Benjamin Ludwig, author of Ginny Moon
This fall, as the Fox Cities Book Festival celebrates ten years of connecting writers and readers, we welcome author Benjamin Ludwig. His debut novel, Ginny Moon, written from the perspective of a teenage girl with autism, has been widely acclaimed by critics and readers everywhere. Ludwig had a very personal inspiration for this novel, as he and his wife became foster parents and adopted an autistic teenager shortly after their marriage. However, Ludwig says his experiences teaching, and especially his conversations with other parents at Special Olympics basketball practices, helped build the voice of his novel’s main character, Ginny.
Benjamin Ludwig has an MAT in English education and an MFA in writing, and he lives in New Hampshire with his family. On his website, Ludwig calls himself “a lifelong teacher of English and writing.” In an interview, when asked about which of his desires came first: teaching or writing, he replied, “The desire to write, no question about it. I wrote stories in spiral-bound notebooks all through school, and passed them to friends in the hallway so they could read them during study hall. It was pretty much impossible not to fall in love with literature, when you’re writing all the time. Plus I saw that all of my teachers were storytellers, oral storytellers. I loved being in class to hear them talk. I knew that as a writer I’d have to make a living, and the only thing I wanted to do was to tell stories. What better job is there for a writer than being an English teacher?”
Don’t miss Benjamin Ludwig’s reading of Ginny Moon at the Fox Cities Book Festival! It will be held at the Wriston Art Center on October 14 from 2:00pm to 3:00pm. In the meantime, visit his website, get yourself a copy of Ginny Moon, and connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
