At Author Fest 2023, we are hosting five diverse Iowa authors including our headliner, Beth M. Howard! Beth is known as the “pie lady” who lived for five years in the American Gothic house in Eldon, Iowa where she ran the Pitchfork Pie Stand. She is an author, a world traveler and adventurer, often using pie as her way to connect with the world. She has written Making Piece, World Piece, Hausfrau Honeymoon, all memoirs of her life journey and the pie cookbook Ms. American Pie. Beth will be reading from her work at 10:30 am followed by a pie demonstration! Participants will be able to enter to win and take home that very pie! Beth, and all our authors, will have books for sale and signing afterwards in the Author Room.

We are so fortunate to have so many talented writers in our own community and Dan Henderson is one of them! He will be kicking off our event at 9 am. Dan has written Confessions of a Recovering Evangelical: Overcoming Fear and Certainty to Find Faith Through Doubt and Questioning and A Henderson History: A Tall Tree With Deep Roots. He is also working on a new book which will be published soon.

Venise Berry will be joining us at 9:45 am. Venise is a professor and writer at the University of Iowa in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications and does research on African American cultural criticism. She has published the novels So Good, An African American Love Story, All of Me, A Voluptuous Tale, and Colored Sugar Water. She has also co-authored several books on African American cinema.

After the lunch hour, Leigh Michaels will read at 1 pm. Leigh Michaels is a prolific author, speaker, editor, and public speaker. She has written more than 100 contemporary and historical romance novels as well as non-fiction books. More than 35 million copies of her romance novels have been published in more than 25 languages and 120 countries. She is also a big supporter of libraries, serving as a member of the Libraries Advancement Council for the University of Iowa Libraries, a member of the board of trustees of the Ottumwa Public Library, and the president of the board of the Ottumwa Public Library Foundation.

Our final author for the day will be Eric Gapstur at 1:45 pm. Eric is an author, illustrator, cartoonist from eastern Iowa. His work can be seen in DC and Image comics, among others. Sort of Super is his debut middle grade graphic novel series which combines his love for the action, adventure, and drama in comic books and the humor and whimsy of comic strips. Following his reading, Eric will also be giving an illustration demonstration. You will want to make sure to bring your upper elementary kids to this reading and demo!

Date : November 4, 2023

Time : 9:00 AM

Location : Washington Public Library - 115 W Washington St, Washington, IA 52353.  

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