{"id":82496,"date":"2024-10-17T15:44:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T20:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=82496"},"modified":"2024-10-17T15:44:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T20:44:44","slug":"authors-speak-at-hays-public-library-for-kansas-book-fest-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=82496","title":{"rendered":"Authors speak at Hays Public Library for Kansas Book Fest West"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By RAEGAN NEUFELD<\/strong> <strong>Photos by RORY MOORE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The annual <a href=\"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=81699\">Kansas Book Festival in Topeka<\/a> took place in September, but the organization collaborated with the Hays Public Library and Forsyth Library to send two authors to Hays on Wednesday for Kansas Book Fest West.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Children\u2019s author Sue Lowell Gallion did a morning and afternoon storytime at the HPL, and mystery novelist M.A. Monnin capped the day off with a presentation for the library\u2019s Cozy Mystery Book Club. She talked about her novel \u201cDeath in the Aegean\u201d and showed photos from a trip to Greece, which is where her story takes place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Monnin also talked about the research she did for her book and the inspiration she took from the places and artifacts she saw on her trip.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy mind went to \u2018what if,\u2019\u201d she said of an artifact that inspired the stolen one in her story. \u201cI thought, \u2018how cool would that be?\u2019 and that was the beginning of my mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow aligncenter\" data-effect=\"slide\"><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper-container\"><ul class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper\"><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"661\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82498\" data-id=\"82498\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-001.jpg?resize=790%2C661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-001.jpg?w=931&amp;ssl=1 931w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-001.jpg?resize=311%2C260&amp;ssl=1 311w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-001.jpg?resize=150%2C126&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-001.jpg?resize=768%2C643&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">M.A. Monnin, Air Force veteran and author, hosts a book discussion during the Kansas Book Fair inside the Hays Public Library.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"751\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82497\" data-id=\"82497\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-002.jpg?resize=790%2C751\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-002.jpg?w=834&amp;ssl=1 834w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-002.jpg?resize=273%2C260&amp;ssl=1 273w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-002.jpg?resize=150%2C143&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-002.jpg?resize=768%2C730&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Monnin details the trip she took through the Aegean region which was the subject of her book &#8220;Death in the Aegean.&#8221;\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"471\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82500\" data-id=\"82500\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-004.jpg?resize=790%2C471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-004.jpg?resize=1024%2C611&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-004.jpg?resize=370%2C221&amp;ssl=1 370w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-004.jpg?resize=150%2C89&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-004.jpg?resize=768%2C458&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-004.jpg?w=1135&amp;ssl=1 1135w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Aegean presents images of ancient artifacts from Aegean culture.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide\"><figure><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"790\" height=\"388\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82499\" data-id=\"82499\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-003.jpg?resize=790%2C388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-003.jpg?resize=1024%2C503&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-003.jpg?resize=370%2C182&amp;ssl=1 370w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-003.jpg?resize=150%2C74&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-003.jpg?resize=768%2C377&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-003.jpg?w=1234&amp;ssl=1 1234w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption\">Monnin speaks in front of a live audience at her book discussion.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white\" role=\"button\"><\/a><a aria-label=\"Pause Slideshow\" class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause\" role=\"button\"><\/a><div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-white\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Kansas Book Festival Executive Director Tim Bascom spoke before Monnin\u2019s presentation to promote the festival. It typically features 40 to 50 authors who are connected in some way to Kansas, who give presentations and participate in panel discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been talking with the library here about how authors can come out west,\u201d he said. \u201cWe try to occasionally do that because we know it\u2019s hard for people to get all the way to Topeka.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bascom worked with HPL Public Services Manager Samantha Gill to organize the day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think you get to learn a lot about the behind-the-scenes of what it takes to make your favorite book,\u201d Gill said. \u201cYou also get to show appreciation to the authors that put so much hard work and effort into these books and you can support them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forsyth Library Engagement Specialist Anna Towns had the same sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you think about all of the ways that books touch your life, it&#8217;s neat to see somebody who&#8217;s actually doing that work,\u201d she said. \u201cEspecially presentations like this where you get the historical background, you get the research aspect of it, as well as those story-building things that go into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Towns partnered with Gill to promote the event on campus to classes and departments. According to her, Hays is a good place for events like Kansas Book Fest West because of the two libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s nice to have a place where the campus community and the wider community can come and kind of get involved in those bookish activities,\u201d Towns said. \u201cWe have great schools and programs on campus, so it&#8217;s an easy way to promote the different things and kind of draw different people out for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Gill said future events with the Kansas Book Festival will most likely follow the same format, Towns said she would also be interested in panel discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c(It\u2019s) interesting to see the different authors play off each other or talk about the different types of works that they&#8217;re doing, so I would love to see some more of that, some cross-talk with the authors as well,\u201d Towns said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Information about upcoming events at the HPL can be found on their <a href=\"https:\/\/hayslibrary.org\/\">website<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hayspubliclibrary\">Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By RAEGAN NEUFELD Photos by RORY MOORE Tiger Media Network The annual Kansas Book Festival in Topeka took place in September, but the organization collaborated&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":82499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":false,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3397,3398,11],"tags":[15932,14226,15700],"class_list":["post-82496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-area-news","category-campus-news","category-news","tag-kansas-book-festival-west","tag-raegan-neufeld","tag-rory-moore"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Book-Fest-003.jpg?fit=1234%2C606&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82496"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82502,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82496\/revisions\/82502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}