Carl Hiaasen

Wednesday, April 23, 7 pm

The author of over twenty books, including SKINNY DIP, BASKET CASE,  NATURE GIRL, and the Newbery Honor award-winning HOOT, Carl Hiaasen is one of today’s most popular and respected novelists and investigative journalists.  A weekly columnist for the MIAMI HERALD, Hiaasen has written over 1300 pieces exposing land corruption scams, drug smuggling rings, dangerous doctors and corrupt politicians, leading his colleague Dave Barry to call him “a relentlessly sane voice in a howling hurricane of hypocrisy, hokum and hype.”

Hiaasen’s novels use intelligence and humor to skewer the greedy and the corrupt, combining mystery plotlines, wicked satire, sharp observations, and a bizarre cast of characters.  The NEW YORK TIMES has compared him to Preston Sturges and Woody Allen, while the London Observer calls Hiaasen “America’s finest satirical novelist.” His latest book, a memoir about golf, is THE DOWNHILL LIE – A HACKER’S RETURN TO A RUINOUS SPORT, which will come out in May.

Carl Hiaasen will share his unique insight and hilarious perspective on the state of America in the 21st Century, while giving insight into his creative process.

A question and answer session and book-signing will follow the presentation. Books will be available for purchase.

Don’t miss this very special Main Event!

The Main Event Speaker Series is presented by the Akron-Summit County Public Library and Friends of Main Library. The series is free and open to the public. Seating is limited, and available on a first come, first served basis.

Eleanor Clift

AN EVENING WITH
ELEANOR CLIFT
Wednesday, May 21, 7 p.m.
Main Library Auditorium

One of the nation’s most respected and popular political journalists, columnists, and political commentators, Eleanor Clift has been covering Washington for over thirty years. Currently a contributing editor for Newsweek, she also is a regular panelist on the popular nationally syndicated show The McLaughlin Group and a political analyst for the Fox News Network. Her weekly magazine column “Capitol Letter” is also posted on Newsweek.com and MSNBC, and she is the author of several books, including Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling, and Founding Sisters, about the passage of the 19th amendment giving women the vote.

Eleanor Clift is well-known for her covering of the Washington power structure, the influence of women in politics, and currently, the 2008 Presidential campaign.

In her latest book, Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics, Clift writes about her late husband, Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Tom Brazaitis, contrasting his death at home in hospice with that of Terry Schiavo, who was dying in Florida at the same time, under great controversy. Two Weeks of Life alternates between these two stories to provide a moving commentary on how we deal, or fail to deal, with dying in modern America.

A question and answer session and book-signing will follow the presentation.Books will be available for purchase.

Don’t miss this very special Main Event!

The Main Event Speaker Series is sponsored by the Akron-Summit County Public Library and Friends of Main Library. The program is free and open to the public. Seating is limited, and available on a first come, first served basis.