Burlington

Journalist and social critic B.J. Mendelson will skillfully debunk the myths of social media. He'll illustrate how the notion of "social media" first came to prominence, why it has become such a powerful presence in the marketing field, and who stands to benefit each time it's touted in the press. Discover why all the Facebook friends and Twitter followers in the world mean nothing to you and your business without old-fashioned, real-world connections. Examine popular tales of social media "success," and the unsettling truths behind the surface. Learn how to best harness the potential of the Internet--without spending a fortune in the process. This book gives the knowledge and tools you "really" need to connect with customers and grow your brand.

BJ Mendelson has contributed to The Huffington Post, Forbes, MTV's O Music Awards, and CNN. He has been quoted by Newsweek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Psychology Today, and Smart Money Magazine, has been a new media director for a syndicated ABC television show, and wrote a college survival column for CBS College Sports.

Join Thomas Visser for a slide presentation and discussion of that quintessentially American architectural feature - the porch. This is a joint event with Preservation Burlington.

The porch, whether simple or grand, evokes feelings of welcome, comfort, and nostalgia in all of us, yet there has been little published on the history of this omnipresent architectural feature. Thomas Visser's new book examines how porches in their many forms have evolved in the United States and Canada through innovations, adaptations, and revivals. Covering formal porches and verandas, as well as the many informal vernacular types, he proffers insights into broad cultural customs and patterns, as well as regional preferences and usage.
All those who love to while away afternoons on a favorite porch will find this architectural history delightful as well as informative.

Thomas Durant Visser is an associate professor and director of the Historic Preservation Program at the University of Vermont and is the author of Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings.

Archer Mayor's Joe Gunther series has been described by the Chicago Tribune as "the best police procedurals being written in America." Mayor is also the 2004 winner of the New England Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Fiction-the first time a writer of crime literature has been so honored. In addition, Mayor is a death investigator for Vermont's Chief Medical Examiner, and a Deputy Sheriff for Windham County, VT.

Phoenix Books Burlington is extremely proud to announce an event with Caragh O'Brien, author of the Young Adult series that started with Birthmarked. Fans of Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games) will love Caragh O'Brien! Caragh's books are all multiple staff picks here at Phoenix Books.

Since earning an MA in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, Caragh M. O’Brien has been a high school teacher, an author of romance novels, and now a novelist for teens. Her novels Birthmarked and Prized were named YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults. Birthmarked was also a Junior Library Guild Selection and chosen for the ALA 2011 Amelia Bloomer List. She lives with her family and writes from her home in Connecticut. More about the author and her novels can be found at www.caraghobrien.com.

Celebrate local food with Vermont's own self-sufficiency maven! Abigail will bring homemade crackers for you to sample, and will demonstrate how to make yogurt cheese. Then, there will be plenty of time for questions and book signing.

Abigail R. Gehring, author of The Ultimate Self-Sufficiency Handbook and many other Green Living titles, may be the face of the new self-reliance revolution: just like the movement itself, she does not confine herself to either the rural or urban environment (she splits her time between New York City and Windham, Vermont) and she has equally firm footing in both the traditional (she was home-schooled in Vermont) and the modern (“organic” and “green” are not just buzzwords to her).

Abigail is the author or editor of Back to Basics, Homesteading, Self-Sufficiency, The Back to Basics Handbook, The Homesteading Handbook, and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Living. She’s practiced self-sufficient living since her childhood in Vermont, being home-schooled, home-canning jams and jellies, and enjoying natural crafts. She divides her time between New York City and Windham, Vermont.

Celebrate Star Wars Reads Day and master the art of reading! We'll have the latest Star Wars books (for everyone from kids to adults), costumed character appearances by 501st Legion members, Star Wars-themed crafts, and exclusive Star Wars Reads Day giveaways and raffle items.

The 501st Legion is a world-wide costuming organization dedicated to the 'Bad Guys' (they quibble on that term) of the franchise. They also work closely with their sister organization, the Rebel Legion. While they focus on movie-quality costumes, they work to give back to the communities in which they live. Learn more here.

