One of the highlights of any ALA conference or meeting is getting to hear and see our favorite authors up close. This meeting is no exception as the ALA/ERT/Booklist Author Forum will get Midwinter 2011 started with four highly acclaimed authors today from 4:00–5:15 p.m. in the San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20D. All authors will be signing copies of their latest works during the Opening Exhibits Reception at their publisher’s booths.
David Levithan is the author of many celebrated young-adult novels, including the New York Times bestselling Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn), which was adapted into a popular movie. He is also an editorial director at Scholastic. The Lover’s Dictionary is his first novel fort adults. Levithan is sponsored by Macmillan and will be signing at booth 1917.
Stewart O’Nan is the author of a dozen award-winning novels, including A Prayer for the Dying, The Night Country, and The Good Wife, as well as several books of nonfiction, including, with Stephen King, the bestselling Faithful. A sequel to the bestselling, much-beloved Wish You Were Here, O’Nan’s intimate new novel, Emily, Alone: A Novel, follows Emily Maxwell, a widow whose grown children have long since moved away. As Emily grapples with her new independence, she discovers a hidden strength and realizes that life always offers new possibilities. Like many older women, Emily is a familiar yet invisible figure, one rarely portrayed so honestly. Her mingled feelings—of pride and regret, joy and sorrow—are gracefully rendered in wholly unexpected ways. O’Nan was born and raised in Pittsburgh and lives with his family there. He is sponsored by Penguin and will be signing books at booth 2026.
Armistead Maupin was born in Washington, D.C., in 1944, but grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, he served as a naval officer in the Mediterranean and with the River Patrol Force in Vietnam. Maupin worked as a reporter for a newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, before being assigned to the San Francisco bureau of the Associated Press in 1971. In 1976 he launched his groundbreaking Tales of the City serial in the San Francisco Chronicle. Maupin is the author of nine novels, including the six-volume Tales of the City series, Maybe the Moon, The Night Listener, and Michael Tolliver Lives. Three miniseries starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney were made from the first three Tales novels. The Night Listener became a feature film starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette. Maupin’s newest novel is Mary Ann in Autumn. He lives in San Francisco with his husband, Christopher Turner. Maupin is sponsored by Harper Collins and will be signing books at booth 2017 from 6:00–7:00 p.m. during the exhibits opening reception.
After Susan Vreeland graduated from San Diego State University she taught high school English in San Diego beginning in 1969 and retired in 2000 after a 30-year career. Concurrently, she began writing features for newspapers and magazines in 1980, taking up subjects in art and travel, and publishing 250 articles. Vreeland ventured into fiction in 1988 with What Love Sees, a biographical novel of a woman’s unwavering determination to lead a full life despite blindness. The book was made into a CBS television movie starring Richard Thomas and Annabeth Gish. Vreeland is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Girl in Hyacinth Blue, The Passion of Artemisia, and Luncheon of the Boating Party. Her newest book is Clara and Mr. Tiffany. She is sponsored by Random House and will be signing in booth 1816.