'White City' author speaks at Ela library

Ela Area Public Library patrons will have a special treat Saturday with the appearance of Erik Larson, author of the best-selling non-fiction book, "The Devil in the White City."

Roughly 800 patrons read the book last summer as part of the library's first "One Book, One Reading Community" project, which culminates with Larson's book discussion at 2 p.m.

Ela Library, which caters to roughly 32,000 people in Lake Zurich and surrounding towns, has never brought in a nationally-recognized author of Larson's caliber before. Getting him to appear was a coup and came about by chance, said Terri Meyer, library adult program coordinator.

"It is a big deal," Meyer said. "We always sponsor local authors. He would be our first author of that level. It's just the stars are in the right place."

When library staff selected Larson's book to read for the "One Book" project, there was no budget to pay for his visit during the summer. Meyer worked with Larson's publicist to try to lure him in the next time he was in town.

"Since he couldn't make an appearance this summer, we sent some questions from patrons and he answered questions relating to the 'One Book'," Meyer said.

Larson agreed to stop by at the library for free as part of a national book tour promoting his latest non-fiction paperback, "Thunderstruck." Ela Library is one of several stops Larson will make in the Chicago area through Sunday.

"They went out of their way to ask me," Larson said in a telephone interview from Seattle. "I always feel, when people are doing a community read, I try to get to them. It just happened to work out that I was able to do it."

Larson said though he is publicizing his new book, he will focus more on "The Devil in the White City."

"I'm going to talk about how I go about doing what I do and share some stories from the research saga," Larson said. "It's going to be fun. It's going to be light. I think people are going to spend more time laughing."

Early registration for the event began weeks ago. There is now a waiting list of people trying to get in.

"Patrons are very excited because for our first choice, we really did pick the right book for the community," Meyer said. "They were just so enthusiastic, especially with the Chicago connection. It just revived their interest in the Chicago culture and neighborhoods."

Library officials planned for accommodating 200 people Saturday in the community room at 275 Mohawk Trail, Lake Zurich. But chances are, it will overflow.

"We'll have to deal with some of it as it happens," she said. "All the programs, book discussions that we had related to this were all very well attended."

A question-and-answer session will follow the book discussion. Barnes & Noble of Deer Park will be selling Larson's books at Ela Library Saturday. For more information, call (847) 438-3433.

"Everyone realizes that this is a great thing for our community and we were fortunate that they just put us on his tour," Meyer said.