SPRINGFIELD –– Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White is inviting citizens from throughout Illinois to attend the 7th Illinois Authors Book Fair Saturday, November 16th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Illinois State Library in Springfield.

White said the Illinois Authors Book Fair is the only event of its kind that solely recognizes authors who were born in, are currently living in or spent part of their lives in Illinois.

"I am proud to salute Illinois' many talented authors and invite citizens to meet some of these outstanding men and women at this year's Illinois Authors Book Fair," said White. "The Book Fair is a day of free, family fun, with special programs for children, panel discussions with the authors, book signings, writing workshops and more.

"From Carl Sandburg to Ray Bradbury and Gwendolyn Brooks to Ernest Hemingway, the state of Illinois has been blessed during our nearly 200-year history with a wealth of talented authors. As State Librarian, I encourage citizens of all ages to develop of love of reading that will last a lifetime. There is no better way to do that than by delving into the works of our own Illinois authors. I applaud each of these authors for enriching the lives of readers here in Illinois and throughout the world."

White noted that many out of town visitors are expected to be in Springfield the weekend of November 16th for the November 18th dedication of the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and he extended a special invitation for those guests to attend the Book Fair.

"The Book Fair will give these visitors a chance to see our Illinois State Library, which is one of the most beautiful buildings in Springfield," White said. "Abraham Lincoln was actually the first patron to use the State Library back in the 19th century. Several of this year's authors have written books about Lincoln, and Dr. Wayne Temple, a world renowned Lincoln scholar, will give a presentation about our 16th President. We have even scheduled a Lincoln costume contest for children. We are proud to have the new Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, and I hope visitors coming for the dedication will also come to the Book Fair."

Other Book Fair highlights include an appearance by Tom Joyce, who makes regular appearances on "The Appraisal Fair", which is broadcast nationally ten times a week on the Home and Garden Television network. Joyce is one of the nation's most popular and widely recognized book and manuscript appraisers, and he will appraise rare books and autographs at no charge to patrons. Warren Brown of Park Forest will perform his award-winning Mark Twain portrayal, and there will be a display of comic book art and a display and discussion of the history of a German bible that is more than 300 years old.

The Illinois State Library is located at 300 South Second Street, directly across the street from the Illinois State Capitol.

Schedule of Illinois Authors Book Fair Activities
Saturday, November 16, 2002
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

These activities will run concurrently in rooms throughout the Illinois State Library. More than 50 Illinois authors will be in the atrium of the Library to interact with Book Fair visitors. Books will be available for sale and signing by the authors all day. Chapter One in Springfield will operate a bookstore in the Illinois Authors Room on the first floor.

Judy Askew of Brookport is the author of Service With a Smile and Sometimes Even a Laugh, a collection of columns she wrote over the past 20 years as Assistant Editor of Backchannels, a Washington D.C. magazine for Army wives, and later as society editor for the Metropolis Planet newspaper. Fans of the late columnist Erma Bombeck will enjoy Judy's writing style and wonderfully humorous stories of life in and out of the military.

Elisabeth Hewitt Bantz of Columbia has been writing Christian fiction for more than a quarter century, specializing in Christian romance novels. Her books include The Secret Cove and Sins of the Fathers, the first two of four books that comprise the generational saga Secrets of the Heart. The other two books in the series, Family Secrets and Snatched, will be published in Spring 2003.

Les Blain of Springfield has created a detective named Nick Wolf, who is the focus of Wolf Among the Sheep, Blain's first mystery novel published in March. Set in a Southern Illinois community called Toulyville, Wolf Among the Sheep has been called "a compelling story operating on many levels, with richness in details describing settings, characters and clues to the mysteries".

Eleanor Taylor Bland of Waukegan has been referred to as "the most prolific among African-American female mystery writers". She was one of the first African-American women to break into suspense fiction. Her popular Marti MacAlister series of books address serious issues: racism, alcoholism, elder issues, child abuse and homelessness. Titles include Windy City Dying, Whispers in the Dark, Dead Time, and Tell No Tales.

