SOKY Book Fest has launched its new website at www.sokybookfest.org, featuring the latest details on the 13th annual Southern Kentucky Book Fest on April 15-16.

The website includes updated information on the 150 authors who are attending the book festival, including superstar novelist Nicholas Sparks, Clan of the Cave Bear author Jean Auel and Vanderbilt biographer and Pulitzer Prize winner T.J. Stiles.

Sparks will appear at 11 a.m. April 16 at a presentation that is free and open to the public. The Book Fest partners also are selling 50 tickets at $100 each to a 9 a.m. breakfast event with the best-selling author. Each ticket includes breakfast and a signed book. Fifty area students will also be chosen by their middle and high schools to attend the breakfast event free courtesy of the supporters. To purchase tickets, contact Tracy Harkins at (270) 745-5016.

Sparks has published 16 novels with memorable characters who struggle with love, tragedy, and fate. Several have been adapted to film, including Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, and The Last Song.

The new Book Fest website also includes information on best-selling children’s author Judith Viorst who will headline Children’s Day at Book Fest on April 15. Viorst is the author of the classic children’s tale Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The SOKY Book Fest partners are bringing back Children’s Day after a three-year absence. Children’s Day allows area schools to take field trips to the event on Friday so students and teachers can meet their favorite authors and purchase signed copies of their books.

All Book Fest events will take place at the newly expanded Carroll Knicely Conference Center in Bowling Green including the Book Fest sister event the Kentucky Writers Conference. The 2011 Book Fest will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 16. Children’s Day will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 15 with the Kentucky Writers Conference from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 15.

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 offer workshops on various writing topics during the daylong event.

SOKY Book Fest is a partnership project of WKU Libraries, Warren County Public Library, and Barnes & Noble Booksellers. For information, contact Book Fest manager Tracy Harkins at WKU Libraries at (270) 745-5016.