By Linda Nguyen
Staff Writer
People don’t have to hunt for autographs Saturday.
A book signing featuring local authors, Baylor alumni and current Baylor students will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Baylor Bookstore. Fourteen authors will be present.
“This is going to be one of the biggest author signing events that we’ve done,” Matt Ricks, marketing director for the Baylor Bookstore, said. “A lot of it is to show support for the alumni.”
Rick Busby, the manager of Baylor Bookstore, said this year’s book signing is bigger than past events because more authors have contacted him about participating.
“More opportunities have presented themselves this year as far as authors go,” Busby said. “That’s the biggest reason. We rely on authors themselves to get in contact with us.”
Ricks said the bookstore has done many signings in the past and tries to accommodate authors interested in doing a book signing.
“For the most part, most contact us,” Busby said. “Others have heard through the grapevine that if they have written a book, the bookstore is usually pretty accommodating.”
Some of the authors that will be at the signing include Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey, Dr. Jimmy Dorrell, the founder of Mission Waco, and 2010 Baylor alumnus Salvator La Mastra.
Mulkey will be signing her book titled “Won’t Back Down: Teams, Dreams and Family” and her newest book “Invincible: 2012 Baylor Lady Bears NCAA Champions.”
“‘Won’t Back Down’ is a book I was approached to do right after the 2005 championship,” Mulkey said. “Peter May, a retired sports writer for the Boston Globe, wrote it with me. It talks about a lot of things – mainly family, basketball and the championship year and my life story.”
Dorrell, who is the pastor of Church Under the Bridge, will sign three books, including “Dead Church Walking: Giving Life to the Church That is Dying to Survive.”
Dorrell said the topic of this book is close to him.
“Church renewal is close to my heart,” Dorrell said. “Ever since the 60’s, there’s been this tension between institutionalism and the organic, live church that is on a mission. What happens in a lot of churches is they become introverted and complacent and lose their sense of intentionality to change the world they exist in.”
Dorrell said his book is a gentle challenge to help local churches struggling to survive continue reshaping their sense of call and purpose in the world.
“Every week in the Western culture, 53,000 churches close up and older, established traditional churches are struggling to adjust to a generation that doesn’t buy into denominalization and historical patterns of church,” Dorrell said. “The book helps leaders of those churches to revisit the most important questions of who they are and what they should be about and how to interface with the changing culture.”
La Mastra’s book is intended to inform young voters about political issues before the elections.
“The title is called ‘2012 for Twentysomethings: A Young Voter’s Guide to the 2012 Elections,’” La Mastra said. “It’s a non-biased, non-partisan book so that young voters can be informed about politics without worrying about biases.”
La Mastra said Baylor’s PSC 2302 American Constitutional Development course roused his interest in politics.
“I was a biology major at Baylor,” La Mastra said. “My senior year, I took that poli-sci class that we’re required to take. It was during the 2010 midterm elections. It sparked my interests and that’s how I got started in politics.”
David Capes and Greg Garrett, who translated The Voice New Testament, will also be present at the signing. The bookstore will also be giving away 300 copies of The Voice New Testaments and 300 The Voice shirts.
Busby said areas of the bookstore will be rearranged to accommodate the author signings, which will take place near the textbook section.
“They’re going to push back a lot of the supplies and textbooks,” Busby said. “We’re going to consolidate the shelves and furniture and set up eight to ten tables and almost everyone will be in this area. Coach Mulkey will probably be close to the tent in the middle of the bookstore because obviously she’s going to have a huge line.”
Ricks said all of the authors’ books will be available for sale.