John Braswell of Bloomington is the author of Coop, whose storyline ponders the thought, "What if the South had won the Civil War?" This new work of fiction has been called "original and fast moving" with a surprise ending. Braswell imagines a post war climate where, among other things, the North makes tobacco illegal and creates opportunities for smuggling, and there are only two classes of people, the very rich and the very poor.

William Cottringer of Glen Carbon believes You Can Have Your Cheese and Eat it Too! That's the title of a new book that the author describes as "a personal development, self help and business book rolled into one." It tells the story of two cats and two mice who form an unlikely alliance to get what they want: the cheese. Cottringer says his work is similar to, but not based on, the popular book Who Moved My Cheese? The author says he takes that book to the next level.

Dr. Kim Dalzell of Grayslake says we can Challenge Cancer and Win! Dalzell, an oncology nutritionist with more than a decade of experience in the cancer treatment field, has written a step-by-step nutrition action plan for specific forms of cancer. She explains how sound nutritional therapy can strengthen the immune system, decrease treatment side effects, increase the effectiveness of chemo and radiation, reduce chances of cancer progression, lower risks of recurrence and prevent malnutrition.

Olivia Diamond, an Illinois native, writes short stories, novels and poetry. In 1998 she moved to a writers retreat with her novelist husband, to a log house on forty acres bordering the Flathead National Forest near Whitefish, Montana. Her works include Women at the Well, The Pluperfect Phantom, Blue Angel and Land of the Four Quarters. Today she does what all authors aspire to do--enjoy nature and write to her heart's content.

Ray Elliott of Urbana is an editor, publisher, former English and journalism professor and author of numerous works of nonfiction. He recently published his first novel, Wild Hands Toward the Sky. The coming of age work tells the story of John Walter and is set on the small farms and villages of Southern Illinois near the Wabash Valley during and shortly after World War II. One reviewer calls the book "the timeless universal story of all boys groping and fighting their way to manhood, a book from the heart as well as the guts."

Lori Enos of Rolling Meadows is an award-winning screenwriter and the author of The Portable Coach: A Do-It-Yourself Approach to Personal Coaching, a "how-to" book on creating a more fulfilling life and a good guide for anyone wanting to improve their self-image in order to cope with the ups and downs of everyday living. She also enjoys writing fiction and recently finished her first novel, Whisper Alley, a military thriller based on her experiences as an auditor in Okinawa, Japan.

William L. Fay II of Jacksonville is a retired attorney and the author of Life at Moscow Bay: One Hundred Years Along the Illinois River. The work is more than a book about hunting and fishing. It is also one man's fond remembrance of five generations of friends and family all joined together by their love of the great outdoors and "one of the smallest of the backwater lakes." Life at Moscow Bay is a powerful testament to the importance of conserving our natural resources for the enjoyment of future generations.

Cardinals and Cubs baseball fans will want to meet Doug Feldmann during the Book Fair. Feldmann lives in Indianapolis but grew up in the Chicago area and played football and baseball at Northern Illinois University. He has written three books about baseball, including Dizzy and the Gas House Gang; Fleeter than Birds (about the 1985 Cardinals); and The 1935 Chicago Cubs. He was a finalist for the 2000 Seymour Medal presented by the Society for American Baseball Research.

Paul Findley served as a United States Congressman from 1961 to 1983, and received worldwide attention during his tenure for his views on events in the Middle East. He has written three highly acclaimed books about the region, including his latest, the timely and thought provoking Silent No More: Confronting America's False Images of Islam. Book Fair visitors who might also be in Springfield for the November 18th dedication of the Lincoln Presidential Library might wish to seek out another of Findley's books, A. Lincoln: The Crucible of Congress.

Judith Bloom Fradin of Evanston, a popular author of children's non-fiction, makes a return appearance to the Illinois Authors Book Fair, having appeared in 2000. Her latest books are Who Was Sacawega? and How Do YOU Say Grandma? Previous works include Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. The American Library Association has named Fradin one of the 100 best authors of literature for young adults.

