The Downers Grove Area Council of PTAs welcomes families and community members to the Author Fest Book Signing and Photo Opportunity on Friday, April 28. The event will be held 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. at Anderson’s Bookshop, 5112 Main St., Downers Grove.
The event will feature four children's authors – Dusti Bowling, Liesl Shurtliff, David Biedrzycki and Troy Cummings.
Earlier in the week, all District 58 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders will meet with one of these authors to hear insights about the writing/illustration process. Small groups of students were also able to have lunch with an author for informal discussions.
Author Fest is an annual event sponsored by the Downers Grove Area Council of PTAs with support from the District 58 Education Foundation. Twenty percent of every book purchased for the book signing at Anderson's will come back to the PTA Council to be used for future district-wide programming, including Author Fest.
About the Authors:
Dusti Bowling: Bowling grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, where, as her family will tell you, she always had her nose in a book. Dusti currently lives in Eagar, Arizona with her husband, three daughters, and a bunch of farm animals. She will share with students her inspiration for her middle-grade novels including Insignificant and Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus, 24 Hours in Nowhere, The Canyon’s Edge, and Across the Desert. Dusti's books have been honored numerous times with medals and awards including the Sakura Medal, and a Golden Kite Honor, as well as being named best books of the year by the Chicago Public Library, A Mighty Girl, and many more.
Liesl Shurtliff: Shurtliff will be participating in her third Author Fest visit to District 58! Liesl Shurtliff grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah the fifth of eight children. She loved dancing, singing, playing the piano, and reading. She read Grimms’ Fairy Tales so often she wore through the binding! Today she lives with her husband and four children in Chicago. Liesl will share fun facts about science, history, and her process of writing her adventurous time-travel trilogy, Time Castaways. Leisl has also written four novels in the (Fairly) True Tales Series which includes Rump.
David Biedrzycki: David has always loved to draw. Thanks to an early lesson from his older brother Bob and practice, practice, practice, he was pronounced an awesome artist at the age of 4. While he always strived to be the best artist he could be, he did not want to lead the life of an artist and pursued work as an illustrator which developed into writing the stories he illustrated. David married his best friend Kathy and lives with three kids in Medfield, Massachusetts. David’s presentations are energetic, humorous and give insights into the creative process that students don’t get from just reading the stories. He will feature four of his many picture books including SumoKitty, SumoPuppy, Invasion of the Unicorns, and Bear Alert.
Troy Cummings: Cummings is participating in his third Author Fest visit to District 58! As a kid, the New York Times bestselling author spent all his time writing stories, drawing pictures, and keeping an eye out for monsters. Cummings lives in Indiana, where he steals jokes from his kids, cats, and hamsters. Troy has written and illustrated more than 50 children's books, including The Notebook of Doom series, Can I Be Your Dog?, I Found a Kitty!, and Is This Your Class Pet? He has also illustrated books by other authors. His illustrations have appeared in newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, board games, jigsaw puzzles, a French opera, and on the back of a box of fish sticks.