Jane Muir Introduces Renowned Author and Artist Tony DiTerlizzi at Miami Book Fair International
Miami Dade College hosted the 31st Annual Miami Book Fair International at its Wolfson Campus November 16-23, 2014. More than 600 authors from around the globe came to Miami to take part in the fair’s international Festival of Authors. Jane Muir was invited to introduce Tony DiTerlizzi, who presented his new book “The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight.
Miami Book Fair International was founded in 1984, by Miami Dade College with community partners, including Muir’s own grandmother, author Helen Muir. Since then it has been recognized as the nation’s finest literary festival. Thousands of South Florida schoolchildren and book lovers attended the Street Fair, participating in Children’s Alley activities, including music, arts-and-crafts, theater, storytelling and readings by children’s book authors. The fair featured comics and graphic novels, and a new section just for kids and teens. Publishers and booksellers exhibit and sell books, with special features like the antiquarians, who showcase of signed first editions, original manuscripts and other collectibles. The Festival of Authors featured hundreds of authors reading and discussing their work. Among them, Anthony DiTerlizzi.
DiTerlizzi grew up in Jupiter, Florida. After attending the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, he worked as an illustrator for Dungeons & Dragons and Magic the Gathering. These fantasy games inspired him, and he went on to write the Spiderwick Chronicles, a bestselling series of chapter books for children, with co-author Holly Black. Spiderwick tells of the adventures of three New England children who discover a guide to fairies, trolls and goblins. They soon discover that all of the characters in the guide are real.
George Lucas’ company Lucasfilm sought out DiTerlizzi to create a children’s picture book, using the original artwork by Academy Award-Winning artist Ralph McQuarrie upon which the original Star Wars trilogy were based. DiTerlizzi, a childhood fanatic for the films by George Lucas, had the opportunity to visit the archives and see the work in person. He then selected images and wrote text to represent the films in book form. Muir was eager to make the introduction, because, as she said during her introduction, “I was raised in a time warp. I was not allowed to watch TV growing up, and we didn’t have cable, but we had the Star Wars trilogy on VHS. Naturally, the force is strong in me.”
Learn more about Miami Book Fair International
Learn more about Tony DiTerlizzi
Learn more about upcoming Star Wars films, including the forthcoming Episode VII, The Force Awakens
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