BROOKINGS – The 2018 South Dakota Festival of Books features Pulitzer Prize-winning writers, notable journalists, acclaimed authors from around the country and a world-famous novelist whose best-known work was turned into a major motion picture.
The 2018 Festival of Books will take place Sept. 20-23 in Brookings and Sioux Falls, with pre-festival events starting Sept. 17. More than 60 authors of local, regional and national fame will be featured at the 2018 festival.
While most events are free, events with food and writing workshops require tickets, which can be found online at http://sdhumanities.org/festival-of-books/tickets/.
Pre-festival events
While most festival events take place Sept. 20-23, the festival will kick off next Monday, Sept. 17, with preview events throughout the week leading up to a big weekend full of author presentations, writing workshops, book signings and more.
• Monday, Sept. 17 – The Greatest Stories Rarely Told: Biblical Scholars and the Discrepancies of Scripture with biblical scholar Bart D. Ehrman, 7-8 p.m., Performing Arts Center, Larson Memorial Concert Hall
• Tuesday, Sept. 18 – Special Screening: “The Lovely Bones” with an introduction by local filmmaker Jay Fishback, 1-3:45 p.m., Brookings Cinema 8, theater No. 5
• Tuesday Sept. 18 – Books to Film: A Great American Tradition – wine and cheese reception with filmmaker Jay Fishback, 4-6 p.m., Old Market Eatery
Regular festival events
Thursday, Sept. 20
On Thursday, the Young Readers Festival will be hosted by the Washington Pavilion and Downtown Public Library in Sioux Falls. Events begin at 10 a.m. at the Washington Pavilion. Young Readers events continue in Brookings Friday, Sept 21.
The biggest event of the day is the Festival Fundraiser & Author Reception from 7:30-9 p.m. at the SDSU Alumni Center, Woster Celebration Hall in Brookings, where readers and writers can mingle with festival authors and enjoy hors d’oeuvres. The $50 ticket for the event includes one free drink, after which a cash bar will be available.
Friday, Sept. 21
Friday is a full day of young readers’ events held at the Children’s Museum of South Dakota and K-12 schools in Brookings starting at 10 a.m. For adults, Friday will feature author events and panel discussions on the South Dakota State University campus, including public presentations in the Student Union and at the PAC.
Downtown-area workshops are scheduled at the Brookings City & County Government Center and the Brookings Public Library in the morning and in the afternoon at the First United Methodist Church.
Attendees will want to head to the Community Life Center, First United Methodist Church, at 1 p.m. for the opening of Exhibitors’ Hall and the “Early Bird” Mass Book Signing, 3:30-4:15 p.m. That evening’s keynotes at the Larson Memorial Concert Hall include a talk by 2018 One Book South Dakota author Thomas E. Patterson and a conversation with Alice Sebold, an author from PBS’s The Great American Read list of 100 best-loved books.
Saturday, Sept. 22
On Saturday, Exhibitors’ Hall opens at 9 a.m. and concurrent events begin in downtown Brookings. Sessions will take place in the Downtown and Central Historic Districts, with venues including the Brookings City & County Government Center, the Brookings Public Library, and the Community Life Center and other venues at the First United Methodist Church.
The afternoon includes another Mass Book Signing in Exhibitors’ Hall at 1 p.m., and the evening features keynotes in the sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church –”American Wolf” author Nate Blakeslee (5:30-6:30 p.m.) followed by a panel on the evolution of coverage of tough topics by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Timothy Egan and Jacqui Banaszynski (7-8 p.m.).
Sunday, Sept. 23
The 2018 Festival of Books will conclude on Sunday with a ticketed brunch at 10:30 a.m. at McCrory Gardens, Great Hall, in Brookings: Book Lovers’ Brunch: The Many Faces and Functions of Fiction with Leif Enger, Patrick Hicks, Jess Lourey, C. M. Wendelboe, Rose Ross Zediker. Participants will enjoy a brunch catered by Aramark while learning more about fiction of all kinds – literary, historical, mystery, romance and more – from best-selling authors in all these genres.
Featured presenters
The festival includes authors from South Dakota and other areas of the U.S. who fall into festival tracks of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, literature, children’s/YA, history/tribal writing and writer’s support.
Leading the 2018 Festival of Books lineup is author Alice Sebold, whose novel “The Lovely Bones” vaulted her to international stardom with translations in over 45 languages and sales of more than 5 million copies in America alone.
With poignant prose tackling difficult subjects of rape, child murder and the fracture of families, Sebold captured international audiences with her brilliant debut novel. A film version was adapted, written and directed by Peter Jackson. It was released in 2009 and starred Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci.
Pulitzer winners and more
To complement year-round, statewide programs focusing on public trust and the media, the Festival of Books will feature Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and journalists providing context on changes in news gathering and delivery and discussing “infoliteracy” – thinking critically amidst the proliferation of available media.
Discussion of our “Democracy and the Informed Citizen” initiative is led by Thomas E. Patterson, SDSU political science graduate and Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press at the Harvard Kennedy School, who will present a keynote at the festival and visit SDSU journalism classes.
Patterson’s “Informing the News: The Need for Knowledge-Based Journalism” is the 2018 One Book South Dakota.
Featured presenters include:
• Pulitzer Prize winners Jacqui Banaszynski (“AIDS in the Heartland,” St. Paul Pioneer Press), Timothy Egan (“How Race Is Lived in America,” New York Times), Caroline Fraser (“Prairie Fires”) and Annette Gordon-Reed (“The Hemingses of Monticello”);
• Fiction favorites Alice Sebold (“The Lovely Bones” – in partnership with PBS/SDPB’s The Great American Read and SDSU’s Common Read), Leif Enger (“Virgil Wander”) and William Kent Krueger (“Desolation Mountain”);
• Children’s/YA authors Kara LaReau (“The Infamous Ratsos” – 2018 Young Readers One Book South Dakota), Jessie Taken Alive Rencountre (“Pet’a Shows Misun the Light”) and Kevin Charles Smith (“Bilge Rat, Pirate Adventurer”);
• Local luminaries and South Dakota authors Phyllis Cole-Dai (“Beneath the Same Stars”) and Ruby Wilson (“Poetry of Presence”), Mike Henriksen (“First Person: Legendary South Dakota Sports Stories”) and Rick Holm (“A Guide to Aging and Dying with Grace”);
• Tribal authors Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (“In Defense of Loose Translations”), Terese Mailhot (“Heart Berries: A Memoir”) and Joseph M. Marshall III (“In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse”); and
• !4 media professionals and authors, including Andy Boyle, director of Platform Architecture for Axios, and Linsey Davis, Emmy-winning reporter for ABC News
For more details, visit the SDHC online at sdhumanities.org and sdbookfestival.com or call 688-6113.
Courtesy photo: Exhibitors’ Hall is always a big hit for Festival of Books attendees, who can get autographs and talk to their favorite authors. Above, Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve is shown signing at a book at Exhibitors’ Hall at the 2017 Festival of Books.
