DFT receives seven ariZoni Award nominations for “I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change”
Prestigious ariZoni Theatre Awards of Excellence presented Sept. 29
CAVE CREEK – The nominees for the prestigious ariZoni Theatre Awards of Excellence have been announced and Desert Foothills Theater (DFT), a division of the Foothills Community Foundation, earned seven nominations for its February 2008 production of “I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change,” including Best Overall Production, Non-Contracted Musical. More...
Author and Dad visit CC middle schools
Many fathers might wonder what their Princeton-educated daughter was doing in a middle school cafeteria attired in a satin vampire cape wearing wax fangs, but John Kogler, father of author Jennifer Anne Kogler, has no such question. After all, he’s the one who put her there. Drafted last spring by his daughter to help her promote her new middle grade fantasy novel “The Otherworldlies,” released by HarperCollins earlier this summer, his job quickly expanded to that of school scheduler, driver, personal assistant and general factotum. The tour so far has taken the father/daughter duo to cafeterias, libraries, gyms and auditoriums at 45 middle schools in 33 cities in five states. “I couldn’t do it without him,” says Ms. Kogler, “he takes care of all the details.” Garnering rave reviews for both her appearances and her book from the more than 25,000 students and librarians to whom she’s spoken thus far, Ms. Kogler finds the greatest reward comes from interactions with her target readers. “The kids are great,” she says, “they ask such smart questions and there’s always at least one who says, ‘You’ve really inspired me to want to be a writer.’”
Ms. Kogler appeared this week at Sonoran Trails and Desert Arroyo Middle Schools in Cave Creek.
About The Otherworldlies
“The Otherworldlies,” Jennifer Anne Kogler’s second novel, is a vampire-themed book that tells the story of a middle school girl and her twin brother who try to unravel a centuries old secret, putting them at the mercy of warring vampire sects. “Brimming with action and colorful characters, The Otherworldlies brings you a gutsy heroine who must learn to embrace her ‘Unusual’ talents. You've never seen vampires like this before,” said Laura Ruby, author of The Chaos King. Ms. Kogler’s first novel, Ruby Tuesday began as her Senior Thesis at Princeton.
