Guest Authors

In 2008, we had nearly 100 guest authors participate! Browse through these pages to learn more about our special guests.

Or you can visit our 2007 guest authors area to learn about past year's guests.

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2008 Guest Authors

A through F | G through L | M through R | S through Z

 

Lisa Garrigues

Lisa Garrigues is an award-winning author, educator, and speaker. Her first book, Writing Motherhood, published by Scribner in 2007 and released in paperback this spring, inspires women to mine their everyday lives for stories to preserve and pass on. In addition to teaching Writing Motherhood, Lisa leads a variety of other writing workshops in memoir. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and earned a master's degree in education from Teachers College, Columbia University. To learn more, visit www.writingmotherhood.com. Scheduled Appearance: Writer's Conference - May 16, 9:45 and Lunch panel, 11:15 Scheduled Appearance: Mom Power Hour Panel - May 17, ProQuest CSA Stage, 3:30 Scheduled Appearance: Pitch Panel - May 17, Michigan Stage (League), 5:00

Regie Gibson

Poet, songwriter, author, workshop facilitator, and educator Regie Gibson has performed, taught, and lectured at schools, universities, theaters and various other venues on two continents and in seven countries. Most recently in Havana, Cuba. Regie and his work appear in the New Line Cinema film Love Jones, based largely on events in his life. The poem entitled "Brother to the Night (A Blues for Nina)" appears on the movie soundtrack and is performed by the film's star, Larenz Tate. Regie performed "Hey Nappyhead" in the film with world-renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El Zabar, composer of the score for the musical The Lion King. Scheduled Appearance: Author Reading - May 17, WEMU Stage, 5:00

Don Gonyea

Don Gonyea is an American journalist. He currently serves as the White House correspondent for National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and Talk of the Nation programs.Gonyea began working for NPR in 1986, reporting on the automobile industry and labor issues in Detroit. He was part of the team that in 2000 won the Peabody Award for a series called Lost & Found Sound. Gonyea is a 1978 graduate of Michigan State University, where he worked for the public television station, WKAR TV, one of the first such university-based public television stations in the nation.

Elizabeth Goodenough

Elizabeth Goodenough has taught English and American Literature since 1976 at Harvard University, Claremont McKenna College and the University of Michigan. A scholar and activist in the emerging field of children's studies, she has published numerous articles on children's literature and culture, co-edited Infant Tongues: The Voice of the Child in Literature (Wayne State University Press 1994), a special issue of The Lion & the Unicorn on Children's Literature and Violence (John Hopkins University Press 2001), and edited Secret Spaces of Childhood (University of Michigan Press 2003). Her collection Under Fire: Childhood in the Shadow of War, co-edited with Andrea Immel, is available this spring from Wayne State University Press, while A Place for Play, companion volume to Where Do the Children Play? a documentary film she initiated and helped develop for public television, is being distributed by University of Michigan Press as part of a national outreach campaign. Scheduled Appearance: Author Reading @ Shaman Drum Bookstore - May 13, 7:00 pm Scheduled Appearance: Children's Lit Panel - May 17, Borders Stage, 12:30

Tyree Guyton

Primarily a painter and sculptor, Tyree Guyton has also been described as an urban environmental artist. He has waged a personal war on urban blight on Detroit's East Side, transforming his neighborhood into a living indoor/outdoor art gallery. Through his art, Guyton has drawn attention to the plight of Detroit's forgotten neighborhoods and spurred discussion and action. He continues to live and work in the city. Tyree studied at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. He is work is featured in the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Studio Museum of Harlem and many others. He has received over 10 awards for his effort. Photo Credit: Donna Terek and the Detroit News Scheduled Appearance: Michigan Notable Books Event - May 14, Borders Liberty Store, 7:00 pm

Julie Halpert

Julie Halpert is a journalist with over two decades of experience writing for national publications, including The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Family Fun and Parents. She is a regular on-air contributor to various public radio programs. She has just written a book, "Making Up With Mom: Why Mothers and Daughters Disagree About Kids, Careers and Casseroles (and What to do About It)." Scheduled Appearance: Writer's Conference - May 16, 8:30 am and 9:45 am Scheduled Appearance: Mom Power Hour Panel - May 17, ProQuest CSA Stage, 3:30

Monica Harris

Kalamazoo native Monica A. Harris writes about things that excite her. This includes creative writing activities for young authors, early reader books about animals, and even a picture book about the mischief that takes place when dead people are stirred from their slumber! Her works include Wake the Dead, a Quills Literary Awards nominee. Scheduled Appearance: School Visit (pre-arranged)