William Furry is Assistant Director of the Illinois State Historical Society and editor of Illinois Heritage magazine. Earlier this year Furry drew an enthusiastic crowd at the Illinois State Library's Booked for Lunch program to discuss his book The Preacher's Tale: The Civil War Journal of Rev. Francis Springer, Chaplain, U.S. Army of the Frontier. The book has been well received by Civil War enthusiasts.

Pearl Gaskins of Lindenhurst is an award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience interviewing young people and writing about the issues that concern them, from prejudice and peer pressure to divorce and drug use. She was Senior Editor for Scholastic Choices, an educational magazine for teenagers. What Are You? Voices of Mixed Race Young People is her first book. It has been named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and a Booklist Editor's Choice.

Colonel (Ret) Rand Harrison of Petersburg is an author, outdoorsman, and collector of antiques. He has written four books since retiring from the military: By the Moon's Darkness; By Dawn's Early Light-A Novel of New Millennium Terrorism; Tall Tales of Bow Hunting, Fishing and Other Cool Stuff; and The Frog King of Lily Pond World. His next book is Capitol Crimes.

Esther Hershenhorn of Chicago writes picture books and middle grade fiction. She has appeared at several Illinois Authors Book Fairs, and her works have consistently been popular with Book Fair patrons. Her newest children's book is Chicken Soup By Heart, illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger. Other titles by Hershenhorn include There Goes Lowell's Party, Illinois Fun Facts and Games and The Confe$$ion$ and $ecret$ of Howard J. Fingerhut.

Jacqueline Jackson of Springfield has just released More Stories from the Round Barn, the companion volume to her widely praised Stories from the Round Barn published in 1997. Readers were introduced to life on the farm that W.J. Dougan founded in 1906 near Beloit, Wisconsin, where they had built an unusual round barn. Using anecdotes, stories and vivid description, Jackson detailed her recollections of farm life with both drama and comic relief. More Stories continues Jackson's loving tribute to life on the Dougan farm and surrounding community, introducing readers to a host of new characters to accompany familiar faces found in the first volume.

Tom Kacich, the author of Hot Type: 150 Years of the Best Local Stories from the News Gazette, is the editorial page editor of the Champaign/Urbana News Gazette. He has worked for the newspaper since 1975. The book reviews the top 150 news stories of the first 150 years (1852-2002) of print journalism in Champaign/Urbana, and will interest the thousands of University of Illinois graduates who spent time there over the years.

Poet and author John Knoepfle of Springfield is a favorite of Book Fair patrons over the years. His works include Instant and Forever and Poems from the Sangamon. He has authored more than 20 books and had a long teaching career at Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois at Springfield). In 1986 the Illinois Association of Teachers of English named him Illinois Author of the Year. He has also received the Mark Twain award for contributions to Midwestern literature.

Kazimir Ladny of Springfield has led a remarkable life, which he chronicles in his book It Was Worth It: The Adventures of a Polish POW in World War II. Ladny was born on a Polish farm, became a counterintelligence officer in the Polish Army and was near the front lines as Germany invaded at the beginning of World War II. He spent time as a POW in both Russia and Germany and ended up in Springfield in 1951. Explaining the book's title, Ladny says "I have paid a heavy price to be admitted to the United States but IT WAS WORTH IT!"

Metamora author Thomas Laird has found success on both sides of the Atlantic with his first crime fiction novel Cutter. The book has been published both here and in the United Kingdom, and features the fictional detective hero Jimmy Parisi who works for the Chicago Police Department's homicide division. The second book in the series, Season of the Assassin, will be published in January. Laird teaches English and creative writing at Peoria Notre Dame High School.

Kimberley Levy of Buffalo Grove is the author of the delightful children's book Chelsea's New Home, a story about having a dream and following your heart to make that dream come true. It is also a story about life changes and how taking a risk can result in positive outcomes. The book has been called "rhythmic and engaging" and is augmented and showcased by Terry Herman's colorful illustrations.

