Imagine Your Story- RiverCon Interview with Clare Kolat

NicoleLeave a comment
Image courtesy of Clare Kolat.

Welcome back to our RiverCon interview series! RiverCon, our first annual mini-con at the library, was moved to at home activities to keep everyone safe this summer. We have also adapted our summer reading inspired RiverCon panel discussion to blog format so you can enjoy “meeting” amazing local comic artists and authors from home!

This week we hear from Clare Kolat, a talented Cleveland native who is a spectacular comic creator, artist, and designer. Clare’s comics have been featured in Vagabond Comics, The Ohio City Tremont Observer, and Cleveland Scene Magazine. You can learn more about Clare and her work by visiting her website- just click here!

What inspired you to pursue a career in comics?

Clare: Making my own stories and art always came naturally to me. I’ve found mountains of books and comics I made as a kid in my parents’ attic. Somewhere along the way, I realized that it was something I could keep doing as an adult, so I never stopped! 

Was there a favorite comic book you read in your youth?

Clare: While growing up in Mentor, my parents always got the News Herald, and for a time, they would include reprinted copies of old Spider-Man comics on Sundays. I would always grab the newspaper and shake out my comic to read first thing in the morning! I was also really into manga because of Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon.

Image courtesy of Clare Kolat.

Why do you think storytelling, specifically in the comic or graphic novel format, is important?

Clare: Stories teach us valuable lessons and let us escape to worlds outside our understanding. They let us explore, grow, and share experiences with others we would never have otherwise. I absolutely think graphic storytelling is important as well. It’s a highly accessible medium. Anyone can read comics. Even if you don’t necessarily understand the words, the art is there to guide you through the story. It is really unique in that way. Comics are for everyone. 

How have folk tales, fairy tales, or mythology influenced your work?

Clare: I’ve always loved fantastical stories and magical worlds. Fairytales and mythology always gave me an exciting place to escape. They offer you a different perspective and an opportunity to find magic in the mundane.

Image courtesy of Clare Kolat.

Do you have a favorite folk tale, fairy tale, or myth?

Clare: It’s so hard to pick one. I’ve really been getting into American folklore lately, especially stories about Appalachian cryptids and ghosts. I love the story of the Tailypo and did my own version for Vagabond Comics issue 9.

Image courtesy of Clare Kolat.

What is a favorite comic book or graphic novel that you have read in the past year?

Clare: Again, it’s hard to pick just one favorite, but to name a few Paper Girls, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, and Pilu of the Woods are all excellent.

Be sure to join me next Thursday morning for our final Imagine Your Story RiverCon interview! Stay safe and happy reading.

What to Read While You Wait for Daughters of Erietown by Connie Schultz

MeganLeave a comment

Daughters of Erietown is Connie Schultz’s debut novel. It’s the story of Ellie and Brick McGinty, two rural Ohio teens whose lives were changed by an unplanned pregnancy. While Ellie and Brick learn to be a married couple in the 1950’s they also battle with the demons of their past. The young couple navigate societal norms, limited opportunities, and dreams deferred. They raise a middle-class family on a union job salary.  They watch their children grow up and forge their own paths in the world. It’s a quiet story, rich in character and it’s likely on your summer TBR list. You aren’t alone. So, while you wait for your library hold to come available, check out some of these generational stories.

~Megan

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

Here some of the new exciting releases for you to take a look at this week!

The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda – Rendered famous in childhood for her miraculous survival of a dangerous storm, a young woman changes her name and struggles to hide from the media before waking up one evening to find a corpse at her feet.

The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor – A series debut set in Dublin and New York introduces homicide detective and divorced mom Maggie D’Arcy, who in the wake of a disappearance and new clues reopens the investigation into her cousin’s disappearance 23 years earlier.

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory – Going against her better judgement, LA lawyer Olivia Monroe secretly starts dating a hotshot junior senator until their romance is made public and her life falls under intense media scrutiny, jeopardizing everything.

Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri – Haunting the park near Tokyo’s Uneo Station, the ghost of a man whose life eerily paralleled the Emperor’s reflects on the milestones that impacted his existence, from his homelessness and the 2011 tsunami to the 1964 and 2020 Olympics.

Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicola Maye Goldberg – In a tale inspired by true events, the author of The Doll Factory explores the high-suspense aftermath of a college student’s baffling murder and its reverberations through a chorus of interconnected lives.

The Mist by Ragnar Jonasson – In this gripping conclusion of the critically acclaimed Hidden Iceland series, Detective Hulda is haunted forever by the events that occurred in an isolated farmhouse in the east of Iceland that opened its doors to a killer.

