Home Town Event, July 24-25, 2008

I was looking forward to returning to my hometown of Enon, Ohio and Springfield, where I went to school. In addition to visiting family and friends this past week, I made plans for two books signings, while I was in the area. Much of the work for these events was accomplished through the untiring efforts of Rick Benning at Ambience Events, who not only organized the fantastic event on Friday but also put me in contact with Andrew McGinn, a writer at the Springfield News and Sun who wrote an article about my work "Central alum writes the book on wordless books."

Book Signing and Presentation at Ambience

Rick also put me in contact with Mary Alice, the owner of the Dark Star Bookshop in Yellow Springs, where I arranged a book signing on Thursday. I had the opportunity to meet some old friends and talk with a number of interesting people who stopped in the bookstore to hear more about my book.

Rick Benning, David McDargh, and Rose O'Brien

The main event, though, was held the following night at Ambience Events which was hosted by David McDargh and Rick Benning . Rick had blown up some of the woodcuts from my book and displayed them around the showroom. It was absolutely breathtaking to see these prints enlarged in the expansive room. The event was catered and offered an assortment of scrumptious dishes and appetizers to the numerous people who attended. I gave a twenty minute presentation on wordless books and graphic novels before signing copies of my book and talking with everyone present.

It was so great to see my brother, sisters, nephews and nieces; friends from high school; neighbors and friends from Enon and Springfield; as well as a number of interested people who showed up after reading McGinn's newspaper article. This was a really festive and memorable evening I will never forget!