Celebrating 20 Years of Authors! Authors!

The Blade and The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library announce the Authors! Authors! Fall 2015/Spring 2016 season, which marks 20 years of the successful series bringing noted authors to the local area.

The authors represented in this upcoming 2015-16 season embody what has made the series so special and meaningful for the community: social justice inspiration and award-winning human rights activist (Bryan Stevenson); the 2015 Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Honor Award Winner (Kwame Alexander); Toledo-raised, feminist, journalist, and socio-political activist and icon (Gloria Steinem); a global icon that changed the game of professional basketball, ambassador, author, Time columnist (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar); the Poet Laureate of Los Angeles and an award-winning activist and best-selling author (Luis Rodriguez), and an Eisner Award-winning cartoonist and graphic novelist (Lynda Barry) in conversation with her best friend, the Emmy-winning cartoonist, screenwriter, producer, and creator of The Simpsons, one of the most iconic shows in history (Matt Groening).

FALL 2015 lineup:

• SOLD OUT Tuesday, September 29 – (7 p.m., McMaster Center, Main Library, 325 Michigan St.):  Bryan Stevenson - Social Justice, Civil Rights, MacArthur Fellow, TED speaker, bestselling author (most recently – Just Mercy), founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative.
• Thursday, October 22 – (7 p.m., McMaster Center, Main Library):  Kwame Alexander - 2015 John Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American literature for Children (The Crossover), award-winning Young Adult/children’s book author, poet, teacher, and literacy advocate
• Wednesday, November 18 – (7 p.m., Stranahan Theater, 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd.):  Gloria Steinem – Toledo-raised American feminist icon, author, journalist and social/political activist.

SPRING 2016 lineup:

• Wednesday, March 2 – (7 p.m., Stranahan Theater):  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Global icon that changed the game of professional basketball, New York Times bestselling author, filmmaker and appointed United States Cultural Ambassador. The National Basketball Association’s (NBA) All-Time Leading Scorer with 38,387 points, a six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a member of six NBA championship teams, he was twice voted NBA Finals MVP.
• Thursday, April 14 – (7 p.m., McMaster Center, Main Library):  Luis Rodriquez - Award-winning poet (appointed Poet Laureate of Los Angeles), activist, bestselling Author (Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.) and “reform through art” advocate.
• Friday, May 20 – (7 p.m., Stranahan Theater):  Lynda Barry and Matt Groening – Barry is an Eisner Award-winning cartoonist and graphic novelist, and Groening is an Emmy-winning cartoonist, screenwriter, producer, and creator of Futurama and the long-running Life in Hell, as well as the longest-running U.S. primetime television series in history – The Simpsons.

At each program, authors speak for about an hour, followed by a short question and answer session. Following the program, the featured author is usually available to sign copies of their works. Books will be available for purchase at the program from Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

An anticipated treat for the community, Authors! Authors! has welcomed some of the biggest names, straight off the best-sellers’ lists. Some of the exciting names from past appearances include David McCullough, Anna Quindlen, Isabel Allende, Neil Gaiman, Sebastian Junger, Nicholas Sparks, Bob Woodward, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Ray Bradbury, John Updike, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., P.J. O'Rourke, Sherman Alexie, Zadie Smith, Henry Winkler, Sue Grafton, Cokie Roberts, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sandra Cisneros, and Jacques Pepin, to name a few.

Authors! Authors! presentations begin at 7 p.m. Ticket information will be available beginning Monday, August 3 for the 2015-16 season. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students.