A year-round book festival dedicated to great conversations with today's best writers.
This coming season, there is something for everyone at this book festival. We are especially proud that a majority of our guest writers are women, such as literary stars Jodi Picoult, Anna Quindlen, and Geraldine Brooks. If you’re a fan of intelligent, award-winning television, check out Vince Gilligan, creator of “Breaking Bad.” And don’t miss Michael Sandel, Harvard’s most popular professor who will deliver a fascinating class lecture on ethics and decision-making. Where else can you get into Harvard for $15? Here’s the lineup:
VINCE GILLIGAN | February 4, 2012
If you admire Raymond Carver’s short stories, or John Updike’s Rabbit Run novels, or the seat-of-your-pants adventure found in the best mysteries, you’ll love this evening. Vince is no stranger to northern Michigan, having attended Interlochen Center for the Arts as a teenager. NWS founder Doug Stanton will interview Vince in an exclusive behind-the-scenes discussion about the show’s memorable scenes and how they move from the writer’s room to the screen. Vince will also discuss his diverse career, including a long-running stint as writer and executive producer of The X-Files, co-creator of “The Lone Gunmen,” and screenwriter of such popular films as “Hancock” and “Home Fries.” Don’t miss this rare opportunity to ask questions of one of TV’s hottest writers.
Jodi Picoult with special guest Paula McClain | March 12, 2012
Jodi is the best-selling author of eighteen novels: her last five all debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best-Sellers List. Her books have sold more than 14 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 34 languages. Entertainment Weekly called Picoult the “rare writer who delivers book after book, a winning combination of the literary and the commercial.” In 2009, her novel, My Sister’s Keeper, was adapted into a hit film starring Cameron Diaz and Alec Baldwin.
Paula McLain is a previous NWS guest and New York Times best-selling author of critically acclaimed The Paris Wife.
Alan Cheuse with special guest Geraldine Brooks | April 5, 2012
National Public Radio’s acclaimed “Voice of Books,” Alan Cheuse is a master of words, both his own and others. As a book critic, Alan appears regularly on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and has served as a fiction judge for the National Book Award. As an author, Alan has published four novels, three collections of short fiction and the memoir “Fall Out of Heaven.” His short fiction has appeared in publications including The New Yorker, Ploughshares and The Antioch Review. Alan’s latest novel, Song of Slaves in the Desert, traces the thread of slavery from 1500s Timbuktu up to the Civil War, exploring one man’s struggle with the legacy of slavery and the loyalty of family.
Geraldine Brooks, an Australian journalist and author, has written several international best-sellers including Nine Parts of Desire, Year of Wonders and People of the Book. She won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for March, a riveting parallel novel to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women told from the point of view of the March family’s absent father.
Michael Sandel, Harvard’s wildly popular professor and internationally renowned lecturer and author, confronts today’s looming political and ethical questions. His latest book, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (published April 24, 2011), asks, perhaps, the most pressing ethical question of our time: Is there something wrong with a society in which everything is for sale? Michael’s “Justice” class is one of the highest attended in Harvard history. He’s also the star of his own PBS series, “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?” He has contributed to The New York Times and The Atlantic Monthly, and appeared on The Colbert Report, PBS, BBC and more.
Anna Quindlen with special guest Susan Casey
Anna was the third woman to ever serve as a New York Times’ Op-Ed columnist; she won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992 for her column “Private and Public.” She also penned the popular “Last Word” column for Newsweek from 2000 to 2009. In addition to her journalistic success, her electrifying novel, Black and Blue, about a woman’s escape from her abusive husband, was selected as an official Oprah Book Club pick in 1998. Now her memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake (published May 1, 2011), offers a humorous and heartfelt look at her life and the lives of women, from girlfriends to marriage to parenting and more.
Susan Casey, O Magazine’s editor-in-chief. Casey is the New York Times best-selling author of the critically acclaimed books The Devil’s Teeth and The Wave. She has been a featured guest on programs including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Charlie Rose and Conan.
Natalie Bakopoulos with special guest host Elizabeth Kostova
Natalie Bakopoulos’s debut novel, The Green Shore, portrays a rich family drama set during the 1960s Greek military dictatorship as each person wrestles with the legacy of the government and life’s meaning. An early draft of this work won the Avery and Julie Hopwood Award and the Platsis Prize for Work on the Greek Legacy. Natalie is a professor at her alma mater, the University of Michigan, and a contributing editor to the prestigious Fiction Writers Review. She won the 2010 PEN/O. Henry Prize, and her work has appeared in Tin House, Ninth Letter and Granta Online.
Elizabeth Kostova’s worldwide blockbuster, The Historian, is a tale of three generations of historians on the track of the original Dracula. After a bidding war for the publishing rights, Elizabeth accepted a $2 million contract, and the book went on to become the fastest-selling hardcover debut novel in American publishing history and the first debut novel to ever premiere at number one on the New York Times Best Seller List. The Historian sold over three million copies worldwide in 40 languages. SONY/Columbia Pictures is currently producing a film adaptation. Elizabeth’s second novel, The Swan Thieves, was another international bestseller.
