12:30 p.m. Friday Lunch

12:30 p.m. Friday Lunch with the Author of the Year, Melanie Benjamin

Redbird D

IATE’s 2016 Illinois Author of the Year, Melanie Benjamin, is a well-decorated historical novelist whose books include The Aviator’s Wife, Alice I Have Been, and The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. These prize-winning novels capture a spirit of women wonderfully.  Melanie currently lives in Chicago. In addition to writing, she puts her theatrical training to good use by being a member of the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau.