Event features Western authors, music, activities, and food, plus special guests: the 2010 San Bernardino Sheriff’s Rodeo Queens

Redlands, CA – Looking to get in touch with your inner cowboy or cowgirl? Celebrate the National Day of the Cowboy in true Wild West style at the Read ’em Cowboy! bookfair at Barnes and Noble in Redlands on July 23rd, from 11:00 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Guests will find a passel of Western fun for the whole family. Western authors will sign books and give talks, and children’s authors will read to youngsters. Other kids’ activities include art projects, cow roping, a Western sing-along, and a cowboy/cowgirl costume contest for kids 12 and under. Along with the authors, families can enjoy live music by local Western group the Coyote Creek Ramblers and talk with authentically outfitted historical reenactors depicting Old West figures like cowboys, cavalrymen, vaqueros, and Texas Rangers. Special guests will be San Bernardino Sheriff’s Rodeo Queen Cynthia Boswell, and Junior Miss Rodeo Queen Caitlin Eberhardt. The ladies will sign autographs, pose for pictures, and read to kids.

Western and local history buffs alike will enjoy author/historian Nick Cataldo’s talk on “The Earps in Southern California.” For California flavor, living historian Joseph “Mesilla Joe” Lopez will speak about – and portray – the original American cowboy: the early California vaquero. A writers’ panel will offer tips for beginning and experienced authors and advice for those interested in writing Western material.

A special menu of “cowboy chili” in the B&N café , and prize raffles, will add a little extra flavor and fun to the event. Guests who arrive sporting a bandana or cowboy hat will receive one free raffle ticket; those who make a B&N purchase, and show a valid receipt, will receive an additional free ticket.

A portion of all sales from the event will go directly to the Western Writers of America’s Homestead Foundation, a nonprofit group which promotes the literary preservation of Western culture, history and traditions. Folks who can’t make the event can support the Homestead Foundation by making a purchase at any B&N store (or online) from 7/23-28 and using a special voucher found on the event’s Facebook page.

For further information about Read ‘em Cowboy!, check the Facebook page, the Event Calendar on the Barnes and Noble, Redlands web page, or call Laurie Aldern, Barnes and Noble Community Relations Manager at (909) 793-4222.

Barnes and Noble is located at 27460 Lugonia Ave., Redlands, in the Citrus Plaza Shopping Center.

Participating Authors/Bios.

Howard Kazanjian, co-author (with Chris Enss) of Thunder Over the Prairie: The True Story of a Murder and a Manhunt by the Greatest Posse of All Time. Kazanjian is a former vice president of Lucasfilm, Ltd. and as executive producer on Raiders of the Lost Ark and producer on Return of the Jedi, two of the biggest films of all time.

Joan Tapper, author of The Wild West on 5 Bits a Day, a tongue-in-cheek, time-travel guidebook. Tapper has been in the publishing world for 40 years, serving variously as editor in chief of the award-winning Islands Magazine and founding editor of National Geographic Traveler. She is a frequent contributor to Santa Barbara Magazine, Caribbean Travel & Life, Skyward, and Hadassah.

Steve Gray, illustrator of There Was a Coyote Who Swallowed a Flea. Gray is an award-winning illustrator who spent the first 20 years of his freelance illustration career doing humorous art for advertising clients including McDonalds, Disney, Baskin Robbins, Disney, and Knott’s Berry Farm. Since then he has illustrated books for Golden Books, Scholastic, American Greetings, Innovative Kids, Bowtie Press and Rising Moon.

Erica Silverman, author of the Cowgirl Kate children’s series. Silverman is the author of award-winning picture books and early readers, including the Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa series of early readers, the first of which received the 2006 Theodore Geisel Honor Award. The most recent book in the series is Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Spring Babies. Silverman speaks at schools, libraries and conferences about the joys of reading and the process of writing. Having loved libraries since she was four years old, she recently became a librarian with Los Angeles Public Library.

Nick Cataldo, author of Earp Clan: The Southern California Years and Images of America: San Bernardino. Cataldo is a prominent local historian who has served as president and on the Board of directors of the San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society. He has authored numerous articles pertaining to San Bernardino County history and has researched, written, and spoken extensively on the history of the Earp family.

Bob Wood, author of Sage. Wood has worked as a cowboy, air crewman in the Navy, and professional ski patrolman at Mammoth. He worked for five summer seasons as a Wilderness Ranger, patrolled the Ansel Adams and John Muir Wilderness areas in the Sierras for two summers on horseback, and for three summers carrying a backpack. He studied forestry at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and retired after thirty-five years with the US Forest Service. Sage is his first novel.

J.R. Sanders, author of the children’s Western The Littlest Wrangler Sanders, a Western author and historian, is a native of Newton, Kansas – one of the original “wild and wooly” cowtowns – whose interest in Old West history dates back to childhood visits to the Dalton Gang hideout, Abilene, and Dodge City. A frequent contributor to historical magazines, Sanders is an active member of the Western Writers of America and the Wild West History Association. The Littlest Wrangler is his first children’s book.