The eighth annual West Virginia Book Festival will be held October 11 and 12 at the Charleston Civic Center.

Festival planners announce that dozens of authors will attend the festival to present programs or readings.

Among them are bestselling authors Richard Paul Evans and Julia Spencer-Fleming, children’s book illustrator Chris Soentpiet and Marvel comic book illustrator Bob McLeod.

When Richard Paul Evans wrote the #1 best-seller, The Christmas Box, he never intended on becoming an internationally known author.

His quiet story of parental love and the true meaning of Christmas made history when it became simultaneously the #1 hardcover and paperback book in the nation. Since then, more than eight million copies of The Christmas Box have been printed, and Evans has written 12 consecutive New York Times bestsellers.

His latest title is Grace. Four of Evans’ books have been produced into major television productions starring such acclaimed actors as Maureen O’Hara, James Earl Jones, Richard Thomas, Ellen Burstyn, Naomi Watts, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lloyd and Rob Lowe. Evans lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Keri, and their five children.

Julia Spencer-Fleming studied acting and history at Ithaca College and received her J.D. at the University of Maine School of Law.

Her debut novel, In the Bleak Midwinter,. Won St. Martin’s Best First Traditional Mystery Award in 2001, thereby launching her Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series.

The latest title in the series is I Shall Not Want. Originally from upstate New York, she now lives in a 180-year-old farmhouse in Buxton, Maine, with her husband and three children.

Award-winning illustrator, Chirs Soentpiet (SOON-peet) is the recipient of the Parents’ Magazine Best Book of the Year for Something Beautiful, and the recipient of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for his illustrations in My Brother Martin.

Soentpiet’s latest title is Brothers. A Korean-born adoptee, Soentpiet’s multicultural background and experiences are reflected in his choice of distinct cultural and historical settings for his books.

Bob McLeod is best known for co-creating and illustrating The New Mutants for Marvel Comics.

McLeod began his career in 1974 working on Marvel Comics’ now-defunct Crazy magazine, penciling and inking movie and TV satires and the Teen Hulk humor strip.

McLeod then quickly became a top inker on such titles as The Black Panther, Conan the Barbarian and The Incredible Hulk for Marvel, and The Legion of Superheroes, The New Titans, and Batman, in Detective Comics, and Wonder Woman for DC, along with countless covers for both companies.

He also penciled several issues of Marvel’s Star Wars, and did pencils and inks on Spider-Man, Venom, and Superman in Action Comics, and The Phantom.

In 2006, Bob wrote and illustrated a children’s book, Superhero ABC, published by Harper Collins, which received two starred reviews. He is currently the editor of Tomorrow’s Rough Stuff magazine.

Additional authors and poets include Jennifer Bradbury, Terry Lively, J. Davitt McAteer, Irene McKinney, Ann Pancake, Barbara Pleasant, Anna Egan Smucker, Patricia Spangler, Cheryl Ware and several others. Check the festival web site at www.wvbookfestival.org for additional information.