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Highlights for Adults
Kristin Chenoweth | A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages
Saturday, April 18, Bank of America Main Stage
Tony Award-winning actress Kristin Chenoweth originated the role of Glinda the Good Witch in the hit Broadway musical Wicked and was nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Pushing Daisies, ABC's Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated show. In addition, she has recorded three albums--A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas, Let Yourself Go, and As I Am--and sang for a sold-out crowd at the Metropolitan Opera House. In A Little Bit Wicked, Chenoweth discusses the challenges she's faced balancing faith, family, private life, and her public persona.
Kevin Young | Dear Darkness
Sunday, April 19, Independence Foundation Poet's Corner
National Book Award finalist Kevin Young is "tender, sassy, and just plain cool," according to poet Billy Collins, and Publisher's Weekly calls him "perhaps the most prominent African American poet of his generation." Inspired by the blues and the history of Black America, Young's poems appear in the New Yorker and the Paris Review, and he is the author of six books of poetry, including Jelly Roll: A Blues, For the Confederate Dead, and his latest collection, Dear Darkness.
Fun for the Family
Susan Orlean | Lazy Little Loafers
Saturday, April 18, Children's Story Hour Room
Deemed "one of the wittiest new-baby-in-the-family books of recent years" by Publisher's Weekly, Susan Orlean's first children's book Lazy Little Loafers began as a humor piece for the New Yorker, where she serves as a staff writer. A bestselling author of nonfiction books for adults, Orlean's books include The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup and The Orchid Thief, which was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film Adaptation.
Baby Loves Salsa
Sunday, April 19, Target Children's Stage
Featuring some of the brightest stars in contemporary salsa music--including singer Jose Conde and Grammy-winning producer Aaron "Luis" Levinson--Baby Loves Salsa is a group of kittens and puppies (gattitos y perritos) from New York City who become the best salsa band in the land! Part of the Baby Loves Music family, which includes Baby Loves Jazz, Baby Loves Hip Hop, and Baby Loves Disco, Baby Loves Salsa--called "the best musical value of the season" by the Parents Music Council--helps kids learn about salsa music and Spanish in a way in which parents and children can enjoy together.
Exhibitor Spotlight
Middle Atlantic Press - #1 For Regional Books
Regional publishing company Middle Atlantic Press strives to publish quality nonfiction books for the residents of the Mid-Atlantic region and the East Coast. Established more than thirty years ago, Middle Atlantic Press offers many new titles and a strong backlist, which includes regional bestseller The Jersey Devil and national bestseller The Great Philadelphia Fan Book.
Mary Jane Hurley Brant | When Every Day Matters: A Mother's Memoir on Love, Loss and Life
A certified group psychotherapist, Mary Jane Hurley Brant has worked with hundreds of people to bring meaning into their lives. "Wistful, deeply personal, [and] at times funny" (Philadelphia Inquirer), When Every Day Matters chronicles Brant's first year back to life after the death of her daughter from brain cancer. Proceeds from her book will be shared with her late daughter's foundation Katie's Kids for the Cure.
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On Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19, 2009, the Free Library hosted its third annual Free Library Festival. Drawing our largest crowd to date--estimated at 35,000!--the Festival presented more than 50 authors, performers, and programs, and 80 exhibitors at the Street Fair and Literary Marketplace. Thanks to our Festival Sponsors, the City of Philadelphia, and the Fairmount Park Commission, to the Free Library staff, and to our more than 200 dedicated Festival Volunteers for another fantastic fest! );)
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