Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, and several other young adult novels, will be the keynote speaker at the 17th annual Highland Park Literary Festival. Zusak will speak Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., at Highland Park High School, 4200 Emerson. There will be a Book Sale that evening, beginning at 6:30 p.m., offering Zusak’s and other HP Literary Festival workshop authors’ books. Zusack will be available for book signing at the end of the event, which is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Australian author Markus Zusak has asserted himself as one of today’s most innovative and poetic novelists for young adults. He is the author of five novels, including The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting the Girl, and I Am the Messenger, recipient of a 2006 Printz Honor for excellence in young adult literature. His international bestseller, The Book Thief, has been translated into over 30 languages. Zusak grew up hearing stories about Nazi Germany, about the bombing of Munich and about Jews being marched through his mother’s small, German town. He always knew it was a story he wanted to tell. “We have these images of the straight-marching lines of boys and the ‘Heil Hitlers’ and this idea that everyone in Germany was in it together. But there still were rebellious children and people who didn’t follow the rules and people who hid Jews and other people in their houses. So there’s another side to Nazi Germany,” said Zusak in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald.
The Highland Park Literary Festival seeks to inspire and encourage students to celebrate language in its artfully written, spoken, and sung formats. The two-day festival will offer student assemblies with noted speakers, a community event, and over 75 small group workshops connecting HPHS students with novelists, journalists, poets, storytellers, playwrights, screenwriters, and songwriters. The festival also includes a student-run Open Mic Nite where students share readings, musings, poetry, and musical performances. The festival concludes with a student writing contest and awards breakfast.
The HP Literary Festival is made possible with the cooperation of the HPHS English faculty and by generous donations from La Fiesta de las Seis Banderas, HPHS PTA, HP Arts, and HPISD families.