Elizabeth Kostova
(c) Deborah Feingold

Island Art Association Courtyard
& Education Center
Friday, April 26
5:00 – 7:00pm

Enjoy an evening of Books and Art with Elizabeth Kostova, International bestselling author of The Swan Thieves and The Historian.

Over 20 local Artists’ artwork on display!

Book Festival authors to meet!

Enjoy an intriguing evening full of great literature and art while savoring French delicacies, good wine and stimulating conversation.

Member $40
Nonmember $50

Elizabeth Kostova (Lunch Session Keynote)
A Yale graduate, Kostova holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for the Novel-in-Progress. After 10 years of research and writing her first novel, Kostova sent The Historian to an agent and then to publishers. The rights of this first book were eventually auctioned and purchased for $2 million. It was the first debut novel to hit the New York Times bestseller list at #1. The Historian has been published in 44 languages, has more than 1.5 million copies in print, and there’s a Sony film in the works. Her most recent bestseller The Swan Thieves was published in 2010.                     

Effective Tools for Self Editing – Patricia Charpentier
Learn a variety of free/inexpensive tools to root out typos, overused words & phrases, and other oversights that dull the shine of your fabulous stories. (Author of the multi-award winning book, Eating an Elephant: Write Your Life One Bite at a Time, Charpentier teaches, writes, edits, ghostwrites and publishes personal and family history. Visit her at www.writingyourlife.org.)

Unlocking Your Creative Voice – Sarah Jean Davidson
Learn how to get your thoughts down on paper so they can be polished. (Davidson is author of: Your Mouth To God’s Ear,in which she combines her experiences in Manifesting with  scientific discoveries. She is also a portrait and mural artist and a “Seer” with the gift of Clairvoyance.)

How to Market your Book on a Shoestring Budget – Ron P. Whittington
Learn how to implement an effective PR campaign without a publicist. (Author of Second Strike and Doppelganged, Whittington also freelance writes for Texas Monthly, Jacksonville Magazine, and the Florida Times Union. He has worked for more than 20 years in public relations and marketing, starting his career as a journalist with CNN Radio and the Dallas Business Journal.)

Creative Nonfiction – Jeff Kunerth
Learn how the strengths of truth along with the techniques of fiction are the future of nonfiction writing. (An award-winning journalist with the Orlando Sentinel, Kunerth is the author of Trout: A True Story of Murder, Teens and the Death Penalty. As a teacher of writing and reporting, Kunerth was named adjunct of the year in 2010 by the University of Central Florida’s Nicholson School of Communication. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University and his Master’s in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College.)

How to Get Published Panel
 June Hall McCash, Mary Ann Miller(Miller is an art educator, professional artist and author who has for many years  traveled to various parts of Europe following in the footsteps of artists such as Van Gogh, Monet and Matisse. Sketchbooks from these trips have been combined in the “Blue Vase” series of books.), Drew Sappington (Sappington works at a variety of odd jobs, at least odd to him, including storyteller, clinical psychologist and college professor. He has one textbook, forty professional journals articles, a few short pieces in publications that people actually read, and a book of humorous history stories.) and Kevin Shipp

Effective Marketing – Donna Paz Kaufman
Learn what retailers need printed on the book cover, the terms bookstores require, managing consignment sales, strategies for prominent display space, and bookstore approach techniques.

Pit to Pinnacle: the Path to Publication – Sharman Burson Ramsey
Once the book is written, the challenge begins.  Learn strategies in improving and surviving the process.

Thinking Outside the Box – Mary Ann Bator-Gray
Learn new venues for marketing. (Bator-Gray’s book, Ethereal Desire was the 2011 First Place Winner of the FWA’s Royal Palm Award for an unpublished romance. She’s also written several children/cat-lover books. ) 

Finale
Soup to Nuts: Putting It All Together – Panel Discussion
Cynn Chadwick (Chadwick is the author of That’s Karma, Baby plus many more.  Her books have been nominated for the Lambda, Golden Crown, and Stonewall Literary Awards. She holds an MFA and teaches in the Creative Writing Program at UNC-Asheville.) A. Dragonblood (A. Dragonblood has been a ghost writer for over 20 yrs. His stories are a collection of truths, embellished by his own fantastical imagination. Now working on the 5th book in his Children of the Others Collection, he shows the ordinary can be extraordinary in this magical world we live.), Patricia Charpentier, Sharman Burson Ramsey, and Jeff Kunerth

Register Now!

Despite confirmed appearances authors could cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. The Amelia Island Book Festival reserves the right to change/cancel workshops and/or events.

Debbie Macomber

Meet #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber exclusively at ‘A Garden Party with Debbie’ at the 2013 Amelia Island Book Festival’s Vystar Luncheon on Saturday, April 27. Grab a spring hat and join the party.

The luncheon is always a sell out and tickets are now available to the general public. Festival members receive a discounted price.  Check it out!