Eliza Starts a Rumor by Jane L. Rosen – Clinging to the community bulletin board she created 15 years earlier, a suburban housewife struggling with agoraphobia engages in fabricated gossip to keep the site more interesting before community member lives are upended by personal setbacks.

People of the Canyons by Kathleen O’Neal & W. Michael Gear – A healer allies himself with a witch hunter to prevent a tyrant from claiming an artifact of power, while his adopted granddaughter uncovers terrifying truths about her parents. By the best-selling authors of People of the Raven.

Everyone Knows How Much I Love You by Kyle McCarthy – Moving in with a childhood friend she betrayed years earlier, Rose becomes increasingly drawn to her roommate’s boyfriend and exerts unconscious influence that threatens to reignite the worst moments of each woman’s life.

Love by Roddy Doyle – Attending his father’s deathbed in hospice, a man reconnects with a drinking buddy from his Dublin youth while reflecting on a long-ago love, his wife’s role in upending his life and the truth about his departure from Ireland.

 

~Semanur

 

Imagine Your Story – Adult and Teen Events @RRPL

DoriLeave a comment

WEEK OF JUNE 22

This is a busy week at the library and, looking outside at the weather, a great week to participate in one of our many virtual offerings.

You can also still participate in Summer Reading! Grab a book, an audiobook or an e-book and earn a chance to get a gift card to a Rocky River restaurant! Sign up at Beanstack or call us to register! You can enter to win gift cards to Bomba, Danny Boys, Herb’s Tavern, Joe’s Deli, King Wah, Wine Bar, and the Rocky River Brewing Company. For additional information, check out our Summer Reading Flyer.

Weeklong Event: Paint a Stone – All Ages
Share an inspiring thought, kind word or just something colorful in our garden. Paint a rock at home and set it in the garden outside the library. Melisa from the Children’s Services will share a video on how to make a stone painting on June 15. Spend the week sharing your creations! 

Dream Colleges: Admissions and Financial Aid – Teens and Guardians
Tuesday, June 23, 7:00-8:30 pm
The college admissions and financial aid process can be stressful in the best of times, and there’s a lot to think about! Happily, the experts at The Princeton Review are to support you. Come learn the key elements of the admissions process and what to think about to reduce stress and increase success. This session will also cover changes and issues to consider for this very unusual era in admissions. Register here.

History Talks: Artists in Residence
Wednesday, June 24th, 7:00-8:00 pm
Come learn more about our area’s rich artistic history!
During this virtual presentation Leslie Cade, Director of Museum Archives at the Cleveland Museum of Art, will present Artists in Residence: Researching Local Artists at the Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
Register and you will be emailed an invitation to join this virtual event. Registration required.

Smartphone Videomaking – Teens & Adults
Thursday, June 25: (apps, editing, how to share), 7:30-8:30 pm
Bring your smartphone (any device) and learn how to write, shoot, and edit your video all from your phone with TV producer Hollie Brubaker. Be prepared with a full battery, storage space for new apps on your device, and an idea inspired by Rocky River. Each participant will be encouraged to share their work at our River of Stories event the week of July 21-27. Adults and Teens welcome. Register and you will be emailed an invitation to join this virtual event. Registration required. 

Imagine Your Story: Rocky River Story Writing Workshops
Saturday, June 27, 2:00-3:00 pm
Explore place-based writing in this special virtual writing workshop series presented by Christine Howey of Literary Cleveland. You’ll use Rocky River as inspiration for your work and gain tips on crafting a piece well-suited for oral storytelling. Each participant will be encouraged to share their videos at our River of Stories event the week of July 21-27. Register and you will be emailed an invitation to join this virtual event. Registration required.

Check out the Information Kiosk in front of the library for more information, including Summer Reading, Summer Events and Summer Reading Slips. Return those Summer Reading Slips to our new Summer Reading Mailbox right outside our door.

Hope to see you soon and Happy Reading!

~ Dori

Imagine Your Story – Book Recommendation

carolLeave a comment

In case you need an excuse to pick up a new mystery series, I’ll give you two. First of all, Rosalie Knecht’s sleuth Vera Kelly is a smart, cynical New Yorker and CIA-trained sleuth who must navigate life in early to mid-1960s–an interesting time to be a spy and challenging time to be a woman. Secondly, it’s PRIDE month, and Vera is a lesbian, and is also forced by the times (and clauses in her employment contracts) to lead a double personal life in addition to her professional one.

In her first outing, Who is Vera Kelly?, Vera is approached and trained by the CIA. Her  surveillance mission to Argentina to infiltrate local student revolutionaries and wiretap government offices for potential coup information comprises most of the novel’s action. Along the way, flashbacks into Vera’s youth show her struggles to get close to others, to fit in, and to build healthy relationships.

Book two, Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery, takes place a year later. Vera is done with the CIA, fired from her latest job because a co-worker outed her, and dumped by her girlfriend Jane. Desperate to make a living and keep her apartment, but without references to get hired, Vera opens her own private detective agency where she struggles to be taken seriously. When a Dominican couple finally hires her to track down a boy, Vera uncovers much more than a missing persons case and ends up, yet again, in another foreign country with a fake passport, reexamining her priorities.

Both books in this series are part spy thriller, part character study, and part historical fiction and will check all the boxes if you like introspective slow-burning mysteries with plenty of international action and a bit of tame romance. What’s truly great about Knecht’s two-fer (and my fingers are crossed that there will be more) is that Vera is vulnerable and unsure of her self–at work, in life and in relationships. Vera has personal problems and regret. She’s not sappy, but it’s hard for her to change. Vera Kelly is just like us.

Will she solve her cases? (Spoiler alert) Yes. Will she find true happiness? I sure hope so. Read her story and I think maybe you will, too.  ~Carol

Imagine Your Story -on a Trip Near or Far

staceyLeave a comment

As we head into nicer weather and the time when people like to take Summer Vacations, this year maybe you want to consider doing a little Day Trippin‘? Why go far away when you can see travel around the Great State of Ohio (and locations nearby) with a tank or two of gas?! Economical + supporting local businesses + exploring sites in your own backyard = good times ahead! In fact, why not take a picnic lunch -you can make yummy sandwiches with the bread you’ve made!

Or if you’re feeling like hanging out in a nearby green space this Summer sounds just as good, you can either literally or figuratively Take a Hike with a book! Oh the options!

This week, I think I’ll start small with checking out some Backyard Wildlife and maybe start a little Backyard Revolution? I mean, the bunnies and deer seem to have found their way to me so why not really dig into it! (pun intended ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

– Stacey

Virtual Book Club – Difficult Topics – Feminism

ShannonLeave a comment

For our third week of the virtual book club on difficult topics, we want to focus on women and feminism. Why is that? Partly because of this statistic from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

“In 2018, women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings that were 81 percent of the earnings of male fulltime wage and salary workers.”

– from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “Highlights of Women’s Earnings 2018”

Even in 2020, women’s work isn’t valued as much as men’s – and the disparity is even worse for women of color. 

Below are books that we thought would shine a light on the experience of women in the United States. Every one is available right now from Hoopla – no holds, no waiting. All you need is your library card number and PIN. We’re also including local women-focused organizations here in Cleveland, as well as a ‘privilege checklist’ to get you thinking.  

Every Sunday in June, we’ll be sharing curated book lists on difficult topics, organizations in the area to support, and more resources to explore. 

Books to start the conversation: 

Local organizations to support: 

The City Mission

Cleveland Rape Crisis Center

League of Women Voters Ohio

Renee Jones Empowerment Center

Women’s Recovery Center

YWCA Greater Cleveland

Male Privilege Checklist: 

  1. My odds of being hired for a job, when competing against female applicants, are probably skewed in my favour. The more prestigious the job, the larger the odds are skewed. [However, men who appear to come from poverty or the working class are much more likely to be turned away from a prestigious job than a middle class or wealthier-appearing man.] 
  1. I can be confident that my co-workers won’t think I got my job because of my sex – even though that might be true. [This is far more true for white men than for many men of color.] 
  1. If I am never promoted, it’s not because of my sex. [But may well be due to my race or ethnicity, if I’m not white.] 
  1. If I fail in my job or career, I can feel sure this won’t be seen as a black mark against my entire sex’s capabilities. [“Black mark” is part of racist speech. Black Monday, black mark, black sheep of the family: all generate negative associations with blackness and Blackness. See Dreaming The Dark, by Starhawk, for more on this.] 
  1. The odds of my encountering sexual harassment on the job are so low as to be negligible. [This is much more likely to be the case for men perceived to be heterosexual.] 

The list continues here, in the Male Privilege Checklist from Arizona State University. 

Imagine Your Story – Books

EmmaLeave a comment

simon

Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles

After leaving a Confederate regimental band, Simon Boudin ends up in Galveston. A talented musician, Simon and a couple of other indigent veterans are able to make enough money to keep themselves fed and clothed.

When Simon and his fellow musicians are commissioned to play at a formal dinner of Union and Confederate officers, Simon see Doris Mary Dillon for the first time. Doris, an  indentured Irish girl, serves as governess to Colonel Webb’s daughter. Her life with the Colonel’s family is anything but pleasant. Simon is determined to buy land and  marry Doris if she’ll have him helping her to escape from the abusive Webb family as soon as possible.

This is a compelling story filled with violence and romance at the end of the Civil War.

~Emma