Dinner With Friends 2009
NEWS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: 3/5/09
CONTACT: LESLIE SCHALER, COMMUNICATION ASST., (413) 545-0162
FRIENDS OF THE UMASS AMHERST LIBRARIES HOSTS
SEVENTH ANNUAL RECEPTION AND DINNER
"Dinner with Friends" is April 4, 2009
Amherst, Mass. - On Saturday, April 4, 2009, at 6:30 p.m., the Friends of the UMass Amherst Libraries will host the seventh annual "Dinner with Friends" in the Learning Commons at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library on the UMass Amherst campus.
The event features talks by three notable speakers: author/illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, novelist and short story writer Valerie Martin MFA '74, and poet and NPR commentator Lloyd Schwartz, as well as a champagne and hors d'oeuvre reception with the Jay Messer Trio, and a gourmet dinner. Tickets are $125 per person or $225 for two (of which $90 is tax-deductible, $155 for two). Complimentary passes for the parking garage will be provided. Handicap parking is available next to the Library.
Last year, attendees and sponsors raised over $32,000 for the Library. Corporate sponsors of the 2009 "Dinner with Friends" to date include Accounting & Tax Associates, Inc.; Amherst Books, Bonbons de Bourguignon®; Brattle Book Shop; EBSCO; Elsevier; Ex Libris; Gale, a part of Cengage Learning; MicroTek, Inc.; Prime Time Plus, Inc.; Springer; Taylor Rental; Thomson Reuters, Science; UMass Catering; and the University Store/Follett.
The evening is a key fundraising event for the UMass Amherst Library, the largest public research library in the region. All proceeds will benefit the Library Facilities Fund.
The UMass Amherst Library is open to all residents of Massachusetts, offering a rich array of resources and services.
For more information and to make reservations, contact Emily Silverman at the UMass Amherst Library at (413) 545-0995, email friends@library.umass.edu, or visit the Dinner with Friends web site: http://www.library.umass.edu/dinner. Individual and corporate sponsorships are available starting at $250. For more information about the Library: www.library.umass.edu.
Dinner with Friends, April 4, 2009 - Speakers' bios:
New York Times best-selling author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi has created several award-winning picture books for children including Kenny & the Dragon (2008), The Spiderwick Chronicles (2003-2005), G is for One Gzonk! (2006), and the 2003 Caldecott Honor book, The Spider & The Fly. DiTerlizzi's art has graced the work of such well-known fantasy writers as J.R.R Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, Peter Beagle, and Jane Yolen. The Spiderwick Chronicles debuted in 2003, and became an instant bestseller and a major motion picture. For more information: http://www.diterlizzi.com/.
Novelist and short story writer Valerie Martin MFA '74 is the author of several books including the novels Trespass (2007), Property (2003), Italian Fever (1999), and Mary Reilly (1990), as well as Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis (2001), a biography of St. Francis of Assisi. Mary Reilly was made into a film in 1996. Martin is the winner of Britain's famed Orange Prize for Fiction for her novel Property, which is set against a backdrop of slavery in the South. Her collection of short stories Love (1999) contains the story Surface Calm, which was made into a movie in 2001. Martin has taught writing at Mount Holyoke College, Sarah Lawrence College, Loyola University in New Orleans, the University of New Orleans, and UMass Amherst, among other institutions.
Poet and commentator on NPR's "Fresh Air" Lloyd Schwartz is also the Frederick S. Troy Professor English at UMass Boston and the classical music editor of The Boston Phoenix. Schwartz's books of poetry include Cairo Traffic (2000), Goodnight, Gracie (1992), and These People (1981). He is an internationally recognized authority on Elizabeth Bishop's poetry and editor of Elizabeth Bishop and Her Art. Schwartz's poems, articles, and reviews have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, The New Republic, The Paris Review, and The Best American Poetry. In 1994, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In 1995, the Associates of the Boston Public Library chose him as one of Boston's "Literary Lights." Schwartz has taught at Queens College and Harvard University.
Last Edited: 5 March 2009
