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Meet Authors Susan Petrone and Judith Mansour

Join us when authors Susan Petrone and Judith Mansour visit to discuss their latest books.

About the authors:

Susan Petrone lives with one husband, one child, one cat, and two dogs in Cleveland, Ohio. She is the author of the novels, Throw Like a Woman, The Super Ladies, and The Heebie-Jeebie Girl.

Alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, The Musical Mozinskis explores the limits of family bonds and loyalties and what it means to be an artist.

The Mozinskis experience music like no family you've ever met.

Struggling musicians Vincent Mozinski and Grace Klinefelter marry in the early 1960s, drawn together by the shared ability to see the music they play. The two pass this unique skill along to their ever-growing family of musical prodigies: Clara, Ellington, Bix, Allegro, Thelonious, and Viola. After the children record a radio commercial for a local business, Vincent realizes the best chance of achieving his dream of musical stardom is with and through his children. The family is tapped as one of several amateur acts to perform on a nationally televised Bicentennial celebration, leading to a recording contract and ultimately the pinnacle of 1970s stardom – their own musical variety show.

The success of The Musical Mozinskis depends on the family's ability to keep churning out talented children. There's only one problem: Viola is tone deaf. How this affects the future of every member the family, and where they go from there, is at the center of this unforgettable novel.

Judith Mansour loves words. She has taught English at Cleveland State University, worked as editor and associate publisher for Northern Ohio Live Magazine, senior editor for angle magazine, and publisher for Fresh Water Cleveland. During her tenure as executive director at The LIT: Cleveland’s Literary Center, which sadly closed in 2011, she conceived of MUSE magazine which spotlighted the interplay of words and images, with art director Tim Lachina. Judith’s work has been published in Cleveland Magazine, Word River, and other magazines. Her life is ruled by love of her family, words, food, and a pack of unruly cats who barely tolerate Mansour, her husband, and daughter living in their home. 

In Kan Zaman, her first full-length collection of poetry and prose, Mansour walks the minefield of grief and nostalgia. Soot-covered porches from the once-booming steel industry of the Mahoning Valley are the backdrop for visceral, playful and devastating memories in this memoir in poetry and prose.

Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Mac's Backs - Books on Coventry.