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Participants

Scott HulerScott Huler's books include A Little Bit Sideways: One Week Inside a NASCAR Winston Cup Race Team and No-Man’s Land: One Man’s Odyssey Through the Odyssey.
CK WilliamsC.K. Williams is the author of ten books of poetry, including The Singing, winner of the National Book Award, and Repair, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
Kyle DarganKyle Dargan is the author of two poetry collections: The Listening, winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and Bouquet of Hungers.
Charles BaxterCharles Baxter's novels include
The Feast of Love, a National Book Award finalist recently adapted as a major motion picture, and The Soul Thief.
Sue MillerSue Miller has written eight bestselling novels, including While I Was Gone (an Oprah’s Book Club pick), and The Senator’s Wife, published earlier this year.
Richard BauschRichard Bausch winner of the PEN/Malamud Award, has written seven volumes of short fiction and eleven novels, including this year’s Peace, set in World War II Italy.
Benjamin PercyBenjamin Percy has published two collections of short fiction —
The Language of Elks and
Refresh, Refresh.
Jennifer AtkinsonJennifer Atkinson, a professor of English at George Mason University, is the author of three poetry collections, including the 2008 volume Drift Ice.
Beckie WeinheimerBeckie Weinheimer is the author of the young adult novel, Converting Kate.
Eric PankeyEric Pankey's latest book, The Pear as One Example, samples his seven previous poetry collections and presents a book-length group of new works.
Chinua AchebeChinua Achebe is the author of Things Fall Apart, a seminal work in African literature, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Dan Beachy-QuickDan Beachy-Quick is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Mulberry, and the forthcoming essay collection, A Whaler's Dictionary.
Jennifer ChangJennifer Chang’s first book of poetry, The History of Anonymity, was published in April 2008. has published two collections of short fiction.
Diane GoldsteinDiane Goldstein is Professor of Folklore at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and the co-author with Sylvia Grider and Jeannie Thomas of Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore.



Robert JensenRobert Jensen’s most recent books include Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity and The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege.
Alec FinlayAlec Finlay is an artist, poet and publisher whose most recent works include One Hundred Year Star-Diary and Specimen Colony.
Moira DonahueMoira Donahue is the author of several books for children, including Alfie the Apostrophe and Penny and the Punctuation Bee.
Kathryn ErskineKathryn Erskine is the author of the novels Ibhubesi: The Lion and Quaking.
Michael SimsMichael Sims’ latest book, Apollo’s Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination, was chosen as one of the Best Science Books of 2007 by National Public Radio.
Amy SullivanAmy Sullivan is a national correspondent for Time magazine, and author of the book The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats are Closing the God Gap.
Alan CheuseAlan Cheuse is a George Mason professor and NPR's longtime "voice of books." He recently published The Fires, a new work composed of two novellas.

Welcome to the Festival!

September 21st to 26th, 2008

Chinua Achebe
[Chinua Achebe to receive Mason Award]

Chinua Achebe To Receive Mason Award

Fall for the Book will present the 2008 Mason Award to Nigerian novelist, poet and critic Chinua Achebe. This year commemorates the 50th anniversary of Achebe’s phenomenally successful first novel, Things Fall Apart, which boasts more than eight million copies sold worldwide in more than 50 languages — making it the world’s most widely read African novel.

Fall for the Book’s annual Mason Award celebrates an author whose body of work has made extraordinary contributions to bringing literature to a wide reading public. Achebe will read from his work and accept the award on Monday, Sept. 22, the second day of the 2008 festival. Other events—readings and panel discussions—focusing on Achebe’s contribution to world literature and the importance of Things Fall Apart are planned.


New Look, New Logo Mark Festival’s 10th Year

In 1999, George Mason University and the City of Fairfax inaugurated a small literary event — a series of readings and discussions that kicked off Thursday night, Sept. 23, with celebrated poet Forrest Gander in the basement of the campus bookstore and continued at a handful of downtown venues through the weekend, ending Saturday night with novelist Elizabeth Berg.

From those humble beginnings, Fall for the Book, Northern Virginia’s oldest celebration of the literary arts, also grew to become its largest. Each fall, attendance surpasses that of the previous festival— topping 10,000 each of the last two years. Each fall, events are hosted in even more venues, spread more widely throughout Northern Virginia. Each fall, people of all ages flock to an even more diverse and dramatic schedule of writers, scholars, and performers from across the country and around the world. Dave Eggers, Nikki Giovanni, Pat Conroy, Khaled Hosseini, Cornell West, Mitch Albom, Tobias Woolf, Joyce Carol Oates, Doris Kearns Goodwin — over the years, audiences have laughed with, learned from, and been moved by these and hundreds of other outstanding authors, the “rock stars of writing.”

As Fall for the Book prepares for its 10th year, several changes are afoot: a new logo, for example, and a new look evidenced on the pages you’re reading now.

But in the midst of these transitions, one thing remains the same: Our commitment to bringing to you the finest writers on earth. The 2008 festival already boasts novelists Chinua Achebe, Richard Bausch, Charles Baxter, and Sue Miller; poets Jennifer Atkinson, Kyle Dargan, Eric Pankey, and C.K. Williams; and some of the leading names in creative nonfiction, beginning with journalist and memoirist Scott Huler. And there’s much more in store, So mark your calendars now for Fall for the Book, Volume 10 — our biggest and boldest edition ever.

Sponsors

Fairfax County Public LibraryAWPGeorge Mason UniversityABCNovecFairfax Library FoundationCity of FairfaxExxon MobileFriends of the Fairfax City Regional LibraryFriends of George Mason Regional LibraryFriends of Reston Regional LibraryDominion PowerHarper Wealth ManagementHunton WilliamsNorthern Virginia MagazinePotomac BankFriends of RestonClaude Moore Charitable Foundation ComputechNothern Virginia Community CollegeThe Writer's Center


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