2012 Events Preview

As we wrap up the last few author events for 2011, it’s time to look ahead at all the exciting authors who will be visiting in 2012. Here’s a sneak peek at another blockbuster year!

UPDATE: Events have been added with Lauren Oliver, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Anne Lamott. Check back often! New events added weekly.

JANUARY

Tuesday, January 17, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Andrea Cremer, “Bloodrose: A Nightshade Novel”

Teen Event Presented by the Reading Garden Event Series

Teen sensation Andrea Cremer presents the final installment of her internationally bestselling Nightshade trilogy. As the alpha female of a pack of shape-shifting wolves, Calla has always welcomed war. But now that the final battle is upon her, there’s more at stake than fighting—including protecting her true love and choosing between a life with humans or with the wolves.

Wednesday, January 18, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Thrity Umrigar, “The World We Found”

Acclaimed Indian American novelist Thrity Umrigar presents a breathtaking new novel–a skillfully wrought, emotionally resonant story of four women and the indelible friendship they share. Umrigar is the author of the bestsellers “The Space Between Us” and “The Weight of Heaven.”

Friday, January 20, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

John M. Barry, “Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty”

Presented by the ‘Buzz’ Westfall Favorite Author Series

Acclaimed historian John M. Barry presents a revelatory look at how Puritan theologian Roger Williams shaped the nature of religion, political power, and individual rights in America. John M. Barry is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers “Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America” and “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History.”

Wednesday, January 25, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Stewart O’Nan, “The Odds”

Stewart O’Nan’s thirteenth novel is another wildly original, bittersweet gem. A tender yet honest exploration of faith, forgiveness and last chances, “The Odds” is the story of a middle-age couple going all in for love at a Niagara Falls casino. O’Nan will also discuss his latest paperback release “Emily, Alone.” 

Friday, January 27, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Main Reading Room

Lynn Whitfield

Kick-off event for the 2012 Black History Month Celebration

Actress Lynn Whitfield, best known for her roles in “The Josephine Baker Story” and “The Women of Brewster Place,” has accomplished great success as the star of stage, television, and the silver screen. She will soon be seen in the upcoming film, “Mama, I Want to Sing,” joining music legend Patti La Belle in a remake of the off-Broadway play about the life of R&B singer Doris Troy.

Tuesday, January 31, 7:00 pm

Robert Crais, “Taken”

Bestselling suspense author Robert Crais returns to the library to discuss his newest Elvis Cole and Joe Pike mystery. When a wealthy industrialist’s son is kidnapped, she hires Cole to go undercover and find him. But when Cole disappears as well, it’s up to Pike to retrace Cole’s steps through the hard and murderous world of human traffickers…before it is too late.

FEBRUARY
 
Thursday, February 9, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Amy Chua,”Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”

At once provocative and laugh-out-loud funny, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” was a New York Times bestseller and set off a global debate. Achingly honest and profoundly challenging, Chua’s daring, conversation-changing memoir discusses her journey in strict parenting–and the remarkable, sometimes heartbreaking results her choices inspired.

Monday, February 27, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

J.A. Jance, “Left for Dead”

New York Times bestselling suspense author J.A. Jance discusses and signs her latest thriller,” Left for Dead.” When violence from the drug wars between the Mexican cartels crosses the border into Arizona, severly injuring an old friend, former TV reporter-turned crime blogger Ali Reynolds steps in to investigate. 

MARCH

 
Monday, March 5, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Julie Winch, “The Clamorgans: One Family’s History of Race in America”

Presented by the St. Louis County Library Special Collections Department and the Black History Month Celebration

Historian Julie Winch uses the history of the Clamorgans of St. Louis to chronicle how one family navigated race in America from the 1780s through the 1950s. Jacques Clamorgan was an 18th-century French adventurer who fathered children with several of his slaves then left those children his name, fortune, and their freedom. His heirs fought through several generations to claim their legacy and combat an increasingly racist society. 

