Open Books Releases Print Edition of Susie Duncan Sexton's SECRETS OF AN OLD TYPEWRITER

When Hoosier writer Susie Duncan Sexton inherited an old IBM computer from her late, beloved sister Sarah, she had no idea just a few years later she would be a published author.

"It's true that playing with email and writing letters to the editor [primarily referencing the primary and presidential election of 2008] helped me re-discover my voice. My mother loved to write throughout my childhood and beyond, and we always had books and magazines and great conversation in our home. I passed that on to my son, but it had been awhile since I had put pen to paper or, in this case, fingers to keyboard."

Flash forward a few years later to September 2011. Open Books published Sexton's first book, a collection of memoir-style essays, Secrets of an Old Typewriter. From the Open Books' website: "This book may be about small town life, but the ideas contained within it are expansive. The written accounts of the life of a 'smart and sassy small town girl' are as urbane as those of any city dweller. From '50s and '60s nostalgia to modern-day values, and from the drama and insight of America's great books and motion pictures to politics, religion and animal rights, Susie Duncan Sexton's 'secrets' always hit the mark with unexpected candor and a unique perspective."

Now, one year after the initial release, Open Books, due to popular demand, is augmenting the book's successful digital distribution with a print edition, available worldwide through various retailers, including Amazon.com and the publisher's website (http://www.open-bks.com/).

"It's funny," Sexton remarks, "that while this digital age of social media and blogging brought me back to writing, I am most overjoyed that I shall now get to hold this book in my hands. I love my Kindle and iPad, but there is nothing like turning the pages of a book, sharing it with others, and being able to tuck it into one of my shelves…nestled beside works of my favorite authors. I guess I shall always be that nostalgic Baby Boomer at heart."

Sexton writes two monthly columns (one for hometown newsblog Talk of the Town and the other for the Columbia City Post and Mail newspaper) and maintains a prolific presence on her Goodreads' author profile blog and various Facebook fan pages. She comments, "I would like to thank my son Roy who has introduced all of these worlds to me. I grew up in a small town, but I always found the power of film and television and literature so transporting. I find that to be true now with Facebook and other sites. I can meet like-minded souls the world over and have these great virtual 'cocktail party conversations' online, among new friends in Ireland or Australia and my next door neighbors."

Roy Sexton, son of Don and Susie, grew up in Columbia City and now resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he serves as vice president of marketing and planning for the law firm Trott & Trott, P.C. and has helped found a theatre company there, The Penny Seats. He holds degrees from Wabash College, Ohio State, and the University of Michigan. He notes, "I am so proud of my mom. She is doing what she loves. She has put together a book that runs the gamut from classic film and Howdy Doody and Playhouse 90 to her time on the stage (Wagon Wheel, Arena Dinner, and First Pres theatres) to animal rights and religious freedom to Russell Crowe and Susan Boyle and back again…yet it is all thematically coherent and an absolute pleasure to read."

Susie grew up in Columbia City, Indiana, and lived for a couple of decades in nearby Fort Wayne. After graduating twelfth in her class at Ball State University (winning the first ever John R. Emens award for "most outstanding senior"), she returned with her husband Don (who is originally from Shelbyville, Indiana) to her hometown where she has worked as a teacher, a publicist, museum curator, and a health lecturer. Describing her writing, Susie says, "I willingly share nostalgic trips to the past as I have now achieved such an old age that no one remains who can question the authenticity of my memory of places, people and events that were very much never what they were cracked up to be!" Susie writes extensively about her youth and adulthood in Indiana, referencing many beloved Hoosier places and figures from the 1950s to today.

Fellow author Donald O'Donovan sums up the appeal of Sexton's first book nicely, "I'm going to confess that I didn't read Secrets from cover to cover, just like that. I picked an episode at random, then another, then another and another. I think the book is meant to be read that way, informally, as if you were gabbing with the author over the back fence. Secrets of an Old Typewriter is a scintillating pastiche of memories, anecdotes and portraits that the author has quilted together in a very agreeable way."

Find out more about Susie Duncan Sexton and her writing at www.susieduncansexton.com.

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