Great Authors at the Library

portrait of Suzanne Selfors smiling and holding her corgi dog, event information, whimsical landscape illustration behind, book covers

WE ARE THRILLED to welcome bestselling author Suzanne Selfors as the next speaker in our Great Authors at the Library series. She has written more than 30 books—and is famous among young readers and their parents for Wedgie and Gizmo, a silly series about a corgi who thinks he’s a superhero and a guinea pig who thinks he’s an evil genius.

Selfors will be visiting Champaign Unit 4 elementary schools during the day and sharing a presentation for families in the evening, as part of our National Library Week celebrations:

• April 8, Meet the Author! An Evening with Suzanne Selfors, 6:30 pm

Since 2016, the Great Authors at the Library series has brought 23 award-winning, New York Times bestselling authors to Champaign, where they have been welcomed by more than 5,000 community members.

Each author presents a public talk about their writing, signs books, and meets local readers. We often set up book giveaways in advance, sharing ”Read and pass along” copies of the author’s books with community members. For authors of children’s books and teen titles, we set up school visits so that area schoolchildren can meet these literary giants. We also provide books to our partnering Champaign Unit 4 School District libraries. And for the community’s youngest readers, we give out books at storytimes to help families build home libraries.

Acclaimed speakers in the Great Authors at the Library series have included New York Times bestselling authors Doris Kearns Goodwin, Terry McMillan, Ken Liu, Lisa See, Colson Whitehead, Lisa Scottoline, Eric Litwin, Scott Turow, Jamie Ford, Nnedi Okorafor, Luis Alberto Urrea, Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Berg, and David Sheff.

Great Authors at the Library visits are made possible with support from the Library Foundation and Library Friends.

Great Authors books in our collection »

full audience at Ken Liu Great Author talk at the library

Award-winning author Ken Liu spoke to a full house during his visit to Champaign in October 2024, including audience members who traveled from St. Louis and Peoria.