Bluffton’s Book Festival is still on this year. And this world famous author is coming
Bluffton book lovers get ready — No. 1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson is coming to town.
Kind of.
The fifth annual Bluffton Book Festival, typically held along Calhoun Street in Old Town Bluffton, will now feature a series of eleven virtual keynote sessions, author panels and free events due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Attendees will be able to sign up online and hear from their favorite authors in a series of virtual events held between Sept. 17 and Nov. 21.
“We were already hoping to make the festivities bigger and better for the fifth year anniversary,” festival founder Rockelle Henderson said in a news release about the event. “But never did we think we would have an opportunity to go global and bring this level of talented authors to an even wider audience.”
The book festival is family-friendly and its goal is to raise literacy levels throughout the Southeast. A portion of proceeds from the event will benefit The Literacy Center in Bluffton and Hilton Head Island and The Book Industry Charitable Foundation.
This year’s event will feature a number of well-known authors including international bestselling author Susan Abulhawa; New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander; Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones; author, actor and television producer Eriq La Salle; and, yes, world famous author James Patterson.
The festival will also spotlight several local and regional authors.
If that wasn’t enough, beloved former Island Packet columnist David Lauderdale will (briefly) come out of retirement to moderate the Mystery & Thriller panel discussion on Nov. 12.
Here’s what’s coming and how to sign up:
Fiction — 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17
For tickets and more details, click here.
Fiction Keynote: Susan Abulhawa, Against the Loveless World — signed book included with ticket.
Interviewed by Holly Jackson of SCETV’s ‘By the River Book Show’
The event will include a reading, interview and Q&A from the audience.
Fiction Writers Panel Discussion moderated by author John Warley and features:
▪ John Macilroy, Not Exactly Rocket Scientists
▪ Sara Fitzgerald, The Poet’s Girl: A Novel of Emily Hale & T.S. Eliot
▪ Bob Clary, The Henry Johnson Motel
▪ Kim Poovey, Dickens Mice
▪ Wanda Jerideau, The Land of the Beautiful People
Children’s Lit — 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10
Children’s Lit Keynote: James Patterson and Kwame Alexander, Becoming Muhammad Ali: A Novel — signed book included with ticket.
The event will include a reading, interview and Q&A from the audience.
Children’s Lit panel discussion moderated by The Storybook Shoppe owner, Sally Sue Lavigne and features:
▪ Helen Wilbur, You are Mine, Porcupine
▪ Kathryn Sherry, Adventures of Alexander Elliott
▪ Mary Jacobs, Big Daddy & Friends on Fripp Island
▪ Ann Lilly, Scoot’s Savannah Rescue
▪ Tara Luebbe, Operation Photobomb
Memoirs: Date and time TBD
Memoir: Life’s Journeys Keynote Speaker: TBA
Memoir: Life’s Journeys panel discussion features:
▪ Donna Kell Armer, Solo in Salento
▪ Veronica Lynch, Undocumented
▪ Estelle Ford-Williamson, The Seed of South Sudan: Memoir of a “Lost Boy” Refugee
▪ Monica Quinones, Instant Single Mom
Mystery & Thriller — 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12
Mystery & Thriller keynote: Eriq La Salle, Laws of Wrath — signed book included with ticket.
Interviewed by bestselling author Ivy Pochoda, These Women
The event will include a reading, interview and Q&A from the audience.
Mystery & Thriller panel discussion moderated by former Island Packet columnist David Lauderdale and featuring:
▪ Dana Ridenour, Below the Radar
▪ Martha Weeks aka M.Z. Thwaite, Tidewater Hit
▪ Wayne Stinnett, Rising Warrior
Visit www.blufftonbookfestival.com and social media to stay up-to-date on festival activities.
This story was originally published September 12, 2020 at 11:06 AM.
