*All events have been moved inside due to weather. Those locations have been updated below.*
To celebrate the end of the festival, Fall for the Book is gathering at George Mason’s Fairfax Campus in true festival style. On Saturday, October 3, a whopping thirty events take place around campus, featuring novelists like Benjamin Percy and Paula McLain, nonfiction writers including Huan Hsu, poets, including Diane Seuss, and a full slate of children’s and young adult authors, including Kwame Alexander and Winifred Conkling, whose book will be featured on a live taping of the Book Club for Kids Podcast. Then to cap off a wonderful week, novelist Tim O’Brien accepts the prestigious Fairfax Prize for in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his Vietnam War novel, The Things They Carried. Check out these events and those at our partner location, The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
10 a.m.
Children’s Book Authors Pam Ehrenberg & Sue Fliess, Johnson Center Meeting Room D
Sue Fliess
Pamela Ehrenberg is the author of several young adult and children’s books, including the novel Tillmon County Fire for young readers and her newest, Planting Parsley. Sue Fliess is the author of twenty children’s books including Tons of Trucks, Shoes for Me! and Robots, Robots Everywhere! Her picture books have received honors from the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators Her newest books are called I’m A Ballerina and We’re Getting A Pet.
Children’s Book Authors Steve Watkins & Amie Borst, Johnson Center Meeting Room G
Steve Watkins is the author of the paranormal war history “Ghosts of War” series, published by Scholastic. Books One and Two–The Secret of Midway and Lost at Khe Sanh–were published earlier this year, and books Three and Four will be released in Spring 2016. Author and illustrator Amie Borst is part of a mother-daughter team who have written several “Scarily Ever Laughter” books for young readers, which reimagines classic fairy tales. The series includes Cinderskella, a new, skeletal take on the Cinderella story, and Little Dead Riding Hood, whose heroine, Scarlet, is a vampire.
11 a.m.
Children’s Book Authors Candice Ransom and Brian Rock, Johnson Center Meeting Room D
Candice Ransom has made a name for herself in the children’s book world with her Iva Honeysuckle series, which includes Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World and Iva Honeysuckle Meets Her Match. Her newest book is Pumpkin Day! Brian Rock has written a number of children’s books, including Deductive Detective, With All My Heartand Don’t Play With Your Food.
Children’s Book Authors Tracey Kyle and Maha Addasi, Johnson Center Meeting Room G
Maha Addasi
After spending time in Spain, Tracey Kyle wrote the bilingual book Gazpacho for Nacho! about a boy named Nacho who only eats one thing– gazpacho– until he discovers the piles of mouthwatering vegetables at the market. Maha Addasi has written several books, including A Kid’s Guide to Arab American History, which won the 2014 Arab American Book Award for children and young adult books. Addasi has also written The White Nights of Ramadan and Time to Pray.
From Writer-to-Author Panel Discussion, Johnson Center Meeting Room E
Being a writer is largely an introverted, solitary act. But everything that comes after is extroverted and public. This often makes the transition from writer to successful published author a jarring and overwhelming experience, especially if you don’t have a solid plan. This panel discussion will feature the CEO of a small press, a professional editor, a life coach, and a recently published author, who will discuss strategies and steps for building your road map to get from writer to author in a way that positions you to achieve all of your goals. Panelists include moderator Meredith Maslich, Terri J Huck, JB Lawrence, and Jessica Leigh Lyons.
Historian Martha Hodes, Center for the Arts Lobby
In her book, Mourning Lincoln, prize-winning historian Martha Hodes explores letters, diaries and other personal writings to expose the full picture of a nation grieving for a fallen president and hero. Called “lyrical and important new study” by The New York Times Book Review and a “stunning piece of research” by The Wall Street Journal,Hodes’ work introduces readers to a new angle of post-Lincoln America. Sponsored by Department of History and Art History.
Historical Novelists Charles Belfoure & Jeff Richards, Grand Tier III, Center for the Arts
New York Times Bestselling author Charles Belfoure used his training as an architect to craft two thrilling tales, The Paris Architect and his newest novel, House of Thieves,called “a most memorable, evocative read” by Publisher’s Weekly. Jeff Richards is the author of Open Country: A Civil War Novel in Stories. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. calls Open Country, “Intimate yet wide-angled, imaginative and probing.”
