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Take the annual Utah Humanities Book Festival, now in its 14th edition, as a sign that the publishing industry hasn't rolled over and died — yet. But Salt Lake City is a town ripe with readers, and literary programmers are playing to those page turners. This season's literary offerings range from readings from young adult writers, to headliners such as poet W.S. Merwin and Pultizer-winning Marilynne Robinson. It's a lineup of prose-slingers that's worth leaving the quiet of your favorite reading chair.
The King's English
Oct. 13 • Kristen Chandler, author of Girls Don't Fly.
Oct. 15 • Jessica Day George, author of Tuesdays at the Castle.
Oct. 19 • Richard Peck, author of Secrets at Sea.
Oct. 20 • Sara Zarr, author of How to Save a Life.
Oct. 22 • Mark Pett, author of The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes.
Oct. 26 • Sam Brower, author of Prophet's Prey.
Oct. 28 • Michael Gills, author of Go Love & The Death of Bonnie and Clyde.
Nov. 1 • Ally Condie, author of Matched and its sequel, Crossed.
Nov. 7 • John Flanagan, children's author of Ranger's Apprentice series.
Info • 1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City. For more information, call 801-484-9100 or visit http://www.kingsenglish.com. Most readings are free.
Book clubs• Sam Weller's hosts Queereads Book Club, Lit Knit and Hardboiled Book Clubs monthly. Check store Web site for schedule and details.
Info • 254 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. Call 801-328-2586 or visit http://www.samwellers.com for more information.
Ken Sanders Rare Books
Oct. 14 • Lance Newman, author of The Grand Canyon Reader.
Oct. 26 • Matt Kirkpatrick and Davis Schneidermann.
Info • Free. 268 S. 200 East, Salt Lake City. Call 801-521-3819 for more information, or visit online at http://www.kensanders.com; readings are free.
Salt Lake City Main Library
Oct. 13 • Friends of The City Library Used Book Sale: Members-Only Preview
Oct. 15 • Friends of the Library Used Book Sale
Oct. 20 • YWCA Week Without Violence Storytime; Write More Good: Social Media and Satire.
Oct. 29 • Graphic Novel Club discussion, Batman, The Long Halloween.
Oct. 31 • Dia de los Muertos Storytime.
Nov. 12 • KUED Super Reader Marathon Kick-Off Party
Info • Free. 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City. Call 801-524-8200 or visit http://www.slcpl.org.
Utah Humanities Council Book Festival
Oct. 13 • Western writing panel discussion with Judith Freeman, author of Red Water, Teresa Jordan, author of Riding the White Horse Home, and Utah poet Katharine Coles.
Oct. 14 • Christopher Corbett, journalist and author of The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West.
Oct. 15 • Guy Francis, children's illustrator of A View of the Zoo.
Oct. 21 • Charles Euchner, author of Nobody Turn Me Around: A People's History of the 1963 March on Washington, at Calvary Baptist Church.
Oct. 22 • The History of Utah Radicalism, a panel discussion with William Adler, author of The Man Who Never Died: The Life, Times, and Legacy of Joe Hill American Labor Icon; Greg Hurwitz, author of thrillers including They're Watching and You're Next; Leslie Lammle, author and illustrator of Pajama Pirates; poetry slam poetry competition with Jesse Parent; Marilynne Robinson, author of Housekeeping and Gilead; Anthony Doerr, author of Memory Wall; Melanie Rae Thon, author of Voices of the River.
Oct. 23 • Photojournalist Ann Torrence
Oct. 26 • Poet Travis Mossotti
Oct. 29 • Emily Wing Smith, author of
Info • All events are free and take place at the Salt Lake Main Library, 200 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City, unless noted. Other activities in Ogden, Brigham City, Cedar City, Logan, Morgan, Tremonton and St. George. Call 801-359-9670 for information, or visit http://www.utahhumities.org/BookFestival.htm for times and complete event schedule.
Salt Lake City Arts Council and the University of Utah Guest Writers Series
Nov. 17 • Prose writers Danzy Senna and Robert Glick.
Jan. 19 • Wayne Koestenbaum, poet and critic; Deb Olin Unferth, prose writer.
Feb. 15 • Jenny Boully, prose writer and poet.
March 22 • Poets Jennifer Perrine and Anne Winters.
April 12 • Prose writer Laird Hunt and poet Ishion Hutchinson.
Info • Readings are free and take place at Finch Lane Gallery and Art Barn, 54 Finch Lane, Salt Lake City, unless noted. Call 801-596-5000 for information or visit http://www.slcgov.com/arts.
Sundance Resort Author Series
Nov. 5 • Catherine Gildiner, author of After the Falls, Coming of Age in the Sixties.
Info • $75 includes the lecture and discussion, plus signed copy of author's book and brunch in the Tea Room, 8841 N. Alpine Loop Road Sundance, Utah. Call 866-734-4428 or visit http://www.sundanceresort.com for more information.
Westminster College Anne Newman Sutton Weeks Poetry Series
Nov. 14 • Admiel Kosman and Lisa Katz
Feb. 9 • Ted and Annie Deppe
April 20 • Writer and translator Fiona Sze-Lorrain
Info • Free. Dumke Student Theatre, Emma Eccles Jones Conservatory, 1840 S. 1300 East, Salt Lake City. Call 801-832-2376 for more information, or look at the cultural events section of http://www.westminstercollege.edu. —
Marilynne Robinson, of Housekeeping, Gilead and Home
Some authors — Philip Roth, for example — turn out novel after novel of high-wire narrative pyrotechnics and dashing characterization. Others, such as Marilynne Robinson, write only when the spirit strikes. Or when all the material needed seems to alight before their eyes, or when they get lonely. A native of small-town Sandpoint, Idaho, Robinson wowed the critical establishment with her 1980 novel, Housekeeping, which inspired a cult of readers and a generation's worth of writers. It wasn't until 2004, after she had produced a wealth of nonfiction and one short story, that Robinson felt so moved again. According to a Paris Review interview, the fictional urge resurfaced because she needed company when she couldn't visit her sons. The resulting novel, Gilead, garnered her the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and a worthwhile reminder that some talents don't need constant exercise, just timing. Robinson is a firm believer that character precedes plot, and that French Protestant theologian John Calvin has a lot to teach the world. Her two visits to Utah during the Utah Humanities Council's Book Festival make two rare chances to catch a living literary lioness at the height of her powers.
When • Oct. 20, 7 p.m. at Orem Public Library; Oct. 22, 3 p.m. at Salt Lake City Main Library auditorium.
Where • Orem Public Library, 58 N. State Street, Orem; Salt Lake City Main Library auditorium, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City
Info • Free. Call 801-359-9670 or visit http://www.utahhumanities.org for more information. —
Anthony Doerr, of Memory Wall
The thorough, artful scouring of all that memory entails and holds may not be the newest topic on the literary block — consider Marcel Proust — but Anthony Doerr gives nearly every other writer in the field a serious run for the money. He also has an uncanny knack for globetrotting the world in his latest collection, Memory Wall, which takes readers from Africa to Hamburg, Germany, to the DMZ zone of the Korean peninsula. Historical events such as WWII also loom large as Doerr's characters lose memory, struggle to retain it and, above all, ache to understand and control it. With a passel of literary awards to his name — including four O. Henry Prizes and a fellowship at the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation — Doerr's career is certain to continue its ascendant course. With muscular prose like his, it's easy to go along for the ride.
When • Oct. 22, 4:30 p.m.
Where • Salt Lake City Main Library auditorium, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City
Info • Free. Call 801-359-9670 or visit http://www.utahhumanities.org for more information.