Yakima, WA – Yakima Valley Libraries is pleased to announce the line-up for the second annual Authors Out Loud Spring author series featuring readings, presentations and book signings by a variety of authors and literary groups.
Events begin March 1, with an appearance by Jamie Ford, best-selling author of “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,” at the West Valley Community Library. Additional talks will feature the Yakima Coffeehouse Poets; Ingrid Walker, an author and associate professor at the UW-Tacoma; and award-winning author and memoirist Reyna Grande.
“Patrons tell us all the time, that they love coming to author events at the library,” said Krystal Corbray, programming and marketing librarian, “so it’s really exciting to be able to offer such a great line-up of authors and presenters again this year. I really think everyone will be able to find at least one event that interests them.”
The schedule of events includes:
Jamie Ford
Thursday, March 1, 6:30pm
West Valley Community Library
223 S. 72nd Ave, Yakima, WA
Jamie Ford is a native of the Pacific Northwest. His best-selling historical novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, was published in 2009, and tells the story of two gifted students, Henry Lee, a Chinese American boy, and Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American girl, who develop a deep friendship in the midst of the turmoil and conflict of World War II.
The book won the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. Other works by Jamie Ford include: Love and Other Consolation Prizes (2017) and Songs of Willow Frost (2013).
Ingrid Walker
Wednesday, March 14, 6:30pm
Yakima Central Library
102 N. Third St,
Yakima, WA
Ingrid Walker, PhD, is an associate professor at the University of Washington-Tacoma, where she teaches courses on American studies, media, and culture.
Her work focuses on contemporary American culture, particularly the politics of film, music, television, comix, art, literature, evolving media forms and fashion.
Her book, High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users, is a cross-cultural study of how we think about, regulate, and use psychoactive drugs in the United States. It asks a fundamental question about drug policy and social norms in the United States: Why do we endorse the use of some drugs while criminalizing the use of others? This illogical separation shapes public policy, the justice system, research, social services, and healthcare in ways that affect all Americans.
Yakima Coffeehouse Poets
Wednesday, April 4, 6:30pm
West Valley Community Library
223 S. 72nd Ave, Yakima, WA
Back by popular demand! Join us for an evening of poetry readings by some of Yakima’s finest poets.
Reyna Grande (two events)
Wednesday, April 25, 6:30pm
Yakima Central Library
102 N. Third St, Yakima, WA
Wednesday, April 25th, 1:00pm
Sunnyside Community Library
621 Grant Ave, Sunnyside, WA
Reyna Grande is an award-winning novelist and memoirist. Her novels, Across a Hundred Mountains, and Dancing with Butterflies, were published to critical acclaim. In her latest book, The Distance Between Us, Reyna shares an inspirational coming-of-age story, about her life before and after illegally immigrating from Mexico to the United States.
Grande has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, the International Latino Book Award, and in 2015 she was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature.
All events are free. For more information about the authors, and the complete events calendar, visit: www.yvl.org/events/authors
For more information: Krystal Corbray Programming and Marketing Librarian (509) 575-3431 kcorbray@yvl.org