A Delightful Author Event

This was supposed to be a tiny mention as a part of this Saturday’s newsletter, but I just have TOO MUCH TO SAY about it!

I had the absolute pleasure of getting to see the author J. Ryan Stradal speak in Viroqua, WI last Saturday as a part of the Ridges and Rivers Book Festival and it was such an utter delight. I have already read all 3 of his books and have been raving for years about how he perfectly depicts the Upper Midwest ~ and how amazed I am at how well he manages to write female characters given his, well, not female-ness. I actually asked about this at the event and he said he works so hard to write them in a way his mom would be proud of, which I absolutely loved! He spoke a lot about his mother and his grief over her passing and also mentioned how important other female relatives and friends of his mother were in his books.

Despite having read all of his books already, I still purchased copies at the event so he could sign them and I could add them to my forever collection. I’ll be doing rereads for sure!