PLA Announces Keynote Speakers for National Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 2001
FROM: BRENDAN DOWLING
PLA COMMUNICATIONS ASST
312-280-5021
Several prominent authors will provide keynote addresses at the Public Library Association’s (PLA) upcoming national conference, “PLA 2002.” The conference will be held March 12–16, 2002 in Pheonix, Arizona.
Preconference Author Luncheon
Noted science-fiction author Nancy Kress will be the featured speaker at the Preconference Author Luncheon, Tuesday, March 12, noon–1:45 p.m. Kress is the author of more than fourteen novels, including the popular Sleepless trilogy and the recent Stinger. She has been awarded the prestigious Nebula and Hugo prizes for her work. Tickets are $25 for this event and require preregistration.
Opening General Session
Benjamin Zander, author of The Art of Possibility and conductor of the Boston Philharmonic for the past twenty years, will keynote the Opening General Session on Wednesday, March 13, 2–4 p.m. Zander, dubbed “the Energizer Bunny of classical music” by 60 Minutes’ Morley Safer, will use music as both metaphor and medium to share his insights on leadership, change, and transformation.
Author Luncheons
PLA Author Luncheon speakers include Diana Gabaldon, Francisco X. Alarcon, Juan Williams, and M.E. Kerr.
Diana Gabaldon will join PLA participants at an Adult Author Luncheon, Thursday March 14, from Noon - 1:45 p.m. Since writing her her first novel, Outlander, a 600-page historical saga set in the 18th century Scottish Highlands, Gabaldon has become one of America's most popular women's fiction/romance writers. Since Outlander Gabaldon has published Dragonfly in Amber; Voyager; Drums of Autumn; King, Farewell; and The Outlandish Companion. Please note that this event is sold out.
Francisco X. Alarcon, director of the Spanish for Native Speakers Program at the University of California at Davis, will speak at the Children’s Author Luncheon on March 14. An award winning poet and educator, Alarcon has written books for both children and adults, including Iguana in the Snow and Other Winter Poems, Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems, From the Bellybutton of the Moon and Other Summer Poems, and Angels Ride Bikes and Other Fall Poems.
One of America’s pre-eminent historians, Juan Williams, will address the audience at the adult author luncheon on Friday, March 15. Williams, the host of National Public Radio’s popular afternoon call-in program “Talk of the Nation,” is well known for his groundbreaking text, Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954–1965, as well as Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary. Please note that this event is sold out.
Acclaimed young adult novelist M.E. Kerr will speak at the Young Adult Author Luncheon on Friday, March 15, from noon to 1:45 P.M. at PLA's Ninth National Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Kerr's most recent novel, Slap My Sides, was published to critical acclaim this past October. Her other books include Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack, Linger, Deliver Us From Evie, and the popular Fell series. Under the name Mary James, she has written several popular books including Shoebag, Shoebag Returns, and Frankenlouse. She is the recipient of numerous awards, among them the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association and lifetime achievement awards from the National Council of Teachers of English and The New York State Library Association.
Tickets for all author luncheon speakers are $25 and preregistration is required.
Sizzling Southwestern Supper
PLA will host a “Sizzlin’ Southwest Supper,” Thursday, March 14, at 6 p.m. The speakers for this informal dinner include George Guidall, Richard Ben Cramer, Ron Powers, and Nora Roberts. Guidall, one of Recorded Books’ most popular narrators, has performed nearly 300 titles. In addition to his narrator work, Guidall is a prolific stage actor and has appeared in Malcolm X, The Imposters, as well as numerous episodes of Law and Order.
In his groundbreaking biography, Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life, Richard Ben Cramer presented a stunning, often shocking portrait of the hero nobody knew. Richard Ben Cramer brought us the story Joe DiMaggio never wanted to tell - and never wanted anyone else to tell. Mr. Cramer also wrote the bestselling What It Takes: The Way to the White House, which was acclaimed as one of the finest books ever written on American politics. His dispatches from the Middle East for The Philadelphia Inquirer won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1979. He lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore with his wife and daughter.
Powers has served as a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and was the first TV critic to win the Pulitzer Prize. His recent release, Tom and Huck Don't Live Here Anymore, was hailed by Publisher's Weekly as "disturbingly powerful." He co-authored Flags of Our Fathers, a best-selling nonfiction look at the six men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. He has also written ten other books, including five other nonfiction works, another collaboration (The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle,May 2001), two novels, and two collections of previously published work.
Roberts, a contemporary women’s fiction writer and perennial best-selling author, has published 141 novels, translated into more than twenty-five languages. She is the fastest growing writer of women’s fiction in the world with mass market sales that surpass Danielle Steele. A reader at heart, Roberts remains committed to the loyal romance-reader audience that first welcomed her in 1981, while drawing new fans with her original paperback trilogies as well as her mainstream fiction titles. The “Sizzlin’ Southwest Supper” is sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association.
Closing General Session
Helen Thomas, dean of the Washington Press Corps, will speak at the Closing Session on Saturday, March 16. Thomas has spent the last thirty-seven years covering every presidency from Kennedy to Clinton. The recipient of numerous awards, Thomas was the first female president of the White House Correspondent’s Association and the first female member (and later president) of the Gridiron Club. Thomas will offer her unique vantage point on American politics to PLA members, and also discuss her new book Front Row at the White House.
In addition to these author programs, the conference will feature more than 100 continuing education programs, preconference and postconference programming, and more than 600 booths in the exhibit hall. More information about PLA 2002 can be found at www.pla.org or by calling 1-800-545-2433, ext 5PLA.
PLA is a division of the American Library Association.