Keynote Speaker, Wednesday April 30

Sarah Vowell

Bestselling Author, Social Observer, and Contributor to This American Life

Sarah Vowell is the acclaimed author of four bestselling books and has been a contributing editor for public radio's This American Life since 1996. She has written documentaries and monologues about everything from the Cherokee Trail of Tears, presidential libraries, and Frank Sinatra, to more personal pieces about her father's homemade cannon, a youthful obsession with The Godfather and her own goth makeover.

Sarah Vowell’s book Assassination Vacation (2005) is a hilarious and haunting road trip to tourist sites devoted to the murders of presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. She is also the author of the essay collections The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2002) and Take the Cannoli (2000), and Radio On (1997), a diary of a year spent listening to American radio. Her intricately produced audio books feature the voices of Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart, Tony Kushner, Brad Bird, Norman Lear, Stephen Colbert and Catherine Keener, as well as the music of Michael Giacchino and They Might Be Giants. Her fifth book, The Wordy Shipmates, a history of American Puritans, will be published in 2008.

Vowell is a longtime participant in the journal and live shows produced by McSweeney's. She has twice been a guest Op-Ed columnist for the opinion page of The New York Times. She is a former music columnist for Salon and San Francisco Weekly. Her criticism, interviews and essays have also appeared in TIME, Esquire, GQ, Spin, The Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. She is a fellow at the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU; a member of the Authors Guild Council; and president of the board of 826NYC, a nonprofit tutoring and writing center for students aged 6-18 in Brooklyn. She has made numerous appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Colbert Report, and is a regular on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. She is the voice of teen superhero Violet Parr in Brad Bird's Academy Award-winning The Incredibles, a Pixar Animation Studios film. She lives in New York City.

“ Vowell is, at heart, a storyteller. Her gift is one of cosmic inclusion—allowing the natural collision of intellect and personality, rigorous research and generational quirks.”
— The Boston Globe

“Vowell is and will continue to be one of the more important voices of her generation.”
— The San Francisco Chronicle

About NJLA | Calendar of Events | Continuing Education| Job Hotline
Resources for Libraries | Press Kit | Join NJLA | Honors & Awards | Newsletter | Legislative Updates

This page is hosted & maintained by the Burlington County Library | Webmaster