Thomas Lynch, author of the novel ‘No Prisoners,’ to appear at Marquette and Munising libraries
Author Thomas Lynch will read from his first novel, “No Prisoners” (Godine), in the Community Room at Peter White Public Library at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
Lynch will also give a reading at the Munising School Public Library, 810 M-28, at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 8.
Thomas Lynch is the author of six books of essays, a book of short fiction and six books of poetry. He was a National Book Award finalist for “The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade” and is the recipient of the American Book Award, The Heartland Prize for Nonfiction, The Denise Levertov Award, The Great Lakes Book Award and Michigan Authors Award. He is a Michigan native who worked as a funeral director until his retirement; he currently resides on the shores of Mullet Lake in Indian River and in County Clare, Ireland, where he keeps an ancestral home.
Keith Taylor, author of “What Can the Matter Be?” said this of “No Prisoners”: “Doyle Shields — 90 years old, ex-Marine and survivor of the bloody battles of the South Pacific, retired embalmer, widower, sober alcoholic, failed terrorist and the hero of Thomas Lynch’s first novel — ages, if not gracefully at least thoughtfully, toward his end. ‘No Prisoners’ touches on the subjects that have informed much of Lynch’s work, but in the end becomes a deeply moving exploration of the process of aging and the necessities of love.”
Joan Baez added, “This unexpected novel from our greatest poet of myth and mortality is cause for celebration. Thomas Lynch never fails to startle and surprise us.”
About northern Michigan, Lynch writes: “My father, who was a Marine Corps veteran of World War II, first saw Mullett Lake in 1957 when he was taking a dead body north for burial in Ishpeming. He took my brother Dan and me out of school to make the long journey with him. The bridge which connects our two peninsulas was still under construction, so we took the Vacationland Car Ferry across the Straits and proceeded into the U.P. whence his in-laws, our grandparents, had come from — our mother’s mother from Munising and her father from Manistique. They’d met in Ann Arbor, where she was studying music and he played clarinet for the U of M Marching Band. I live on the south end of Mullett Lake now, between Indian River and Pigeon Bay, and write stories about love and war, sex and death, and how life takes no prisoners.”
—John Smolens courtesy of Marquette Monthly
Lynch’s reading in Marquette on Oct. 7 will be followed by a discussion with John Smolens, Marquette author and NMU professor emeritus.