‘The Book Thief’ author speaks to 600 in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - The author of the award-winning novel 'The Book Thief” shared signatures and stories at a Linn Area Reads event Sunday that drew over 600 book lovers.

'This is amazing and overwhelming,” Linn Area Reads committee member Amber Mussman said about the event featuring Markus Zusak at The Hotel at Kirkwood Center. 'We knew this year it was going to be a special year. Bringing in an author like Markus is a huge win for us as a community. Certainly not something we can do every year.”

The turnout also impressed Zusak, who lives in Sydney, Australia, and is on a U.S. tour to mark his best-selling book's 10-year anniversary.

'You could all be having fun, doing anything and you decide to be here,” Zusak joked with the crowd. 'This is really amazing. Especially since it has been 10 years since that book has been published. This is just incredible.”

Linn Area Reads, a program staffed by representatives from the Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha public libraries and members of the literary community, chooses a book each year for area residents to read and discuss together.

This year's selection was 'The Book Thief,” Zusak's 2005 novel about a girl in World War II-era Germany who steals books the Nazi party is looking to destroy and shares them with the Jewish refugee hiding in her basement.

The book has sold more than 8 million copies, been translated into 40 languages and was on the New York Times best-seller list for more than 230 weeks.

Also at Sunday night's event, Linn Area Reads revealed the authors scheduled to participate in the annual Out Loud! author series. The authors will come to Cedar Rapids this summer for book signings and question-and-answer sessions.

Participating authors and their appearance dates are:

l June 24: Sara Gruen, author of the award-winning book, 'Water for Elephants,” which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and was adapted into a film in 2011.

l July 1: Matt de la Peña, a best-selling author of young-adult novels, including 'Ball Don't Lie” and 'Mexican White Boy.”

l July 8: Jenny Lawson, a blogger and author of 'Let's Pretend This Never Happened,” which won Goodreads' Best Humor Book award in 2012.

All events will be at The Hotel at Kirkwood Center and are open to the public.