Alice Sebold, whose novel “The Lovely Bones” is featured on PBS’s The Great American Read 100 Favorite Books List, will appear at the South Dakota Festival of Books later this month as part of a partnership between the South Dakota Humanities Council and South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
Sebold will speak to college students during the day and participate in an evening keynote event, an on-stage conversation with Lori Walsh, host of SDPB’s In the Moment, Friday, Sept. 21 in Brookings. For a complete schedule at the 2018 Festival of Books visit SDBookFestival.com.
PBS’s The Great American Read is a TV series and digital initiative about the power of books and the joy of reading through the lens of America’s 100 best-loved novels. View the list of America’s 100 Favorite Books and vote for your favorite SDPB.org/GreatRead. The Great American Read series resumes Tuesday, September 11 on SDPB1-TV.
Here is a list of our events and activities taking place in Brookings. All are free and open to the public.
Monday, Sept. 10
- 7:00pm - Screening: The Great American Read Fall Kick-off, Brookings Public Library
Tuesday, Sept. 18
- 1:00pm - Screening: “The Lovely Bones,” Brookings Cinema 8, Theatre #5 - FREE!
- 6:30pm - Screening: “The Lovely Bones,” Brookings Public Library
Thursday, Sept. 19
- 7:00pm - Book Discussion: “The Lovely Bones,” Brookings Public Library
Friday, Sept. 21
- 9:00am - The Great American Read Books to Film Showcase – Fishback Studio, Performing Arts Center (9am-6pm) - local filmmaker Jay Fishback hosts a film showcase of books that have been commited to film: The Grapes of Wrath, The Outsiders, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Great Gatsby.
- 11:00am - In The Moment live from Festival of Books – Larson Memorial Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center (11am-1pm) - Lori Walsh broadcasts live as she interviews authors attending the Festival of Books. Come watch radio being made.
- Noon - Alice Sebold presentation "We Move As a Group: Uniting the Genders in the Fight Against Rape Culture" – Walder Room, SDSU Student Union
- 1:00pm - SDPB booth at Exhibit Hall – Community Life Center, First United Methodist Church (1-5pm)
- 6:00pm - Thomas A. Patterson keynote “Informing the Public by Informing the News” Larson Memorial Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center
- 7:00pm - An Evening with Alice Sebold in Conversation with Lori Walsh, Larson Memorial Concert Hall, Performing Arts Center
Saturday, Sept. 22
- 9:00am - SDPB booth at Exhibit Hall – Community Life Center, First United Methodist Church (9am-4pm)
Be sure to stop by our booth during the Festival of Books in the exhibit hall at the Community Life Center of the First United Methodist Church for a chance to win a special The Great American Read prize package.
About The Lovely Bones
Published in 2002, “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold quickly became an unprecedented international bestseller, with translations in over 45 languages and American sales alone of more than five million copies. A film version was adapted, written and directed by Peter Jackson. It was released in 2009 and starred Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Michael Imperioli, Saoirse Ronan and Stanley Tucci, in an Oscar-nominated role.
With poignant prose tackling difficult subjects of rape, child murder and the fracture of families, Sebold has captured international audiences with her brilliant debut novel.
Chosen for Oprah's Book Club and winner of the Indies Choice Book Award for Adult Fiction, Publisher’s Weekly calls the book “full of suspense and written in lithe, resilient prose that by itself delights.”
“Sebold's most dazzling stroke, among many bold ones, is to narrate the story from (main character) Susie's heaven (a place where wishing is having), providing the warmth of a first-person narration and the freedom of an omniscient one.”
Support for The Great American Read on SDPB is made possible by Black Hills Energy. Alice Sebold's appearance at the South Dakota Festival of Books is made possible through support by the South Dakota Humanities Council, and a grant from PBS.