Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Heartland New Day BookFest this Saturday



Day after tomorrow the Heartland New Day BookFest begins. The night before (tomorrow evening) is the dinner with Jordan Dane as the keynote speaker and Mark Hollingsworth as MC. The meal will be delicious (prepared by EFC Women's Ministries) and the company delightful.

Over 70 authors registered for the book fest and will be present to sign any books purchased at the festival. Presentations and mini-workshops will be conducted all day Saturday. Publishers will be taking pitches from writers. Illustrators will present their work. Literary organizations will be present. Authors will donate books for Royal Family Kids Camp, to help foster and abused children have books of their own. Best of Books will be present to sell copies of books from authors who requested their services.

It's going to be such a great day, even if long. Registered participants will begin setting up at 7 AM so the doors can be open to the public at 9. Celebrities, such as Tommy Morrison and Lauren Nelson Faram, Miss American 2007, and local television personalities will read to children in three different reading rooms throughout the day. At 3 PM, the doors will close on the first annual Heartland New Day BookFest, hopefully successful.

A list of registered authors includes the following (I bolded the names of authors with books that made the finals of the competition and an * beside 4RV Publishing authors):

Linda E. Allen - award winning author
Art Anthony
Bob Avey
Eddie R. Beesley
Carl R. Bell
Sandy Hart Binkley
Deborah Bouziden
Nita Beshear
John R. Brooks
Kim Brumley
Glenda Carlile
Carlita Cartmill-Wheeler
Jordan Dane - best selling author and keynote speaker
Margaret Daley - award winning author
Elaine Davis
John "Doc" Davis
Paula Carmack Denson
Hall Duncan "Dr. D"
Edward Charles Ellenbrook
Dara England (Carol Green)
Darlina Eichman - dropped
Jim Etter with New Forum Press
David A. Farris - late registration
Peggy Fielding - dropped
Jacque Graham *
Jennifer Griffin
Tonya Hacker and Tammy Wilson
Nancy Hector
Randy Holcomb
Judy Howard - dropped
Barbara Howell
Holly Janangiri *
Louise Tucker Jones
Rashun Jones
Jess Davon Joslin
Tom Keith
Sherry Kelly
Jacqueline (Jackie) King - dropped
Suzy Koch *
Ann K. Larson
Kenneth Lay
Molly Lemmons - award winning author
Carolyn B. Leonard
Merline Lovelace - best selling author
Eric Mathe *
Susan York Meyers
Dennis McDonald - late registration
Vickie McDonough
Robby McMurtry
Stefne Miller
Ann Peeples Moore
Millie Nettles
Lisa Novotny
Galand Nuchols * late registration
Eyvonna Rains
Phil Rigsby
Greg Rodgers
Krystal Russell - Tall Tails Publishing
Tammi Sauer
Lori Z. Scott
Nicci Sefton
Bob Shephard
Cheryl Steele
M. Carolyn Steele
Daryl Talbot - author/illustator
Gloria Teague (Shirley)
Touchmark Writers
William R. Van Osdol
Beatrice Woodbury Warren
Dana Warren *
Steve Wheeler
Marvin Wiebener
Lisa Willis *
Vivian Zabel *

The judges for the essay contest and published book competition were unknown by anyone on the book fest committee except the facilitator and had no contact or connection to or with the book fest. The winners will be announced at the dinner Friday evening. Only the judges and facilitator know the results.

I'm sure I didn't note all the award winning authors above. The list of authors is impressive.

Also, five small publishing companies will attend: 46th Star Press, Literati Press, New Forums Press, Tall Tails Publishing, and 4RV Publishing. Four registered illustrators who are not also authors include: JP Jones, Nicholas Clayton, Cody Frusher, and Tabitha Smith.

Lunch will be available for purchase during the festival. Registered participants, volunteers, and the public will not have to leave to eat.

I realize this a very long post, but I wanted to let everyone know what an awesome event this will be.



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9 comments:

Helen said...

Sounds like a fun festival with really great authors!

Helen
Straight From Hel

Katie Hines said...

It sounds like a slam dunk festival. I really liked their logo. Have fun, and of course, sell lots of books!

Beverly Stowe McClure said...

What a great bunch of participants. Enjoy. Good luck to the finalists.

Bev

Angelica Weatherby said...

I'd love to come. That's alot of authors. Maybe I'll self-publish a book full of pictures and join in... Joking. Have fun and goodluck to all!

Vivian Zabel said...

All right, the fun begins. I'll be at the church facilities in an hour to begin working, setting up, decorating for the dinner tonight.

Karen Cioffi said...

Wow, sounds like a great festival. Have a great time and as Katie mentioned, SELL a lot of books. :)

Anonymous said...

I hope everyone had a great time. Hope LOTS of books were sold.

Will you be blogging this week about the end results of the festival?

Vivian Zabel said...

I will blog about the book fest and the results once taxes are in. Until then, I'm "out of the office."

Holly Jahangiri said...

Time for a recap! :)

Okay, I know, I know - I haven't blogged, yet, either. When you're all rested up...and done with taxes.

But it was a great event!