By Melissa Toribio ’25, staff writer
Writing, publishing and hosting several related events is no easy task. Dr. Holly M. Wendt, assistant professor of English and director of creative writing, continues to plan and attend a series of book tour stops for their novel “Heading North.” Their most recent event took place in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Jan. 25.
Hosted at Riverstone Bookstore, Wendt held a conversation followed by an audience Q&A session, alongside their conversation partner—local author Clare Beams—regarding the novel and its contents, as well as the journey that Wendt embarked on to complete this goal.
Wendt praised Beams and her enthusiasm for their book.
“Looking at her copy of the book was just sort of a marvel like everything was dog-eared and tabbed and underlined,” Wendt said. “My little heart was so warmed by that.”
This is not the first reading that Wendt has done. Currently, they’ve driven over 1,500 miles the past few months to different venues before the Pittsburgh book event.
“Just before Thanksgiving, I was doing a little book tour in Windsor, Ontario,” Wendt said. “On Saturday night I was doing a reading in western Massachusetts. Sunday night, I did a reading at a bookstore in Ithaca, New York.”
Wendt has more readings and conversations planned for their novel’s tour. Some key future locations are Kansas City, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois and Seattle, Washington—where they were invited as a visiting author, similarly to the Writing: A Life events hosted here at LVC.
“I’m going to be a visiting writer at Seattle University, so I will give a reading and visit with two classes there,” Wendt said. “After I leave Seattle, I will go to Kansas City and there I have a panel on being a debut novelist and, like, what have we all learned from this process and what advice can we give.”
Besides these events, Wendt also has two book signings lined up in the future, followed then by their reading in Chicago sometime in May. They look forward to connecting, not only with friends and colleagues who live around these parts, but also with students and future writers.