Library Foundation

Is there anything Sarah Vowell hasn't done? Contributing editor to Public Radio International's This American Life, a regular on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, music critic and author of audio books featuring the likes of Norman Lear, Vowell is also the acclaimed author of five books, including Assassination Vacation, a road trip to the tourist sites devoted to the murdered presidents. Her most recent book is The Wordy Shipmates, a history of American Puritans. Vowell also happens to be the voice of Violet in the Pixar Film, The Incredibles.

Washington D.C. native Michael Chabon has wowed the literary world almost since he left the cradle. The novel he wrote for his Masters Thesis at U.C. Irvine, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, became a New York Times bestseller. His second book, The Wonder Boys, became a feature film starring Michael Douglas and Toby Maguire. The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. In 2007 he released the wildly popular novel The Yiddish Policeman's Union. He has appeared before audiences in nine countries and lectures widely on what is clearly his favorite topic, the art and craft of fiction.

The north woods of Minnesota are the setting for William Kent Krueger's eight-book mystery series, featuring Cork O'Connor - the part Irish, part Ojibwe, part-time P.I. A resident of St. Paul, Krueger has received numerous awards, including four Minnesota Book Awards and the Loft McKnight Fiction Award. Before becoming a full-time writer, Krueger logged timber, worked construction and, he says, got himself kicked out of Stanford University for radical activities. Krueger does his writing in Booth #4 at the renowned St. Clair Broiler in St. Paul.

More than five years after publication, The Devil in the White City  - Erik Larson's account of murder, madness and magic at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair - was still on the New York Times bestseller list. His earlier Isaac's Storm was a bestseller in Germany and the U.S. For his newest book, Thunderstruck, Larson conducted research from London to Rome, learned Italian and developed, he says, an advanced appreciation for Italian red wines. Larson is a former staff writer for The Wall Street Journal and contributor to Time magazine.
Erik Larson pre-lecture notes.

Expelled from the University of Tehran for refusing to wear the mandatory Islamic veil, Azar Nafisi has spent much of her career advocating for Iranian intellectuals, youth, and especially women. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir In Books has been translated into 32 languages, has won numerous literary awards, including the 2004 Nonfiction Book of the Year Award from Book Sense, and was 117 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Dr. Nafisi is a Visiting Professor at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University.
Azar Nafisi pre-lecture notes.