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Barnstorming Ohio: To Understand America w/ David Giffels
in Discussion w/ Bob Ethington
Thursday, July 08
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Bexley Public Library
BPL Virtual ProgramsJoin David Giffels as he discusses his latest book, Barnstorming, based on a year traveling our state. Giffels' interviews with Ohioans offer a reflection of our many national questions and concerns.
Join author David Giffels as he discusses his latest book, Barnstorming Ohio: To Understand America with Robert Ethington, retired Manager of Culture & AV at Akron Summit County Main Library. Based on a year traveling throughout our state, Giffels interviewed a wide variety of Ohioans and visited people and places that offer valuable reflections of the national questions and concerns. Ohio is famous as a "bellwether" state, and its citizens' hopes, fears, challenges, and divisions reflect those of the nation as a whole as we face economic instability, the opioid epidemic, racial tensions, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
This program is brought to you in partnership with Gramercy Books.
David Giffels - called the "The Bard of Akron" by the New York Times - has written six books of nonfiction, including the critically acclaimed memoir, Furnishing Eternity: A Father, a Son, a Coffin, and a Measure of Life, published by Scribner in 2018. His previous books include The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches From the Rust Belt (Scribner 2014), a New York Times Book Review “Editors’ Choice” and nominee for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, and the memoir All the Way Home (William Morrow/HarperCollins 2008), winner of the Ohioana Book Award.
A former Akron Beacon Journal columnist, his writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic.com, Parade, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire.com, Grantland.com, The Iowa Review, and many other publications. He also wrote for the MTV series Beavis and Butt-Head. His awards include the Cleveland Arts Prize for literature, the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, and a General Excellence award from National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He was selected as the Cuyahoga County Public Library Writer in Residence for 2018-2019. Giffels is a professor of English at the University of Akron, where he teaches creative nonfiction in the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts Program.
Bexley Public Library
Bexley Public Library was founded in 1924 and first housed in Bexley High School, now Montrose Elementary School. The present building opened in 1929 and was designed by architects O.C. Miller and R.R. Reeves who drew upon French and Italian architecture from the 17th century for the design.
The library is located at 2411 East Main Street, at the intersection of East Main Street and Cassady Avenue. Parking is available in our parking lot on Euclaire Avenue and in front of the library on Main Street. Main Street is a No Parking Tow Zone from 4:00-6:00 p.m. weekdays.