Fern Logan of Carbondale has produced a remarkable series of photographs in her book The Artist Portrait Series-Images of Contemporary African-American Artists. Some of those who have posed for Fern are famous: Maya Angelou, Gordon Parks, Alvin Ailey, Ed Bradley and Arthur Ashe. All of her portraits document the emergence of the African-American artist into mainstream American art. Each rich duotone portrait is accompanied by Logan's commentary on the artist.

Christopher Lynch of Chicago is the grandson of a pioneering pilot and learned about aviation from listening to stories at the dinner table and from visiting Midway Airport where, as a child, he met many pilots from the early days of aviation. Chicago's Midway Airport: The First Seventy-Five Years is the product of Lynch's research and photos. Long before the first plane ever touched down at O'Hare field, Midway was the world's busiest airport and the center of commercial air travel.

Patricia Malone of Naperville is the author of The Legend of Lady Ilena, a novel geared toward young adults. It is the tale of a young woman's quest for her true identity that leads her into danger, mystery and adventure during sixth century Britain. The book is a 2003 American Library Association nominee for Best Book for Young Adults.

David Martin was born in Granite City, grew up on a farm near Mt. Olive and currently lives on a small farm in Tennessee. He has published ten novels, among them Crazy Love, Pelikan, The Beginning of Sorrows and The Crying Heart Tattoo. More than a million copies of his novels are currently in print around the world. His books have been translated into 11 languages in 16 countries, ranging from Scotland to South Africa.

It's been said that the world is divided into dog lovers and cat lovers. Alex Matthews falls into the latter category, having written six books in a mystery series that features a fictional cat that is a character, not a pet. The most recent book in her series is Death's Domain. The central figure of the series is Cassidy McCabe, a psychotherapist/sleuth who solves mysteries out of her home in Oak Park. Matthews has received the Readers' Choice Best Series Character Award and the Cat Writers' Muse Medallion.

Donna McCreary of Charlestown, Indiana began portraying Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the 16th President, in 1992. The Association of Lincoln Presenters has twice named her "Outstanding Mary Lincoln". Her book Lincoln's Table is a collection of recipes for food that Lincoln enjoyed from his boyhood through his presidency. Reviewers have called the book "one you'll want to own and pass on to your grandchildren" and "a great addition to any cookbook collection".

Alice B. McGinty of Urbana is the author of thirty-four children's books. She writes and publishes fiction, non-fiction and poetry for children. Her new picture book is Ten Little Lambs. Full of charm and giddy humor, this rhyming read-aloud book is for every "little lamb" that wishes there were no such word as bedtime.

Alan McPherson of Kewanna, Indiana is a naturalist and the author of several successful books related to nature and hiking. He says he is unwilling to tell others to go where he has not gone himself, so he has hiked all of the trails he describes in books about areas of Illinois, Florida, Indiana and the Ozarks. His books include Fifty Nature Walks in Southern Illinois, Indiana's Best Hikes, Paddle Indiana, Illinois Indians Coloring Book and the Illinois A-Z Coloring Book.

Janet Nolan of Oak Park was standing on the rocky shores of Ireland's west coast when she saw the perfect setting for her first picture book. The St. Patrick's Day Shillelagh celebrates an Irish American family history and the stories they told. On his way to America from Ireland to escape the Potato Famine, young Fergus carves a shillelagh from his favorite blackthorn tree, and each St. Patrick's Day for generations, his story is retold by one of his descendants.

William O'Malley of Naperville has a 317-year-old German bible that has been in his family for 12 generations. His great-grandfather Julius Dreffein, a Chicago pioneer, brought the Bible from Germany to America in 1865. In 1985 O'Malley decided to research his family history. He wrote extensively about it and in 2001 published History of a Family Bible, 1685-2000: A Quest for the Missing Link. The Bible will be on display during the Illinois Authors Book Fair.

