P.J.O’Rourke is one of the featured authors at the Big Book Club Getaway.

Over 70 Bestselling and Award Winning Authors to Discuss Their Work and Sign Books

More than 70 bestselling and award-winning authors will converge at the Mohegan Sun Resort on Feb. 21-22, for the The Big Book Getaway, presented by The Mark Twain House and Museum.

Featured speakers include Hallmark Channel’s Debbie Macomber; author and media personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer; political humorist P.J. O’Rourke; former CNN news journalist Kitty Pilgrim; plus Sarah Addison Allen, Suzanne Palmieri (Hayes), Pete Hamill, Charlotte Rogan, Eloisa James, Jane Green, Susan Conley and several others.

Many different genres including memoir, history, travel, health, military, mystery, romance, theatre, fiction and non-fiction will be represented.  Guests will have an opportunity to hear authors on the Main Stage and in concurrent break-out sessions.

RJ Julia is the bookseller for the event.

Admission for the Friday night, Feb. 21, program only is $45.  Admission on Saturday, Feb. 22, is $65.  General Admission for the full two day event is $100 for the entire program.  Go to the Big Book Club Getaway website, www.thebigbookclub.org  to register and obtain expanded information on the program, the authors, the panels, accommodations and activities.

The Big Book Getaway is sponsored by The Day, Hallmark Channel, CT Humanities, History Press, Essex Books, Reading Group Choices, LymeLine.com, ValleyNewsNow.com, Dominion Diagnostics and RJ Julia Booksellers.

Just some of the lively panels for this Friday evening-Saturday event:

Steamy Stories – Bestselling Romance and Erotica featuring Eloisa James, Laura Kaye, Cathy Maxwell , Lisa Gabriele

A Hero’s Tale – Military memoirs and biographies featuring Artis Henderson, Jason “Jay” Redman, Jim DeFelice and moderated by Captain Glenn Sulmasy, Chairman of Humanities for the United States Coast Guard Academy

Novel Ideas – Male Authors in Journalism and Fiction sponsored by The Day; featuring Norb Vonnegut, Pete Hamill, David Handler and moderated by Peter Prichard, Former Editor-in-Chief for USA Today

Magical Fiction – Spirits, Mystery & Wonderment featuring Sarah Addison Allen and Suzanne Palmieri (Hayes)

The Way We Were – Historical fiction with Charlotte Rogan, Stephanie Lehman, Donna Russo-Morin and Heather Webb

Kiss and Tell – Harlequin Romance authors featuring Kristan Higgins, Shannon Stacey, Natalie Charles, Kristine Rolofson

Now Boarding – Travel and Culture featuring Nina Sovich, Susan Conley and Eloisa James; moderated by Lymeline.com and ValleyNewsNow.com Executive Editor, Olwen Logan

Telling My Truth – “Memoir and the Self” featuring Brando Skyhorse, Karen Dietrich, Mellini Kantayya and Diane Smith Delicious Writing – Books with Food featuring Giulia Melucci and Suzan Colón

Whodunnit  – Mystery and Suspense with Jennifer McMahon, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Rosemary Harris and Hank Phillipi Ryan

New England in Fiction featuring Joseph Monninger, Nan Parson Rossiter  and Jane Green

Addicted? Harvard Doctors Speak Out featuring Dr. Robert L. Doyle, Joseph Shrand, MD, and Dr. Sylvester “Skip” Sviokla, III, M.D.

A Peek Behind The Curtains –“Broadway Revealed” with Susan L. Schulman, Jennifer Ashley Tepper, Peter Filichia

The World’s Strongest Librarian – Josh Hanagarne

Toil and Trouble – Witches and the Occult featuring Brunonia Barry, Marybeth Reilly McGreen and Maggi Smith Dalton

A Conversation with William Mann – Hollywood Biographer

International Thrillers featuring Kitty Pilgrim, Nick Hahn, J.E. Fishman and Antoinette Van Heugten

A Writer’s Work ~ Tips for Aspiring Authors featuring Christopher Castellani, Adam Sexton, Stuart Parnes and Julia Pistell

For more information, visit the Big Book Getaway website at www.thebigbookclub.org .  News and regular updates will be posted on the event Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thebigbookclubgetaway.  Follow the event on Twitter at The Big Book Getaway @BookClubGetaway.

The Mark Twain House & Museum (www.marktwainhouse.org ) has restored the author’s Hartford, Connecticut, home, where the author and his family lived from 1874 to 1891. Twain wrote his most important works during the years he lived there, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

In addition to providing tours of Twain’s restored home, a National Historic Landmark, the institution offers activities and educational programs that illuminate Twain’s literary legacy and provide information about his life and times.

The house and museum at 351 Farmington Ave. are open Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Sunday, noon-5:30 p.m.  For more information, call 860-247-0998 or visit www.marktwainhouse.org.

Programs at The Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from the Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development, Office of the Arts, and the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign.