Start your day with four outstanding authors who can thrill, mystify, engage and entertain you. Get to know these authors better by listening to them speak about themselves and their newly published books in the comfortable TimesCenter. Books will be sold on-site and book signing will take place immediately following the program.

Rita Mae Brown is the author of “Murder Unleashed” (Ballantine, 2011). She is the best- selling author of (among others) “Hounded to Death,” “The Tell-Tale Horse,” “The Hounds and the Fury,” “The Hunt Ball,” “Outfoxed,” “Alma Mater,” “Six of One” and “Rubyfruit Jungle” and the memoirs “Animal Magnetism” and “Rita Will.” With her tiger cat Sneaky Pie, she collaborates on The New York Times best-selling Mrs. Murphy mystery series, including “Hiss of Death” and “Cat of the Century.” She is also an Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet.

PHOTO BY MARY MOTLEY KALERGIS

Lee Child is the author of “The Affair” (Delacorte, 2011). He is the author of 15 Jack Reacher thrillers, including the No. 1 New York Times best-sellers “Worth Dying For,” “61 Hours,” “Gone Tomorrow,” “Nothing to Lose” and “Bad Luck and Trouble.” His debut, “Killing Floor,” won both the Anthony and the Barry awards for Best First Mystery, and “The Enemy” won both the Barry and the Nero awards for Best Novel. Foreign rights in the Jack Reacher series have sold in more than 50 territories. All titles have been optioned for major motion pictures. Child, a native of England and a former television director, lives in New York City. Delacorte will publish his next thriller in 2012.

PHOTO BY SIGRID ESTRADA

Sapphire is the author of “The Kid” (Penguin Press, 2011) and of two collections of poetry and the best-selling novel “Push.” The film adaption of her novel “Precious” (2009) received the Academy Award for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress, in addition to the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Awards in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance. In 2009 she was a recipient of a United States Artist Fellowship. She lives in New York City.

PHOTO © COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

Philippa Gregory is the author of “The Lady of the Rivers” and “The Women of the Cousins War” (Touchstone, 2011). She studied history at the University of Sussex and received a Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh. She is a recognized authority on women's history; the author of several best-selling novels, including “The Other Boleyn Girl”; and a regular contributor to TV, radio and international newspapers. She welcomes visitors to her Web site, www.philippagregory.com.

PHOTO BY JOHNNY RING

Robert Lipsyte is the author of a memoir, “An Accidental Sportswriter” (Ecco, 2011). He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist at The Times and an Emmy-winning host of the PBS nightly public affairs show “The Eleventh Hour.” The author of 12 acclaimed novels for teenagers, he received the American Library Association’s Margaret E. Edwards Award for lifetime contribution to Young Adult literature. He lives in Manhattan and Shelter Island, N.Y., with his wife Lois B. Morris, and his dog Milo.

PHOTO BY SANDY GEIS