George Mason University hosts the 13th annual Fall for the Book festival this semester, and it promises to even more grand than in years past. Featured authors include Stephen King, Amy Tan, Abraham Verghese and Claudia Rankine, while other headliners include former Florida senator Bob Graham, journalist Jim Lehrer and Islamic studies scholar Akbar Ahmed. Fall for the Book events take place on- and off-campus throughout Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
“This year’s Fall for the Book promises to be one of our biggest and best yet,” said English faculty member Art Taylor, the Fall for the Book marketing coordinator. “We are bringing in some of the finest writers from across the country and around the world to speak here.”
Taylor adds, “In addition to welcoming some of the top names in American letters to the local community, Fall for the Book also strives to celebrate the tremendous talent at work right here in our own backyard.”
Mason has an intriguing group of authors penning quality works in their fields. A number of these Mason authors, some who have transcended local boundaries to become renowned scholars in their fields nationally and worldwide, join the literary heavyweights in this year’s Fall for the Book festival.
On Monday, Sept. 19, English professor Laura Scott reads from her debut novel, “Death Wishing,” a fantasy set in post-Katrina New Orleans, where dying wishes come true. The Fall for the Book event is Scott’s debut event for the novel, and she says she’ll be seeing the final version of the book for the first time that day.
“To be honest, I have been waiting for this moment all my life, so my expectations are not very rational,” she said. “Maybe I’m biased because my corner of the Mason community is made up of English majors and other writers, but what better way to kick off the academic year than with a whole week of conversations about books?”
Mason economist Bryan Caplan kicks off his academic year with a discussion of his book, “Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids.” Economist Tyler Cowen, author of the critically acclaimed “The Great Stagnation,” will join Caplan at the event.
For Caplan, this experience is brand new, but he plans to enjoy it.
“I certainly enjoy interacting with people who enjoy reading, and I like sharing my ideas,” he said. “I’m going to talk about the book, give a quick recap of what I say in it, and answer some of the audience’s questions. And I try to be entertaining.”
Marion Deshmukh, Robert T. Hawkes Professor of History at Mason, who specializes in German history and art history, will read from her new book, “Max Liebermann and International Modernism: An Artist’s Career from Empire to Third Reich.” This book explores the role of Liebermann’s paintings throughout German history.
“I am hoping that those who attend my book presentation - which is illustrated, so people can enjoy the paintings shown - will get an understanding of German impressionism,” Deshmukh said. “Most people are familiar with French impressionist painters such as Money, Renoir or Degas, but German artists are relatively unknown here in the U.S.”
English professor and folklorist Debra Lattanzi Shutika reads from her new book, “Beyond the Borderlands: Migration and Belonging in the United States and Mexico,” which is a study of Mexican families living in a small farming village in Pennsylvania.
“My hope is that the reading will generate a reasoned conversation about immigration and the status of newly emerging immigrant communities,” she said.
She adds, “[Fall for the Book] promotes George Mason University as an intellectual community where students, faculty and community members can come together and have interesting conversations about literature, politics, folklore and history.”
History professor Christopher Hamner will read from his new book, “Enduring Battle: American Soldiers in Three Wars,” which focuses on American soldiers in the American Revolution, the Civil War and World War II. Hamner has attended Fall for the Book for six years and looks forward to interacting with readers this year as a presenter.
“I hope to draw a crowd that has some interest in the subject of soldiers’ experience in battle,” he said. “The question-and-answer portion of the program is usually one of the most interesting exchanges for me as an author, and I really enjoy getting a sense of what parts of the book audiences find most intriguing.”
Here are some other events, hosted by Mason students, faculty and alumni:
- Students currently earning master’s degrees in fine arts share their award-winning work. Presenters include fiction writers Elizabeth Guttins and Sarah Silberman, poets Paul Fauteux, Siwar Massanat and Jack Snyder, and non-fiction writer Warren Ciabattoni.
- Mason history professors Jane Censer and Christopher Hamner join authors Steven Bernstein (“The Confederacy’s Last Northern Offensive”) and Charles Mauro (“A Southern Spy in Northern Virginia”) for a discussion on the Civil War.
- English professor Alan Cheuse (“Song of Slaves in the Desert”) joins fiction writer Allegra Goodman (“The Cookbook Collector”) for readings of their most recent novels.
- C-SPAN founder and CEO Brian Lamb joins Mason historian Richard Norton Smith for a discussion about the long-running author-interview show, Booknotes.
- Mason MFA alumni Danny Duncan McCollum (“White Boy”), Nicole Reid (“So There!”) and Yelizaveta Renfro (“A Catalogue of Everything in the World”) read from their works.