A year-round book festival dedicated to great conversations with today's best writers.

Continuing the popular 2010 spring/summer season of the National Writers Series, which has featured such guests as Tom Brokaw and Thomas Lynch,  we welcome New York Times best-selling author Audrey Niffenegger at the City Opera House on Thursday, July 15 at 7:00 p.m.

Born in South Haven, Michigan, Audrey Niffenegger is the tour-de-force writer behind 2003’s “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” which has sold five million copies world-wide and has been translated into 33 languages. The book dominated the New York Times best-seller list, won the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize and a British Book Award, was chosen as a 2003 Amazon.com Book of the Year and was a Today Show Book Club pick. In 2009, a film adaptation of the novel starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams debuted at no. 3 at the box office in the U.S.

Niffenegger’s second full-length novel, “Her Fearful Symmetry,” a gothic ghost story set in Highgate Cemetery in London, debuted last fall. The Washington Post called the book “frighteningly smart” and “deliciously creepy,” with The New York Times praising the story as “bewitching.” Niffenegger is also the author of two illustrated novels, “The Three Incestuous Sisters” and “The Adventuress.” She currently lives in Chicago, where is she at work on her third novel.

Niffenegger will kick off her national book tour for “Her Fearful Symmetry” in Traverse City on July 15 at the City Opera House. The event begins at 7:00 p.m., with doors opening at 6:00 p.m. “An Evening with Audrey Niffenegger” will include a lively and entertaining discussion of the writer’s internationally beloved books, her work as an author and visual artist, her personal life and an interactive audience Q&A.

Guests of the event will enjoy complimentary dessert courtesy of Morsels, as well as a post-event reception featuring a cash bar and personal book signing with the author. Attendees will be able to purchase copies of Niffenegger’s books for signing at the event.

Tickets for “An Evening with Audrey Niffenegger” can be purchased at the City Opera House box office, or online at www.cityoperahouse.org. Tickets are $15 advance/$20 at the door for adults, and $5 for students.