SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: NOTED JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR DAN KENNEDY. He will speak about his self-publishing experience.

A regular panelist on WGBH's "Beat the Press" since 1998, Dan Kennedy is an assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern University and a nationally recognized media critic. Author of the popular blog Media Nation, Dan won the National Press Club's Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism in 2001. When he's not blogging, Dan is a contributing writer for The Guardian, CommonWealth Magazine and the Boston Phoenix. Dan is also the author of "Little People: A Father Reflects on his Daughter's Dwarfism - and What it Means to Be Different." He is currently researching a book on the intersection of journalism, technology, and community participation.

OUR OWN SPECIAL SPEAKERS: Mid-party, we'll have a reading at which six of the 2011 authors will each give us a 5-minute tease of the flavor of their books. We'll hear from Jean Alonso, Helen Marie Casey, Michael Koran, Shelby Allen, Nancy Finn, and Lois Mathieu.

Click here for notes on last year's fabulous Book Party. This one should be even better.

Please bring some party food, since refreshments are potluck. We'll bring juice and soda to go with the food. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES ARE NOT ALLOWED UNDER THE TERMS OF OUR RENTAL CONTRACT. Bring your writer friends, as well.

Authors will be selling their books so bring cash or checks − or, if you're an author, some books. (Some authors may be able to take credit cards.)

In fact, everyone is welcome to use our display tables to put out (and potentially sell) your books, articles, copies of poems, brochures, leaflets and business cards.

We'll be needing volunteers to set up and clean up. Contact your Webmaster to volunteer.