Noon
A Reading in Tribute to Alan Cheuse, Center for the Arts Lobby
The creative writing community at Mason celebrates the life and work, and widespread influence, of Alan Cheuse, who died July 31 of injuries sustained in a car crash in California. The reading is organized by his students, past and present, as well as his colleagues.
Children’s Book Author Kwame Alexander, Johnson Center Meeting Room G
Kwame Alexander’s newest book, The Crossover, which won the 2015 Newbery Award, follows two basketball-
Kwame Alexander
playing twins. Alexander wrote the story all in verse to show kids that poetry can be cool. He has been awarded the Coretta Scott King Award honoring African American authors and illustrators and has most recently been nominated for the NAACP’s Image Award for the category, Outstanding Children’s Book.
Crime Fiction Editor Sarah Weinman, Grand Tier III, Center for the Arts
Called “One of the most significant anthologies of crime fiction, ever” by the LA Review of Books, Sarah Weinman’s collection, Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, brings together the best female noir writers from the 1940-70; the trailblazers of suspense writing. Her newest anthology, Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 50s: A Library of America Boxed Set brings together the best female pioneers of the genre once more. Any lover of the noir will adore these collections.
The Joy of Writing with Children’s Book Author Jacqueline Jules, Johnson Center Meeting Room C
Using examples from her books Never Say a Mean Word Again, Sofia Martinez, No English, The Princess and the Ziz, Duck for Turkey Day, and Zapato Power, Jacqueline Jules talks about inspiration for ideas and how to revise. Revision is clearly demonstrated through a series of illustrations, showing how both text and art were strengthened to make a more appealing story. The program includes songs, poetry, and writing ideas.
1 p.m.
Arts and Crafts Activity with Author Kara Laughlin, Johnson Center Meeting Room D
Who says you need a craft store to get crafty? Craft guru Kara Laughlin, author of the10 Things to Do Series, including the titles Fun things to Do with Egg Cartons leads a fun and family-friendly DIY activity for all ages from her new book, Paper Artist: Creations You Can Fold, Tear, Wear, or Share.
Book Club for Kids Podcast, Johnson Center Meeting Room G
Kitty Felde hosts a live taping of her award-winning podcast, Book Club for Kids,where young readers meet to talk about a featured book. Each episode includes a celebrity reading from the chosen book, and the author joins in to answer questions. This episode features Winifred Conkling’s Passenger on the Pearl, with Conkling’s reading directly following the event.
Researcher Deborah Kahn, Johnson Center Meeting Room C
Deborah Kahn
When women become mothers, every decision becomes more complex and every question opens new paths: Do I remain employed? Do I stay at home? In Deborah Kahn’s The Roads Taken: Complex Lives of Employed and At-Home Mothers, a non-judgmental, warm and informative book based on systematic data collection and analysis, she discusses the stresses and challenges mothers encounter caring for children/family, self, and often, career. Book available at Barnes & Noble retailers.
Short Story Writers Richard Peabody and David Nicholson, Grand Tier III, Center for the Arts
As a publisher, Richard Peabody’s steadfast dedication to that which is new, challenging, innovative, and dynamic has won him a wide reputation among writers whose work he has championed. The Richard Peabody Reader, a collection of his poetry and prose, demonstrates those same values, embodied in nearly four decades of fiercely smart, sophisticated, and often very funny writing. David Nicholson’s short story collection Flying Home: Seven Stories of the Secret City illuminates the mythic in the everyday lives of Americans whose stories are all too rarely deemed worthy of art.
Writing Workshops
YA Workshop for High Schoolers, Johnson Center Meeting Room F
Jen Brooks, author of In a World Just Right is joined by Heather Demetrios, author of I’ll Meet You There, and Kim Liggett, author of Blood and Salt to run a workshop for high school writers who love YA novels and want to try writing them for themselves. They will provide tips, tricks and advice all young writers need.
YA Workshop for Middle Schoolers, Johnson Center Meeting Room E
Oct 3 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Trisha Leaver, author of The Secrets We Keep joins together with Lori Goldstein,author of Becoming Jinn to work with middle school-aged students on how to craft and begin writing their own YA stories.
1:30 p.m.
