Best-selling author addresses sellout crowd in Jackson Twp.
JACKSON TWP — In a room filled with readers of all ages, best-selling author James Patterson provided laughs and insights during a discussion and question-and-answer session Thursday evening.
Patterson, who spoke at the Steamfitters Event Center for Zelienople Area Public Library’s annual speaker series, for roughly an hour told stories from his life and career as an author — often adding bits of humor — and answered questions from residents.
In one instance, Patterson recounted his time as a young adult working at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, saying he “learned a whole lot about people” during his time at the institution.
“A lot of the people were interesting. A lot of them had gone through a lot of different things, and so I learned some things about that,” he said. “There were a lot of doctors there from Harvard, or wherever — that was moderately interesting.”
Patterson’s time at the mental hospital is among those recounted in his new autobiography, “James Patterson: The Stories of My Life,” which he said began during the COVID-19 pandemic when he spent “too much time” at home.
At nights, Patterson said, he “started reading like crazy,” which then led to him writing stories.
Like many authors, Patterson’s work was rejected by a large number of editors before he succeeded. He said his early work was rejected 31 times.
“I kept the names of all the editors, so when they were eventually sending books — ‘Would you be willing to-,’ ‘No, I’m not willing to,’” Patterson joked.
Patterson also shared stories from his personal life, such as proposing to his now-wife. Her response to his proposal was, “sure,” he recalled.
Maggie Boylan, Zelienople library director, said she was “surprised” Patterson chose to come to Jackson Township for the event, which the library titled “An Evening With James Patterson.”
But, she added, it makes sense given his previous support for other, similar institutions.
“He’s an award-winning author. He’s nationally known,” Boylan said. “But he has a passion for promoting reading and literacy at libraries, at smaller libraries, smaller bookstores.”
For patrons, the event showed Patterson’s human element. Missy Fundy, of Zelienople, said she’s been reading Patterson’s books for more than two decades but wasn’t fully aware of Patterson’s congenial personality he displayed Thursday.
“He’s funny,” Fundy said, adding Patterson “seems down-to-earth.”
The success of Patterson’s event — the library sold 550 tickets, which included a copy of his memoir — showed the library they could succeed with similar events in the future.
“This has given us more confidence to do a big event like this, with well-known authors,” Boylan said.
