Award winning author Chris Crutcher will be visiting South Carolina libraries for three days. On Tuesday, September 20, Crutcher will be in Camden, SC for a talk sponsored by the Kershaw County Library. A reception will be held at 5:30 PM, with a talk following at 6:30 PM. This event will be at the Fine Arts Center at 810 Lyttleton Street. The following day, Wednesday, September 21st he will be at the Abbeville Opera House for a talk at 11 AM. This event is sponsored by the Abbeville County Library and the Abbeville Rotary Club. He'll finish up his whirlwind tour on the 22nd at the Richland County Public Library's Main Branch at 1431 Assembly Street in Columbia. This event will begin at 6:30 PM.
Crutcher is the author of thirteen books for teens--ten novels, two short story collections and an autobiography. His most recent work is Angry Management, a South Carolina Young Adult Book Award nominee. Crutcher's fast based fiction is known for its expert balance of comedy and tragedy, as well as its unflinching honesty and authentic voice. He is also one of the most frequently banned and challenged authors in North America--a fact he considers an accomplishment, rather than a drawback.
Crutcher still works as a therapist and child protection advocate. His life experiences in rural Idaho, in urban Oakland, in education and in mental health keep his fiction rooted in real life. "Crutcher writes with heart-wrenching realism," according to People Magazine with "superb plotting, extraordinary characters and crackling narrative," Publisher's Weekly said. The American Library Association has named eight of his young adult books, to date, Best Books for Young Adults, and four of his books appeared on Booklist's Best 100 Books of the 20th Century, compiled in 2000 -- more than any other single author on the list. Crutcher received the ALAN Award in 1993, the NCTE SLATE Intellectual Freedom Award in 1998, the Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and Writer Magazine's Writers Who Make a Difference Award in 2004.
For more information, contact Jennifer Kelley jenniferk@kershawcountylibrary.org or call 803-425-1508.
