A crowd of 350+ gathered at Library HQ on Wednesday night to hear Cheryl Strayed discuss her phenomenally popular memoir, “Wild.” The book chronicles Ms. Strayed’s 1,100-mile solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed joked that the book is not a how-to manual, then said, “spoiler alert: I didn’t die.”

 Strayed described her journey on the PCT as transformative. After the sudden death of her mother and a difficult divorce, Ms. Strayed turned to the wilderness, the place she had always felt “most gathered.” The experience was not the Hollywood version of nature that she was expecting, but rather a raw and painful, but ultimately healing journey.

“Wild” is the 2013 Read St. Louis Memoir selection. You can see more photos from the event here. To learn more about Read St. Louis go here.

Novelist Chris Bohjalian visited Library HQ on Tuesday to discuss his latest book “The Sandcastle Girls,” a sweeping historical love story steeped in the author’s Armenian heritage, making it his most personal novel to date.

 It turns out that this wasn’t the first time Bohjalian tried to write about the Armenian genocide. He actually wrote a 392-page manuscript back in 1994, but didn’t feel it was good enough, so he shelved it. 

In 2010 he decided to try again, but needed a ‘personal’ way into the story. So he created a female version of himself to serve as narrator, and opened the book with a story straight out of his childhood that involved him at about 4-years-old, singing for the Armenian side of his family. His mother had him dressed in red velvet knickers and a white turtleneck. And he was singing ‘I’m Henry VIII, I Am.’ Thus, the “Sandcastle Girls” was born.

 See what other bestselling authors are visiting SLCL this spring on the Meet the Author Blog. 

Despite the beautiful spring weather, the auditorium at SLCL was filled with squealing tweens on Saturday to greet Ridley Pearson, author of the the Kingdom Keepers series. Everyone was very excited to hear about Book VI, another adventure filled tale of good vs. evil. After the program, attendees were able to have their books signed by the author.

SLCL hosts a variety of author events for all ages, find out who’s coming to the library here. 

Journalist Blaine Harden stopped by Library HQ on Friday to discuss his book “Escape from Camp 14,” the shocking story of Shin Dong-hyunk, the only known person born in a North Korean no-exit camp to have escaped and survived. The book unlocks the world’s most repressive, totalitarian state through Shin’s astonishing story of endurance, courage, and survival. 

The author series continues with a full line-up this spring. Find out who’s coming to SLCL right here.

People started lining up at 2pm for a chance to meet Caroline Kennedy yesterday. In all, over 1000 people gathered at Library HQ for Family Read Night, an annual event sponsored by the St. Louis County Library Foundation. The evening started with readings from Poetry Out Loud regional and state champions, Thomas Fields, Essence Lee and Berklea Going.  Ms. Kennedy then discussed her latest book, “Poems to Learn by Heart” with KMOX’s Debbie Monterrey.  After the program, attendees were able to meet Ms. Kennedy and have their book signed. 

More photos of Family Read Night with Caroline Kennedy can be found here.

Suspense author Sara J. Henry discussed her latest thriller, “A Cold and Lonely Place” at Library HQ last night. Ms. Henry had been driving herself around on book tour, so she had plenty of stories to share with the audience. 

Find out what other authors are coming to SLCL right here…it’s an exciting line-up for spring!

Stop by your local branch and stock up!

Cowboy suspense writer C.J. Box stopped by Library HQ last night to discuss the latest installment in his popular series about Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. Mr. Box always draws a big crowd, over 175 people turned out for the event. 

Find out who else is coming to SLCL right here. 

This month Art @ Your Library is celebrating creative writing. One of the many, fun programs planned is Alphabet Soup. Kids get to fish for letters, write their name in salt, dance around to stories and participate in other fun word activities.  Get the full Art @ Your Library schedule right here.