Authors David W. Reed and Lin Nelson Benedek, both residents of the Pasadena area, will present their latest works on Monday, Aug. 30, during Vroman’s Bookstore’s Local Author Day, a virtual event on Crowdcast starting at 6 p.m.
Reed will present his book, “Uphill and Into the Wind,” a memoir in which he describes in detail an odyssey that spans 5,420 miles on bicycles which he and two friends took in 1973, at a time when the nation was being torn apart by the Vietnam War, the massacre of unarmed students at Kent State, and Watergate.
At 23, Reed has become embittered by political strife and corruption. Disenchanted with his future, he wants out. Along with Rusty and Susie, he leaves everything he knows to cross the United States with little more than his bicycle and camera.
The book chronicles the sudden and surprising glories of nature, the raw beauty of the land, and the majesty of the mountains. The trio gets more than they bargain for, with menacing animals, extreme weather, and astonishing encounters. But the bicycle trip is just the start. Through it all, the three are changed forever, in ways they did not expect, by their long journey into the unknown.
Benedek will present “Singing Lessons,” her latest collection of poems in which she writes with a “meticulous eye for detail, and what a testament to her powers of recall and observation that she’s able to weave an opulent tapestry of examined gesture, dialogue, and mise en scene with brief philosophical turns that ground her handiwork in a richly, dark terrain,” writes Michelle Bitting, author of “Broken Kingdom,” which won the 2018 Catamaran Poetry Prize.
The book, Bitting continues, is “sumptuous repast for ear and imagination as Benedek pulls us in close to her contemplated world of things and sings us through.”
Benedek will read portions of her book during the presentation.
To watch the free presentation on Local Author Day, visit https://www.crowdcast.io/e/
For more, visit www.vromansbookstore.com.
