Saturday, July 11, 2015


LeBron James isn’t the only one giving back to the community with his skills and his celebrityhood.

Former BJ reporters David Giffels and Thrity Umrigar, authors of a ton of books, will headline the keynote reading at the Cleveland INKubator sessions Saturday, Aug. 1 at the Cleveland Public Library, 325 Super Avenue.
It’s a free writers workshop for those 14 to 18 years old. David and Thrity, who were at the International Book Fair at Miami's Dade College at the same time, too, hope to encourage a new generation of writers.
Registration will begin at 11 a.m. The welcome and kickoff starts at noon.

Workshops and craft talks run from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Resource fair for writers with independent booksellers will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

David and Thrity will do their readings from 5 to 6 p.m.

Dinner will be followed by a youth reading performance in the Eastman Reading Garden and an open mic.

Thrity has been teaching creative writing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland since 2002. Her 6th novel and 7th book is “The Story Hour.”

Her previous novels are “Bombay Time” (2002), “The Space Between Us” (2007), “If Today be Sweet” (2008), “The Weight of Heaven” (2010) and “The World We Found” (2012). Her memoir is “First Darling of the Morning”  (2008).

Thrity left India at the age of 21 to attend Ohio State University. She began her reporting career with the Lorain Journal. Two years later, in 1987, she came to the BJ.

Giffels, who authored “The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches From the Rust Belt” and “All the Way Home,” is an assistant professor of English at the University of Akron.

David’s sideline is handling guitar and vocals for the local May Company rock band with Dave “Doc” Rich, Pat McNulty and “Friday” Mike Wilkinson.

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