West Virginia University Press is pleased to announce that two of its authors will be featured speakers at the inaugural Lewisburg Literary Festival in Lewisburg on Saturday (Aug. 4).

John Antonik, director of new media for Intercollegiate Athletics and West Virginia University alumnus, is the author of West Virginia University Football Vault: The History of the Mountaineers, Roll Out the Carpet: 101 Seasons of West Virginia University Basketball, and The Backyard Brawl: Stories from One of the Weirdest, Wildest, Longest Running, and Most Intense Rivalries in College Football History, forthcoming this September.

Antonik will speak prior to Jerry West’s speaking event at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Carnegie Hall on Church Street in Lewisburg. He will share stories about his experience with the WVU athletic department. Ticket reservations are required for this free event.

Lee Maynard gained public and literary attention for his depiction of adolescent life in a rural mining town in his first novel Crum. Maynard has published four books with WVU Press, most recently The Scummers, the third and final part to the Crum trilogy (Crum, Screaming with the Cannibals, and The Scummers trilogy), as well as The Pale Light of Sunset: Scattershots and Hallucinations in an Imagined Life, an imaginative account of his journey through 70 years of hard living.

Maynard will perform with Pops Walker, reading from his work while Walker provides musical accompaniment, in the Lewis Theater on North Court Street at 5 p.m. Saturday.

The Lewisburg Literary Festival is a brand new endeavor that will take its place among Lewisburg’s other annual festivals, such as Taste of Our Town and The Lewisburg Chocolate Festival. It will span two days (Friday-Saturday) and will serve as host to readings, author signings, workshops, musical entertainment, theatre, panel discussions, literature-based art installations and performance art, all themed to the celebration of the literature of our state and beyond.

To learn more about the inaugural Lewisburg Literary Festival and to reserve free tickets for events, visit http://www.lewisburgliteraryfestival.com/. To learn more about WVU Press visit http://wvupressonline.com/

-WVU-

af/07/31/12

CONTACT: Abby Freeland, Marketing Manager at WVU Press
304.293.8400, ext. 6, abby.freeland@mail.wvu.edu

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