Signature Presenters

Aaron Betsky

Author, critic, Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum and curator of the Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2008, will survey the world wide building boom in museums – their design, function and meaning, in the opening lecture of the book festival, Wednesday, November 4, 7:00 pm at the Fifth Street School.

Aaron Betsky is Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum. Most recently he directed the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam, the world’s largest architecture museum, and prior to that post he served as Curator of Architecture, Design and Digital Projects at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In September 2008, he served as the Artistic Director of the International Architecture Biennale Venice, Italy. A prolific writer and editor, he has authored over a dozen books and he is currently writing a major volume on modernism in architecture and design titled What Is Modernism, to be published in 2010. Published in many newspapers and magazines, ranging from The New York Times to Metropolitan Home, Betsky has served as a visiting professor at major universities across the U.S. and in Europe and has received honors from the British Institute of Architects and the American Institute of Architects. He holds a B.A. in History, the Arts and Letters, and a master’s degree in architecture from Yale University, with a doctoral degree expected from the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. Betsky was born in Missoula, Montana and raised in the Netherlands.

John L. Smith

Author and award-winning columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, hosts a reading and conversation, “Amelia’s Long Journey: The Challenge of Writing What You Know, ” Saturday, November 7, 7:00 pm, at the Clark County Library Auditorium, 1401 E. Flamingo.

A fourth-generation Nevadan, John L. Smith is an award-winning columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the author of 11 nonfiction books, including Running Scared: The Life and Treacherous Times of Las Vegas Casino King Steve Wynn, No Limit: The Rise and Fall of Bob Stupak and Las Vegas’ Stratosphere Tower, and Of Rats and Men: Oscar Goodman’s Life from Mob Mouthpiece to Mayor of Las Vegas.

Michael Uslan

Best known as the originator and producer of the Batman movie series, is also a noted authority on comic book history. He will appear as a speaker at the Comics Festival on Saturday, November 7, at the Clark County Library — and works from his expansive comics collection will be exhibited concurrently at the library.

Michael Uslan is best known as the originator and Executive Producer of the Batman movie series, starting with Tim Burton’s 1989 film and continuing to 2008’s The Dark Knight. In addition, Uslan has produced or been involved with numerous other movies, including The Spirit, Constantine and National Treasure. He’s currently in development on Shazam and The Shadow with Sam Raimi and Josh Donen. Uslan has received an Emmy for Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, and was the recipient of the Independent Spirit Award, The Hoagy Carmichael Creative Achievement Award and The Distinguished Hoosier Award. He created and taught the world’s first accredited college course on comic books at Indiana University. Uslan is an authority on comic book history, writing The Comic Book in America, America at War: A History of War Comics and Mysteries in Space: A History of Science Fiction Comics. In 2008, he lent his expertise to the Starz documentary Comic Books Unbound, which explores the popularity of comic book heroes in Hollywood and how they have transitioned from print to screen.