Authors will autograph books at Art Affair By SALLY JOHNSON
While the visual artists' market is the centerpiece of Art Affair on the Square, organizers have encouraged those who work in other arts disciplines to participate.
Consequently, three professional authors will add another dimension to the fifth annual Art Affair in downtown Urbana July 18.
Richard LeMieux, an Urbana native who has received national attention with his recently published book, "Breakfast at Sally's," will be at the Art Affair literary tent to greet old friends and autograph his book beginning about 10 a.m.
Also, David Catrow of Springfield, award-winning author and illustrator whose editorial cartoons are nationally syndicated, will sign books he has written and illustrated from 3 to 5 p.m. at the literary tent.
The two men will be joined by Peggy Hanna, a Champaign County resident who will be autographing her book, "Patriotism, Peace and Vietnam: A Memoir," for Art Affair patrons. She will be available at the literary tent during festival hours, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
LeMieux grew up in Urbana, graduating from Urbana High School in 1957. He went on to Urbana College and, after graduation, became a sports writer for several years. In 1981, he moved to the state of Washington.
After prospering for nearly 15 years, his publishing business went under, leaving him without home or resources. He lived the life of the homeless, depending on the local Salvation Army mission for friends and food.
But, LeMieux still had his writing skills and, using an old manual typewriter, he chronicled his story and the role of the Salvation Army in his survival. With the aid of that organization, LeMieux's manuscript ended up at Skyhorse Publishing Inc. and from there to bookstores all over the country.
Lemieux has become an advocate for the homeless, traveling and sharing his experiences with groups large and small.
This will be Catrow's second appearance at Art Affair. He is an award-winning editorial cartoonist. His work is syndicated to more than 900 newspapers in the United States and Canada.
He has collaborated with authors of prize-winning children's books including Kathryn Lasky's "She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head!" Robert San Souci's "Cinderella Skeleton: A Fractured Fairy Tale in Rhyme" and Arthur Dorros' The Fungus That Ate My School."
While his work is characterized by reviewers as "humorously offbeat and quirky," Catrow has illustrated "Cornerstones of Freedom," a series of nonfiction books with serious themes by R. Conrad Stein.
Catrow has published "We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States," a self-illustrated work that seeks to explain the opening lines of the constitution in language children can understand. Reviewers praised the book, calling it "lighthearted but meaningful."
Catrow's art can be found in the National Archives, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Museum of Cartoon Art in San Francisco as well as in many private collections.
In addition to "Patriotism, Peace and Vietnam: A Memoir," Hanna has written a children's book, "Beetlebopper," and has had several articles and a short story published. She is currently working on novels for young adults.
She describes "Patriotism, Peace and Vietnam," as a personal journey from hawk to peace activist during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Hanna says she is a high school graduate, conservative Catholic housewife and mother and that her story breaks the stereotype of radical war protesters.
She has dedicated the book both to those who served in Vietnam and to those who worked to bring peace and sees it as "a candid discourse on war, fear and injustice on a local and national scale."
Hanna said she has been unflinchingly honest in her assessment of "the limitations of human behaviors and the tendency to blind oneself to things one doesn't agree with."
Married, the mother of nine children and grandmother of 15, Hanna is currently employed at Wittenberg University.
Literary activities at Art Affair 2009 are being sponsored by the Ole Book Nook and Adventures in Travel, the Mechanicsburg Public Library, the Champaign County Literacy Council and Bob and Diane McConnell.
Art Affair on the Square, a juried, invitational show, is a project of Monument Square District Inc., a non-profit organization that supports Urbana's efforts to maintain the usefulness, profitability and beauty of its historic central business district.
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