A Big Stone Gap native with an ear for Italian-American stories, a behavioral economics expert who’s an Israeli military veteran and an author who has penned both thrillers and comic books will be featured speakers at the next Virginia Festival of the Book.

To date, the real world applications of nanotechnology have been somewhat limited in scope: stronger sunscreens, better cosmetics and stain-resistant fabric.
Yet in the coming years the great promise of this groundbreaking $4 billion industry will begin to pay major dividends and dramatically redefine the fields of electronics, medicine and energy production, scientists say. These impending advancements will not just improve the quality of life, but help researchers unravel the mysteries of how intricate atomic properties act and interact, Rosalyn Berne, a University of Virginia professor, told an audience Sunday during a nanotechnology “open house” and as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book.

The City of Angels’ unholy underbelly has provided Walter Mosley with twisting plots and a wealth of fascinating and often shadowy characters.
  But the declarative sentence that started the best-selling author on his literary career had nothing to do with his hometown.
“A lot of people will tell you they knew they wanted to be a writer from the time they were 10 or 12 years old,” Mosley said during a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. “For me, I was in my 30s before it ever became clear that that was something I would want to do.

The Virginia Festival of the Book kicks off today with events featuring veteran TV newsman Roger Mudd, photographs of Earth from outer space, Irish-American gangsters and poetry by 258 feminists.