Author of The Bone Collector, Jeffery Deaver presents Carte Blanche: The New James Bond 007 Novel (now in paperback) on Monday, May 14, at 7 p.m. He has crafted a James Bond thriller set in the present day, which finds the British spy engaging a horrific villain in a cat-and-mouse chase that takes him from the Balkans and London to Africa. 

Our Not For Men Only Book Club is sponsoring this program.

Discover a great new author and support a good cause - it doesn't get much better. Come in on Wednesday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m. when Wiley Cash presents A Land More Kind than Home. Our own former poet laureate, Fred Chappell, calls it "one of the most powerful novels I have ever read." Wiley Cash is generously donating a portion of the proceeds to the Literacy Council of Wake County. Land, which is set in western NC, is garnering outstanding reviews.

Ardent Spirits, Reynolds Price's memoir of his Rhodes scholar days, is a Quail Ridge favorite. Fortunately, the late, brilliant author was able to complete much of his next memoir at the time of his death. Join us on Thursday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m. when his brother, William Price, presents Midstream: An Unfinished Memoir. Picking up where Ardent Spirits left off, this memoir of 1961-1965 details the final youthful adventures of a man on the cusp of artistic acclaim.

Marly Youmans, the author of Little Jordan & The Wolf Pit, visits on Friday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. with A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage. She's created a vividly realized, panoramic novel of a young boy's survival during The Great Depression. 

Orphanage received the Ferrol Sams Award for Fiction!

Do you have an idea for a children's book? Started one? Already published one? The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators invites you to their annual "schmooze" on Sunday, May 20, at 3 p.m. Find out about publishing from three established children's writers/illustrators: John Bemis, Karen Lee and Stephen Messer. Aspiring writers and illustrators may submit the first 250 words of a children's book or an illustration for panel review. Open to all; samples for critique are not necessary but encouraged.

As entertaining as he is in print and on the air, you'll love Frank Deford's stories in person. The Sports Illustrated writer and NPR commentator returns on Monday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. with Over Time: My Life As A Sportswriter. He offers a history of American sportswriting and a chronicle of the heroes and the characters of just about every sport.

In an age of corporate farms, find out what it's like to start up a small family farm. Jim Minick brings us The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family on Tuesday, May 22, at 7:30 p.m. Discover this mouth-watering and delightful memoir based on the trials and tribulations of an organic blueberry farmer. It was winner of the SIBA Best Nonfiction Book of the Year Award.