Author Link  is an ambitious new part of Festival Friday’s Authors in Schools. With corporate support and vigorous fundraising this program is designed to give the Nassau County public school students  a copy of the book written by the author who visits their class. It is the Festival’s desire to make this one of the most aggressive book distribution programs in Florida.

The Amelia Island Book Festival is soliciting funds to buy these books for public school students in Nassau County.  Author Link will allow the fifteen authors visiting the county’s fifteen public schools to provide a free, autographed book for every student.

 Companies, book clubs, civic organizations and individuals who want to contribute can make a donation here.

Or email info@ameliaislandbookfestival.com for more information.

With more than 150 million copies of her books in print, Debbie Macomber is one of today’s most popular multi-genre authors.  In 2009 Debbie saw her first cookbook, first children’s book and second non-fiction inspirational book published. Her earlier novel, Mrs. Miracle, was broadcast in 2009 as a made-for-TV movie by the Hallmark Channel. Starring Doris Roberts, Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle was Hallmark Channel’s top-watched movie of the year. Hallmark Channel’s Debbie Macomber’s Call Me Mrs. Miracle scored the same success in 2010. The November 2011 Hallmark Channel movie, Debbie Macomber’s Trading Christmas, was the #1 program on ad-supported cable on the evening of its premiere.

The prolific author lives in Washington State and winters in Florida with her husband, Wayne. 

Over 100 authors have reserved space for the festival and will be selling their books, giving talks and available for personal conversations at the Saturday Reader’s Festival.  This the largest group of national, regional and local authors this festival has ever hosted.

Join the fun at A Garden Party with Debbie.  Buy a ticket while they’re still available.

Michael Brewster:
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Elle Thornton:
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Charles Seabrook:
 How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

Find A New Favorite Author!
Visit Michael Brewster, Elle Thornton,
Dr. John House and Charles Seabrook
April 27 at Viva Books! 2013

Do you have a book that has changed your life?
That you love?
That made you laugh?
Or cry? 

Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

In this best-selling novel, Pat Conroy tells the story of Tom Wingo, his twin sister, Savannah, and the dark and violent past of the family into which they were born.

Michael Morris - ”The Prince of Tides is one of the first novels I read that was not mandatory for school. The suffering of the characters and their secrets of abuse spoke to me, as did the coastal landscape which becomes a character itself in the novel. For me, the heart of the novel is the complexity of the human experience and the hope for redemption.” Read more…

“Michael Morris has been one of my favorite Southern writers. His new novel is reason for great celebration. Man in the Blue Moon is a beautifully wrought portrayal of small town southern life where poverty, tragedy and human love engage in a ritualistic dance. His portrait of Dead Lakes, Florida, is one of the best portraits of a small Southern town I’ve ever encountered…Buy it. Read it.”  —Pat Conroy

Want to meet Michael Morris?
Don’t miss the Amelia Island Book Festival Viva Books! 2013

What’s your favorite book?

8:00 pm

Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers will share songs and stories from his far-ranging travels in the music world–as a songwriter and recording artist, author (Rock Troubadours, which includes his conversations with Jerry Garcia, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, and more), editor (founder of Acoustic Guitar magazine), and contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered.

Rodgers plays dynamic original songs shaped by roots music and rock, and delivered with extraordinary instrumental range: from the luminous love song “Humming My Way Back Home,” performed on the oddball three-stringed instrument known as a Strumstick; to the story song “Sycamore Tree,” spoken and sung over a joyous percussion groove; to blazing bluegrass guitar on his John Lennon Songwriting Contest winner “Fly.” At turns wryly funny and piercingly personal, Rodgers uses his writer’s eye for detail to tell emotionally moving tales of modern life.

“Folk music with a serrated edge…a magical blend of storytelling and driving flattop guitar.” –Andy Ellis (Guitar Player, Frets)

“Songs that fill the senses.” –Mark Bialczak, The Post-Standard

“Beautiful original songs… Humming My Way Back Home is an album to listen to when you want to contemplate the everyday things of life.” –Rootstime (Belgium)

Reservations only by advance donation.  Seating is limited.
Hosted by Mark and Donna Paz Kaufman

$25 advance donation - VIP reservation includes: 6:30 pm pre-concert meet and greet  with the artist, hors d’ oeuvres, and preferred seating.

$15 advance donation - Reserved Seating: Doors open 7:15 pm

$20 donation at the door - General Seating

Tickets will be at the Will Call desk.

Or call 904-624-1665 

1. Leave a message with your name and the number of tickets you are purchasing.
2. Mail a check (made payable to Amelia Island Book Festival) to:
   Amelia Island Book Festival
   Story & Song
   PO Box 15286
   Amelia Island, FL 32035 

All proceeds benefit the Amelia Island Book Festival.

  For more about the songwriter/author, visit www.JeffreyPepperRodgers.com.

“The spacious grounds and facilities of the Rec Center provide a great campus for the festival with ample visibility and parking for all. We are partnering with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to make the 2013 Festival bigger and better,” said Terri Wright, AIBF President.