When
Friday
03/19/2010
6:30 PM

Sponsor
Tallahassee Writers Association

Contact
Donna Meredith
850-878-2931

Where
FSU Conference Center
555 Pensacola St
Tallahassee, FL 32306

County
Leon

Tallahassee Festival of Books & Writers Conference: "Books Make a Difference"

Each scholar will give 15-minute speech on "The Power of Books to Shape American life," followed by an audience question/answer period on the topic. Each of the speakers on the panel will talk about some way books have influenced American Culture. Wayne Wiegand will draw on famous people's interaction with books in public libraries over time -- people from Robert Frost to Hillary Clinton, and including Jackie Robinson, Gloria Steinem, Richard Rodriguez, Ruth Bader Ginzburg, and Clarence Thomas. John Fenstermaker will speak on the impact of contemporary American visual culture on printed books and the decline in the public's reading skills. John Cole will draw on prize-winning letters from student winners of Letters About Literature, the Center for Books's national reading-writing contest, which is co-sponsored with target. (More than 65,000 students wrote letters to favorite authors, living or dead, as part of the 2009-2010 contest.) In addition to the panel, there will be light hor d'oeuvres, The Tate's Hell Blues Band, and a cash bar. Additional panel discussions continue on Saturday along with a day-long book festival of author readings and book signings, new and used book sales, arts and crafts, street magicians, and much more. For more information, visit www.tallahasseewriters.net.