Ohio authors

02 12, 2020

Jill Grunenwald talks ‘Reading Behind Bars’ & recommending ‘Gatsby’ to inmates

By admin|2020-02-12T06:00:53-05:00February 12, 2020|

Jill Grunenwald visited us last month to discuss her new memoir, Reading Behind Bars, about her experience as a librarian in a men’s minimum-state prison.

She shared with us what she learned while working there, how she tried to help the inmates in her role as librarian, and how it affected her values. She also all tells what she thinks many people get wrong about incarcerated people.

Grunenwald’s book shares her poignancy and wit. If you enjoyed Orange Is the New Black or Shakespeare Saved My Life, then you should read it. (We even know this cool place where you can borrow it.)

11 25, 2019

Jeffrey Stroup is your tour guide through ‘Abandoned Cleveland’

By admin|2019-11-25T06:00:00-05:00November 25, 2019|

Photographer and urban explorer Jeffrey Stroup has spent the last 15 years capturing pictures of Cleveland’s abandoned factories, mansions, malls, churches, and more. He’s collected his best images in his new book, Abandoned Cleveland.

Stroup visited us earlier this month to share his photos and anecdotes from more than a decade of combing the forgotten parts of our region.

Afterward, we interviewed him and he offered advice for aspiring urban explorers and the single scariest thing that ever happened to him while investigating an abandoned building.

By the way, you can visit our YouTube channel for dozens of more interviews with authors, including bestsellers like Christina Baker Cline, Paula McLain, Karin Slaughter, and Bernie Kosar.

11 11, 2019

Brad Ricca talks crime, comics & Cleveland

By admin|2019-11-11T06:00:30-05:00November 11, 2019|

Author Brad Ricca visited us earlier this October as part of our Mentor Mystery Month. He shared with us to the incredible story of Mrs. Grace Humiston, the detective and lawyer who turned her back on New York society life to become one of the nation’s greatest crime fighters.

Humiston was the subject of Ricca’s book, “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes : the true story of New York’s City’s greatest female detective and the 1917 missing girl case that captivated a nation.”

After his talk, we interviewed Ricca and he:

discussed his conflicted relationship with the true-crime genre
offered his theory for why so much comics talent comes from Cleveland
told us his favorite X-Man characters
and shared how comics legend Harvey Pekar changed his life.

Visit our YouTube channel for more author interviews.

11 6, 2019

Author Jane Ann Turzillo talks true crime, ‘Wicked Women’ & westerns

By admin|2019-11-06T06:00:06-05:00November 6, 2019|

Jane Ann Turzillo visited our library in October as part of our Mentor Mystery Month.

After her program, we chatted with Turzillo about how she researches historic crimes, what motivates her “wicked women,” and her love of photography and westerns.

Turzillo has written several books about Ohio’s criminal past, including Wicked Women of Northeast Ohio, Murder and Mayhem on Ohio’s Rails, and Unsolved Murders & Disappearances in Northeast Ohio. You can borrow these and more of her books from our library.

By the way, you can see interviews with more of our Mystery month authors, including James Badal, D.M. Pulley, Vivien Chien, and Brad Ricca on our YouTube channel.

10 13, 2019

Meet mystery author Vivien Chien at Mentor Library

By admin|2019-10-13T06:00:21-04:00October 13, 2019|

We were delighted to host Vivien Chien, author of the Noodle Shop mystery series, earlier this month. After her author talk, she sat down for an interview that was as fun and funny as she.

She explained why she enjoys writing mysteries, what a Noodle Shop Mysteries video game would look like, and tells us her favorite places to eat in AsiaTown in Cleveland.

Chien’s visit kicked off a Month of Mystery at Mentor Public Library. Throughout October, some of the best mystery and true-crime authors will be visiting us, including:

Brad Ricca, author of Mrs. Sherlock Holmes, the phenomenal true story of Grace Humiston, the first woman U.S. District Attorney, at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17.
Jane Ann Turzillo, who will take us on a tour of the murderers, tricksters, train robbers, and more in Ohio’s wicked past at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22.

All of these author visits are open to all, free to attend, and require registration. Additionally, they’re all hosted at our Main Branch.

During our Mystery Month, you can also:

Explore the secrets of the Lizzie Borden murders, the sinking of the Titanic and more with professional magician Jim Kleefeld on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at our Main Branch.

We also have mystery programs for all ages and at all of our branches, so visit our event calendar to see which intrigue you.

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