MONROE - The Monroe Arts Center will begin the 2012 Writers Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 15 with a free presentation by Jacquelyn Mitchard. She is the first of three writers included in the series.
Mitchard will read excerpts from her books; discuss her life, career, and current projects; and take questions from the audience. Chuck Wellington, president of the MAC foundation board of directors, will host this series.
Born and raised in a suburb of Chicago, Mitchard studied creative writing for three semesters at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She became a newspaper reporter in 1979, eventually achieving a position as lifestyle columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. Her weekly column, "The Rest of Us: Dispatches from the Mother Ship," appeared in 125 newspapers nationwide. While working as a freelance writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a part-time public relations position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she started writing her first novel, "The Deep End of the Ocean."
That book was named by USA Today as one of the 10 most influential books of the past 25 years, and was chosen as the first novel in the book club made famous by the television host Oprah Winfrey. It later was transformed into a feature film produced by and starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
All of Mitchard's novels have been greater or lesser bestsellers, and include "The Most Wanted," "A Theory of Relativity," "Twelve Times Blessed," "The Breakdown Lane" and "Cage of Stars."
Mitchard's first story of adventure and her eighth novel of realistic contemporary fiction is "Still Summer." In the same month, the paperback version of her most critically acclaimed novel, "Cage of Stars," was released from Warner Books. Mitchard also has embarked on four novels for young adults. The first, "Now You See Her" from HarperTeen is the story of a pampered, driven young actress who fakes her own abduction. "Now You See Her" also is the first novel made "visible," in a short series of beginning episodes on the Internet site YouTube, where actress Lauren Collins Peterson appears in several vlogs (or video blogs) as the fictional Hope Shay. Next spring, also from HarperTeen, "All We Know of Heaven" will tell the story of lifetime best friends Bridget and Maureen, who are just 16 when a fatal crash on an icy road and a poignant case of mistaken identity divide their small Minnesota town forever.
Mitchard is completing her next adult novel and continues as a contributing editor for the Disney parenting magazine Wondertime, as well writing pieces for More, Parade, and Real Simple, among other magazines. Her syndicated column for Tribune Media appears in newspapers around the nation.
This is Mitchard's second presentation for the Monroe Arts Center. In 2005, she was one of three authors in MAC's Great Wisconsin Writers Series.
More information is available by contacting MAC at (608) 325-5700 or (888) 596-1249, or visit www.monroeartscenter.com.
Monroe Arts Center events are underwritten by Corporate Underwriter Colony Brands, Inc., and Media Underwriters Monroe Publishing, LLC, and Big Radio.
Mitchard will read excerpts from her books; discuss her life, career, and current projects; and take questions from the audience. Chuck Wellington, president of the MAC foundation board of directors, will host this series.
Born and raised in a suburb of Chicago, Mitchard studied creative writing for three semesters at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She became a newspaper reporter in 1979, eventually achieving a position as lifestyle columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. Her weekly column, "The Rest of Us: Dispatches from the Mother Ship," appeared in 125 newspapers nationwide. While working as a freelance writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a part-time public relations position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she started writing her first novel, "The Deep End of the Ocean."
That book was named by USA Today as one of the 10 most influential books of the past 25 years, and was chosen as the first novel in the book club made famous by the television host Oprah Winfrey. It later was transformed into a feature film produced by and starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
All of Mitchard's novels have been greater or lesser bestsellers, and include "The Most Wanted," "A Theory of Relativity," "Twelve Times Blessed," "The Breakdown Lane" and "Cage of Stars."
Mitchard's first story of adventure and her eighth novel of realistic contemporary fiction is "Still Summer." In the same month, the paperback version of her most critically acclaimed novel, "Cage of Stars," was released from Warner Books. Mitchard also has embarked on four novels for young adults. The first, "Now You See Her" from HarperTeen is the story of a pampered, driven young actress who fakes her own abduction. "Now You See Her" also is the first novel made "visible," in a short series of beginning episodes on the Internet site YouTube, where actress Lauren Collins Peterson appears in several vlogs (or video blogs) as the fictional Hope Shay. Next spring, also from HarperTeen, "All We Know of Heaven" will tell the story of lifetime best friends Bridget and Maureen, who are just 16 when a fatal crash on an icy road and a poignant case of mistaken identity divide their small Minnesota town forever.
Mitchard is completing her next adult novel and continues as a contributing editor for the Disney parenting magazine Wondertime, as well writing pieces for More, Parade, and Real Simple, among other magazines. Her syndicated column for Tribune Media appears in newspapers around the nation.
This is Mitchard's second presentation for the Monroe Arts Center. In 2005, she was one of three authors in MAC's Great Wisconsin Writers Series.
More information is available by contacting MAC at (608) 325-5700 or (888) 596-1249, or visit www.monroeartscenter.com.
Monroe Arts Center events are underwritten by Corporate Underwriter Colony Brands, Inc., and Media Underwriters Monroe Publishing, LLC, and Big Radio.