Heights Libraries to showcase local authors this fall

Among the first things you will notice when looking around the Coventry Village Library are the expressive posters promoting local authors. Over the past three years, Pat Gray, Coventry branch manager, has been cultivating the Cedar-Coventry Author Series, along with partners Jane Kessler of Appletree Books and Suzanne DeGaetano of Mac’s Backs. The series serves as a platform for both new and established authors to showcase their current works and broaden their fan base.

“We look for someone who just came out with a new book, who would be of interest, who lives locally or writes about the area,” said Gray.

This year’s series kicked off with Northeast Ohio resident Mary Doria Russell on Sept. 7. Russell’s talk attracted a standing-room-only crowd in the library. “We ran out of books and had to create a waiting list!” said Gray. The series will continue with first-time novelist and CSU English professor Emily Mitchell on Oct. 5, discussing The Last Summer of the World, her fictionalized biography of photographer Edward Steichen.

Wrapping up the fall schedule on Nov. 2 is Catherine Gildiner, who will discuss her funny, poignant memoirs, Too Close to the Falls and After the Falls. Gildiner attended Ohio University and briefly lived in Cleveland Heights when she was a young woman.

In addition to the Cedar-Coventry Author Series, Heights Libraries will host three other local author events in October. At each, books will be available for purchase, and signing by the author.

On Oct. 5, "tween" and children’s author Tricia Springstubb, a Cleveland Heights resident, will appear at the Lee Road Library, to talk about her new middle grade novel, Mo Wren, Lost and Found, the sequel to What Happened on Fox Street.

On Oct. 6, at the University Heights Library, local reiki master and teacher Alice Langholt will discuss her new book Practical Reiki. Langholt will also demonstrate reiki.

Back at the Coventry Village Library, on Oct. 20, Paul J. Bauer and Mark Dawidziak will introduce attendees to the subject of their new biography, Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler. Dawidziak is the television critic at the Plain Dealer, and Bauer is a rare book dealer in Kent, Ohio.

“We have a great lineup,” said Gray, “and, best of all, all these events are free.”

All events begin at 7 p.m. and registration is required. Go to www.heightslibrary.org to register.

Sheryl Banks

Sheryl Banks is the marketing and community relations manager for the Heights Libraries.

Read More on Library
Volume 4, Issue 10, Posted 2:45 PM, 10.07.2011