Description

This September, book lovers across the state will head for the Black Hills. The Authors' Reception is your chance to meet the authors face-to-face and ask them questions about their craft. The 2015 South Dakota Festival of Books, Sept. 24-27 will feature events for readers and writers of all ages and interests. Headlining the 13th annual Festival of Books will be William Kent Krueger, author of the 2015 One Book South Dakota, Ordinary Grace. Headlining the 13th annual Festival of Books will be William Kent Krueger, author of the 2015 One Book South Dakota, Ordinary Grace. Other confirmed participants include best-selling novelists Garth Stein (The Art of Racing in the Rain, A Sudden Light) and Pam Houston (Cowboys Are My Weakness, Contents May Have Shifted), Harper Lee biographer Charles Shields, Calamity Jane experts Richard Etulain and James McLaird, and poets Linda Hasselstrom and Twyla Hansen, who will give their first reading together from the book Dirt Songs. South Dakota?s new Poet Laureate will also be announced at a special event bringing together outgoing Laureate David Allan Evans and all four Laureate finalists. Laura Ingalls Wilder fans will have the chance to hear directly from Pamela Smith Hill about the phenomenal success of Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography. Festival favorite John Dufresne will be back to lead a workshop on flash fiction, and the Book Doctors, David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut, will give an encore presentation of their popular Pitchapalooza event. The young and young at heart will find both entertainment and education at the second annual Young Readers Festival of Books. Led by Megan McDonald, author of the 2015 Young Readers One Book Stink: Twice as Incredible, more than a dozen children?s and young adult authors and illustrators will visit schools and discuss their work. Through the generosity of several area corporations, foundations, and educational organizations, SDHC distributed more than 3,000 books this spring to second-graders throughout the Black Hills area and on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations. Ashley Wolff (Baby Bear, Miss Bindergarten) will present a ?boot camp? for budding illustrators, and science writer Rebecca L. Johnson will describe the fascinating and frightening creatures she?s observed in nature. Teenagers will enjoy learning how National Book Award winner Pete Hautman chooses his topics, from real-life adolescent issues to time-twisting science fiction scenarios. Hagar the Horrible cartoonist Chris Browne, will talk to students from across the Black Hills at the Sanford Underground Lab about his book The Monster Who Ate the State. Soozy the dinosaur was born in the Sanford Lab! About the HHOH: Free parking is available in front of the building on Main Street, behind the building and in the municipal parking lots, including the Visitor Center two blocks from the theater. The building is accessible for wheelchairs, and assisted listening devices are available. The HHOH theater is a non-profit organization dedicated to returning the building to productive use for the enrichment of the community and to provide educational and cultural opportunities for generations to come. Support for the HHOH is provided in part by the City of Lead, and the Adams-Mastrovich Family Foundation, Mary Adams Mastrovich. The HHOH is a equal opportunity provider and employer.