Featured authors at the Iola Public Librarys Family Reading Festival, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Iola High School, inlcude:
– Keynote author Brian McTavish, 10 a.m., Comic Genius: Masterworks of American Graphic Storytelling.
– Stephen Gilpin, 11 a.m., illustrator of Wires and Nerve graphic novel series. An Iola native, hes been working as an illustrator and cartoonist for 18 years.
– Michael Graves, 11 a.m., To Leave a Shadow and Shadow of Death, mysteries set in 1930s Kansas. He recently retired from Emporia State University.
– Ian Michael Spurgeon, noon, Soldiers in the Army of Freedom: the 1st Kansas Colored, the Civil Wars First African American Combat Unit. He is a military historian with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Washington, D.C.
– Roderick Townley, noon, The Great Good Thing, A Bitter Magic and other young adult novels. He has written numerous childrens books, works of criticism and poetry, and has earned a number of honors.
– Marc Tyler Nobleman, 1 p.m. Boys of Steel, Bill the Boy Wonder, and other graphic novels (via Skype).
– Mark Eberle, 1 p.m., Kansas Baseball, 1858-1941. He teaches biology and scientific writing at Fort Hays State University.
– Carol Murray, 2 p.m., Cricket in the Thicket. A poet and author of books for children, she taught English and speech for 25 years at Hutchinson Community College and also has taught writing, communications and literature classes.
– Josh Cotter, 2 p.m., Skyscrapers of the Midwest and other graphic novels. He is a cartoonist and author who lives in rural northwest Missouri.
