AUTHOR JAMES PATTERSON TO CLOSE INAUGURAL READERS’ FESTIVAL IN TORONTO
PLUS: ATWOOD, CLIVE BARKER TO TOAST STEPHEN KING AT TRIBUTE

 TORONTO, ON (rushprnews)  May 17, 2007 • With Toronto’s newest readers’ festival only three weeks away, BOOKED! is pleased to announce its “finale event”: An Afternoon with James Patterson. The phenomenally popular thriller writer James Patterson will give a talk on his latest book, The 6th Target, followed by an interview conducted by The Globe and Mail’s Books Editor Martin Levin. James Patterson is the bestselling author of the past year, bar none, and has a total of more than 135 million books sold worldwide.

His work has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Edgar Award, the BCA Mystery Guild’s Thriller of the Year, and the International Thriller of the Year. He is the creator of the top-selling U.S. detective series in the past twelve years, featuring Alex Cross, which includes the Hollywood-adapted Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. His ever popular Women’s Murder Club series, the next bestselling detective series, has also been green-lighted as a pilot for ABC television, staring Angie Harmon as Lindsay Boxer.

 An Afternoon with James Patterson will close the festival on Sunday, June 10 at 1:30 pm in the Premiere Dance Theatre. Tickets are $10. This event is presented by BOOKED! in association with Luminato.

The gala tribute to Stephen King has some exciting new elements. Speakers confirmed to toast the author that night include Clive Barker and Margaret Atwood, and Chuck Klosterman will conduct the on-stage interview. Klosterman, the author of Fargo Rock City and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, is a columnist for Esquire and has written for GQ, Spin and The New York Times Magazine among others.

George Stroumboulopoulos of CBC Television’s “The Hour” will emcee the event. King’s long-time Publisher at Scribner (New York), Susan Moldow, will set the stage for Canadian Booksellers Association Executive Director Susan Dayus to present a lifetime achievement award to the author. Tickets, which are $25 each, are still available.

Presented by Booked! and Luminato.

The previously announced reading by Gil Adamson (The Outlander) and Clare Clark (The Nature of Monsters) has a new time and venue. The authors will take the stage at noon on Sunday, June 10 in the Speigeltent’ntavern at Harbourfront Centre, and it is a FREE event.

And, BOOKED! has added 3 additional FREE events. Books for Business hosts a lunch-hour reading with retail marketing expert Albert C. Plant and Ted Rogers biographer Caroline Van Hasselt on Thursday, June 7 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. On Saturday, June 9 at 10:00 am a range of children’s authors will present their work at CBC’s Atrium. 

Also on Saturday, Canadian military historians Tom Douglas, Lance Goddard and Peter Pigott give a free reading at Historic Fort York at 2:00 pm. And at 2:00 on Saturday, The Beguiling hosts an event with children’s graphic novelist Liam O’Donnell and cartoonist and illustrator Michael Cho.

Also, limited quantities of tickets to all events are now available at Toronto-area bookstores until May 31, including Bryan Prince Bookseller in Hamilton and A Different Drummer in Burlington. For a complete list of stores selling tickets to BOOKED! events or to purchase online, visit www.bookedbetweenthecovers.ca or call the Harbourfront Centre box office 416-973-4000.

For details on other events, a listing of all participating authors and locations, and for more information on BOOKED! visit www.bookedbetweenthecovers.ca.

Media Contact: Michaela Cornell, Publicist

416-536-714    cell: 647-274-6112 mcornell@rogers.com
 

-END-

RUSH PR NEWS newswire and press release services at www.rushprnews.com
Anne Howard www.annehowardpublicist.com writer and publicist