One Book 2015 wrapped up with our finale, a presentation by author Roz Chast, on Saturday night. Roz addressed nearly 400 audience members, who were certainly treated to an original, comical, and honest presentation. Roz shared with us insights about how she became interested in drawing, how she became involved with The New Yorker at the age of 23, and who some of her early and current inspirations are. She discussed her workspace and workflow, and shared an abundance of images, commenting on the amusing situations or scenarios that led her to draw the scene. Chast transitioned into the talk of her book, Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, by highlighting scenes, pages and conversations from the book, adding personal commentary along the way. In this way, she shared the story of her parents with us again, highlighting their background, their aging, their moving into a home, and their passing. Incredibly, Chast was also able to lighten the mood again shortly after discussing such a grim topic. She shared with us some of her hobbies, such as egg dying and rug hooking, and provided genuine responses to audience questions.
We were delighted that so many of you were able to come to our events, programs, and discussions over the past six weeks, and truly hope that you found the selection and our programs engaging. The book’s format, a graphic memoir, was a new choice for us. We hope we might have encouraged you to try something new, also.
Believe it or not, our committee will be busy reading again in just a few months. We hope you’ll join us again for One Book One Mesa County 2016.
