Beginning with a Bang

During last night's monthly meeting of the Chestertown Book Festival Committee, much discussion was devoted to the planning of the 2010 festival's kick-off event. Last year, Friday night's kick-off was a reading given by poet Michael Collier, former Maryland Poet Laureate, at the Bookplate with a delicious wine-and-cheese reception. We would like to have a similar start to the festival weekend this year, as well. And this is the list of potential Friday-night names (Disclaimer: none of these people have actually agreed or been contacted about this event yet!):


1. Michael Dirda: Pulitzer prize-winning book critic and author of many books about books, including An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the Smithsonian Libraries and, most recently, Classics for Pleasure (2008).

2. Richard Ben Cramer: Local author of multiple New York Times Bestselling nonfiction sports titles, including Joe DiMaggio: A Hero's Life and an upcoming book about baseball player Alex Rodriguez (known as A-Rod).

3. John Barth: Local experimental fiction writer and winner of the National Book Award. Author of many novels and short-story collections, including Lost in the Funhouse, The Book of Ten Nights and a Day and, most recently, The Development (2008).

4. Christopher Tilghman: Celebrated writer of novels and short-story collections set in the Eastern Shore and Chesapeake Bay region, including In a Father's Place, Roads of the Heart and, most recently, Mason's Retreat (2006).

5. John S.D. Eisenhower: Celebrated Eastern Shore writer of nonfiction history titles, including The Bitter Woods (a definitive study of the Battle of the Bulge) and, most recently, a biography of American president Zachary Taylor (2008).

6. William Blatty: Maryland author of the original story of The Exorcist (upon which the famous horror movie was based). Blatty is also due to have a new book out this year.

So, this is our wishlist. We are hoping that we'll be able to snag one of these amazing authors to kick-off our festival with a reading followed by a cozy wine-and-cheese reception where everyone can mingle and plan their itinerary for the next day. Although it may be a pretty long shot, we also thought it would be absolutely wonderful if we could manage to get the new U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan to grace us with a reading. We're certainly not counting on it, but wouldn't that be something?