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BackStory

New book in the works

Just a quick note to say I'm working on another book for Reedy Press - not the sequel to Secret Cincinnati (yet), but a fun one on what makes Cincinnati . . . Cincinnati. I also have a book proposal well in hand and expect to turn that in soon. Also having fun revising a script and hard at work on another one. . .

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Capitoline She-Wolf Statue - Controversial or cute?

A Secret Cincinnati secret was recently the subject of some controversy in Cincinnati as a member of Cincinnati's City Council threatened to pursue its removal from Eden Park: https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/wolf-in-sheeps-clothing-councilman-wants-eden-park-statue-to-be-relocated.

 

Here's the story behind the secret

 

Why did an Italian dictator gift Cincinnati with a statue
based on a symbol from Roman mythology?

 

What a statue it is! The Capitoline She-Wolf Statue. Poised
on a marble pedestal in a serene and shaded area at Eden
Park's Twin Lakes overlook is a bronze she-wolf with thick neck
and benign expression suckling two babies. And they're not
mere ordinary babies, but Romulus and Remus, of founders
of Rome fame, according to mythology, the very twin babies
abandoned as infants on the banks of the Tiber River and
saved by the she-wolf.

 

The original, an ancient Etruscan statue that dates back
to the Middle Ages, is in Rome's Capitoline Museums, which
explains the name. Cincinnati's statue is of a more recent
vintage. It was gifted to the city in 1932 by the City of Rome
through an arrangement by the Sons of Italy and courtesy of
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. The creator of the Fascist
Party, executed in 1945, wanted to mark the tenth year of
his regime. . .

 

To learn the rest of the story, pick up a copy of Secret Cincinnati.

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A blast at Behringer-Crawford Museum

Northern Kentucky treasure, Behringer-Crawford Museum, invited us to present a "Secret Cincinnati" program on November 24, during Shop Small Saturday. What an enjoyable afternoon.

We had a great group of interested people, including a retired beautician, who enjoys spending time trekking all over Cincinnati in search of hidden gems, and three sisters, who all happened  Read More 
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Books sell out at Books By The Banks!

What a great time this year's Books By The Banks was! It was held on Saturday, Oct. 20, at the Duke Energy Convention Center (site of one of the secrets in Secret Cincinnati) and had about 150 authors in attendance.

We heard so many nice comments about Secret Cincinnati, the slideshow presentation John gave, and the  Read More 
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Book Events

Book Talk & Signing
Wednesday, October 24 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Frisch's Big Boy Restaurant - Mainliner
5760 Wooster Pike
Cincinnati, OH 45227
(513) 271-2105
Free and open to the public
Special appearance by Big Boy and Frisch's CEO Jason Vaughn.

Book Signing: Local Author Book Fair
Saturday, November 17, from 1 to 4 p.m.
Boone County Public Library-Main Branch
1786 Burlington  Read More 
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Publisher posts press release for SECRET CINCINNATI

A BEHEADING, A BOBOLINK AND BATHTUB GIN – NEW BOOK CONNECTS STRANGE ‘SECRETS’ TO CINCINNATI

ST. LOUIS, MO—Reedy Press is pleased to announce the release of our latest local interest book, Secret Cincinnati: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, by Kathryn Witt.

Is it safe to photograph bobolinks at a once-contaminated nuclear  Read More 
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The secret is almost out

My new book, Secret Cincinnati (Reedy Press), hits the bookshelves on Monday, Oct. 1. I won't even be in town, but I'll be looking in any bookstore I find along the East Coast while I'm traveling!

Secret Cincinnati includes 89 secrets. Here is a travel book that lauds those little (and little-known) treasures all over Greater  Read More 
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Thank you, Cammie, and rest in peace

I might be the only person that Cammie King Conlon ever graced with a jacket endorsement (and I hope someone will please correct me if I'm wrong) - what a wonderful gift and remembrance.

I didn't know Cammie very well, but I admired her greatly. I saw her many times on the "big screen," but I had never met her in person.

As a writer, I had the opportunity to interview Cammie a number of times for different Gone With the Wind-related articles I was writing and she was always accessible, unfailingly kind and generous, sometimes wry and at all times an absolute pleasure to talk with.

As an author, I received a cherished gift from Cammie: She read my book, The Secret of the Belles, while still in manuscript format and offered to write a jacket endorsement for it. Imagine receiving an email from "Bonnie Blue Butler" herself, calling my book "a beautiful read, and another amazing tribute to the phenomenon that is Gone With the Wind." To say I was overcome, humbled, thrilled and appreciative truly is an understatement.

Cammie, what a treasure you were and what an enduring legacy you left.
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Book signing at Belle Brezing's 150th Anniversary Bash

I had a great time in Cheapside Park in Lexington, Ky., recently for the Belle Brezing Birthday Ball. See the photos at TopsinLex and click on Belle Brezing photos. It was a fun time with Read More 
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Belle Brezing’s 150th Birthday Celebrated June 15, 2001 with Cheapside Ball

A Lexington, Ky., event is honoring the madam upon whom Margaret Mitchell modeled “Belle Watling” – and I’ll be there for all the fun, signing copies of my book, The Secret of the Belles, with my friend Sally Tippett Rains, who has her own Gone With the Wind- and Belle Brezing-related book: Read More 
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