2008 ALA Annual Conference

Click here for a schedule of all FOLUSA programs.

FOLUSA-ALTA Gala Author Tea
Monday, June 30, 2008
2:00-4:00 p.m.
Hotel: Hyatt Regency Orange County
Room: Terrace Room & Foyer

Sponsored by:

Five authors will speak about their writing at this traditional FOLUSA event featuring finger sandwiches, coffee and tea, and a variety of sweets. A book signing will follow. Some books will be given away free and others will be available for purchase at a generous discount.

Advance tickets sales are available online or by phone at (800) 936-5872 through June 25, 2008. Tickets will be available while supplies last just prior to the event at the door.

Ron Carlson, author of Five Skies
Ron Carlson is the award-winning author of four story collections, including At the Jim Bridger and The Hotel Eden, two novels, and a young adult novel. His stories appear regularly in Harper's, The New Yorker, GQ, Esquire, Playboy, The Best American Short Stories, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. He is the director of the MFA Creative Writing program at the University of California, Irvine. He lives in Irvine, CA.

Christopher Reich, author of Rules of Deception
Christopher Reich was born in Tokyo in 1961. A graduate of Georgetown University and the University of Texas at Austin, he worked in Switzerland before returning to the United States to pursue a career as a novelist. The bestselling author of four other acclaimed novels, Numbered Account, The Runner, The First Billion, and The Devil's Banker, he lives in California with his wife and children. Photo © 2003 Richard Thacker Studios.

Rick Wartzman, author of Obscene in the Extreme
Rick Wartzman is the Director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University in California and a fellow of the New America Foundation. Previously he was the editor of West, the Sunday magazine of The Los Angeles Times, where he completely reinvented the weekly, overhauling its content and design. He was also the Times' Business Editor, where he shaped and edited the series "The Wal-Mart Effect," which won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Before joining the Times, Rick spent fifteen years at The Wall Street Journal, where he served in a variety of posts, including White House correspondent and founding editor of the paper's California edition. He is the co-author, with Mark Arax, of The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire, which remained on the L.A. Times best-seller list for seven weeks after its publication by PublicAffairs in October 2003. The Times later named the book one of the 10 best nonfiction works of the year; The San Francisco Chronicle named it one of the 10 best books of 2003; and the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco selected it as the winner of a 2004 California Book Award. Rick lives in Los Angeles.

Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Brunonia Barry studied literature and creative writing at Green Mountain College in Vermont and at the University of New Hampshire and was one of the founding members of the Portland Stage Company. Barry’s love of theater led to a first job in Chicago where she ran promotional campaigns for Second City, Ivanhoe, and Studebaker theaters. Barry lives in Salem, MA with her husband and their beloved Golden Retriever named Byzantium. They are restoring a historic Salem home once owned by the Eastman family.

Joseph Michelli, author of The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
Dr. Joseph Michelli is an organizational psychologist and the Chief Experience Officer of The Michelli Experience. He has dedicated his career to studying successful businesses, both large and small. Prior to The New Gold Standard, Dr Michelli authored the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and USA Today bestseller The Starbucks Experience - 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary. Additionally, he has co-authored When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace with John Yokoyama the owner of the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. Dr. Michelli transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices through keynotes and workshops.

Tickets are $35 ($30 for FOLUSA and ALTA members) in advance or $45 at the door. Advance tickets sales are available online or by phone at (800) 936-5872 through June 25, 2008. Tickets will be available while supplies last just prior to the event at the door.