Saturday, February 20, 2010
By PAM JADUE
neighbors@vindy.com
Doug Wilcox, vice president of the Austintown Friends of the Library Lecture welcomed local author and creative writing instructor Christopher Barzak to the latest gathering of the organization on President’s Day morning.
Those members and guests who gathered at the Austintown Library were treated to an intriguing presentation of one of Barzak’s novels, “One for Sorrow,” immersing the listeners in the tale of a 15-year-old boy growing up in a small Trumbull County town with a touch of the supernatural.
Before reading a passage from his novel, Barzak shared bits of his background and elements of the process he went through to become a published novelist.
He included an account of the period of his life when he worked teaching English in Japan which became the setting of his second novel “The Love We Share without Knowing.”
Barzak, who had grown up in Johnstown, north of Cortland, learned to love books and libraries at a very young age. He had his first successful writing experience as he won a short story contest as a child. He has two published novels and a number of short stories that have been warmly received by critics and readers nationally.
He described his first novel, “One for Sorrow,” as a coming-of-age story with a main character that is a bit angry and sad because of his family problems. He encounters the ghost of his former classmate. The main character’s encounter with mortality has a huge impact on how he chooses to live.
When asked about the audience he was hoping to appeal to in his writing Barzak remarked, “I did not have teen-agers in mind, but was trying to write something I wanted to read myself. The book was marketed toward adults about young people.” He explained that unlike many authors, he doesn’t map out the entire story before writing.
“My drive to write is figuring it out as I go. I choose a setting, voice and powerful incident to begin the book. I think my way through it as I write.”
Barzak continues to write while he works as a creative writing professor at Youngstown State University and is currently in the process of finishing his third novel.
He has also established a local literary group, The YSU student Literary Arts Association, “Y-town Reading Series.” The group meets three times a semester for public readings at the Lemon Grove in downtown Youngstown.
The YSU student group’s next scheduled event is Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. with a visit from author Rebecca Barnhouse and her first book “The Book of the Maidservant”.
Next month, the Austintown Friends of the Library will host a presentation with Bill Lawson of the Youngstown Arms Museum. Membership in the group is open to the public with details available at the library.
Photo
Neighbors | Pam Jadue.Doug Wilcox (left) of the Austintown Friends of the Library and local author Christopher Barzak display Barzak’s novel “The Love we Share Without Knowing” after Barzak’s Monday morning lecture presentation to the Austintown Friends of the Library.