Midwest Fest

By Margaret Hicks in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 14, 2006 4:47PM

This weekend is the Midwest Literary Festival in Aurora. All kinds of cool things are going on and there are some great authors to see. Guest speakers include: Joyce Carol Oates (she was awarded the 2006 Chicago Tribune Literary Prize, she’ll accept at The Chicago Humanites Festival in November), Emily Giffen, Elizabeth Kostova, Dennis Lehane and our funny-boy crush, Harry Shearer. Some of the lectures look excellent too, here are some of the highlights, according to us of course:

The James Bond Phenomenon
Raymond Benson, author of six James Bond novels, as well as The James Bond Bedside Companion, uses an audio-visual presentation to discuss our ongoing fascination with Ian Flemming’s classic spy.

The Midwest as a Setting and a Literary Tradition
Acclaimed author William Barillas discusses his new book about our area’s literary history.

The Best of the Bestsellers
National bestselling authors Elizabeth Kostova, Lisa Jackson, James Rollins, Jill Conner Browne, David Morrell discuss how cracking the bestseller list impacted their writing and their careers.

There's a ton more to see and do, check out the website for more information on other events and authors.