Normally Mondays are pretty mundane. But this coming Monday is going to have the Meyerson busting with action. And, no, it won’t have Jaap van Zweden and the DSO. Instead authors will be “performing” on stage along with a bushel of Bushes including Mandi and George P. Bush and Pierce (aka Mr. Personality) Bush hosting Barbara Bush’s Celebration of Reading. What’s really fun about this event is the dark horse. Going into the McDermott hall guests tend to have a fav author already picked out. Walking out for dinner in the lobby, they often have a change of mind. The authors’ talks are like appetizers for the feast of conversation at dinner.
Proceeds from the event go to the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.
By the way, this year’s lineup includes
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Eric Draper — “Author of Front Row Seat: A Photographic Portrait of the Presidency of George W. Bush, Eric Draper served as the chief photographer for the entire eight years, photographing the president daily in his activities at the office, abroad and in his personal life. Draper was named Special Assistant to the President, and is the first White House photographer to be named a commissioned officer to a U.S. president. Also during his tenure, Draper directed the photographic and archival conversion of the White House Photo Office from film to digital and took nearly 1 million photos documenting the presidency. Prior to joining the White House, Draper was West Regional Enterprise Photographer for the Associated Press. In eight years with the AP, Draper covered an array of domestic and international news and sports including presidential campaigns, devastating natural disasters around the globe, civil unrest in third world countries, refugee crises abroad, five Olympic games, two World Cups and many NBA, NFL and MLB championships.”
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Kelly Corrigan — “Bestselling author Kelly Corrigan has won an avid following from critics, readers, and booksellers for her finely wrought and deeply emotional memoirs about how we connect to the people in our lives. Corrigan introduced us to her father, the lively and optimistic Greenie, in The Middle Place and explored the often-turbulent air around parenthood in Lift. And now, finally, this New York Times bestselling author examines the bond—sometimes nourishing, sometimes exasperating, occasionally divine—between mothers and daughters in Glitter and Glue.”
- Gary Haugen —“Gary A. Haugen is founder and president of International Justice Mission (IJM) – a global human rights agency that protects the poor from violence by partnering with local authorities and law enforcement to rescue victims, bring criminals to justice, restore survivors and strengthen justice systems. The largest organization of its kind, IJM has served thousands of survivors of violence. Haugen was the Director of the U.N. investigation in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, and has been recognized by the U.S. State Department as a Trafficking in Persons “Hero” – the highest honor given by the U.S. government for anti-slavery leadership.
His work to confront violence against the poor has been featured by Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, the New Yorker, The Times of India, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, the Guardian and National Public Radio, among many other outlets. He is the author of several books, including Good News About Injustice (Intervarsity Press) and, most recently, The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence. The Locust Effectprovides a much-needed argument for reducing violence against the poor and a demonstration — through first hand stories that are both shocking and true — of why that goal is so vital.”
- Emily Giffin — “Emily Giffin, a Chicago native, graduated summa cum laude from Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law. After law school, she moved to Manhattan and practiced litigation at a large firm for several years while she paid back her school loans, wrote a novel in her very limited spare time, and dreamed of becoming a writer.
Despite the rejection of her first manuscript, Giffin persisted, retiring from the legal profession and moving to London to pursue her dreams fulltime. It was there that she began writing Something Borrowed (2004). One year later, Giffin’s gamble paid off, as she completed her manuscript, landed an agent and signed a two-book deal on both sides of the Atlantic. The following summer, Something Borrowed, became a surprise sensation, and Giffin vowed never to practice law again. Her six novels, are all filled with endearingly flawed characters and emotional complexity, have been translated into twenty-nine languages, with eleven million copies in print worldwide. In addition, five of her novels have been optioned for the big screen and are in various stages of development. Her current best-seller is thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself.”
- Brad Meltzer — “Brad Meltzer is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of adult thrillers (including The Inner Circle and its recent sequel, The Fifth Assassin).
In addition to his fiction, Brad is one of the only authors to ever have books on the bestseller list for Non-Fiction (History Decoded), Advice (Heroes for My Son and Heroes for My Daughter), Children’s Books (I Am Amelia Earhart, I Am Abraham Lincoln and I Am Rosa Parks) and even comic books (Justice League of America). His newest illustrated children’s books were written for his own children, to give them better heroes to look up to. Meltzer has also won the prestigious Eisner Award for his comic book work, Justice League of America. Brad is also the host of the History Channel TV show Brad Meltzer’s Decoded. He lives in Florida with his wife and their three children.”
BTW, this event is very G-rated, so if you have a kiddo or a grand-kiddo, why not bring them along?
If you haven’t got your tickets, better hustle, though. And don’t plan on it being a late night. You’ll still have time to hit the sack for bedtime reading.
* Graphics courtesy of A Celebration of Reading