temporarily closed for business, but then: Alumni Authors at Penn

I leave in an hour for five days away with my father—a trip we've been looking forward to for quite some time. I thought that maybe I'd try to write while gone. I won't. I'll be riding my bike through the pine paths of Hilton Head Island instead. Walking the beach. Reading a book or two.

I need not to work for awhile.

I will return in time for the Alumni Authors Panel for Homecoming Weekend—with Lorene Carey, Jordan Sonnenblick, Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve, and Liz Van Doren—at the University of Pennsylvania. I hope to see some of you, perhaps some of my former students, there.

Happiness and peace to you in the meantime. I'm signing off of the blog for a spell.

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Philadelphia's Literary Legacy Unveiling, at the Philadelphia International Airport (A wing)

We dodged the rain and made our way to the Philadelphia International Airport for the Literary Legacy unveiling. So many thoughts, but, really, the pictures tell the tale. Great thanks to Leah Douglas (exhibit curator), Siobhan Reardon and Andy Kahan of the Philadelphia Free Library, Mark Gale, CEO of Philadelphia International Airport, and Dr. Adrienne Jacoby of Philadelphia Reads for making this such a memorable day.

Most important fact: Some 3,000 books were donated through this event on behalf of Philadelphia school children.

The exhibit, which Leah designed, is beautiful and will hang for a year in the A terminal of the airport. We have a mayor who loves books and kids—and supports both. And I am honored to be among those who love stories as I do, as well as my very first teacher, Rosellen Brown.

Among those photographed here: Mayor Michael Nutter, Siobhan Reardon, Andy Kahan, Karen E. Quinones Miller, Lorene Carey, Sonia Sanchez, Diane McKinney-Whetstone, Solomon Jones, Teri Woods, Judy Schachner, Charles Fuller, and Michael Swanwick. Rosellen Brown is featured behind the Mayor. I was amazed to find The Heart is Not a Size, Nothing But Ghosts, and You Are My Only as featured book spines, and am proud that Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River, Handling the Truth, and Small Damages are featured in the author panel.

Newly added: The Philadelphia Inquirer coverage of the event can be found here.

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