The Philadelphia Rare Book and Print Fair

 Katherine Paterson is the author of more than 40 books, including 18 novels for children and young people. She has twice won the Newbery Medal, for Bridge to Terabithia in 1978 and Jacob Have I Loved in 1981. The Master Puppeteer won the National Book Award in 1977 and The Great Gilly Hopkins won the National Book Award in 1979 and was also a Newbery Honor Book. For the body of her work she received the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1998, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2006, and in 2000 was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress.

She is a vice-president of the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance and is a member of the board of trustees for Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is also a honorary lifetime member of the International Board of Books for Young People and an Alida Cutts lifetime member of the US section, USBBY. She was the 2010-2011 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

The Patersons have four grown children and seven grandchildren. Katherine currently resides in Vermont with her faithful dog, Pixie.

 Join us for a talk on one of America's greatest writers. The talk is included in entry to the Philadelphia Rare Book and Print Fair.

About the Talk:

Herman Melville's work underwent a profound transformation when he rediscovered Shakespeare's works at the end of the 1840s. The results of this deep immersion include the creation of, arguably, the greatest American novel, Moby Dick: Or, The Whale, which brims with references to King Lear, Macbeth, and other Shakespeare works. This talk explores the depths of Melville's identification and rivalry with the Bard, the search for an authentic national genius and the contentious importance of Shakespeare's example to the creation of a distinctively American literary art.

About the Speaker:

David Greven is Professor of English at the University of South Carolina. Greven specializes in both nineteenth-century American literature and Hollywood film. His books include All the Devils Are Here: American Romanticism and Literary Influence (University of Virginia Press, 2024), Intimate Violence: Hitchcock, Sex, and Queer Theory (Oxford University Press, 2017), Gender Protest and Same-Sex Desire in Antebellum American Literature (Routledge, 2016), The Fragility of Manhood: Hawthorne, Freud, and the Politics of Gender (The Ohio State University Press, 2012), Representations of Femininity in American Genre Cinema (Palgrave, 2011), and Men Beyond Desire: Manhood, Sex, and Violation in American Literature (Palgrave , 2005). He is currently writing a book under contract with Oxford University Press on Hitchcock's films of the Fifties and American Gothic literature.

Join local author Cordelia Biddle, who will talk about her books about the Philadelphia area. 

Cordelia Frances Biddle writes fiction and nonfiction. Her most recent novel is They Believed They Were Safe, a dark tale set in a small college town in 1962. Prior fiction: Sins of Commission, The Actress, Without Fear, Deception’s Daughter, and The Conjurer. All take place during the early Victorian era in Philadelphia, and explore women’s issues and the chasm between wealth and poverty. Her first novel, Beneath the Wind, examined colonialism during the Edwardian Age. Listen to Me, a feminist view of ancient sacred scripture will be published in January 2025.

Nonfiction: Biddle, Jackson, And A Nation In Turmoil: The Infamous Bank War (shortlisted for the 2022 Athenaeum Book Award) and Saint Katharine: The Life of Katharine Drexel.

Cordelia has taught creative writing at Drexel University’s Pennoni Honors College since 2008. She received the Pennoni Honors College Award in 2012 and is the recipient of the 2021 Drexel University Adjunct Teaching Excellence Award.

Website: www.CordeliaFrancesBiddle.net