Over 51 authors and poets will flood into USF St. Petersburg for the 24th Annual Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading.
Saturday begins the festivities, which won’t feature a big name author, like Judy Blume who spoke last year. But the line will include two New York Times bestselling authors, a professor on campus and Julia Child’s great-nephew.
In addition to his 11 mystery thrillers, Brad Meltzer is one of the few authors to have books on the bestseller list for nonfiction (“Decoded”), advice (“Heroes for My Son,” “Heroes for My Daughter”), children’s books (“I Am Amelia Earhart,” “I Am Abraham Lincoln”) and comic books (“Justice League of America”).
His newest thriller, “The House of Secrets,” with author Tod Greenberg, focuses on Hazel Nash, the daughter of a conspiracy TV show host after she is stricken by amnesia. The book follows Nash as she tries to uncover the truth about her father’s connection to the government and to a corpse stuffed with a leather book that belonged to Benedict Arnold.
Alex Prud’homme’s new book, “The French Chef in America: Julia Child’s Second Act,” is “the sequel in spirit” to “My Life in France,” the autobiography that Prud’homme co-authored with Child herself. The book explores Child’s newfound fame, its ups and downs, difficult colleagues and what happened after the publication of her magnum opus, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” which introduced Americans to the world of French cooking.
St. Petersburg resident and an avid creator of glass art, author Cheryl Hollon’s third book in the Webb Glass Shop Mystery series (set in St. Petersburg), “Cracked to Death,” sees Webb Glass Shop proprietor Savannah Webb embark on a new adventure. This time she investigates the death of a snorkeler, Martin Lane, who supplied her with two interesting glass bottles for her popular bottle crafting class.
lecture, Clark discussed the similarities between songwriting and sentence structure. (Devin Rodriguez | TCN)
“Oh Florida!: How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country” is Tampa Bay Times reporter and native Floridian Craig Pittman’s newest book. Based on his 2013 blog of the same name, the best-selling author captures the unique nature of the residents in the sunshine state.
With his second collection of poems, “Olympic Butter Gold,” poet Jonathan Moody delivers narratives inspired by and responses to songs from hip hop’s Golden Age of the ‘80s and ‘90s, such as “Cell Therapy” by Atlanta group Goodie Mob and “Ice Cream” by Wu-Tang Clan members Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna and Method Man.
Returning authors from last year’s festival include the prolific Tim Dorsey (“Coconut Cowboy,” the 19th book in the Serge Storms series), Roy Peter Clark (“Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer”), Ace Atkins (“The Innocents”) and Michael Koryta (New York Times bestseller “Rise the Dark”).
The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is free. The presentations will take place in different venues around the campus and the Poynter Institute across the street. Book signings begin right after the presentations and book sales will be at the book market, which will be set up in the faculty parking lot across from the USC, and at smaller venues around campus.
For schedules, information on the other authors and more details, visit the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading website.
