Authors at JCPL logo


Authors at JCPL
is a program series that brings popular and award-winning writers from around the country right here to Johnson County, thanks to generous donations to The Johnson County Public Library Foundation. If you would like to help ensure that great programming like this continues at JCPL, please consider making a donation.

Upcoming Authors 2025

C.J. Box

Thu • Feb 27 • 7 p.m.
The Historic Artcraft Theatre
57 N. Main St, Franklin

Registration opens Friday, January 10 at 9 a.m.

JCPL welcomes C.J. Box, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels, including the Joe Pickett series. The first 100 JCPL cardholders to register and attend will receive a copy of “Battle Mountain.” Please, only one free book per library cardholder. Reciprocal Borrowers are not eligible for the free book. General admission tickets may be reserved by anyone; you do not need a library card to attend. Copies of the author's books will also be available for purchase from Wild Geese Bookshop.

C. J. Box has won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel ("Blue Heaven", 2009) as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, two Barry Awards, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction. He was recently awarded the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Literature by the National Cowboy Museum as well as the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel by the Western Writers of America in 2017. Over ten million copies of his books have been sold in the U.S. and abroad and they’ve been translated into 27 languages. Two television series based on his novels are in production (BIG SKY on ABC and JOE PICKETT on Spectrum Originals and Paramount+). He is an Executive Producer for both series.

"Three-Inch Teeth", the 24th Joe Pickett novel, was published in February of 2024 and debuted at #2 on the New York Times Bestseller list and #1 on the Apple eBooks Bestseller list.

Box is a Wyoming native and has worked as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, a small town newspaper reporter and editor, and he owned an international tourism marketing firm with his wife Laurie. In 2008, Box was awarded the "BIG WYO" Award from the state tourism industry. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He served on the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and the Wyoming Office of Tourism. They have three daughters and four grandchildren. He and his wife Laurie live on their ranch in Wyoming.

Visit his website
Check out his books

Wild Geese Bookshop logo







*Please contact Kelly Staten (kstaten@jcplin.org or 317-738-9835) with accessibility or interpretive needs.

Author C.J. Box cowboy hat on plains
credit: Dave Neligh

Patti Callahan Henry

Wed • Mar 26 • 7 p.m.
The Historic Artcraft Theatre
57 N. Main St, Franklin
REGISTER

JCPL welcomes Patti Callahan Henry, the New York Times bestselling author of “The Secret Book of Flora Lea.” The first 100 JCPL cardholders to register and attend will receive a copy of "The Story She Left Behind."  Please, only one free book per library cardholder. Reciprocal Borrowers are not eligible for the free book. General admission tickets may be reserved by anyone; you do not need a library card to attend. Copies of the author's books will also be available for purchase from Wild Geese Bookshop.

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times, Globe and Mail, and USA Today bestselling author of seventeen novels. She’s also a podcast host of original content for her novels, "Surviving Savannah" and "Becoming Mrs. Lewis". She is the recipient of The Christy Award “Book of the Year”; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for Becoming Mrs. Lewis. She is the co-host and co-creator of the popular weekly online Friends and Fiction live web show and podcast. Patti also was a contributor to the monthly life lesson essay column for Parade Magazine. She’s published in numerous anthologies, articles, and short story collections, including an Audible Original about Florence Nightingale, titled Wild Swan narrated by the Tony Award winner, Cynthia Erivo.​

A full-time author, mother of three, and grandmother of two, she lives in Mountain Brook, Alabama with her husband, Pat Henry.

Visit her website
Check out her books

Patti will be joined in conversation by Susan Crandall. Susan Crandall is a critically acclaimed author of women’s fiction, romance, and suspense. She has written several award-winning novels including her first book, "Back Roads", which won the RITA award for best first book, as well as "Whistling Past the Graveyard", which won the SIBA 2014 Book Award for Fiction. Susan lives in Noblesville, Indiana, with her family.

Visit her website
Check out her books

Wild Geese Bookshop logo







*Please contact Kelly Staten (kstaten@jcplin.org or 317-738-9835) with accessibility or interpretive needs.

Patti Callahan Henry
credit: Liesa Cole


author Susan Crandall in black shirt with necklace

Past Authors 2024

William Kent Krueger

Mon • Sep 9 • 7 p.m.
The Historic Artcraft Theatre
57 N.  Main St, Franklin

JCPL welcomes William Kent Krueger, the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award winning author of "Ordinary Grace", "This Tender Land", and many other novels, including the Cork O’Connor mystery series. The first 100 JCPL cardholders to register and attend will receive a copy of "Spirit Crossing." Please, only one free book per library cardholder. Reciprocal Borrowers are not eligible for the free book. General admission tickets may be reserved by anyone; you do not need a library card to attend. Copies of the author's books will also be available for purchase from Wild Geese Bookshop.

Krueger’s work has received a number of awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, and the Friends of American Writers Prize. His last nine novels were all New York Times bestsellers. Before becoming an author, Krueger briefly attended Stanford University, logged timber, worked construction, freelance journalism, and eventually ended up researching child development at the University of Minnesota. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife of 50 years.

