Brandeis National Committee/Tucson Chapter hosts four award-winning authors for its 18th annual book & author events at the Skyline Country Club March 12 and 13.
All net proceeds from the 2014 book & author events will benefit “Sustaining the Mind,” a BNC fund supporting basic neuroscience research and endowed scholarships for Brandeis science students at Brandeis University. With a worldwide aging population, basic neuroscience research is critical to finding the cause and hopefully a cure for neurodegenerative diseases such as Lou Gehrig’s, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy and Parkinson’s. A limited number of tickets are available for a 6 pm dinner soiree March 12. Dine with the authors at a buffet dinner and enjoy a jazz performance.
The major public event is March 13. Presentations by four award-winning authors, buffet lunch, artisan boutiques and the bookstore Mostly Books will be at Skyline Country Club from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm, March 13.
Elizabeth Burden will moderate the author presentations on March 13. Burden is the host of the Thursday evening edition of “Arizona Illustrated/Arts” on Arizona Public Media, Channel 6.
For information or luncheon tickets, contact Sheila Rothenberg at 520-232-9559 or sheila.tucson@comcast.net. Tickets for the March 12 Soiree are available from Sandra Rollin, 520-299-1400. The reservation deadline is March 3.
FEATURED AUTHORS
Philip Caputo won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for investigating vote fraud in Chicago. He wrote the acclaimed Vietnam War memoir, A Rumor of War. His first novel, Horn of Africa, was a National Book Award finalist, and his 2007 essay on illegal immigration won the Blackford Prize for nonfiction. His most recent books are Crossings, a novel about illegal drug and immigrant smuggling along the Mexican/U.S. border, and The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America from Key West to the Arctic Ocean, which features anecdotal interviews with people he met along a 2,000-mile journey in a camper.
Tom McNeal won the Southern California Independent Bookseller’s Association award for his novel, Far Far Away, which was shortlisted for the 2013 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. He has collaborated with his wife on four young adult novels and a picture book, The Dog Who Lost His Bob. His short story, What Happened to Tully, was made into a film. McNeal received a B.A. and a teaching certificate from University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. in creative writing from University of California at Irvine and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.
Thomas Perry won an Edgar Award in 1983 for his debut mystery, The Butcher’s Boy, followed by Metzger’s Dog, which was voted one of NPR’s “100 Killer Thrillers, Best Thrillers Ever.” Among Perry’s other 20+ books are the Jane Whitfield series, debuting with Vanishing Act, which was included in the “100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century” by the Independent Mystery Bookseller’s Association. His most recent novel is The Boyfriend. He holds a B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester.
Jacqueline Winspear won the Agatha, Alex and Macavity awards for Maisie Dobbs, the first mystery in her
national best-selling series about a female private investigator and psychologist in the rigidly stratified and male-dominated society of post-World War I England. Maisie Dobbs was also nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel and named a New York Times “Notable Book.” Her most recent Maisie Dobbs mystery is Leaving Everything Most Loved. Winspear was born and raised in Kent, England, and educated at the University of London’s Institute of Education. She moved to the United States in 1990 and now lives in California.
