Senior Citizen VIP Program
The book festival is extending a special invitation to Senior Citizen’s groups and Retired Communities in the valley to sign up with the book festival and attend any of the free panel discussions, readings and special events. The festival will provide reserved seating and priority parking to senior groups that want to attend the events.
Highlights: Please review the highlights of the festival calendar that may be of special interest to seniors.
Sign up as a VIP Senior Citizen group to attend special author sessions at the Fifth Street School with special parking and reserved seating provided.
Please complete this form and let us know what sessions you are interested in attending as a group.
Vegas Valley Book Festival Highlights for VIP Senior Groups
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Historic Fifth Street School Auditorium
7:00 pm
Kay Ryan, the Poet Laureate of the United States, presents the opening keynote in the auditorium of the Fifth Street School. Ryan, known for her compact short poems that revel in wordplay and internal rhymes, is making her first appearance in Las Vegas.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Historic Fifth Street School
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
The Target Children’s Book Festival unfolds in the Plaza next to the Fifth Street School, with staged readings, performances, exhibitors and more.
10:00 am – 4:00 pm
The local authors fair with 40 self published writers—everything from romance to history—outside in the fountain courtyard.
11:15 am — “Readers Choice” (50 minutes)
Three authors from the American West in a lively discussion about their lives as writers: Indu Sundaresan, whose historical fiction is set in her native India; Margaret Coel, New York Times best-selling author of the Wind River mystery series set among the Arapahos in Colorado; Vicki Pettersson, urban fantasy author whose Zodiac series is set in modern Las Vegas.
12:30 pm – “Sudden Orpheus” (50 minutes)
A contemporary theater piece with poetry and puppets—a staged collaboration.
1:45 pm — Poetry in the Courtyard (one hour)
Readings by local poets in the Fountain Courtyard of the Fifth Street School.
3:00 pm “City of Second Chances” (50 minutes)
Cheryll Glotfelty, Editor of the newly published Literary Nevada (UNR Press), reading the work of Susan Berman, (author and mafia daughter) will be joined by local authors Douglas Unger and John L. Smith in a lively Vegas-centered reading and discussion.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Historic Fifth Street School
11:00 am –“Education in the Neon Shadow” (50 minutes)
Jami Carpenter, editor and educator, leads a discussion on the history of the Clark County School District—in celebration of its 50th anniversary and the new book documenting its history.
12:15 pm –“Great Characters from Las Vegas History” (50 minutes)
Geoff Schumacher, journalist and author, Michael Green, historian, Myram Borders, journalist and Jack Sheehan, author and humorist. From Bugsy Siegel and Benny Binion to Howard Hughes and Steve Wynn, eccentric and visionary characters populate Las Vegas history. This panel will break down who among them was truly important and who was just colorful.