Mason M.F.A Alumni Huan Hsu, Karen Guzman, Kirsten Lopresti, Center for the Arts Lobby
Huan Hsu
Three of the many Mason MFAers who are publishing today return to read from their new books. Huan Hsu is the author of The Porcelain Thief: Searching the Middle Kingdom for Buried China, which melds memoir, travelogue, and social and political history to offer an intimate way to understand the last two hundred years of China’s complicated history. Karen Guzman is the author of the novel Homing Instincts, a story of loss, change, and redemption, called a “pitch perfect debut novel” by Jacqueline Sheehan. Kirsten Lopresti is the author of the young adult novel, Bright Coin Moon, called “a lyrical and suspenseful debut novel” by Booklist.
2 p.m.
“The Cities We Live In: New Writings from South Asia” Panel Discussion, The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD
Moderator Leeya Mehta has worked in international development for two decades. She is the author of a chapbook, The Towers of Silence, and was nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Prize for her poem, “The Abduction,” on identity and nationalism in contemporary India. Mehta is joined by Kavita Daiya, who directs a Digital Humanities Histories of Violence and Migration initiative, and has written a book, Violent Belongings: Partition, Gender and National Culture in Colonial India. Tula Goenka is a filmmaker, educator and human rights activist as well as the author of Not Just Bollywood: Indian Directors Speak, filmmaker, educator and human rights activist.Rashmi Sadana is the author of English Heart, Hindi Heartland: The Political Life of Literature in India, which is an ethnography of Delhi’s literary field and the politics of language that undergird it. Sponsored by The Writer’s Center.
Children’s Book Authors Melissa Thomson & Katy Kelly, Johnson Center Meeting Room D
Melissa Thomson writes the Keena Ford series, about a girl who must find her way out of sticky situations. Thomson’s books include Keena Ford and The Secret Journal Mix-Up and Keena Ford and The Field Trip Mix-Up. Katy Kelly has written a number of books in her Lucy Rose and Melonhead series, about a girl and boy living on Capitol Hill. Her books include Lucy Rose: Busy Like You Can’t Believe and Melonhead and the Big Stink.
Children’s Book Authors Winifred Conkling & Lisa Martin, Mason Hall Tent
Winifred Conkling
Winifred Conkling is the author of Passenger on the Pearl: The True Story of Emily Edmonson’s Flight From Slavery which follows Emily Edmonson as she boards a schooner on the Potomac River near D.C. and ends up in New Orleans to be sold.Passenger on the Pearl illustrates a turbulent time in American History as seen through the eyes of enslaved people. Lisa Martin is the author of Anton and Cecil: Cats on Track, where two cat brothers travel to the Wild West to save their mouse friend.
Fantasy Author Ken Liu , Grand Tier III, Center for the Arts
In Grace of Kings, Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards, has written the first sweeping book in an epic fantasy series which follows two men who first rebel against tyranny and then become enemies. NPR says, “Liu’s world is beautiful, nuanced, fierce, original and diverse.” Set in a non-Western tradition, Grace of Kingsblends together elements from China, Polynesia and beyond.
Historian and Educator Tim Grove, Gum Spring Library, 24600 Millstream Drive, Stone Ridge, VA
Public historian and Fall for the Book alum Tim Grove has followed A Grizzly in the Mail and Other Adventures—a collection of some of the most interesting yet lesser known stories in American History—with First Flight Around the World, a book for younger readers about America’s first attempt at circumnavigating the globe by flight. Sponsored by Loudon County Public Library.
2:30 p.m.
Gazing Grain Press Reading with Marisa Crawford, Center for the Arts Lobby
Founded in 2012 by George Mason M.F.A. students, Gazing Grain Press is committed to feminism, art, and publishing within a feminist work ethic. Poet Marisa Crawford, winner of Gazing Grain’s 2015 chapbook contest, will read from her collection, Big Brown Bag. A reception follows the reading. Sponsored by Gazing Grain Press.
3 p.m.
Children’s Book Authors Terry Catasús Jennings and Carol Cole, Johnson Center Meeting Room D
Terry Catasús Jennings has written a number of books for children that aim to make science fun and interesting. Her books include Sounds of the Savanna and Gopher to the Rescue: A Volcano Recovery Story. Carol Cole is the author of numerous short stories. The Penguin Lady is her debut picture book and is based on one of the teachers she worked with – the original Penguin Lady.
