The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has become the largest and most prestigious book festival in the country, attracting more than 130,000 book lovers each year.

Nick Owcharo is deputy editor of the Los Angeles Times Books section. He writes the column, the Siren's Call, on lore and superstition at www.latimes.com/books.

Selden Edwards began writing "The Little Book" as a young English teacher in 1974 and continued to layer and refine the manuscript until its completion in 2007. It is his first novel. Edwards lives in Santa Barbara.

Leslie Klinger is the editor of a three-volume collection of short stories and novels titled "The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes," which was the 2005 winner of the Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work.

Michael Sims has written about science and culture for newspapers, radio and magazines. He is the author of several books, including "Adam's Navel," "Apollo's Fire" and most recently "The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime."