Kansas author events and book signings: Here’s an up-to-the-minute list

For readers, there are few things more exciting than attending a book signing and getting to meet an author you love — or one whose books you’d like to read.

Here is a rundown of some upcoming author events in Kansas. Many are at Watermark Books & Cafe, 4701 E. Douglas in Wichita. All are free unless otherwise noted.

We’ll continue to update this list as part of our annual #ReadICT Challenge. (If you’re participating, Category No. 12 in the challenge is to read a book by an author visiting Kansas in 2019.)

If you know of other events we should add, please call 316-268-6567 and let us know.

January

Jan. 8: Susan Kraus, author talk and book signing of “Insufficient Evidence,” 7 p.m. at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., Lawrence.

Jan. 15: James Sherow, presentation and signing of “The Chisholm Trail: Joseph McCoy’s Great Gamble,” 6 p.m. at Watermark Books, 4701 E. Douglas.

Jan. 17: Brad Meltzer will present his new book, “The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington,” 7 p.m. at Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W. 47th St., Kansas City, Mo. This event is being co-presented by the Truman Library Institute and Rainy Day Books, an independent bookstore in Fairway, Kan.

Jan. 18: Ron Stallworth, author of “BlackkKlansman: Race, Hate, and the Investigation of a Lifetime,” will be in conversation with Kevin Willmott, co-writer of the award-winning film based on the book, about the impact and cultural relevance of their collaboration. The event — 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown, 200 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Mo. — is the 2019 MCC Chancellor’s Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Luncheon. Tickets are $85. For more information, go to www.rainydaybooks.com/RonStallworth.

Jan. 19: Sharon Cranford, storytime and signing of “Charley Mast and the Hornbook,” 10:30 a.m. at Watermark.

Jan. 21: Chigozie Obioma, author talk and book signing of “An Orchestra of Minorities,” 7 p.m. at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., Lawrence. The Raven Bookstore, which is co-sponsoring the event, will have copies of the book available for sale.

Jan. 26: Michelle Downing, storytime reading and signing of her children’s book, “The Horse with the Colorful Tail,” 10 a.m. to noon at MOXI Junction, 319 S. Park Ave. in Maize.

February

Feb. 1: Nick Bruel, author and illustrator of the “Bad Kitty” series of children’s books, will have an author talk, drawing presentation and book signing, 6:30 p.m. at the Wichita Center for the Performing Arts, 9112 E. Central. Tickets are $18.99 and include a copy of “Bad Kitty: Kitten Trouble.” Up to two companion tickets can be purchased for $5 each. For more information or to buy tickets, contact or visit Blue Baboon Books, www.bluebaboonbooks.com or 316-260-9008.

Feb. 6: B.A. Shapiro, author talk and signing of “The Collector’s Apprentice,” 6 p.m. at the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University.

Feb. 7: Walter Mosely, novelist, social commentator and author of more than 50 books, will deliver a lecture titled “Political Optimism in the Age of Trump,” 7:30 p.m. in the Kansas Memorial Union Ballroom in Lawrence. For more information, visit hallcenter.ku.edu.

Feb. 8: Tom Clavin, author talk and signing of “Wild Bill,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Feb. 8: Jane Harper, acclaimed Australian mystery author, in conversation with Danny Caine to discuss her new novel, “The Lost Man,” 7 p.m. at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., Lawrence. Raven Book Store will sell copies of Harper’s books for signing after the event.

Feb. 13: Marci Penner and WenDee Rowe, authors of “Kansas Guidebook 2 for Explorers,” will have an author talk and book signing as part of the Wichita Public Library’s Senior Wednesday program, 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Advanced Learning Library, 711 W. Second St. Books will be available for sale at the program.

Feb. 13: Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld, author talk and signing of “Ten Rules of the Birthday Wish,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Feb 18: Elizabeth Letts, author talk and signing of “Finding Dorothy,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Feb. 20: Tim Johnston, author talk and signing of “The Current,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Feb. 21: Susan Dennard, author talk and signing of “Bloodwitch,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Feb. 22: Charles Finch, author talk and signing of “The Vanishing Man: A Prequel to the Charles Lenox Series,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

March

March 3: Robin Sloan, author of “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” and “Sourdough,” will talk about his most recent book, his inspirations and his writing, 2 p.m. at Liberty Hall, 646 Massachusetts St., Lawrence.

March 4: Ariel Lawhon, author talk and signing of “I Was Anastasia,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

March 5: Marcus Emerson, author talk, drawing presentation and signing of “Ben Braver and the Incredible Exploding Kid,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

March 7: Nickolas Butler, author talk and signing of “Little Faith,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

March 10: Jacob Tobia, author talk and signing of “Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story,” 4:30 p.m. at Watermark. The event is free, in partnership with GLSEN Kansas; priority signing-line tickets are $26 and include a copy of the book.

March 11: Peter Heller, author talk and signing of “The River,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

March 12: Ross Gay, author talk and signing of “The Book of Delights,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

March 14: C.J. Box, author talk and signing of “Wolf Pack,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

March 18: Greg Iles, author talk and signing of “Cemetery Road,” 6 p.m. at Abode Venue, 1330 E. Douglas. Tickets will be required; more information to come.

March 26: Jonathan Evison, author presentation and signing of “Lawn Boy,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

March 30: Angela Cervantes, author talk and signing of her middle-grade book, “Lety Out Loud,” 2 p.m. at Watermark.

April

April 4: Tiffany Pham, author talk and signing of “Girl Mogul,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

April 4: Laura Moriarty will talk about researching her novel “The Chaperone,” which begins in Wichita in 1922 and features a young and not-yet-famous Louise Brooks. The event, sponsored by the KU’s Hall Center for the Humanities, will take place at the Wichita Art Museum, 1400 W. Museum Blvd., at 7 p.m. Please RSVP by March 26 to 785-864-4760. For more information, visit hallcenter.ku.edu.

April 5: Andrew Smith, author talk and signing of “The Size of the Truth,” 5 p.m. at Watermark.

April 6: Kansas River Celebration, 1-3 p.m. at Burcham Park, 200 Indiana St., Lawrence. Many local authors will share how their creative work connects to the river and the outside world. Authors include: Elizabeth Schultz, Thomas Pecore Weso, David Hann, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ken Lassman, Annette Hope Billings, Gloria Creed-Dikeogu, Doug Hitt and Jake Vail. Sponsored by the Lawrence Public Library in partnership with Friends of the Kaw, Jayhawk Audubon Society, Kansas Native Plant Society, Lawrence Parks & Recreation and Raven Book Store.

April 8: Annie Ward, author talk and signing of “Beautiful Bad,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

April 9: Jericho Brown, the 2019 Distinguished Visiting Poet at Wichita State University, will speak as part of WSU’s “Writing Now, Reading Now” series, 5:30 p.m. in the atrium of the McKnight Art Center.

April 10: Matthew Janzen, author talk and signing of “State of Craft Beer,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

April 11: Jesmyn Ward, author of “Salvage the Bones” and “Sing, Unburied, Sing,” will speak as part of the Liberty Hall Humanities Lecture Series in Lawrence. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are free and available at this link.

April 11: Angie Thomas, author of “The Hate U Give,” will deliver a lecture at Kansas State University in Manhattan. The event will be free and open to the public, but tickets will be required. More event information — including location, time and tickets — will be announced early in the spring semester.

April 12: Lydia Fitzpatrick, author talk and signing of “Lights All Night Long,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

April 19: C.J. Box, author talk and signing of “Wolf Pack,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

April 23: Jon Kelly Yenser, author talk and singing of “The News As Usual,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

April 25: Bill McKibben, author talk and signing of “Falter,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

April 29: David Truer, author presentation and signing of “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

May

May 7: Robert Knott, author talk and signing of “Robert B. Parker’s Buckskin,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

May 13: John Burnham Schwartz, author talk and signing of “The Red Daughter,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

May 20: Alafair Burke and Michael Koryta, author talk and signing of “The Better Sister” and “If She Wakes,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

May 25: Larry E. Wood, signing of “Murder & Mayhem in Southeast Kansas,” 1 p.m. at Watermark.

May 28: Melanie Benjamin, author talk and signing of “Mistress of the Ritz,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

May 29: Joy Roulier Sawyer, author talk and signing of “Lifeguards: Poems,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

June

June 6: David P. Wagner, author talk and signing of “Roman Count Down,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

June 7: David P. Wagner, author talk and signing of “Roman Count Down, 9-11 a.m., The Next Chapter Books and Novelties, 2222 W. Central Ave., El Dorado.

June 12: Jonathan Stutzman and Heather Fox, special story time featuring their picture book, “Llama Destroys the World,” 10:30 a.m. at Watermark.

June 15: Watermark will host young adult authors Adib Khorram (“Darius the Great is Not Okay”), Natalie C. Parker (“Seafire”) and Tessa Gratton (“Blood Magic”), 2 p.m.

June 22: Donna Meuhlenkort, author talk and signing of “Getting to Know You and the Height of Intimacy,” 2 p.m. at Watermark.

June 25: Rebecca Makkai, author talk and signing of “The Great Believers,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

June 27: Dave Tell, author talk and signing of “Remembering Emmet Till,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

July

July 12: Spencer Quinn, author talk and signing of “Heart of Barkness,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

July 17: Linda Castillo, author talk and signing of “Shamed: A Kate Burkholder Novel,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

July 26: J. Ryan Stradal, author talk and signing of “The Lager Queen of Minnesota,” 5:30 p.m. at Watermark.

July 29: Andrew Shaffer, author talk and signing of “Hope Rides Again: An Obama Biden Mystery,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

August

Aug. 8: Jennifer Pharr Davis, author talk and signing of “The Pursuit of Endurance: Harnessing the Record-Breaking Power of Strength and Resilience,” 6 p.m. at the Wichita Advanced Learning Library, 711 W. Second. Members of the Friends of the Wichita Public Library are invited to a members-only reception and author meet-and-greet from 4:30-6 p.m. Watermark Books will sell copies of Davis’ book at the event.

Aug. 12: Rhys Bowen, author talk and signing of “Love and Death Among the Cheetahs,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Aug. 15: Meredith Jordan, author talk and signing of “Below the Line,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Aug. 17: T. Greenwood, author talk and signing of “Keeping Lucy,” 4 p.m. at Watermark.

Aug. 21: Bryn Greenwood, author talk and signing of “The Reckless Oath We Made,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Aug. 24: Lindsey Yankey, storytime reading of “My Grandma and Me,” 10:30 a.m. at Watermark.

September

Sept. 9: Sarah Smarsh, author talk and signing for the paperback release of “Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth,” 6:30 p.m. at Grace Presbyterian Church, 5002 E. Douglas.

Sept. 12: Maria Lichty, special cookbook event promoting “Two Peas and their Pod,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Sept. 17: Kate Williams, author talk and signing of “The Babysitters Coven,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Sept. 19: Jeanine Hathaway, reading and signing of “Long After Lauds,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Sept. 20: Madeline Miller, author talk and signing of “Circe,” 6 p.m. at Wichita’s Advanced Learning Library, 711 W. Second.

Sept. 25: Candace Bushnell will present her new book, “Is There Still Sex in the City?” at 7 p.m. at Mid-Continent Public Library, 8900 NE Flintlock Road, Kansas City, Mo. The event is being co-presented by the library and Rainy Day Books, an independent bookstore in Fairway, Kan.

Sept. 26: Jodi Picoult, in conversation with Sarah Bagby of Watermark Books, 6 p.m. at the Crown Uptown Theater, 3207 E. Douglas. Tickets are $25 and include a pre-signed paperback copy of “A Spark of Light.”

October

Oct. 5: Ben Lerner, author talk and signing of “The Topeka School,” 4 p.m. at Watermark.

Oct. 12: “Day of Authors” fundraiser for the Assistance League of Wichita, sponsored by Watermark Books. The event features six authors — Emily Barnard (“Black is the Body”), Angie Cruz (“Dominicana”), Mary Beth Keane (“Ask Again, Yes”), Angie Kim (“Miracle Creek”), Stewart O’Nan (“Henry, Himself”) and Hampton Sides (“On Desperate Grounds”) — and includes breakfast and lunch, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Wichita State University MetroPlex, 5015 E. 29th St. North. Cost: $90. Registration available at https://conta.cc/2NyncCI.

Oct. 14: Rock Neelley, author talk and signing of “River of Tears,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Oct. 24: Timothy Egan, author presentation and signing of “A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith,” 6:30 p.m. at Grace Presbyterian, 5002 E. Douglas. Tickets are $33 and include a copy of the book.

Oct. 28: Megan Phelps-Roper, author talk and signing of “Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Oct. 29: Andy Griffiths, author talk and signing of “117-Story Treehouse,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

November

Nov. 1: Alexander McCall Smith, author presentation and signing of “To the Land of Long Lost Friends,” 6:30 6:30 p.m. at Grace Presbyterian, 5002 E. Douglas. Tickets are $33 and include a copy of the book.

Nov. 2: Cherryl Clark, author talk and book signing of “Hope for the Heart,” 2 p.m. at Watermark.

Nov. 4: William Kent Krueger, author talk and book signing of “This Tender Land,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Nov. 5: Grant Snider, author talk and book signing of “What Color is Night?” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Nov. 8: Jeff Kinney, author-illustrator of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, will visit Wichita for “The Wrecking Ball Show,” an interactive performance inspired by his new book’s construction theme, 6 p.m. at the Wichita Orpheum Theater, 200 N. Broadway. Solo tickets are $21.99 and include a copy of “Wrecking Ball,” a pre-personalized bookplate signed by Kinney, and a photo with Kinney; a family ticket is $28.99 and includes all the above plus entry for two people to the show.

Nov. 9: Naomi Hughes and Sarah Henning, author talk and book signing of their new books, “Refraction” and “Sea Witch Rising,” 2 p.m. at Watermark.

Nov. 14: Albert Goldbarth, author talk and signing of “The Now: Poems,” 6 p.m. at Watermark.

Nov. 21: John Freeman in conversation with Sarah Smarsh, author talk and signing of “Dictionary of the Undoing, 6 p.m. at Watermark.

December

Dec. 1: Local Literary Festival: Eight local authors — R.H. Duncan, Ann Fell, Barb Myers, Tony Myers, Shana Schmidt, Bonnie Tharp, Ruby Tobey and Pamela Wegeng — will be available to discuss and sign books, 2-4 p.m. at Watermark.

Dec. 8: Sondra Langel, signing of “The for a signing of “Thursday Afternoon Cooking Club,” 2 p.m. at Watermark.

Dec. 10: Paul Hendrickson, presentation and signing of “Plagued by Fire: The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright,” 6 p.m. at the Advanced Learning Library, 711 W. Second St.

This story was originally published January 2, 2019 at 4:17 PM.