Grant Awarded: March 2007

Type of Grant: We the People Grant

Sponsor: Ann Arbor Book Festival, Inc.

Contact: Kathy Robenalt, 734-369-3366, aabf@aabookfestival.org

Website: www.aabookfestival.org

Award: $18,911

This is a large annual book festival with numerous programming venues in which the Council has participated the last three years. Literacy is the emphasis for 2007 and a symposium on literacy featuring best practices in the classroom will be included. Author visits, creative and expository writing, presenting a children’s work to music, a writer’s conference, panel discussions, author reception, and writing contests are just some of the activities scheduled in this four-day event. The Ann Arbor Book Festival will occur May 17-20, 2007 and is truly a community-wide event.

Literacy Symposium Highlights Tried-and-True Methods

Registration is being accepted for the Fourth Annual Literacy Symposium, held in conjunction with the Ann Arbor Book Festival.

“”Best Practices in Literacy by Teachers, for Teachers: A Language & Literacy Symposium” will be presented Thursday, May 17, from 4:30-8 p.m., at the Washtenaw Intermediate School District Building on Wagner Road. The event focuses on tried and true techniques that our teachers are using with success in their classrooms to foster writing skills in their students and encourage the love of reading. The fee is $10. Space is limited.

Michigan children’s writer Cynthia Furlong Reynolds will present the keynote address at 5 p.m., sharing her experiences and discoveries working in classrooms in Indiana. Small group sessions presented by a variety of teachers will provide participants with an array of ideas and techniques that have been successful in furthering writing and reading skills.
Registration is available online at www.aabookfestival.org For questions, call Kathy at 734-369-3366.

FULL-DAY WRITER’S CONFERENCE HOSTED BY ANN ARBOR BOOK FESTIVAL
Reservations are being accepted for the first-ever full-day Writer’s Conference hosted by the Ann Arbor Book Festival. The Friday, May 18, conference promises a wealth of opportunities for attendees to hone their skills under the tutelage of visiting festival authors.

“An important aspect of literacy is writing,” said Kathleen Robenalt, executive director of the Ann Arbor Book Festival. “Supporting hopeful writers is consistent with the goals of the festival. Interacting with successful authors is akin to an immersion course when learning a language.”

Delivering the luncheon keynote address will be Francine Prose, author of “Reading like a Writer” and 14 books of fiction, including “Blue Angel.”
Also participating in the conference are authors Timothy Egan, National Book Award winner for “The Worst Hard Time”; Loren Estleman, who has written 60 books and hundreds of short stories and articles, including the Amos Walker series; and Cynthia Furlong Reynolds, an award-winning journalist turned children’s author.

Breakout sessions will address such topics as writer/editor and writer/agent relationships, crafting a pitch letter, dialogue that speaks to readers, and genre fiction. Participants also will have an opportunity for a 20-minute one-on-one session with an author.

The conference runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., on the central campus of the University of Michigan, home over the years to many well-know writers, from Arthur Miller to Elizabeth Kostova. The registration fee of $100 includes a light morning snack and lunch. Pre-registration is required. Space is limited so register early, on the Web site at www.aabookfestival.org For questions, call Kathy at 734-369-3366.