VIRGINIA

Chef specializing in Italian regional cuisine and author of Italian cookbooks/travel books, Bill Abruzzo speaks on regional Italian cuisine, food products, culinary traditions, travel tips, and itineraries. His two cookbooks are entitled In the Footsteps of Nonna: Recipes and Ramblings in Southern Italy and Sicily and Culinary Crossroads of Italy: Recipes and Ramblings in Northern Italy, Istria and Calmatia (both published by Pelican Publishing Co.). Book signings and cooking demonstrations/lessons.  
Contact:  (540) 359-0286 | Abruzzo.b@gmail.com | www.recipesandramblings.com

Will also travel to:  Anywhere in the U.S.

Richard Benedetto, Retired USA Today White House correspondent & columnist, currently teaching journalism at American University in Washington, D.C. Author of “Politicians Are People, Too.”  Speaks on the 2016 presidential election, President Trump’s relationship with the news media and offers intimate insights on past presidents and elections from Reagan to Trump. Also talks about how his Italian American heritage has guided his long career.  Travel expenses, but no honorarium.
Contact:  (571) 251-2067 | benedett@american.edu

Will also travel to:  Anywhere in the U.S.

Historian Marvin Carlin, VP of Citizens for the Preservation of Obici House, speaks on the remarkable story of Amedeo Obici, the penniless Italian immigrant who eventually founded Planters Peanuts. Colin and his group want to preserve Obici’s home in Suffolk, VA.
Contact:  (757) 218-8672 | Email: marvman71@yahoo.com

Will also travel to:  Mid-Atlantic

Author and travel planner Linda Dini Jenkins speaks on travel to Abruzzo. Through her company, Travel Italy the Write Way, she creates twice-yearly trips to Italy that include a stay in her adopted hometown of Sulmona. She also offers readings and signings of her book, Up at the Villa: Travels with my Husband and is currently working on a second book, called Becoming Italian: Chapter and Verse from an Italian-American Girl.
Contact:  (804) 467-4778 | ldjenkins@aol.com | www.travelitalythewriteway.com

Will also travel to:  New England; New York

Poet and Author Mike Maggio speaks about poetry and fiction as well as new publications. He is the Northern Regional Vice-President of the Poetry Society of Virginia. He recently released a collection of short stories entitled Letters from the Inside: The Best of Mike Maggio and has also authored other books of fiction and poetry. Book signing. 
Contact:  (703) 930-5214 | mikemaggio@mikemaggio.net | www.mikemaggio.net