Novelist Paula McLain, Harris Theater
Paula McLain
Paula McLain is the author of the New York Times and internationally-bestselling novel, The Paris Wife, about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife in 1920’s Paris with eccentric literary expats like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ezra Pound. It has been called, “Exquisitely evocative” by The Seattle Times and the Minneapolis Star Tribune says it “creates the kind of out-of-body reading experience that dedicated book lovers yearn for.” Her new novel, Circling the Sun, is about famous aviator, Beryl Markham, and her passionate love triangle n 1920’s colonial Kenya. This reading is sponsored by the Fairfax Library Foundation.
3:45 p.m.
Fiction from South Asia: A Conversation with novelists A.X. Ahmad and Sujata Massey, The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD
Amin Ahmad, as ‘A.X. Ahmad’, is the author of two books—The Caretaker (2013 ) andThe Last Taxi Ride (2014), both suspense novels from St. Martin’s Press. His short stories and essays have been published in many literary magazines and listed in Best American Essays. He is joined by Sujata Massey, author of two historical novels about British colonial India, including The Sleeping Dictionary, as well as an 11-book mystery series set in modern Japan. Her books are published in sixteen countries and have won the Agatha and Macavity awards and been finalists for the Edgar, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark prizes. Sponsored by The Writer’s Center.
4 p.m.
Novelist Benjamin Percy, Grand Tier III, Center for the Arts
Benjamin Percy has won countless distinctions for his short stories, including the 2012 Pushcart Prize for Writs of Possession, as well as his novels. His latest book, The Dead Lands, a post-apocalyptic reimagining of the Lewis and Clark voyage, has been called an “ingenious thriller, relentlessly driven by Benjamin Percy’s powerful writing” by bestselling author Jess Walter. Stephen King says of The Dead Lands, “Good God, what a tale. Don’t miss it.” Percy is the George Mason Visiting Writer in Fiction this fall.
So To Speak Reading with Carolyn Parkhurst and Diane Seuss, Center for the Arts Lobby
So to Speak, the literary journal run by George Mason students, has provided a forum for feminist writers and artists since 1993. Carolyn Parkhurst is the author of several novels, including The Dogs of Babel, Lost and Found, and The Nobodies Album. Diane Seuss is the author of Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open (2010), which received the 2009 Juniper Prize for Poetry. Seuss is writer-in-residence at Kalamazoo College, in Michigan. Her forthcoming book, Four-Legged Girl will be released through Graywolf Press this fall. Sponsored by So to Speak.
YA Authors Panel, Johnson Center Meeting Room G
Some of today’s brightest YA authors gather together to talk about their craft and stories. Jen Brooks, author of In a World Just Right is joined by Heather Demetrios,author of I’ll Meet You There, Lori Goldstein, author of Becoming Jinn, Trisha Leaver, author of The Secrets We Keep, and Kim Liggett, author of Blood and Salt. From satire to the paranormal, these authors rock the YA literary world.
5 p.m.
Novelist Nadia Hashimi, Harris Theater
Afghan-American novelist, Nadia Hashimi, left readers spellbound with her 2014 book,The Pearl that Broke its Shell, which follows a young girl in Kabul who is allowed to live as a boy until she reaches marriageable age. In her new novel, The Moon is Low,readers follow Fereiba, a widow who must flee Kabul and try to cross Europe in order to protect her family. Kirkus Reviews calls Hashimi’s writing, “A lyrical, heartbreaking account of silenced lives.”
6:30 p.m.
Fairfax Prize Presentation: Tim O’Brien, Harris Theater
Tim O’Brien
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Things They Carried, national Book Award-winning novelist Tim O’Brien will accept Fall for the Book’s highest honor, the Fairfax Prize, which recognizes outstanding literary achievement as well as other contributions to the larger literary culture. George Mason professor Steve Goodwin, author ofBreaking Her Fall, will speak with O’Brien about his experiences in Vietnam and how they led to his writing the book named by the New York Times as one of the twenty-two best books of the last quarter century. The title story has become one of the most anthologized pieces of literature about 20th-century America. Sponsored by the George Mason University Libraries.