Tuesday, March 6, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Lauren Oliver, “Pandemonium”

Teen Event Presented by the Reading Garden Event Series

Lauren Oliver presents the second installment in her hit young adult science fiction trilogy set in a world where love has been declared a disease. In “Pandemonium,” hearts break, tempers flare, and a simmering resistance effort erupts into a full-blown revolution. Oliver is the New York Times and internationally bestselling writer of “Before I Fall” and “Delirium.”

Friday, March 9, 6:00 pm – Headquarters, Main Reading Room

Cal Ripken, Jr. – “Cal Ripken Jr.’s All-Stars: Super-Sized Slugger”

2012 Family Read Night Sponsored by the St. Louis Cardinals and Delta Dental

Baseball legend Cal Ripken, Jr.’s new series for young readers is a grand slam hit. In “Super-Sized Slugger,” Cody Parker is the new kid in school. He’s overweight, scared and hates his life in Dullsville. But he loves baseball and plays third base like a dream. Will Cody ever succeed in getting people to see him for who he really is? The event will be a 15-minute on-stage interview followed by a signing (books only, no memorabilia).
 
Monday, March 12, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Lisa Lutz, “The Trail of the Spellmans”

Lisa Lutz presents the long-awaited fifth installment in the bestselling, Edgar-nominated series about an eccentric family of private investigators. For the first time in Spellman history, Isabel Spellman might be the most normal member of her family. As always, the Spellman clan has yet to settle into any kind of status quo.  As an outrageous assortment of cases and the Spellman’s typical domestic disturbances threaten to shatter both the business and the family, it’s once again up to Izzy to pull the family back from the brink.

Tuesday, March 13, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Joshua Foer, “Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything”

This quirky and engaging memoir recounts Joshua Foer’s yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top “mental athletes.” He draws on cutting-edge research and venerable tricks of the mentalist’s trade to transform our understanding of human memory and remind us that, in every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.

Thursday, March 15, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorum

T.C. Boyle, “When the Killing’s Done”

From one of our most acclaimed novelists, “When the Killing’s Done” is an action-packed adventure about endangered animals and those who protect them. As a confrontation between conservationists and local business people escalates in drama and violence, “When the Killing’s Done” relates a richly humane tale about the dominion we attempt to exert, for better or worse, over the natural world.

Thursday, March 16, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Kadir Nelson, “Heart and Soul: The Story of America and Afrian-Americans”

Children’s Event presented by the 2012 Black History Month Celebration

Kadir Nelson, an accomplished, award-winning artist, has created a moving introduction to the history of America and African Americans, from colonial days through the civil rights movement. Written in the voice of “Everywoman,” an unnamed narrator whose forebears came to this country on slave ships and who lived to cast her vote for the first African American president, “Heart and Soul” touches on the great transformative events of that history.

Wednesday, March 21, 7:00 pm – Library Headquarters, Auditorium

Susan Vreeland, “Clara and Mr. Tiffany”

Bestselling author Susan Vreeland again breathes life into a work of art in this extraordinary novel, which brings a woman once lost in the shadows into vivid color. Behind the scenes in Louis Comfort Tiffany’s studio is the freethinking Clara Driscoll, designer of nearly all of the iconic leaded-glass lamps for which he is long remembered. Clara struggles with her desire for artistic recognition and must eventually decide what makes her happiest—the professional world of her hands or the personal world of her heart.

Saturday, March 24, 7:00 pm

Anne Lamott, “Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son”

2012 Read St. Louis Memoir Selection

In “Some Assembly Required,” Anne Lamott enters a new and unexpected chapter of her own life: grandmotherhood. Stunned to learn that her son, Sam, is about to become a father at nineteen, Lamott begins a journal about the first year of her grandson Jax’s life. By turns poignant and funny, honest and touching, “Some Assembly Required” is the true story of how the birth of a baby changes a family. Lamott is the author of the New York Times bestsellers “Grace (Eventually),” “Plan B,” “Operating Instructions,” as well as seven novels. She will be joined at this event by her co-author and son, Sam Lamott.