A NEW festival is on the books!
Warren County Public Library’s management of the Capitol has been a big boon for library-led programs with large audiences. The theater’s capacity for seating over 700 audience members guarantees that many of our large-scale events can easily be hosted. Ample space and historic charm have made for an amazing venue on numerous occasions over the past few years. We’re excited to announce that the Capitol will soon play host to a NEW book lovers festival in that space: Back to Back Books!
Hosted independently by WCPL with retail assistance from Plaid Elephant Books, the Back to Back Books festival will take place Saturday, September 21. The free all-day event will put readers in touch with talented, best-selling, award-winning authors, give access to insightful presentations, provide a chance for audience members to receive FREE copies of the headliners’ books, and let attendees purchase titles by additional authors in attendance. Presentations will take place at the Capitol, and books may be purchased and/or signed in the Author Hall, which will be located a couple of doors down at One Roof Space.
A super cool feature of this festival is that 200 tickets will be given out at the conclusion of each author’s presentation, ones that can be “cashed in” for a free book by that author at the Author Hall. Folks can either stand in line to get the book signed immediately after the presentation, or go back to the Capitol to attend the next presentation. Additional books will also be available for purchase in the Author Hall, where 30 or more authors will be present and available for attendees to meet, visit with, and purchase their titles.
The schedule of headline authors who will be presenting in the Capitol auditorium is as follows:
- 10am – Jamie Ford (Adult Fiction)
- 1pm – Lisa Gardner (Mystery)
- 1pm – Dr. Joshua Bennett (Slam Poet)
- 2pm – Blake Crouch (Science Fiction)
- 3pm – Maggie Stiefvater (Young Adult Fiction)
Starting off the headlining lineup is Jamie Ford, great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer, Min Chung, who emigrated from Hoiping, China to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name “Ford,” thus confusing countless generations. His debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, spent two and a half years on the New York Times bestseller list and went on to win the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. His newest book is The Many Daughters of Afong Moy (Source: jamieford.com)
Next will be Lisa Gardner, a #1 New York Times bestselling thriller novelist, who has been published across 30 countries. Lisa’s books have received awards from across the globe. Her novel, The Neighbor, won Best Hardcover Novel from the International Thriller Writers, while also receiving the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle in France. She was also recognized with the Daphne du Maurier Award in 2000 for The Other Daughter. Lisa also received the Silver Bullet Award from the International Thriller Writers in 2017 for her work on behalf of at-risk children and the Humane Society. (Source: www.lisagardner.com)
Joshua Bennett is the author of five books of poetry, criticism, and narrative nonfiction: Spoken Word: A Cultural History (2023); The Study of Human Life (2022), which is currently being adapted for television in collaboration with Warner Brothers Studios; Owed (2020); Being Property Once Myself (2020); and The Sobbing School (2016), winner of the National Poetry Series and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. He has recited his original works at the Sundance Film Festival, the NAACP Image Awards, and President Obama’s Evening of Poetry and Music at the White House. He is a Professor of Literature and Distinguished Chair of the Humanities at MIT. (Source: www.drjoshuabennett.com)
Science fiction author Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is author of a dozen novels, including Upgrade, Recursion, Dark Matter, and the Wayward Pines Trilogy which was adapted into a television series for FOX. Crouch also co-created the TNT show Good Behavior, based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. He is currently at work on a new book and showrunning the Dark Matter series adaptation for Apple TV+. Blake is based in Colorado. (Source: blakecrouch.com)
Young adult fiction author Maggie Stiefvater is the New York Times bestselling author of The Shiver Trilogy, The Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races. She is an avid reader, artist, and driver of things with wheels. She plays several musical instruments (most infamously, the bagpipes) and makes art in several media (most generally, colored pencils). She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her family. (Source: maggiestiefvater.com)
To find out more information, reserve a ticket for the event, or to learn more about the additional authors who will be in attendance, go to warrenpl.org/b2b!
-by Ashley Fowlkes
