Traverse City National Writers Series: Screenwriter and showrunner Vince Gilligan is the creator of one of television’s most critically acclaimed dramas, AMC’s dark hit ‘Breaking Bad’. Now entering its fifth and final season, the provocative series follows meek chemistry teacher Walter White (played by three-time Emmy-winning actor Bryan Cranston), who turns to a life of crime after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Hollywood Reporter and Paste magazine all named the show #1 on their lists of 2011 Best TV Shows, with Stephen King naming the program #1 on his list of 2011 Pop Culture Favorites, hailing it as “an American classic.”

That could be a scene. Maybe something from a neighborhood, too, with a lovingly tended house next to a charred husk next to a blank spot where a family’s life used to be.

This is what Doug Stanton does: Observe things, commit them to memory or a notepad, retrieve them later and put them on a page. He’s a writer, even if he hasn’t been doing enough of that the last few years, but he can’t just stare at a laptop and expect vivid colors to show up.

Walk along the snow-dusted sidewalks in downtown Traverse City on certain nights of the month and you’ll likely hear folks talking books. Yes, books. Not the fate of them, with e-readers and Amazon’s self-publishing schemes, but the story behind a story. The writers. The words.

(WJBK) – Michigan native and bestselling author Doug Stanton will join other acclaimed writers at the Book Lovers Getway in Traverse City, Mich. this weekend.

Author Doug Stanton Returns to Michigan: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Picoult, author of 18 novels that have sold more than 14 millions copies worldwide, will be interviewed March 12 by returning author Paula McLain (“The Paris Wife”).

Quindlen, a former New York Times and Newsweek columnist-turned author, will be interviewed by Oprah magazine editor and author Susan Casey (“The Wave”) on May 14. The “guest host spotlight” interviews are one of the new fixtures in this year’s series.

For more on the lineup, and other additions to the series, read Wednesday’s Record-Eagle.

The February issue of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine has a story about the National Writers Series. Here’s a vignette I found while doing research that didn’t make it into print but really wanted to share because of what is says about the series and our community.

The Opera House is beautiful. Whenever I’m there, I can’t help looking up. The Traverse City Pie Company did a stellar job with the buffet lunch, too. The focus of the event, however—and justly so—was the announcement of this season’s guest authors. What a line-up! You can (and should) link to the NWS website for the full schedule, but I can’t help saying how thrilled I am that there is a philosopher coming this year: Michael Sandel, communitarian ethicist from Harvard. Among fiction writers, the one who stands out most sharply for me is Geraldine Brooks, author of four novels, because I have read three of the four.…