The 2023 AViD lineup features seven fantastic authors, with bestsellers, a National Book Award finalist, and some of the most creative minds in the literary world being featured. Check out the full lineup below, and head to each page to learn more about each other!
Sarah Penner at the DSM Book Festival
Saturday, March 25 | 4:00 PM | Capital Square (400 Locust Street)
Sarah Penner’s debut novel, The Lost Apothecary, was released to great buzz and acclaim in 2021. The book, called “an enthralling work of mystery, murder, trust, and betrayal” by NPR, was an instant bestseller. Her new book, The London Séance Society, will be released on Tuesday, March 7.
R.F. Kuang
Thursday, April 13 | 7:00 PM | Central Library
R.F. Kuang is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel, and the forthcoming Yellowface. She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies and MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.
J. Ryan Stradal
Monday, May 1 | 7:00 PM | Central Library
J. Ryan Stradel’s second novel, The Lager Queen of Minnesota, was published in 2019 and named one of the best books of the year by several outlets, including NPR and USA Today. His latest novel, Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, will be published in April. He grew up in southern Minnesota.
Emily St. John Mandel
Wednesday, May 10 | 7:00 PM | Central Library
Emily St. John Mandel is the author of six novels, most recently Sea of Tranquility. Her previous novels include The Glass Hotel and Station Eleven. Station Eleven was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, was translated into 23 languages, and aired as a limited series on HBO Max.
Jack Carr
Wednesday, May 24 | 7:00 PM | Central Library
Jack Carr’s thriller series The Terminal List, draws on Carr’s 20 years’ experience in the US Military and as a Navy SEAL to create tension-filled books praised for their authentic action. It’s been adapted into an Amazon Prime show starring Chris Pratt. His next book, Only the Dead, will be released in May.
Paul Kix
Tuesday, June 6 | 7 PM | Central Library
Author and journalist Paul Kix’s new book, You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live, will be released May 2. In it, Kix goes behind the scenes of the 1963 Birmingham Campaign that shaped the Civil Rights Movement. Kix grew up on a farm in Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University.
Taylor Harris
Thursday, June 15 | 7 PM | Central Library
Taylor Harris is a writer, wife, and mom to three who lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her debut memoir, This Boy We Made, is forthcoming from Catapult on January 11, 2022. The book follows Harris’s quest to discover why her young son was experiencing a frustrating assortment of health challenges.