The local branch of the 501st Legion attended Free Comic Book Day on Church Street with Earth Prime Comics, and trooped at the Brownell Library to support their Star Wars Club, as well as at the Derby Line Community Day. They're hoping to support Weird Al Yankovic when he's in Burlington and Rutland for his two concerts this October, and they're actively seeking recruits.  Anyone interested in joining the dark side?

Star Wars Reads Day is a national event that celebrates reading and Star Wars. It was created by Lucasfilm and its publishing partners--Abrams, Chronicle Books, Dark Horse, Del Rey, DK Publishing, Random House Audio, Scholastic, Titan Magazines and Workman.

Janet Mason is an award winning writer of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry whose literary commentary is regularly featured on This Way Out, an international LGBT radio news syndicate based in Los Angeles and aired on more than 400 radio stations in the U.S. and abroad. She is also a blogger for The Huffington Post.

Her book Tea Leaves, a memoir of mothers and daughters was published by Bella Books in 2012. Tea Leaves has been nominated for inclusion in the 2012 ALA list of notable LGBT Books and is featured by the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Literary Book Club. The review and reader’s guidelines can be found at http://www.lambdaliterary.org/book-club/

Tea Leaves tells the story of mothers and daughters, embarking when the narrator’s mother is diagnosed with fourth-stage cancer. A dutiful daughter, the narrator proceeds to take care of her mother, 74-year-old Jane, and enters a deeper understanding of her own life through her mother’s stories. Her grandmother (born in 1899) was a spinner in a textile mill and white glove wearing lady of her generation, her mother (born in 1920) was an office worker and feminist ahead of her time. The narrator has taken the foundation of her mother’s life and forged her own – taking her mother’s feminism one step further in becoming a lesbian and becoming the first in her family to graduate from college. Tea Leaves is a story of gender and class, identity and sexuality but, most of all, it is about love.

 

As part of the 2012 Burlington Book Festival, Phoenix Books will be hosting a series of author readings and book signings entitled "Women's Work."  We are proud to welcome Hinda Miller, Katharine Britton, Emily Bernard and Emily M. Danforth to our Burlington store. The schedule for Sunday is as follows:

 

12:00 pm - Katharine Britton

1:00 pm - Emily Bernard

2:00 pm - Emily M. Danforth

Hinda Miller has been a Vermont State Senator for the past ten years. Her memoir, Pearls of a Sultana: What I’ve Learned About Business, Politics and the Human Spirit, shares her experiences as both a political force and as a business owner. Throughout all her ventures, Hinda Miller is guided and anchored by a strong connection to the practice of yoga. Now she is preparing for a new venture as a Sultana, a woman of experience and wisdom who is always practicing, always learning, and always grateful.

Katharine Britton's debut novel, Her Sister's Shadow, tells the story of two sisters, estranged by time, distance and long-kept secrets, who are unexpectedly reunited by a death in the family. The book explores themes of resentment, sisterhood and forgiveness. Publisher’s Weekly called it ”A touching intimate account of painful memories that radically shape lives.” 

Emily Bernard is an associate professor of English and ALANA U. S. Ethnic Studies at the University of Vermont. Her acclaimed new work, Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance: A Portrait in Black and White, is the story of a white man with a passion for blackness. His role in the black cultural movement known was the Harlem Renaissance was dramatic, intimate and controversial. The book is not an attempt to answer the question of whether Van Vechten helped or hurt the black cultural world over which he wielded much influence. Instead it is a tale about the messy realities of race and the complicated tangle of black and white.

Emily M. Danforth is an assistant professor of English-Creative Writing at Rhode Island College. Her debut novel, The Miseducation Of Cameron Post, has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus, and School Library Journal, and was featured in the LA Times, USA Today, and NPR–whose reviewer called it “…a skillfully and beautifully written story that does what the best books do: It shows us ourselves in the lives of others.”

Please join us in welcoming these four celebrated authors to our store! Learn more about them, as well as the Burlington Book Festival at:

http://burlingtonbookfestival.com/?page_id=999