The Thurber House Summer 2010 Literary Picnics series marks its 25th season, featuring five Wednesday evening events from June through August.
Guests are invited to gather on the side lawn of Thurber House, 77 Jefferson Ave., to enjoy warm summer evenings, good food and, of course, listening to authors who have an Ohio connection.
The picnics begin June 16, with the Thurber Treat and special guest host, Cheri Mitchell, executive director of BalletMet. Following a time-honored tradition, this year’s Thurber Treat will feature the annual writing contest and the top three local authors will read their winning entries.
The Wednesday picnics that follow will feature, among others, a winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award and the return of last year’s popular “New Voices” picnic, highlighting talented, emerging authors.
Picnic guests can order a catered dinner or bring their own. The picnic food is catered by Party Panache. Each picnic also offers a free tour of James Thurber’s historic home given by the Thurber House middle-school Young Docents. Tours begin at 5:20 p.m.; the picnics start at 6:15 p.m.; and the reading is at 7 p.m.
This year Thurber House will invite guests to participate in two community-benefit projects at each picnic:
• Mid-Ohio Food Bank. Donated canned and boxed goods will be collected and delivered to the food bank.
• Feeding Body & Mind. Donated books gently used or new, will be distributed to food banks in the community by this organization.
The 2010 Wednesday Literary Picnics’ line-up is:
A Thurber Treat, June 16
For this year’s Thurber Treat writing contest, local authors both young and old were asked to choose one Thurber cartoon from a predetermined selection and come up with a new caption and then elaborate on the caption with an amusing story. Cheri Mitchell, executive director of BalletMet, will be the host for the evening. The top three contest winners of the Thurber Treat will read their entries.
Carrie Bebris, June 30
Winner of numerous mystery awards, including the Daphne du Maurier Award, Bebris is known for her beloved Mr. & Mrs. Darcy mysteries which are acclaimed for capturing Jane Austen’s Regency England while reminding readers of the adventures of Nick and Nora Charles. Her fifth and latest in the series is The Intrigue at Highbury (or Emma’s Match), and it finds the Darcys investigating the connection between a robbery and a murder by poison in a family with perhaps something sinister to hide.
New Voices: Carla Buckley, Sarah Gridley, Paula McLain, July 14
Back by popular demand, Thurber House is presenting a Summer Picnic highlighting emerging, talented authors of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. All three authors have published, and all three are Ohio connected. Each author will read from her works individually.
Carla Buckley - fiction - was born in Washington D.C. She has worked in a variety of jobs, including a stint as an assistant press secretary to a U.S. senator, and positions as an analyst with the Smithsonian Institute and a technical writer for a defense contractor. She will read from her debut novel, The Things that Keep Us Here.
Sarah Gridley - poetry - is the author of two books of poetry: Weather Eye Open and Green is the Orator. Her poems have appeared in various print and online journals, including Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, Gulf Coast, jubilat, Kenyon Review Online, New American Poetry and Slope. She is a recipient of an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council and a Creative Workforce Fellowship from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. She is an assistant professor of English at Case Western Reserve University.
Paula McLain - nonfiction - received her MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan in 1996, and has since been a resident at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and has received fellowships from both the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to two books of poetry and a novel, McLain is the author of the memoir, Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses, a searing portrait of three young sisters who are abandoned by their parents and raised as wards of the Fresno County, California court. She teaches at John Carroll University.
Craig McDonald, July 28
Award-winning journalist and crime writer, Craig McDonald is the author of the Edgar nominated Hector Lassiter series that includes Head Games and Toros & Torsos. He will read from the latest in the series, Print the Legend, a literary thriller about Ernest Hemingway's death and the patina that perceived suicide lends the author's legend.
Sharon Davies, August 11
In her harrowing new book, Rising Road: A True Tale of Love, Race, and Religion in America, Sharon Davies sheds new light on the all but forgotten murder of Father Coyle in 1912 Birmingham, Ala. and subsequent trial of the man who shot him, Reverend Edwin Stephenson, where one of the defense lawyers was future Supreme Court Justice, Hugo Black. Placing this story in full social and historical context, Davies brings to life a heinous crime and its aftermath in an in-depth examination of the consequences of prejudice in the Jim Crow era. Davies is the John C. Elam/Vorys Sater Designated Professor of Law at OSU’s Moritz College of Law, and a specialist in criminal law and procedure.
Guests are asked to bring their own blankets or lawn chairs for seating. They are also welcome to bring alcoholic beverages. Parking is free after 6 p.m. at the meters on Jefferson Avenue. The neighboring rain site is State Auto Insurance, 518 E. Broad St., except the July 14 New Voices picnic, which will be the Thurber Center, 91 Jefferson Ave.
Ticket prices: Full series, dinner/reading, $100; Mini-Series for three picnics, dinner/reading, $65; Individual dinner/reading tickets, $25; reading only, adults, $15; children 12 and under, $5. For more information, visit www.thurberhouse.org or call 614-464-1032.