Northern Michigan Arts: The National Writers Series is pleased to announce the 2013 Fall Season. This season's line-up includes New York Times bestselling authors, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, cops and werewolves, book reviewers, national news and magazine editors, and an activist, poet and "Living Legend." Tickets go on sale to Friends of NWS at noon on August 20, while tickets go on sale to general public at 10 AM on August 27. To purchase tickets before August 27, call the City Opera House box office at (231) 941-8082. On August 27 or later, you can purchase tickets online or by calling the box office.
Benjamin Percy with special guest host Jeremiah Chamberlin
Thursday, September 5 at 7 pm
Hailed by critics as one of America's emerging novelists, Benjamin Percy is the award-winning author of The Wilding. James Lee Burke says, "Benjamin Percy is one of the most gifted and versatile writers to appear in American publishing in years. His writing is like a meeting of Shakespeare and rock 'n' roll." Percy's recent book Red Moon is a literary tour de force about the supernatural.
Percy's fiction and nonfiction have been read on National Public Radio and published by Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, The Wall Street Journal and The Paris Review. His honors include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Whiting Writers' Award, two Pushcart Prizes, the Plimpton Prize, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories and Best American Comics.
Benjamin Percy will be joined on stage by Jeremiah Chamberlin, Associate Director of the English Department Writing Program at the University of Michigan and a Contributing Editor of Poets & Writers Magazine. He is also the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the online literary journal Fiction Writers Review.
Reserved Seating: $25 (ticket only) $42 (ticket plus book)
General Admission: $20 (ticket only) $37 (ticket plus book)
Educator Discount: $5 off ticket price with valid ID Student Discount: $10 off ticket price with valid ID
Michael Paterniti with special guest host Doug Stanton
Friday, September 27 at 7 pm
Michael Paterniti is the New York Times bestselling author of Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain and the newly released The Telling Room. An emerging American master, Dave Eggers says, "Michael Paterniti is one of the best living practitioners of the art of literary journalism."
Paterniti's writings have appeared in many publications, including The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Harper's, Outside, Esquire, and GQ, where he works as a correspondent. Paterniti has been nominated eight times for the National Magazine Award, and is the recipient of a NEA grant and two MacDowell Fellowships. He is the co-founder of The Telling Room, a children's storytelling center located in Portland, Maine.
Learn more about The Telling Room (the book) and The Telling Room (the storytelling center).
Guest host Doug Stanton is the author of the New York Times bestsellers In Harm's Way and Horse Soldiers. His writing has appeared in Esquire, The New York Times, Time, the Washington Post, and other national publications where he has been a contributing editor. Stanton attended Interlochen Arts Academy, Hampshire College, and received an MFA from the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. He lives in Traverse City, Michigan with his wife, Anne Stanton, and their children.
Reserved Seating: $25 (ticket only) $42 (ticket plus book)
General Admission: $20 (ticket only) $37 (ticket plus book)
Educator discount: $5 off ticket price with ID Student discount: $10 off ticket price with ID
Jamie Ford with special guest host Rich Fahle
Monday, September 30 at 7 pm
Amazingly talented. Masterful. A gifted writer.
That's what readers and critics alike have to say about New York Times bestselling author Jamie Ford. Pat Conroy, bestselling author of The Prince of Tides says, "Ford is a first-rate novelist whose bestselling debut, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, was a joy to read. With his new book, he takes a great leap forward and demonstrates the uncanny ability to move me to tears."
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet has been translated into 34 languages, was a Borders Original Voices Selection, a Barnes & Noble Book Club Selection, Pennie's Pick at Costco, a Target Bookmarked Club Pick, and a National Bestseller. It was also named the #1 Book Club Pick for Fall 2009/Winter 2010 by the American Booksellers Association. Songs of Willow Frost is Ford's much-anticipated second novel set against the backdrop of the 1920s and a Depression-era Seattle.
Learn more about Songs of Willow Frost and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
Guest host Rich Fahle is the Founder and CEO of Astral Road Author Media and Bibliostar.TV. Before launching Astral Road in 2010, Fahle served as Vice President of Digital Content, E-Commerce and Entertainment at Borders. Prior to Borders, Fahle was Chief Spokesperson and Communications Director for C-SPAN, the national public affairs cable television network based in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He currently blogs for video-commerce.org and digitalbookworld.com.
Reserved Seating: $30 (ticket only) $47 (ticket plus book)
General Admission: $25 (ticket only) $42 (ticket plus book)
Educator discount: $5 off ticket price with ID Student discount: $10 off ticket price with ID
David Finkel with special guest host Doug Stanton
Monday, October 15 at 7 pm
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Finkel won critical acclaim for his book The Good Soldiers, listed a best book of 2009 by the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Slate.com, and The Boston Globe, and winner of the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism.Finkel is a staff writer for The Washington Post, and is also the leader of the Post's national reporting team. He won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2006 for a series of stories about U.S.-funded democracy efforts in Yemen, and the MacArthur "Genius" Grant in 2012.
In the New York Times bestseller The Good Soldiers Finkel shadowed the men on the frontlines in Baghdad from the 2-16 Infantry Battalion as they carried out a grueling fifteen-month tour that changed all of them forever. In his forthcoming book Thank You For Your Service Finkel follows many of those same men as they've returned home and have struggled to reintegrate -both into their family lives and into American society at large. Former NWS guest and bestselling author Geraldine Brooks says Thank You For Your Service is, "…an incandescent and profoundly moving book: powerful, intense, enraging. This may be the best book on war since the Iliad."
