Book Launch Basics: Your Successful Author Event

Publishing a book is an enormous achievement that deserves to be celebrated. Successful book launches and author events can also attract national audiences, generate book sales, connect writers to their local communities and advance careers. Yet many writers enter the book market without the necessary tools to promote their work.

At Book Launch Basics on Thurs, April 17, LitArts RI is bringing together local authors and booksellers alongside event coordinators, digital marketing, PR and public speaking specialists to give Rhode Island writers the skills and confidence they need for a successful book launch. Join at 6pm for a panel on author event best practices with Kiersten Resch, Faye D’Avanza, Kate Lohman and Patricia Tulli-Hawkridge, followed by an opportunity to consult with the experts, build relationships with local booksellers and connect with fellow authors.

Meet the Panelists

Kiersten Penaloza-Resch began her career performing dance in Manhattan after receiving a BFA in Creative Writing and a BA in Dance Performance. Later, as she worked in marketing and communications for the performance arts, she received her MA in Book Publishing and Writing from Emerson College. As a freelance marketing professional, Kiersten has worked with non-profit organizations and magazines to boost their email and social media presence. Now, Kiersten is transitioning to take on more authors and artists as clients. Offering services in editorial work, marketing, and publicity, Kiersten is proud to help new authors better understand the publishing landscape and to project their voices to a targeted audience.

J. Faye D'Avanza serves artists and creative communities as a consultant and facilitator based in Asheville, NC. As a writer, editor, librarian, and the former marketing and communications event coordinator for Ink Fish Books, she’s worked extensively with authors to design and promote their work through book signings, readings, talks, conversations, themed-events, and workshops that invite community engagement, promote learning, and build social connections.

Faye shares stories and tools for creative regeneration in her Substack newsletter Keeping Creative Time, and is the founder of Library of Care, a holistic education + resource hub for creative healing and thriving in the burnout age. Learn more at jfayedavanza.com and follow her on Instagram @jfayedavanza and @libraryofcare.

Kate Lohman is an actor, director, writer, teacher, and former Artistic Director of the Gamm Theatre. Kate attended Brown University and is a graduate of the Trinity Rep Conservatory (now the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA program), and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard University. She’s taught oral communication, writing, and theatre classes and workshops in many settings, most recently with graduate students at Brown to help them feel more confident making presentations. Kate facilitates the Village Common Writers Group, and this summer will return to the Summer@Brown program to teach a memoir class. Kate is very excited to reunite with Patricia Tulli-Hawkridge for a class at School One’s Write Rhode Island Creative Institute: “Thrilling and Terrifying! Reading Your Writing for an Audience.”

Patricia Tulli-Hawkridge holds an MFA in Dramatic Arts with a concentration in Acting & Speech from George Washington University. She is a RI Teaching Artist through the RI State Council on the Arts. Pat is also an Adjunct Professor teaching Acting and Speech courses for Rhode Island College.

Pat has served as the Dean of the Arts at TAPA: Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts and at Beacon Charter High School for the Arts and as an Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Theatre Arts Department at Salve Regina University. As an actor & director, Pat has worked with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Horizons Theatre, Silver Spring Stage and Round House Theatre all in the Washington, DC area and OUTLOUD Theatre, Barker Playhouse, Gamm Theatre, Rhode Island College and Providence College all in Rhode Island. As a trained speech and accent/dialect coach, Pat has worked for area colleges, high schools, local theatres, and businesses in RI, including the Rhode Island Department of Education’s Center for Teacher Certification and Excellence.

Participating Bookstores
Book Around
Heartleaf Books
Inkfish Books
Stillwater Books
Symposium Books

Health Safety Guidelines

If you have tested positive for Covid-19 within a few days of attending an event at LitArts RI, please contact Staff so we can let others know of possible exposure. We ask that you wait 14 days or until testing negative to return to the Center.

Accessibility

LitArts RI is wheelchair accessible. The organization is actively committed to cultivating a community that values and reflects diversity, equity and inclusivity and to providing programming that is accessible to all attendees. Please let us know about any accommodations we can make to allow you to participate fully in this event.