite well. Other adventures followed but to make a long story short…He's him.

 

Venues: Monday October 14^th Coral Canyon Elementary School

            Tuesday October 15^th Blooming Elementary School

Friday October 18th Charity Author Dinner Guest at Lexington Hotel (RVSP by Oct. 12th for tickets. $40 per adult; $25 per youth 17 & under)

Library Speaker Schedule:

Oct. 15th

Enterprise - Lance Adams (7pm) Topic: From Inspiration to book

Springdale - Amy Jarecki (7pm) Topic: Process of Writing Historical Fiction

 

Oct. 16th

Washington - Lin Vernon Floyd (7pm) Topic: Writing Personal Histories

New Harmony - Traci McDonald (7pm) Topic: Writing Blind

St. George - C. Michelle Jefferies (6:30pm) Topic: The Writing Process and Road to Publication with Known Authors.

 

Oct. 17th

Hurricane - Penny Paine & Gail Kearns (10:30am) Event: story time and chat with the parents about writing.

St. George - Marilyn Richardson (6pm) Topic: Memoir Vs. Fiction

Santa Clara - Dawn McLain  (StoryTime 11am)

Santa Clara – C. Michelle Jefferies (1pm) Topic: Talking about writing and latest book

 

Oct. 18th

Santa Clara - Cheryl Carpinello (2pm) Topic: Using technology to reach readers and write

St. George - VS Grenier (11am) Event: Story time, coloring pages and chat with parents about the importance of picture books.

 

 

School Visit Speaker Schedule:

Coral Canyon Elementery Oct. 14th

Blooming Elementery Oct. 15th

Shane Williams

 

Washington Elementery Oct. 14th

Red Mountain Elementery Oct. 15th

VS Grenier

 

Lava Ridge Inter. Oct. 16th

Stephanie Jaeger

 

Snow Canyon Middle Oct. 16th

David W. Smith

 

Book Expo Extravaganza! (Lexington Hotel)

From 9am to 6pm, enjoy dozens of authors, speakers, presenters, and performances at this year’s premier book and author event!

 

Readers of all ages and genres will get a chance to meet prolific authors, discuss books and ideas, and learn what it takes to be a successful author!

 

Purchase personalized and autographed books for yourself, your family and your friends!

 

FREE To Everyone!

 

Book Expo Schedule:

10am—Youth Poetry Contest Winners Announced

11am—Guest Speaker: Jon Sebba, 2013 UTSPS Poet of the Year (Topic: The Poetry App -- Better than Tweeting)

1pm Vista Charter School performance/Author readings

2pm—Keynote Speaker: Carolyn Howard Johnson, Author of “The Frugal Book Promoter” (Topic: Marketing and Editing: To win you need to foster way before your book is published and use long after its release date)

3pm Vista Charter School performance

4pm Guest Speaker: David W. Smith, Creator, author HIDDEN MICKEY Disney Series (Topic: If you Can Dream It, You Can Do It)

5pm Author Readings

 

Washington County Library at Book Expo:

Used book sale

Laptop with demo’s on databases

Off-site library card registration

 

 

Charity Author Dinner

(Lexington Hotel) Oct. 18th, 6pm 

 

Join over a dozen successful authors for an intimate dinner and poignant conversation!

 

Keynote Speaker:  Jon Sebba, 2013 UTSPS POET OF THE YEAR.
His war experiences as a young man and his urgent crusade for peace, is a message each of us needs to hear.
Topic: How War Drove me to Poetry

 

Guest Speakers scheduled:

Darlien Breeze, author of “Ghosts and Gamblers, A Life of Crime.”

Russell Estlack, Pulitzer Prize Nominee

 

Table Authors Scheduled: Amy Jarecki, David W. Smith, VS Grenier, David Farland, Lance Adams, Stephanie Jaeger, Penny Paine, Gail Kearns, Lin Floyd, Cheryl Carpinello, Dawn McLain, and others.

(Subject to change.)

 

Gain valuable insights, discuss writing secrets and learn from those who have successfully navigated within the writing industry!

 

Pricing:

$40 per person for adults

$25 per person for 17 years old and younger.

 

PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR. DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY.

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Net proceeds will benefit the Washington County School District Foundation. DEADLINE IS October 12th! So Hurry and Reserve your spot TODAY at

http://stgeorgebookfestival.org

 

This annual FREE festival is the Utah Humanities Council’s gift to the community,

allowing us to explore all sorts of ideas by interacting with great writers.

 

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