on seeing LOVE at the Philadelphia International Airport for the first time

Today was the day. Long-awaited. More wonderful than imagined. With greatest thanks to Leah Douglas and Ursula Stuby of the Philadelphia International Airport Exhibitions Program for their glorious interpretation of Love: A Philadelphia Affair (Temple University Press), now on exhibit at Terminal D (10). How glorious it was to spend time with these two wonderful women, and to spend time as well with the Airport's delightful CEO, Chellie Cameron—learning about the plans for this airport and the future of travel in my beloved city.

With thanks to my father, for joining us, and to Bill, for taking the photographs you see here. I'll be forever honored by this.

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LOVE at the Philadelphia International Airport, a six-month exhibition now up in Terminal D

For the past many months, Leah Douglas and Ursula Stuby have been working with their incredible team to bring my LOVE: A Philadelphia Affair photographs and thoughts to life at the Philadelphia International Airport.

Today they unveiled the exhibition. It is up. It is real.

An exhibition like this one stills the whirligig thoughts that haunt me. It makes me stop, pause, be grateful for all the wanderings and ponderings that have led me here.

The exhibit is located in Terminal D, accessible by ticketed passengers and presented by the Exhibitions Program at the Philadelphia International Airport. It will be up through the Democratic Convention—its own brand of welcome committee to those who travel to and from our city.

I am, and always will be, grateful.

If you are en route and happening by—like my gorgeous friend Heather, who inspired my character Ada, in Going Over—this wall would love to greet you.

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at the Airport, in the Inky: Philly LOVE

Over the past many weeks, I've traveled through and around Philadelphia, listening as others told their Philadelphia stories. I've thought about the role the city plays as an artistic canvas and about the traces we individually, collectively leave. I write about that in this weekend's Philadelphia Inquirer.

The story can be found here.

In the meantime, I share this: The photos and words of Love: A Philadelphia Affair are being transformed into a stellar exhibition at the Philadelphia International Airport. The exhibition will run from December 21, 2015 through July 2016. It is located in Terminal D, accessible by ticketed passengers, and presented by the Exhibitions Program at the Philadelphia International Airport, under the generous direction of Leah Douglas.

If you are in Terminal D after December 21 and happen by it would be fun to hear from you.

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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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The Philadelphia Literary Legacy Exhibition: happiness-inducing news

Earlier today I was writing to two special friends—Ruta Sepetys and A.S. King—and in both notes, for very different reasons, I was writing about how important it is to me to be seen as a Philadelphia writer. I love this city. I write about it whenever I can—in Philadelphia Inquirer stories, in novels (I'm at work on a Philadelphia/Florence-centric novel as we speak), in books like Flow. I've seen this city struggle, I've seen it emerge, I've walked it in sleet and in sun. I believe in it.

Imagine how amazed and delighted I was, therefore, to receive a note from Leah Douglas, who is the director of exhibitions at the Philadelphia International Airport. Her note read, in part, like this:

For 2013, I am organizing an exhibition that provides a visual overview of Philadelphia's rich literary past and present. Given the theme, I invited librarians from the Free Library of Philadelphia to create a list of 50 Philadelphia-area authors/poets/playwrights (either born in the Philadelphia region or who lived a portion of their lives in the Philadelphia area). And, hopefully you will be pleased to know that your name was included on the list.

Leah tells me that the exhibition will be launched on July 2 and live for a year in Terminal A. The unveiling ceremony will be attended by Mayor Nutter, Airport CEO Mark Gale, and President and Director of the Free Library Siobhan Reardon, among others.

And yes, I'm going to be there.

The photo above was taken last Thursday evening, as I left the Penn campus. I had been working with a student for part of the afternoon and then attending an event with my father, a Penn alum. I was headed to the train, on the phone with my son, who is a city lover, too. "I hope you can see this night; the light is amazing," I was saying. I held the phone and I held my camera and I took this crooked shot.

But look at the light. That's how I feel.

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