Military Wife to Tell How E-mails Became a Book

Late Addition to Amelia Book Island Festival Offers Insight to Life of Military Family

     AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. (PRWEB) September 17, 2003 - Alesia Holliday, author of E-mail to the Front, will join the lineup of featured authors in the 2003 Amelia Book Island Festival next month. Holliday will speak on a panel called Turning Your Journal into a Book." The panel will be at 10 a.m. during the Oct. 4 Festival events held at St. Peters Episcopal Church, 801 Atlantic Ave.

     In E-mail to the Front, Holliday humorously recounts her life while her husband, Judd, a naval flight officer, was on deployment in the Middle East. The narrative is told through e-mail dialogue between Holliday and her husband while he was away during his deployment. The book covers many emotions and experiences of a family with a husband who is absent while on military duty, as suggested by the chapter titles, such as Rebellion of the Appliances" and Its Like Being a Single Mother, But I Cant Date."

     The timely subject matter and unique structure of the book add to the diversity of the collection of works appearing at Amelia Book Island Festival. The book addresses contemporary themes that many experience today: the anxiety of a family member serving overseas as well as the prevalence and importance of e-mail correspondence. E-mail to the Front may be one of the first books to examine, through e-mail communications, deployment from the family perspective.

     Turning Your Journal into a Book" includes commentary from two other panelists who have authored memoirs, each tackling very different subjects. MacKenzie Cross is the author of a historical memoir, Marias Journal, while Carla Mancaris Walking on the Grass is an introspective memoir based on her experiences as the lone white student enrolled in a historically black college. The distinct panelists will be able to offer unique perspectives on narrating stories through journals and correspondence.

     The Hollidays reside in Jacksonville, where Judd is stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.

     The third annual Amelia Book Island Festival, a not-for-profit organization, dedicated to literacy, love of the written word, and the community of writers and readers, is on Oct. 2 - 5. It features more than 35 authors of novels, mysteries, histories, westerns, suspense thrillers, poetry and books for young readers. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the authors and participate in workshops with authors, agents, editors, publishers and publicists. The festival features several events including Rock-N-Roll Readings, 25 author-led workshops and discussions, Lunch-with-Authors, Dine-with-Authors and Authors-in-Schools of Nassau County. The $15 festival ticket provides admission to all workshops and readings on Saturday, October 4. The Lunch-with-Authors event is also $15. Luncheon seating is limited. Tickets are available now at BooksPlus, First Coast Community Bank, the Amelia Island-Fernandina Beach-Yulee Chamber of Commerce offices and by mail. For more information, visit www.bookisland.org or call the Book Island Festival at (904) 491-8176.

# # #