Stephen Haven

Stephen Haven is Professor of English and Director of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Ashland University, where he also directs the Ashland Poetry Press. He is the author of two books of poems, The Long Silence of the Mohawk Carpet Smokestacks (University of New Mexico Press/West End Press, 2004) and Dust and Bread (Turning Point, April 2008), a chapbook of collaborative translations, The Enemy in Defensive Positions: Poems from China (Poetry Miscellany Chapbooks, February 2008), and a memoir, The River Lock: One Boy's Life along the Mohawk (Syracuse University Press, April 2008). Haven's poetry and essays have appeared in Crazyhorse, American Poetry Review, Literary Imagination, Salmagundi, Image, Western Humanities Review, The Missouri Review, Artful Dodge, The Clackamas Literary Review, The Texas Review, The Christian Science Monitor, and in many other journals. He received an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. in American Civilization from New York University, where he wrote his dissertation under the direction of Harold Bloom. Haven also holds a Master in American Studies from the University of Iowa. His undergraduate degree is from Amherst College. Haven has been a repeat fellow at Yaddo and MacDowell, twice a Fulbright Lecturer in American Literature (poetry) at universities in Beijing, and has won four individual artist grants, and one residency fellowship (at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center), from the Ohio Arts Council. He is also the editor of The Poetry of W.D. Snodgrass: Everything Human (University of Michigan Press, 1993), and co-editor of two anthologies of contemporary American poetry. Scheduled Appearance: Writer's Conference - May 16, 9:45 am

Manuela Hejna

Manuela Hejna is a certified TellingtonTouch & SATS practitioner. Manuela was born in Germany, studied and earned certification in alternative animal medicine at the ATM School in Hamburg. She has practiced in the field of behavior therapy since 1999. Manuela has been featured in several newspaper articles. She is available for home visits, individual instructions, classes and presentations. You can learn more about Manuela at www.Centerforanimaltherapy.com.

Ron Hogan

Ron Hogan is the author of The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane, a visual tribute to '70s Hollywood Publishers Weekly called "one of the year's most fun" coffee table books when it was published in 2005. He also contributed to the New York Times bestseller Not Quite What I Was Planning. In addition to editing (and writing a good chunk of) the literary website Beatrice.com, he writes about the business side of publishing at GalleyCat. Scheduled Appearance: Writer's Conference - May 16, 3:30

Paul Hornschemeier

Paul Hornschemeier was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1977 and raised in nearby Georgetown, Ohio. As a child he liked to draw, dreaming that he might publish his own comicbooks one day. While majoring in philosophy and psychology at Ohio State, Hornschemeier was introduced to the graphic novel Ghost World by Daniel Clowes and was impressed. He saw that comics could be a venue for exploring issues that are far from superficial. Following graduation he began publishing his own black and white comics, progressive in nature, that have now been compiled by AdHouse Books under the title The Collected Sequential. He gradually began using colors in his comics, and in 2003 he published his first graphic novel titled Mother, Come Home.He is also the creator of Let Us Be Perfectly Clear (2006) and The Three Paradoxes (2006). Scheduled Appearance: Author Reading - May 17, Kalamazoo Stage (League), 3:30 Scheduled Appearance: School Visit (pre-arranged)

Sunil Iyengar

Sunil Iyengar directs the Office of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. In November 2007, Mr. Iyengar's office released To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence, a new and comprehensive analysis of reading patterns in the United States. The study continues the investigation of the NEA's landmark 2004 report, Reading at Risk. He also manages a national evaluation project for the Big Read. Prior to joining the NEA in June 2006, he worked successively as a reporter, managing editor, and senior editor for a series of news publications covering the biomedical research, medical device and pharmaceutical industries. His book reviews have appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The American Scholar, The New Criterion, and Contemporary Poetry Review. He was a board member of the American Poetry & Literacy Project, co-founded by Andrew Carroll and the late Joseph Brodsky. Mr. Iyengar earned his B.A. in English from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Scheduled Appearance: Future of the Book Panel - May 17, Mich. Humanities Stage, 2:00

John Javna

John Javna has written countless books on political and environmental activism, as well as on popular culture (Uncle John's Bathroom Reader), which have sold many millions of copies. The founder of EarthWorks Press, he lives in southern Oregon with his family. Sophie Javna and Jesse Javna are both currently high school students and are excited to be writing their first book, one they hope will be a gift to the future of their own generation. With his new 50 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO SAVE THE EARTH, Javna has broken the mold once again with a format that encourages readers to pick one or two causes that inspire them and then get involved in the bigger, broader solution. Sophie Javna will be appearing with her father at the Festival. Scheduled Appearance: Environment Panel - May 17, State St. Assn.Stage, 12:30 Scheduled Appearance: Signings - May 17, Plum Market Booth, 2:00 Scheduled Appearance: Election Panel - May 17, Gale Stage, 3:30

Laura Kasischke

Laura Kasischke is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Dance and Disappear (Juniper Prize, 2002), and three novels. Her work has received many honors, including the Alice Fay diCastagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Beatrice Hawley Award, the Pushcart Prize, and the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Emerging Writers. She lives in Chelsea, Michigan, with her son and teaches at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Laura's book, The Life Before her Eyes, has been made into a film starring Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood. This film will be premiered in Ann Arbor on Friday, May 16, at our historic Michigan Theater. Details on the website's schedule page.

Janet Kauffman

Janet Kauffman lives in Hudson, Michigan, where she has restored wetlands on her farm and works with Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan for sustainable agriculture. Her book Trespassing; Dirt Stories & Field Notes (Wayne State Univ Press, 2008) focuses on the livestock factories recently built in Michigan and their impact on air, water, people, communities. Scheduled Appearance: Environment Panel - May 17, State St. Assn.Stage, 12:30

David Kipen

David Kipen is the new translator of Cervantes' The Dialogue of the Dogs (Melville House), and also author of The Schreiber Theory: A Radical Rewrite of American Film History (again with the Melville House!). He doubles as the NEA's Director of Literature, where he directs The Big Read (www.nea.gov/bigreadblog/). His greatest accomplishment is still winning the Ann Arbor Bookfest Spelling Bee. Scheduled Appearance: Future of the Book Panel - May 17, Mich. Humanities Stage, 2:00 Scheduled Appearance: Books in Translation Panel - May 17, Mich. Humanities Stage, 3:30 Scheduled Appearance: Celebrity Spelling Bee - May 17, State St. Assn. Stage, 5:00

Ted Kluck

Ted's work has appeared in ESPN the Magazine, Sports Spectrum Magazine, ESPN.com Page2, and several small literary journals. His first book, Facing Tyson: 15 Fighters, 15 Stories, was published by the Lyons Press in October 2006, and published internationally by Mainstream Publishing in 2007. His next two books, Paper Tiger: One Athlete's Journey to the Underbelly of Pro Football and Game Time: Inside College Football released in September, 2007. Additionally, Ted has written three WGA registered screenplays and an award-winning (Sabaoth Film Festival) short film. He has played professional indoor football, coached high school football and taught writing courses at the college level. He lives in Grand Ledge, MI with his wife Kristin and son Tristan. Scheduled Appearance: Michigan Notable Books Event - May 14, Borders Liberty Store, 7:00 pm

John Knott

John Knott is professor emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, where he helped plan and served as the first director of the LSA/SNRE Program in the Environment. His books include The Huron River: Voices from the Watershed (2000), co-edited with Keith Taylor; Imagining Wild America (2002); and Michigan: Our Land, Our Water, Our Heritage (2008), which he edited for The Nature Conservancy. Scheduled Appearance: Environment Panel - May 17, State St. Assn.Stage, 12:30

Geri Larkin

Born in Indiana, raised (partially) in Sydney, Australia. Got good grades. Chucked it all to study dance in New York City. Sucked. Went on to get a PhD and do good works. Founded Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple in Detroit in 1999. Guiding teacher there until 2005. Since then, the life of a recluse except for runs to: Starbucks and Dairy Queen. Author of a number of books on Buddhism. Best known is Stumbling Toward Enlightenment. The last one, I swear it, is Plant Seed, Pull Weed which comes out in May, 2008. Scheduled Appearance: Writer's Conference - May 16, 8:30 am

Michael Lewis-Beck

Michael Lewis-Beck is the F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa. He is a co-author of The American Voter Revisited (University of Michigan Press), scheduled for publication in April 2008. In an attempt to understand what happened during the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections, two of the most contentious and polarizing political events in American history, The American Voter Revisited recreates the outstanding classic from 1960, The American Voter. Scheduled Appearance: Election Panel - May 17, Gale Stage, 3:30

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