Best-selling Legal Thriller writer Lisa Scottoline, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie children’s author Laura Numeroff, and the Cake Mix Doctor Anne Byrn are just some of the big names that will be in attendance at this year’s Southern Kentucky Book Fest, a free literary event for all ages.

More than 125 authors for adults and children will be in attendance at this year’s 12th annual book festival, the largest in the state.

The 2010 Book Fest will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 17, at the Carroll Knicely Conference Center. The new location was chosen to bring the event closer to Bowling Green Community College at WKU’s South Campus where the Kentucky Writers Conference is held the Friday before the Book Fest. The Kentucky Writers Conference is free and open to anyone, including experienced writers, new writers and educators and students. A dozen authors attending the Book Fest will again offer workshops on various writing topics during the daylong event. 

Lisa Scottoline is The New York Times bestselling author of 17 novels, including Look Again and the soon to be released Think Twice. She also writes a column for the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper titled “Chick Wit” which is her witty and fun take on life from a woman’s perspective. A collection of her columns was compiled and recently released in the book Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog. Scottoline has more than 25 million copies of her books in print and is published in 25 countries.

Laura Numeroff is the author of more than 30 books for children including her most famous If You Give a Mouse a Cookie which spawned her “If You a Give a” series including If You Give a Moose a Muffin and If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. She has been frequently honored and won numerous children’s literature awards. Oprah chose two of her books for her Kid’s Reading List. Numeroff’s latest books include The Jellybeans and the Big Dance and The Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza.

Nashville author Anne Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor is one of the most popular baking books of all time. Byrn’s all-new Cake Mix Doctor Returns! includes more shortcut recipes for comforting cakes (plus some cookies and brownies) made easy thanks to the use of purchased cake mix and other supermarket ingredients.

Other authors at this year’s Fest will be children’s author and illustrator Mark Teague, best-selling author Richard Paul Evans of The Christmas Box, and inspirational fiction writer Eric Wilson who wrote Fireproof based on the very successful film.

SOKY Book Fest is a partnership project of WKU Libraries, Warren County Public Library, and Barnes and Noble booksellers. For a full list of authors attending the book festival, visit www.sokybookfest.org or contact manager Tracy Harkins at WKU Libraries, at (270) 745-5016.

CONTACT: Tracy Harkins, Community Outreach Manager, WKU Libraries. tracy.harkins@wku.edu – 270-745-5016.