Visitors to the Butler Public Library have many options when choosing books. And those options are rising for readers interested in local authors.

At a symposium Saturday, readers can meet 15 of the authors and hear firsthand about their craft.

"They basically will be available to talk to patrons and for book signings," said Lori Campbell, the library's executive director who is coordinating the event.

"But several are also going to speak for 15 minutes either about their books or about writing," she added.

Although many of the books are nonfiction and center on Butler County history, works of fiction also are included.

Agnes Vardy, a retired professor from Robert Morris University and adjunct professor of comparative literature at Duquesne University, will speak on her novels "Mimi" and "My Italian Summer."

Vardy describes "Mimi" as a historical social novel that takes place between 1939 to 1945 in Hungary. Originally written in English, "Mimi" was published by Atlantis Centaur Publishing. It is in its third edition in the United States and second edition in Hungary, having been translated.

Set on the Italian Riviera in the 1980s, "My Italian Summer" explores the problem of dual identity, Vardy said. That book is self-published.

Vardy's husband Steven, a professor of history at Duquesne who has written two dozen books and several hundred articles, will speak on his historical reference "Stalin's Gulag: The Hungarian Experience." The couple also will discuss their jointly authored book "Ethnic Cleansing in 20th Century Europe," published by Columbia University Press.

Michael Dittman, a writing instructor at Butler County Community College, also will attend.

As well as teaching at BC3, Dittman makes his living as a writer. Although he has published poetry in small magazines and does ongoing freelance journalism, Dittman also has written several books and plays.

His first book, "Jack Kerouac, A Biography" was published in 2004 by Greenwood Press, which also contracted Dittman to write the historical reference book "The Beat Generation."

Dittman also wrote the Pittsburgh-based thriller "Small Brutal Incidents," which its publisher Contemporary Press entered recently in the National Edgar Awards Competition.

Dittman's first play, "Forfeit," was performed in 1998 at Slippery Rock University. He recently received a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to write the play "Whose Hair Am I Wearing?"

Although Dittman has sold or been hired to write most of the work he has written, the symposium will feature some authors who have paid to initially publish their work. According to Dittman, that avenue has led to increasing success for new authors, especially in the presence of online bookstores.

"The paradigm between publishing and self-publishing has really changed over the past few years," he said.

"In the old days it was strictly a vanity sort of thing, where you paid sometimes $10,000 (to print your book)."

Dittman said self-published authors can now print books on demand when ordered through online venues, reducing the cost of presenting their work to readers.

"There's no risk at all and the stigma is disappearing, too," he said.

"A lot of really good things are being done self-published."

While at the symposium, Dittman will do a reading from "Small Brutal Incidents."

He will be available for book signing and questions along with Agnes and Steven Vardy as well as these Pennsylvania authors:

n Sheila Brown, "Cemetery Survey of Cranberry Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania"

n Shelley Brown, "Talk Less, Teach More!"

n Wayne Cole, "Ghost Rails IV, Industrial Shortlines"

n Violet Covert, "Reflections From a Grass Widow"

n Luanne R. Eisler, "A Historical Gazetteer of Butler County"

n F. Gordon Foster, "The Seasons of the Swans"

n John Griffiths, "The Man at the End of the Bench"

n Ray D. Hoffman, "The Standard Plate Glass Company"

n Marilyn McCall, "From Boom to Bust: The Making of The Smallest City in the U.S.A., Parker, Pennsylvania"

n Arthur Richards Jr., "Tale Waggings: Reflections of a Rural Veterinarian"

n Richard William Weisberger, "Profiles of Revolutionaries in Atlantic History, 1700 to 1850"

n Edward Flick, "Sex Offense."

<b>WHAT: </b>Symposium of Pennsylvania authors<b>WHEN: </b>10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 22<b>WHERE: </b>Butler Public Library, 218 N. McKean St.<b>INFO: </b>Call 724-287-1715 or go to at www.butlerlibrary.info.