Victor Pearn grew up in Jacksonville and now lives in Boulder, Colorado. He has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, in 1994 for the chapbook Swans Pausing and last year for his most recent collection American Western Song, Poems from 1976 to 2001. Pearn's poems have been called "short, expressive, nostalgic and visual". American Western Song is an exploration of Pearn's experiences living in Colorado and going through Marine basic training during the Vietnam War.

Taylor Pensoneau of New Berlin is one of the state's leading biographers of Illinois historical figures. His books on former Governors Richard Ogilvie and Dan Walker received the Illinois State Historical Society's Certificate of Excellence. Pensoneau has received tremendous acclaim for his most recent work, Brothers Notorious: The Sheltons, an account of the lives and times of the best-known gangster brothers to come out of Southern Illinois. He is currently working on his first book of fiction to be published in 2003.

Jerome Pohlen is a travel writer and editor living in Berwyn. His "Oddball" series of books (Oddball Illinois, Oddball Wisconsin, Oddball Indiana, and Oddball Colorado") have been called "the definitive guides to offbeat destinations." He is currently at work on three new editions to the series featuring strange places and unique sights to be found in Minnesota, Florida and Ohio. Reviewers have called his series of books "irresistible, hilarious, well-written and informative".

Patricia Hruby Powell of Tuscola is the author of Blossom Tales: Flower Stories of Many Folk. Her first picture book, Blossom Tales is a beautifully illustrated collection of fourteen retold folktales from around the world, each one about a flower. Powell is also a storyteller and dancer, accentuating her tales for all ages with dance, worldwide percussion instruments and lifelike animal sounds. Her next book, Zinnia, a bilingual Navajo/English picture book, is due next year.

Janet Riehecky of Elgin is a full-time freelance writer for children, having published more than ninety books of both fiction and non-fiction. Her works range from preschool picture books to junior high social history and biography. Her most recent titles are: The Mystery of the Missing Money; The Mystery of the UFO; The Emancipation Proclamation and The Osage Nation. Janet is the recipient of the Summit Award for Best Children's Nonfiction presented by the Society of Midland Authors.

William L. Roth, Jr. of Springfield, author and practitioner of Marian Theology, has written the timely White Collar Witch Hunt: The Catholic Priesthood Under Siege. His earlier non-fiction religious books are In Our Darkest Hour: Morning Star Over America; At the Water's Edge: Essays in Faith and Morals; and When Legends Rise Again: The Convergence of Capitalism and Christianity.

Whitney Scott of Crete is an author, publisher, editor, book designer and book reviewer whose poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction have been published internationally. She founded Outrider Press, Inc. to provide publishing opportunities for developing writers. Her works include Take Two-They're Small; A Kiss is Still a Kiss; Earth Beneath, Sky Beyond; and Feathers, Fins and Furs. Whitney is a popular presenter of various workshops in the Chicago area.

The legendary Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan, Illinois has hosted stars such as Betty Grable, Cesar Romero, Margaret Hamilton, Leonard Nimoy, Lesley Ann Warren and Stubby Kaye. How these celebrities ended up performing in a small Midwestern farm town is the subject of The Little Theatre on the Square by Dayton, Ohio author Beth Conway Shervey. Shervey spent her early years in Sullivan and worked at the Little Theatre. She tells the story of how this world-renowned equity theatre altered the perception of life in Sullivan.

Bob Skilnik of Plainfield is a freelance writer and expert on the subjects of beer, brewery history and "breweriana". He is the author of The History of Beer and Brewing in Chicago-1833-1978 and The History of Beer and Brewing in Chicago, Vol. II. He is a graduate of the Chicago-based Siebel Institute of Technology, the oldest brewing school in the United States, with a degree in Brewing Technology. Skilnik says his interests in beer and brewing were cultivated while serving as a German translator in Western Germany for the U.S. Army.

Kevin Stein of Dunlap has appeared at several Illinois Authors Book Fairs. His poems and essays have appeared widely in journals such as the American Poetry Review. His most recent publication, Illinois Voices, is the first comprehensive anthology of twentieth century Illinois poetry, an edition he co-edited with G.E. Murray. His other books of poetry include Chance Ransom and Bruised Paradise. His numerous awards include the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship.

Bruce Steinberg of Aurora is an attorney whose first novel, The Widow's Son, was the winner of the Gardenia Press First Novel Fest 2000 Writing Competition. Set in 1966/67 Chicago and its suburbs, The Widow's Son tells the based-on-fact story of a 12-year-old's unwanted task of saving his family from self-destruction after his family witnesses the unexpected death of their father.

Don Stephen of Martinsville is a farmer and author of Bait, a memoir of Stephen's service in Vietnam as an Army infantry platoon leader in 1970-71. Stephen, a Special Forces-trained officer, went to Vietnam as a 24-year-old soldier and led men barely out of high school through days of prolonged fighting and uncertainty in the jungles of Vietnam.

Denise Swanson of Plainfield is the author of the Scumble River mystery series that includes Murder of a Small Town Honey, Murder of a Sweet Old Lady and Murder of a Sleeping Beauty. Swanson draws upon her background as a school psychologist to create school psychologist Skye Denison, who has been called "a quintessential amateur sleuth" by one reviewer. Other lovers of the series call Swanson's mysteries "fun, fascinating and skillfully executed."

Beth Szillagyi of Petersburg has been a sheet metal worker for twenty-three years and a writer for as long as she can remember. The heroine of her book Hey, Lady! Your Tin Snips are Showing! is a woman who joins a formerly all-male sheet metal shop as an apprentice. It's a tale about growing up female, challenging the norms, and following one's dreams, down an unusual and oftentimes hilarious road that few have traveled before.

Dr. Wayne C. Temple of Springfield is the Chief Deputy Director of the Illinois State Archives and an internationally recognized authority on Abraham Lincoln. Among his books on the 16th President are Abraham Lincoln: From Skeptic to Prophet and By Square and Compass: Saga of the Lincoln Home. Temple has served as Editor in Chief of the Lincoln Herald, the only quarterly journal on Abraham Lincoln in the world and the oldest such Lincoln publication, starting in 1897. His many awards include being named a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts by Queen Elizabeth II.

One of the greatest sports books and sports movies of all time is The Natural, the story of Roy Hobbs, written by Bernard Malamud and portrayed by Robert Redford in the classic film. Eddie Waitkus was the real-life ballplayer who served as the inspiration for Roy Hobbs, and John Theodore of Hinsdale has written the first ever biography of the man called "the Fred Astaire of First Basemen", Baseball's Natural: The Story of Eddie Waitkus. One reviewer said, "for anyone who loves baseball, this book is a must-read....it has all the elements of a great novel."

David J. Walker's most recent novel, No Show of Remorse, is his fourth book featuring Chicago private investigator Mal Foley. The Wilmette resident's other series, his "Wild Onion Ltd." Series, features a husband/wife private eye team. The three books in that series are A Ticket to Die For, A Beer at a Bawdy House, and The End of Emerald Woods. Dave has been a parish priest, an investigator with the Chicago police department and a lawyer.

Vibert L. White, Jr. is Associate Professor and Chair of the African-American Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. He has received international attention with his book Inside the Nation of Islam: A Historical and Personal Testimony of a Black Muslim. Many books have been written about the Nation of Islam, but few offer personal accounts of life within the Nation. White is no longer a member of the movement, but he draws upon his personal experience working with Louis Farrakhan to present the group's history and evolution. Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes wrote the forward to White's book.

Jerome Yanoff of Chicago is a product of the Chicago Public School system and was a special education high school teacher in the Chicago Public Schools for 27 years. He is the author of three books: The Classroom Teacher's Trouble-Shooting Handbook; The Classroom Teacher's Inclusion Handbook; and The Excellent Teacher's Handbook. Today he teaches in the special education department of National Louis University.