Visit his website
Check out his books

‌He will be joined in conversation by writer Michael Koryta, a recent Authors at JCPL alum and New York Times bestselling author whose work has been translated into more than twenty languages, adapted into major motion pictures, and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A former private investigator and reporter, his writing has been praised by Stephen King, Michael Connelly, and Dean Koontz, among many others. Raised in Bloomington, Indiana, he now lives in Indiana and Maine.

Visit his website
Check out his books

Wild Geese Bookshop logo







*Please contact Kelly Staten (kstaten@jcplin.org or 317-738-9835) with accessibility or interpretive needs.

author William Kent Krueger in brown cowboy hat
credit: Diane Krueger
Author Michael Koryta in blue shirt and black leather jacket

Leah Johnson

Mon • May 20  • 6 p.m.
Clark Pleasant Middle School
1354 East Worthsville Road, Greenwood
Doors open at 5 p.m., please use Door 12E

JCPL welcomes award winning author Leah Johnson back to our Authors at JCPL series! The first 50 JCPL Cardholders to register and attend will receive a free copy of "Ellie Engle Saves Herself."  Please, only one free book per library cardholder. Reciprocal Borrowers are not eligible for the free book. General admission tickets may be reserved by anyone; you do not need a library card to attend. Copies of the author's books will be available for purchase through Loudmouth Books.

Leah Johnson is the author of award-winning books for children and young adults. Her bestselling debut YA novel, "You Should See Me in a Crown", was a Stonewall Honor Book, and the inaugural Reese's Book Club YA pick. In 2021, TIME named "You Should See Me in a Crown" one of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. Her debut middle grade, "Ellie Engle Saves Herself" was published by Disney-Hyperion in May 2023. When she’s not writing, you can find her at Loudmouth Books, her Indianapolis-based independent bookstore that specializes in highlighting the work of marginalized authors and uplifting banned or challenged books.

She will be joined in conversation by writer Jay Coles. Jay Coles is the author of critically acclaimed “Tyler Johnson Was Here”, a composer with ASCAP and a professional musician residing in Muncie, Indiana. He is a graduate of Vincennes University and Ball State University and holds degrees in English and Liberal Arts.

Visit her website
Check out her books

Indiana Authors Awards logo





Loudmouth Books




*Please contact Kelly Staten (kstaten@jcplin.org or 317-738-9835) with accessibility or interpretive needs.

Author Leah Johnson in a floral shirt in front of a bookshelf


Author Jay Coles in a floral shirt in front of greenery

Megan Miranda

Mon • April 22 • 7 p.m.
The Historic Artcraft Theatre
57 N. Main St., Franklin
Doors open at 6 p.m.

JCPL welcomes Megan Miranda, the New York Times bestselling author of "All the Missing Girls". The first 100 JCPL cardholders to register and attend will receive a copy of "Daughter of Mine." Please, only one free book per library cardholder. Reciprocal Borrowers are not eligible for the free book. General admission tickets may be reserved by anyone; you do not need a library card to attend. Copies of the author's books will also be available for purchase from Wild Geese Bookshop.

Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of "All the Missing Girls", "The Perfect Stranger", "The Last House Guest", a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, "The Girl from Widow Hills", "Such a Quiet Place" and "The Last to Vanish". She has also written several books for young adults. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.

Visit her website
Check out her books

Wild Geese Bookshop logo







*Please contact Kelly Staten (kstaten@jcplin.org or 317-738-9835) with accessibility or interpretive needs.

author Megan Miranda in black shirt
Photo credit: Ashley Elston

Michael Koryta writing as Scott Carson

Wed • Mar 27 • 7 p.m.
Franklin College's Branigin Room in the Napolitan Student Center
253 S Forsythe St, Franklin, IN
Doors open at 6 p.m.

JCPL welcomes New York Times bestselling author Scott Carson (Michael Koryta) of more than 20 books to our Authors at JCPL series! The first 100 JCPL cardholders to register and attend will receive a free copy of "Lost Man’s Lane." Please, only one free book per library cardholder. Reciprocal Borrowers are not eligible for the free book. General admission tickets may be reserved by anyone; you do not need a library card to attend. Copies will be available for purchase through Wild Geese Bookshop.

Scott Carson is the pen name of Michael Koryta, a New York Times bestselling author whose work has been translated into more than twenty languages, adapted into major motion pictures, and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A former private investigator and reporter, his writing has been praised by Stephen King, Michael Connelly, and Dean Koontz, among many others. Raised in Bloomington, Indiana, he now lives in Indiana and Maine.

He will be joined in conversation by writer Paul Hoffman. Paul Hoffman is the author of two nonfiction books, “Murder in Wauwatosa: The Mysterious Death of Buddy Schumacher” and “Wicked Columbus.” He is a former journalist of 34 years and owns a small publishing company.

Visit his website
Check out his books

Wild Geese Bookshop logo







*Please contact Kelly Staten (kstaten@jcplin.org or 317-738-9835) with accessibility or interpretive needs.

Author Michael Koryta in blue shirt and black leather jacket


author Paul Hoffman in blue shirt and tie
A look back at many of the great authors we’ve hosted during our Authors at JCPL bestselling author series: