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Variety of Authors Confirmed for 2017 Festival

From an iconic war writer to a quirky "foodie" author, the 2017 South Dakota Festival of Books is packed with literary goodies.

Confirmed authors for the South Dakota Humanities Council's signature event Sept. 21-24 in Deadwood and Rapid City include Tim O'Brien, Genieve Abdo, J. Ryan Stradal and illustrator Chris Van Dusen. The annual South Dakota Festival of Books unites thousands of readers and writers for book discussions, autograph sessions and more.

2017 One Book and Young Readers One Book

"Kitchens of the Great Midwest" by J. Ryan Stradal is the 2017 One Book South Dakota, while the Young Readers selection is "Tales from Deckawoo Drive," a bind-in of three books in a series written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen. Both books will be featured in book discussions, presentations and more as a part of South Dakota Humanities Council programming.

Food and family intertwine in "Kitchens of the Great Midwest." From Lutheran church bake-offs to chili-pepper eating contests, this book captures the zeitgeist of the Midwest, the rise of foodie culture, and the ways food creates community and influences identity.

"Kitchens of the Great Midwest" centers on Eva Thorvald, born into a food-obsessed family and blessed with a uniquely sensitive palate. By turns quirky, hilarious and vividly sensory, this book tells an unexpected mother-daughter story about the bittersweet nature of life – its missed opportunities and its joyful surprises.

"All Midwesterners will find something to relate to in this book, whether it's baking bars from old family recipes or hunting for game for the next meal," said Jennifer Widman, director of the South Dakota Festival of Books. "Stradal also provides some very timely and often humorous commentary on current food trends and the disconnect between rural and urban cultures."

As South Dakotans read and discuss this novel throughout 2017, they may also be inspired to try some of the recipes included in certain chapters. Those who wish to enhance their gatherings even further can take advantage of a Book Club Kit (http://bit.ly/KitchensGMWBookKit), prepared by Penguin Random House with the author's input, suggesting just the right snacks, drinks, and music to create a party atmosphere.

Students around South Dakota will get a unique treat this year with their copies of the 2017 Young Readers One Book "Tales from Deckawoo Drive" – the chance to meet illustrator Chris Van Dusen and learn more about his work.

As part of the 2017 Young Readers Festival of Books, Van Dusen will visit third-graders in Rapid City on Sept. 21 and the Northern Hills Sept. 22-23, giving drawing demonstrations and sharing his experiences of illustrating his own books and books written by others. DiCamillo, a past Young Readers Festival author, will also send a video greeting to the students.

The Young Readers bind-in will include three books: "Leroy Ninker Saddles Up," "Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon," and "Where Are You Going, Baby Lincoln?" The trio of books will provide endless entertainment for young readers around the state.

Conflicts Past and Present

Fans of almost any writing genre will enjoy interacting with Vietnam Veteran and author Tim O'Brien, who won the National Book Award for his fiction masterpiece, "Going After Cacciato," and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for "The Things They Carried."

"We are pleased to host an author whose visceral storytelling speaks for so many who served and are serving in the military," said Widman. "O'Brien's novels are considered 'must read' material in Veterans' circles, and we could not ask for a better author to advance our growing Veterans' Writing program."

While O'Brien uses his rare talent to convey the emotional toll the Vietnam War took on his generation, another 2017 Festival author covers a conflict that, unfortunately, continues to play out prominently on the national and international stage.

Geneive Abdo is a nonresident fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings and a fellow in the Middle East program at the Stimson Center. Her research focuses on modern Iran and political Islam.

Her most recent book, "The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi'a-Sunni Divide," examines how religion is utilized for political purposes, and how it is perceived and practiced by Muslims and argues that sectarianism poses a threat to regional states and stakeholders in the wider world, including the United States and its allies.

Abdo spent 20 years as a foreign correspondent focused on coverage of the Middle East and the Muslim world. From 1998 to 2001, she was the Iran correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian and a regular contributor to The Economist and The International New York Times (formerly the International Herald Tribune). She was the first American journalist to be based in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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About the Festival
The South Dakota Humanities Council created the South Dakota Festival of Books to unite readers and writers with presentations, autograph sessions, poetry readings and more. Now in its 15th year, the Festival of Books is the state's premier literary event, having featured authors such as National Book Award winners Louise Erdrich and Michael Dirda, former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, and Newbery Medal-winning children's author Kate DiCamillo. The event is held annually on alternating sides of the state.