R.L. Stine
FLORENCE – Florence beware, you’re in for a scare! Spine-chilling author R.L Stine has joined the line-up for the Reader Riot book festival on April 28-29, 2017. Stine is the bestselling author of multiple series of books, including Fear Street, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and most notably Goosebumps and its skin-crawling spinoffs. His work has been adapted into multiple television series (Goosebumps, The Nightmare Room, The Haunting Hour, among others) and a feature-length Goosebumps motion picture starring Jack Black as the horrormeister himself.
The Reader Riot is being hosted by Florence-Lauderdale Public Library and a 
creepy committee of community volunteers, and Stine’s visit is sponsored by the University of North Alabama College of Arts and Sciences. Stine will be speaking in Florence during the book festival, and the Reader Riot committee will work to make April every bit as creepy and crawly as the Halloween season. “With Stine coming to the Reader Riot in the spring, that just means people in the Shoals will get to celebrate Halloween twice in 2017,” said Jennifer Butler Keeton, Programming/Publicity Coordinator at Florence-Lauderdale Public Library.
Stine’s work is truly multigenerational. His career began in the 1970s writing humor, and his first horror novel was published in 1989 as part of his long-running and completely terrifying Fear Street. But in 1992, Stine changed the children’s literature world forever with the publication of Welcome to Dead House, the first book in the Goosebumps series. The series was a massive success, leading Stine to be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2003 for being the best-selling children’s book author of all time.
Since 1992, Goosebumps has been adapted or spun-off into 11 separate book series, with more slated to launch in 2017 and beyond. His Fear Street and The Nightmare Room have also warranted spin-off series. Stine’s career writing children’s and YA horror spans 4 decades, causing kids from multiple generations to keep themselves awake at night because of haunted dummies, giant hamsters, armies of evil lawn gnomes, and ghosts of every flavor imaginable.
Nancy Sanford
Nancy Sanford, Executive Director of Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, said, “One of the biggest reasons we wanted Stine at the Reader Riot is because pretty much everyone has a connection to him. Either you read the books to your children when they were young, you read the books yourself as a child, or your children are reading them right now. R.L. Stine has been a hallmark of children’s literature for nearly four decades. We could not be more excited to host him in the Shoals.”
In celebration of Stine’s appearance at the Reader Riot, Florence-Lauderdale Public Library will be hosting back-to-back screenings of the 2015 Goosebumps movie starring Jack Black, beginning at 10am on Halloween. The screenings are casual, and the public is invited to come and go as they please.
The Reader Riot will take place in Florence, AL on April 28-29, 2017. In addition to R.L Stine headlining the event, several other major authors have joined the festival line-up, including New York Times bestseller Melanie Benjamin, Queen of Katwe author Tim Crothers, young adult author Watt Key, children’s author/illustrator Lori Nichols, science fiction writer Tobias Buckell, and Affrilachian poets Frank X Walker and Randall Horton. More featured guests will be added to the festival, and regular updates can be found at www.readerriot.com.
The Reader Riot, hosted by Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, is the Shoals’ first book festival. Businesses, organizations, and individuals interested in sponsoring the festival can contact Nancy Sanford at Florence-Lauderdale Public Library at 256-764-6564, ext. 33.
