91´«Ã½

PHILADELPHIA — Laurie R. King, Jean Kwok, James Rollins and Heather Gudenkauf will be among the featured authors at United for Libraries’ Gala Author Tea, sponsored by ReferenceUSA, at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 30 at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in Las Vegas.

Authors will discuss their writing lives and forthcoming books. A light offering of tea, finger sandwiches and a variety of sweet treats will be served. A book signing (with complimentary ARCs and books) will follow. United for Libraries will recognize the winners of the Baker & Taylor Awards at this event. (For more information, visit ).

(“The Beekeeper’s Apprentice,” Picador/Macmillan) is the Edgar Award–winning author of the Kate Martinelli novels and the acclaimed Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes mysteries, as well as a few stand-alone novels. “The Beekeeper’s Apprentice,” the first in her Mary Russell series, was nominated for an Agatha Award and was named one of the Century’s Best 100 Mysteries by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. She lives in northern California.

(“Mambo in Chinatown,” Riverhead/Penguin) was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Brooklyn as a young girl. She received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and completed an MFA in fiction at Columbia. She worked as an English teacher and Dutch-English translator at Leiden University in the Netherlands and now writes full-time. She has been published in Story Magazine and Prairie Schooner.

(“The 6th Extinction,” William Morrow/HarperCollins) is the New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers, translated into more than 40 languages. His Sigma series has been lauded as one of the “top crowd pleasers” (New York Times) and one of the “hottest summer reads” (People).

(“Little Mercies,” MIRA/Harlequin) is the author of “The Weight of Silence,” which debuted No. 4 on the New York Times bestsellers list and remained on the list for 22 weeks and has been published in 20 countries. Her second novel, “These Things Hidden,” cemented Gudenkauf as a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author and was described in a Publisher’s Weekly starred review as “Scintillating…A tale so chillingly real it could have come from the latest headlines.” Gudenkauf has over two million copies of her books in print. She lives in Iowa with her family.

Advance tickets to the Gala Author Tea, sponsored by ReferenceUSA, cost $55, $49 for United for Libraries division members. Onsite tickets cost $60, if available. Advance purchase is recommended. Event code: UNI2.

For more information on purchasing tickets and other United for Libraries events and meetings at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference, visit . For information about registering for Annual, visit .

United for Libraries: The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, is a division of the 91´«Ã½ that supports those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries. United for Libraries brings together library Trustees, advocates, Friends, and Foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. For more information or to join United for Libraries, visit the or contact Jillian Kalonick at (312) 280-2161 or jkalonick@ala.org.