A RICH BLEND OF VIBRANT VOICES
This year the BIG ORANGE BOOK FESTIVAL welcomes an extraordinary mix of authors, publishers, and storytellers all weekend long. There’s definitely something for everyone to enjoy—and maybe something a little challenging, as well.
Drawing on Chapman University’s commitment to intellectual inquiry and discovery, the Festival invited marquee presenters with definite perspectives and different voices. Authors and panelists are equally diverse and wide-ranging and, coupled with the Festival’s mix of exuberant panelists, promise a weekend of unrivaled edu-tainment.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11,
6 p.m. / Memorial Hall
Start your festival experience with one of the best stories every told on screen: The Princess Bride. A cherished favorite of all ages, the movie reminds us of the power of reading… and the joy of being read to. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the book’s original publication in 1973. Princesses and princes are encouraged to dress for the showing (and just might earn a crown to prove their status).
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12
11 a.m. / Irvine Lecture Hall
Alan Cheuse is author of the novels The Bohemians, The Grandmothers’ Club, The Light Possessed, the award-winning To Catch the Lightning, and Song of Slaves in the Desert, plus several collections of short fiction and novellas. He has also published a memoir titled Fall Out of Heaven: An Autobiographical Journey and A Trance After Breakfast, a collection of travel essays.
As a book commentator, Cheuse is a regular contributor to National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. His short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Black Warrior Review, The Idaho Review, Another Chicago Magazine, and elsewhere. The second edition of his introduction to literary study— Literature: Craft & Voice, which he wrote with Nicholas Delbanco—has recently come out from McGraw-Hill. His new collection of short stories, An Authentic Captain Marvel Ring, will be published in spring 2014.
Michael Silverblatt, described as “the guy authors go to when they want a serious literary conversation about their work,” is the host of KCRW’s Bookworm, a nationally syndicated radio program showcasing writers of fiction and poetry. Describing his interviews as “conversations,” Silverblatt has hosted hundreds of our most celebrated writers, including David Foster Wallace, Salman Rushdie, Joyce Carol Oates, and Susan Sontag.
12:30 p.m. / Memorial Hall
Lara Spencer is one of the co-anchors for ABC’s Good Morning America. She is also author of I Brake For Yard Sales, a New York Times bestseller about interior design from Abrams Books. Her love of design led her to create and executive produce the series Flea Market Flip for HGTV, which is currently in its second season. Spencer is a mom to two children and lives in Connecticut.
2:30 p.m. / Memorial Hall
The Author’s Role in the Writing Business, sponsored by Black Hills Press Black Hill Press is a publishing collective founded on collaboration. Our growing family of writers and artists are dedicated to the novella—a distinctive, often overlooked literary form that offers the focus of a short story and the scope of a novel. We believe a great story is never defined by its length.
Our independent press produces uniquely curated collections of Contemporary American Novellas. We also celebrate innovative paperback projects with our Special Editions series. Books are available in both print and digital formats, online and in your local bookstore, library, museum, university gift shop, and selected specialty accounts. Discounts are available for book clubs and teachers.
2:30 p.m. / Fish Interfaith Center
When Richard Paul Evans wrote The Christmas Box, he never expected to become an internationally recognized author. The story was
“The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” Malcolm Forbes
something he penned as an expression of love for his two young daughters.
Three years later, this simple story of parental love and the true meaning of Christmas made history when it became simultaneously the #1 hardcover and paperback book on the NY Times bestsellers list.
6 p.m. / Memorial Hall
Avengers assemble! In his 20plus years in the comic book industry, Bill Rosemann has created superhero stories and characters that resonate with audiences of all ages. He’s worked alongside the industry’s top creators while writing and editing titles featuring Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Batman, Superman and the Avengers. Come hear about his amazing journey in the land of superheroes and then stick around for a showing of 2012 film, The Avengers. Dressing as your favorite character is optional… but really kind of fun.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13
11 a.m. / Memorial Hall
Kim Stanley Robinson has become one of the most well-known and respected science fiction writers in the world, with a reality-based approach that has made him a social thinker speaking “for the future and from the future.” His work has received 11 major awards from the science fiction field, and has been translated into 23 languages. His environmentalist work was the basis for him being named one of Time magazine’s “Heroes of the Environment” in 2008. His articles and stories have been published in Nature, The New York Times, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Post, The New Scientist, and Wired. He was the guest of honor at the 68th World Science Fiction Convention, in Melbourne, 2010. His most recent novel, 2312, was a New York Times bestseller.
Because of the intensively researched nature of Robinson’s fiction, and the integrated nature of his various interests, ranging from the physical and human sciences to sustainability issues, political economy, urban design, utopia, space, and future history, he shares a remarkable perspective on what the future may hold for these subjects.
2 p.m. / Memorial Hall
Marcia Clark joined the Office of the District Attorney in Los Angeles in 1981 where she handled thousands of cases, including more than 20 murder trials. In 1994, she became lead prosecutor of what would become the most publicized criminal case in American history: the O.J. Simpson trial. Two years after the verdict was handed down, Clark’s book about the case, Without a Doubt, rose to #1 on the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, and Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers lists. Clark’s crime novels and short stories feature the tenacious, wise-cracking and fiercely intelligent Special Trials Prosecutor Rachel Knight. The first of Clark’s novels, Guilt by Association, was a national bestseller and garnered starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews. Following that debut novel, the adventures of Rachel Knight were further chronicled in Guilt by Degrees (2012) and, most recently, Killer Ambition (2013). In addition to providing on-air legal analysis and commentary, Clark has appeared on multiple television and radio shows and hosted her own talk show.
Each of these extraordinary authors would be a marquee event on their own; together, they reflect the depth and breadth of the Big Orange Book Festival this year. A complete list of authors and presenters can be found on pages 9-13. Don’t miss your favorites, and discover some new ones this year.