BOOK NEWS: Doctorow, Ryan to speak at book festival

   Author E.L. Doctorow,above, and Kay Ryan, poet laureate of the United States, at right, will be the keynote speakers during the eighth annual Vegas Valley Book Festival Nov. 4-8.
   Ryan will make her first Nevada appearance when she gives the opening address for the festival at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Historic Fifth Street School, 401 S. Fourth St. She was appointed the country’s 16th poet laureate in 2008.
   Doctorow, author of “Ragtime” and “Billy Bathgate” among many others, will close the festival at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road.
   The speaker visits are sponsored by the Black Mountain Institute, the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District Foundation and the city of Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review-Journal also is among the presenters of the book festival.
   Included among festival activities will be readings, panel discussions, poetry and spoken word performances, workshops, book signings, children’s literature and other events.
   For additional details, call 229-5431 or visit www.artslasvegas.org/vvbf/