The USU-Eastern Library and Learning Commons would like to invite the community to attend the Annual Local Author Night on Tuesday, April 10 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. The evening will feature three local authors, Alisa Bates, Shirley Haycock and Didi Oviatt.
“We have our Fifth Annual Local Authors Night coming up, it’s free, totally free and we have three great authors that we are featuring this year,” said Catalog Librarian, Sherill Shaw. “They will each present 20 to 25 minutes, so you’ll get a good feeling for what they have written and what they’ve done. Then afterward they will have their books for sale.” All three authors will be available to sign any of their books that guests purchase.
Shirley Haycock is the more seasoned author out of the group because of all the different life experiences she has had over the years. She will discuss her book entitled, Come Along Mr. Rollo which is about a man who questions what it is to be a man and how he comes to figure it out. The story takes place in the 1900s Oakland Bay area and she explains how she came up with the concept, “I was cutting timber down by the Kaibab Plateau and it just came into my mind and every night I would work on it in my brain. When I finally got back to civilization I put it on a computer.” The book took her about a year to write, but jokingly said it took another eight years to edit. She has five other novels but has yet to have them published. She is currently working on a personal story, Runaway Family about herself and her two sons experience taking a trek from Price, Utah up to Seattle, Washington. A book release date is unknown at this time.
The younger of the three authors is Didi Oviatt who is an Emery Native. She has seven self-published books under her belt that range from age-appropriate juvenile to adults. “I have a lot of different short stories, some that are collaborating with other authors and I also have a few thrillers, I have a few mysteries, I have a young adult dystopian the first of a trilogy,” she said. At the event, she will share two books, Aggravated Momentum, which was her very first thriller, as well as her most recent published mystery entitled Search for Maylee. Individuals may find her books on any e-reader platform like iBooks and Nook Books.
The other author will be featured is Alisa Bates who greets life with a giggle and well-guarded emotions and uses writing to unleash those roller coaster emotions and thoughts. She will discuss her book, Fox in Closet which is a story of one of her ancestors from England during the turn of the century. Guests will get a taste of her humor in her book of poetry entitled, A View from an Empty Nest with Only a Few Ruffled Feathers: Poetic Reflections on the Family. The book connects with readers and helps families transition into the ever-changing stages of life.
After the presentations, guests can enjoy light refreshments, speak with the authors and take a tour of the newly renovated library.