Kit Frick, Julie Anne Lindsey to Serve as Keynote Speakers for the 2023 Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival Mystery Gala
For Immediate Release
08/3/2023 Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival Perrysburg, OH
Kit Frick, Julie Anne Lindsey to Serve as Keynote Speakers for the 2023 Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival Mystery Gala
Kit Frick, MacDowell Fellow and International Thriller Writers Award finalist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will join Julile Anne Lindsey, award-winning and bestselling author of mystery and romantic suspense with over 50 titles in print to keynote the 2023 Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival Gala on Saturday, August 26 in Toledo.
Toledo, OH, August 3, 2023 - Mystery and Teen Literacy are the themes for this year's Mystery Gala hosted in The Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival on Saturday, August 26 at the Sofia Quintero Art & Cultural Center.
According to Denise Phillips, one of the founding members of the Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival, “People aged 15–44 in the US spend ten minutes or less per day reading. The data consistently shows reading time dropping off around the time students reach middle school, yet a lot of the reading programs around here are designed for elementary students. We started the Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival with the intent of keeping students reading.” The festival brings approximately two dozen authors and cartoonists to Northwest Ohio to share their love of reading, writing, and art with students.
The festival aims to be inclusive and available to all students. The event is free to all attendees, including a provided lunch. Additionally, the festival provides bus sponsorships to cover the cost of bussing students from area schools. “We have schools traveling as much as an hour to get to the festival,” Phillips mentioned.
“We have been working hard to create this fantastic event and to organize another great book festival for area teens and Young Adult readers,“ said Shannon Holleran, founding Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival committee member. “We are excited to announce that both of our keynote authors, Kit Frick and Julie Anne Lindsay, have graciously offered to auction off ‘naming a character’ in one of their upcoming novels at the Mystery Gala.”
Kit Frick pens Young Adult Thrillers and Poetry. Her latest Thriller, “The Reunion” releases on August 29, but will be available at the gala as a special prerelease event. Ms. Frick has attended the Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival for the past two years. In Publisher’s Weekly starred review of “The Reunion” they wrote, “"During an elaborate vacation, a family’s secrets bring down the mood—and result in a murder—in this dynamic drama....Ample red herrings and eye-popping twists further cultivate this compulsive read. Through nuanced character relationships that heighten the tension, Frick handily explores themes surrounding gender roles, loyalty, sexuality, and toxic masculinity in this cleverly layered mystery." At the gala Ms. Frick will be sharing with the attendees the process of writing a clever thriller and sharing background information about the writing of “The Reunion.”
Double Daphne Du Maurier Award for Mystery & Suspense winner Julie Anne Lindsey will be speaking with the attendees about her own reading experience as a teen and sharing her insights into current teen literacy habits. Ms. Lindsey is a member of national Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Independent Book Publishers Association, Midwest Book Publishers Association, Mystery Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Writing Association, and Novelists Inc. She has ghost written for NYT Bestselling authors and led classes and workshops for numerous writers conferences, libraries and groups on a variety of topics.
Both authors’ books (aside from “The Reunion”) are available wherever books are sold now and come very highly recommended by Northwest Ohio teens.
The Mystery Gala benefiting the Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival will also include live art by Jim Zalewski and Amber Kear (and an auction of the mystery-themed art created at the gala), dinner by a 3-star European chef, and drinks, all in the beautiful event center and gardens of the Sofia Quintero Art & Cultural Center. All proceeds will be used to provide local teens and Young Adult readers a one-of-a-kind experience to help keep them reading well into adulthood. According to Ms. Phillips, “Studies have shown that reading can make teen readers better decision-makers and increases emotional intelligence, and consequently, their career outlooks. Keeping students reading prepares them for a better future and that can only benefit us all.”
For more information and to purchase tickets to the Mystery Gala benefiting the Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival, you can go to their website, or you can call 567- 336-6188 or visit Gathering Volumes bookstore to purchase tickets.
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Press Release Contact Name: Denise Phillips, Committee Member, Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival
Press Release Contact Email: [email protected]
Press Release Contact Phone: (312) 735-2644
Organization Name: Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival
Website or Link: www.nwoteenbookfest.com
Organization Address / City / State: 221 E Broadway St, Granville, OH 43023