Learn more about Thank You For Your Service.
Guest host Doug Stanton is the author of the New York Times bestsellers In Harm's Way and Horse Soldiers. His writing has appeared in Esquire, The New York Times, Time, the Washington Post, and other national publications where he has been a contributing editor.
Stanton attended Interlochen Arts Academy, Hampshire College, and received an MFA from the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. He lives in Traverse City, Michigan with his wife, Anne Stanton, and their children.
Reserved Seating: $25 (ticket only) $43 (ticket plus book)
General Admission: $20 (ticket only) $38 (ticket plus book)
Educator discount: $5 off ticket price with ID Student discount: $10 off ticket price with ID
Nikki Giovanni with special guest host Leigh Haber
Wednesday, October 30 at 7 PM
An American icon and an Oprah "Living Legend," Nikki Giovanni's poetry has spurred movements and inspired songs, turned hearts and informed generations. Frequently anthologized, Giovanni's poetry expresses strong racial pride and respect for family. Her informal style makes her work accessible to both adults and children.
Giovanni is the author of 27 books and the recipient of seemingly countless honors and awards including a Grammy nomination for The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. Several magazines have named her Woman of the Year, including Essence, Mademoiselle, Ebony, and Ladies Home Journal. Giovanni also won a Caldecott for her children's book Rosa about Rosa Parks.
Between 1970 and 2003, she received nearly 100 awards and honors, as well as 24 honorary degrees. She has been given keys to more than a dozen cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, and New Orleans. Since 1987, she has been on the faculty at Virginia Tech, where she is a University Distinguished Professor.
Guest host Leigh Haber is Books Editor for O, the Oprah Magazine, where she oversees the Reading Room section of the magazine and other book coverage, and coordinates the Oprah Book Club 2.0. She is a longtime book editor and book publishing executive who has acquired and edited books by Al Gore and Steve Martin -just to name a few. Four years ago, she left corporate publishing to work with the San Francisco self-publishing startup Blurb, she also worked as an independent book editor, consultant, and writer. Haber attended The George Washington University and worked full-time as a news aide for The Washington Post while attending college.
Reserved Seating: $35 (ticket only) $48 (ticket plus book) General Admission: $30 (ticket only) $43 (ticket plus book)
Educator discount: $5 off ticket price with ID Student discount: $10 off ticket price with ID
Sara Paretsky with special guest host Nancy Baker
Tuesday, November 5 at 7 pm
Sara Paretsky is credited with transforming the mystery genre through the creation of her female private eye V.I. Warshawski. Paretsky first introduced the smart and gritty investigator in 1982 in the novel Indemnity Only. This was followed by 15 more bestselling Warshawski novels. In 1991, Kathleen Turner played V.I Warshawski in the movie of that name. V.I. returns in Paretsky's latest novel Critical Mass.
An advocate for those on society's margins, Paretsky chaired the first Commission on the Status of Women at the University of Kansas and worked as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side during the race riots of 1966. Paretksy also served with then senator Obama on the board of Threshold, which serves Chicago's mentally ill homeless.
Like her fictional detective, Paretsky lives and dies with the Cubs, runs Chicago's lakefront with her golden retriever, loves to sing, and takes part in community musicals. She lives on Chicago's south side with her husband, a member of the University of Chicago's Fermi Institute.
Guest host Nancy Baker serves as the Program Director of Evanston Scholars in Evanston, Illinois and as a National Writers Series board member. Nancy has a broad scope of professional experience, including eight years as a high school English instructor in the Chicago area, and an additional 12 years as a marketing professional. She served as Corporate Communications Editor for KPMG, Manufacturing Tax Division Marketing Manager for Arthur Andersen's world headquarters, Ethnic Promotions Manager for Kraft Foods, and Promotions Director and founding team member/co-owner of Boca Burger, Inc. Nancy served as Volunteer Coordinator and Director of Communications for the Traverse City Film Festival for eight years. A lover of all things literary and a super book geek in general, she resides in Evanston, Illinois and Elk Rapids, Michigan.
Reserved Seating: $30 (ticket only) $48 (ticket plus book) General Admission: $25 (ticket only) $43 (ticket plus book)
Educator discount: $5 off ticket price with ID Student discount: $10 off ticket price with ID
Become a Friend of NWS
Friends can purchase tickets for the new season starting August 20 at noon. Tickets go on sale to the general public on August 27 at 10 AM.
If you love National Writers Series and want to help us support young writers and deepen our community's appreciation of the written word, you'll want to become a Friend of NWS. By becoming a Friend you support our events and mission through a minimal contribution with big payoffs.
What are the benefits?
• You will be able to purchase tickets to events a prior to the general public!
• Invitations to special events and author receptions
• Opportunities to learn about new author guests before the general public
• NEW: Special offers and discounts at select downtown retailers like Horizon Books, Green Island and Morsels
• NEW: An official NWS membership card
• NEW: NWS bumper sticker
• And of course, the satisfaction of knowing that you are making a difference to young writers through your membership contribution
How much does it cost?
• Single – $50/year entitles you to purchase up to two (2) tickets during advance purchase weeks • Family – $100/year entitles you to purchase up to four (4) tickets during advance purchase weeks
How long does my membership last? You will be a Friend for a year from the date you join.
How do I become a Friend?
• Contribute directly here. We accept credit cards or PayPal. • Mail your contribution to:
National Writers Series c/o Jill Tewsley ?123 W Front Street Traverse City, MI 49686