Ragdale's 2015 Novel Affair Showcases Bestselling Authors and Venues of Distinction - October 2-3, 2015

Ragdale’s ninth annual Novel Affair brings together renowned authors and artists for two evenings of creativity and conversation in support of Ragdale, the artists’ retreat in Lake Forest. The event offers guests the opportunity to be engaged, inspired, and challenged by the artists and their work. The weekend begins with a reception attended by all featured authors/artists in the stately Tennis House, designed in 1926 by David Adler at Crab Tree Farm in Lake Bluff on Friday, October 2. Guests share an intimate dinner and lively discussion with one of the artists at a private home or venue of distinction on Saturday, October 3.

Featured guests are bestselling authors Elizabeth Berg, Gioia Diliberto, Alex Kotlowitz, Bret Lott, and Christine Sneed; award-winning actress/playwright Regina Taylor; radio broadcaster/author Krista Tippett; and respected artist/art educator Jim Duignan. (see biographies below).

The Friday reception begins at 5:30 PM with a champagne reception with featured authors in the exquisite Walled Garden near the Tennis House followed by a cocktail party at 6:30 PM. Crab Tree Farm is located at 982 Sheridan Road, Lake Bluff and parking is available in the pasture adjacent to the site. On Saturday, dinners begin at 6:30 PM at notable homes and venues on the North Shore.

One evening tickets for Friday evening are $275 including the VIP reception and $200 general admission. The two-evening ticket is $500 and includes the Friday VIP reception and Saturday dinner party. There are no Saturday-only tickets.

Novel Affair is coordinated by Ragdale’s Events Committee, co-chaired by Board Trustees Jeanna Park, Alison Aldrich, and Roberta Rubin.

For reservations and more information, call 847.234.1063 or visit www.ragdale.org

Biographies

· Elizabeth Berg - New York Times bestselling author of 21 novels, whose award-winning work has been selected by Oprah’s Book Club, the American Library Association’s Best Book of the Year, and adapted into three television movies. Her most recent biographical novel, The Dream Lover (2015), delves into the life and times of writer George Sand. http://www.elizabeth-berg.net

· Gioia Diliberto - Acclaimed journalist, biographer and novelist whose bestselling works profiling remarkable women include her latest, Diane Von Furstenberg: A Life Unwrapped (2015), an exploration of the modern fashion icon; A Useful Woman: The Early Life of Jane Addams, about Hull House founder; and I am Madame X, whose subject is the notorious beauty of John Singer Sargent’s portrait,. http://www.gioiadiliberto.com

· Jim Duignan – Chicago artist, professor of visual art at DePaul University, and founder of the Stockyard Institute whose work serving Chicago’s Back of the Yards youth and community has been celebrated internationally in Berlin, Denmark, Puerto Rico, Slovenia and throughout the U.S. http://www.stockyardinstitute.org/jim-duignan/

· Alex Kotlowitz – Author of award-winning works reflecting life in Chicago’s inner city - There Are No Children Here, selected by N.Y. Public Library as one of the 150 most important books of the twentieth century, The Other Side of the River, Never a City So Real, and the Emmy winning documentary film, The Interrupters. http://alexkotlowitz.com

· Bret Lott - Bestselling author of fourteen books, including novels, Jewel, an Oprah Book Club pick, adapted into a television movie; A Song I Knew by Heart and Dead Low Tide. Also, nonfiction editor of the journal Crazyhorse, English professor at the College of Charleston and Fulbright Senior American Scholar. http://english.cofc.edu/about/faculty-staff-listing/lott-bret.php

· Christine Sneed – Author of award-winning novel Little Known Facts, the recently published Paris, He Said (2015), and the short story collection Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry. Teaches graduate fiction writing at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://christinesneed.com

· Regina Taylor – Accomplished actress, director, and playwright. Recipient of Golden Globe Award for Best Performance in a TV series for role as Lily Harper in “I’ll Fly Away.” Two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress. Playwright and director of “stop.reset” recently at the Goodman Theatre, “Oo-Bla-Dee,” and “Drowning Crow.” http://www.reginataylor.com

· Krista Tippett - Award-winning broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author of Einstein’s God-Conversations about Science and the Human Spirit, known for her thought-provoking NPR radio series “On Being.” A journalist and diplomat in Cold War Berlin with a Masters of Divinity from Yale University.

http://www.onbeing.org/

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Ragdale is a non-profit artists’ residency program, located in Arts and Crafts architect Howard Van Doren Shaw’s Lake Forest country estate. In 1976, Shaw’s granddaughter Alice Judson Hayes transformed the family’s summer home into an artists-in-residence program. Today, Ragdale hosts over 150 writers, artists, and composers each year, making it one of the largest interdisciplinary artist communities in the country. For more information, go to www.ragdale.org