Special Event: A Conversation with Anna Quindlen

Hosted by Connie Schultz

You won’t want to miss this very special event with Pulitzer Prize-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author, Anna Quindlen! She is returning to Thurber House for a special evening of conversation, hosted by her longtime friend, Pulitzer Prize-winner, bestselling author, and previous Thurber House Literary Picnic featured guest, Connie Schultz!

In what is sure to be a captivating evening, Anna will be discussing with Connie her latest novel, Every Last One, an unforgettable portrait of a mother, a father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.

Quindlen is the author of 5 novels, 7 works of nonfiction, and was a columnist for Newsweek and the New York Times, and Schultz is a multiple award-winning writer and columnist for The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

This Special Event will take place on Monday, April 4 at the King Arts Center, 867 Mt. Vernon Avenue.  Tickets for the reading are $25. They can be purchased online at http://www.thurberhouse.org, or by phone at 614-464-1032 ext.11.

Did you know…?

Since 2001, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation has been the sole corporate sponsor of one of Thurber House’s signature programs: The Children’s Writer-in-Residence. Unique in the country, this program offers a children’s book writer/illustrator a month-long residency in the furnished third floor apartment of Thurber House. And thanks to JPMorgan Chase’s commitment to education, the authors who have been in residence have been able to reach out in the community and share their experience and expertise with youngsters in a variety of environments while having time to develop their own works.

In fact, the 2008 resident, Alan Silberberg, just won the 2011 Sid Fleischman Award for Humor for his book, Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze, which he wrote and illustrated while in residence at Thurber House.

It is rare that a corporation is as steadfast and loyal in its philanthropic endeavors as the JPMorgan Chase Foundation has been with this program, and we wanted to give a ‘shout out’ of thanks and praise.

The Slightly Less Than (Mostly) Official Event Wrap-Up: Suze Orman

Well, hello there loyal readers! Welcome to the seco…

What’s that? You haven’t read this blog before?

Well I can’t have loyal readers who haven’t read all my work!

Ok, I’ll wait a moment while you read the first one (link)…

…it’s a pretty good read if I do say so myself…

…at least I think it’s a pretty good read…

…whatever, you think what you want about it….

…no, I can take criticism, I just don’t like your tone…

…I can’t talk to you when you’re like this….

*checks watch*

All done? Great!

Well, hello there loyal readers! Welcome to the second edition of the Slighty Less Than (Mostly) Official Event Wrap-Up!

First off, a quick shout-out to fellow blogger and Thurber House intern Bo Fisher, whose post you will find three spots below this one (or you can just click here).  You may also have noticed that I didn’t do wrap up blogs for our last two events!  Well, I did (mostly), but the various responsibilities of being a new Thurber House employee had left me, your humble narrator, quite distracted.  So it is with renewed vigor on the morning after a gigantic event at COSI that I return to the interwebs with SLTMOEWU!

Now, on to the event.

This Just In!

We have breaking news at Thurber House. It is almost summer! It may not feel like it but Puxatawney Phil did not see his shadow, which means its coming fast and we better prepare! First thing’s first, register your young writer in Thurber House’s Summer Writing Camp. Calendars fill fast and so do our camps, so before you make vacation plans and buy the sunscreen, make sure to read the information below!

This year’s camp not only includes fabulous teachers and fun creative writing activities, but also some amazing field trips including the Columbus Museum of Art (2/3 gd.), Franklin Park Conservatory (4/5 gd.), and Columbus Metropolitan Library (6-8 gd.)! Fractured fairy tales, murals, idea books, family trees, sci-fi and more. There are so many awesome things this summer, that we can’t possibly list them all. If you have a writer, this is their camp!

Camp is one week and takes place at Thurber Center, 91 Jefferson Ave., next door to Thurber House. Tuition covers all field trip expenses, supplies, camp T-shirt and a daily snack. For grades 4-8, you will need to provide a sack lunch each day. Note: grade levels are based on what your writer will be entering in the fall.

Thurber Summer Writing Camp 2011

2/3 Grade Campers: 1:00-4:30 p.m.; $95*

June 13-17;
June 20-24

4/5 Grade Campers: 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; $165*

July 25-29; August 1-5; August 8-12

6/7/8 Grade Campers: 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.; $165*

June 27-July 1; 
July 11-15;
July 18-22

* There are a limited number of scholarships for those seeking financial assistance.

 

Keep checking our blog and website (www.thurberhouse.org) for more breaking news to make sure you are prepared for summer!

Evenings with Authors: Lisa Gardner

A dead husband, an abused wife, a missing child… only Detective D.D. Warren can unravel the mystery in time! Join Thurber House for the next 2011 Winter/Spring Evenings with Authors with Lisa Gardner and her new book, Love You More.

The fifth installment of Gardner’s New York Times bestselling D.D. Warren series continues with Love You More. In what should be an open-and-shut case, an abused woman pushed to the brink shoots her husband in self-defense. But she isn’t talking to the police about her dead husband, or her missing 6-year-old daughter. In a race against the clock, Detective Warren must unearth family secrets to solve a murder, and save a child.

Gardner has written 14 other books, and was recently awarded The International Thriller Writers award for Best Hardcover of the Year for The Neighbor.

Gardner will be reading on Wednesday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Avenue. Tickets are $20 general admission and $18 students and seniors, in advance and at the door. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.thurberhouse.org, or by phone at 614-464-1032 ext.11.

Bo at Thurber House

Hi there, my name is Bo Fisher and believe it or not, I’m 18-years old, a writer and am growing up in what I’ve been told is a 21st century skilled generation, yet this is my first ever blog. I’m a senior at the Upper Arlington High School and have been interning at Thurber House now for a little over a month. Aside from helping out Meg and Pat once a week here, I also attend Young Writers’ Studio every other Wednesday.

As a matter of fact, what lured me to James Thurber’s historic house wasn’t the curious ghost hunt that was reportedly held last October or the readings and events centered around vastly acclaimed authors. Rather it was the Young Writers’ Studio. As a writer of both prose and poetry as well as a journalist, I’m disappointed to say the least, that my high school doesn’t offer one course on creative writing. I realize though that this will not only affect me, but every other aspiring writer to come through Upper Arlington. And we will never know how many we lose if we don’t fix it now.

For the past three years, I have been left to take classes and workshops outside of my high school, during the summer and at Columbus State. All along though, I have been planning to change that for future students at UA. For my senior capstone project, I plan to propose and hopefully introduce at least one creative writing class to the Upper Arlington High School. First though, I must prove to my principal and school board why a creative writing course is beneficial.

Thurber House and Young Writers’ Studio is a perfect place to help me get that across. This is a place where students can come if they don’t have an adequate creative writing program at their high school, or like me, don’t have one at all. In my first session at the studio, most of the writers discussed the creative writing courses at their schools and shared my frustration over Upper Arlington’s negligence. Through attending more sessions, I not only look to observe how a workshop is formed, structured and run (as it may be different for other instructors and professors) but learn from the writers just how important their creative writing courses are to them. What are the lasting impressions that these courses leave on students?

Thanks for reading my first ever blog. I hope you continue to read about my experiences here at Thurber House and my search for a reason why we should all write!