Detroit Immigrant’s Memoir to be Exhibited at Kerrytown BookFest
DETROIT ― The 11th Kerrytown BookFest in Ann Arbor, Michigan is celebrating “Detroit and its Writers” and I’m honored to be representing a Detroit writer (and artist) this year – my late husband Charles Novacek. Charles’ award-winning book Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance was published by 1021 Press, Detroit in 2012 and endorsed by Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State.
The BookFest is set for Sunday, September 8, 2013, from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market at 410 N. Fourth Avenue and Kingsley in downtown Ann Arbor, MI. (www.kerrytownbookfest.org). I will be selling (and signing) Charles’ books in both paperback and hardcover at booth #92. I hope you will come by and say hello.
The Kerrytown BookFest is unique. First it’s in Kerrytown, a vibrant historic neighborhood with great shops, restaurants, and of course the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market. And, the BookFest is “the only festival of the book in the country to celebrate both authors and the artists and crafts people who help create (and read) books.” This year’s BookFest will feature authors, illustrators, poets, letterpress printers, librarians, calligraphers, publishers, book artists, storytellers and Charles’ book!
Border Crossings, a firsthand account, describes the impact of World War II and the Cold War on a Czechoslovakian boy, Karel (Charles) Novacek. Charles actively participated with his family in the Czech Resistance against the Nazis and the Communists from the age of eleven to twenty. After escaping his homeland in 1948, Charles fled to Germany, then Venezuela and finally immigrated with his family to the United States in 1956, where he became an American citizen and established a successful engineering career in Detroit, Michigan. He died in 2007.
Charles finished his book shortly before his death in 2007. I had the manuscript edited and did some research to add a timeline and biographies about Charles’ sister and uncle, who were also key players in the resistance movement.
Since its release in October 2012, Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance has received 13 independent book awards, including being named winner of the Bronze Medal in the World History category of the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Gold Medal winner in the Autobiography/Memoir category of the 2013 Midwest Book Awards and Honorable Mention for Autobiography/Memoir in the ForeWord Reviews 2012 Book of the Year Awards. In the 2013 Eric Hoffer Awards, the book also received Honorable Mention for Memoir and Finalist for the da Vinci Eye Award, Eric Hoffer Grand Prize and Montaigne Medal. Visit www.charlesnovacekbooks.com for details.
I’ve been a faithful attendee of the Kerrytown BookFest in Ann Arbor since 2003 so it will be a new experience for me to be attending “on the other side” as an exhibitor. I can’t wait!!!!!! Click here for a Kerrytown map http://www.kerrytown.org/mapframe.asp
Are you going? I would love to see you!
