Author Visits

Dr. Craig Yorke

Wed, Aug 27 | 7pm | Marvin Auditorium

Dr. Yorke discusses his memoir and history as a Black neurosurgeon who practiced in Topeka for 25 years. His story is about the price of success rather than the weight of bigotry – a story of resilience and self-discovery. His memoir Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon's Journey began as a letter to his sons in response to a moment in a bookstore where he faced the shelves of books on Black Studies and wondered where his history could find shelf space.

Lisa Wingate

Tue, Oct 14 | 7pm | Marvin Auditorium

Wingate is the author of more than 30 books including "Before We Were Yours," which remained on the New York Times bestseller list for more than two years and has sold more than 3 million copies. This work of historical fiction tells the heartbreaking real-life story of a scandal at the Tennessee Children's Home Society during the Great Depression. The event is free and seating is expected to fill quickly. Registration opens Sept 2.

Incredible authors who visited in 2025

• Tim Bascom & Laurie Dove, adult fiction and nonfiction
• William Kent Krueger, adult fiction
• Dr. Walt Menninger & Todd Fertig, memoir and historical nonfiction
• Ernie Webb III, true crime
• Jaclyn Westlake, romance

Fantastic authors who visited in 2024

• Lara Avery, adult and young adult fiction
• Elizabeth Farnsworth, memoir and historical fiction
• Dane Kroll, young adult horror, fantasy, sci-fi fiction
• Lisa Scottoline, legal thrillers, historical fiction and nonfiction humor

Amazing authors visited in 2023

• Marcia Cebulksa, memoir
• Emily Cowan, history
• Lamar Giles, young adult thrillers
• Alex Grecian, mystery & thrillers
• Priscilla Howe, folktales
• Craig Johnson, western mysteries
• Janae Marks, middle grade novels
• Rita Woods, Afrofuturism