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'On Golden Pond' author Ernest Thompson returns to Westminster

Frederick News-Post - 1/17/2023

Jan. 16—Ernest Thompson will appear for an author talk and book signing for his latest work, "The Book of Maps," at 2 p.m.Jan. 21 at Carroll Lutheran Village Chapel.

"It'll be good to be back in Westminster and prove Thomas Wolfe wrong; you really can go home again," Ernest Thompson says. "I'm looking forward to revisiting my old haunts and reconnecting with long lost friends and hearing their stories and sharing my newest one, 'The Book of Maps.'"

"The Book of Maps" tells the story of Brendan Tibbet, a filmmaker whose luck has run low. In 2022, he takes his 10-year-old son, Brenlyn, on a raucous road trip across America. Following a 1930s travel guide Brendan purchased at a yard sale, the two-week trek from LA to New Hampshire covers 16 states, hitting the iconic stops along the way — Yosemite, the Great Salt Lake, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — replete with wild exploits both hilarious and perilous. But it's the interior journey that is enlightening, deeply poignant and life-changing.

Thompson's work has won an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, Writers Guild and Broadway Drama Guild Awards and been nominated for a Tony, an Emmy and a British Academy Award. His plays have been seen in theaters around the world, his most enduring being "On Golden Pond," which has been translated into 30 languages and presented in more than 40 countries. Current projects include the film sequel to "On Golden Pond," the plays "Some Parts Missing" and "Ask/Answer," and the novel "Out Clause," coming in 2023.

With his writer wife Kerrin Thompson, he established Rescind Recidivism, a prison writing program giving inmates a chance to feel creative as well as human, capable and worthy.

Thompson lived in Westminster in the '60s, moving from New Hampshire when his father was hired by Western Maryland College. Known then by his first name, Richard, or, as it says on his Varsity Letter jacket, Dick, Thompson was active in Westminster High School sports, graduating in 1967.

He's never forgotten his Westminster roots. In the name of his father, Theron Barker Thompson, he started a scholarship available to Carroll County students interested in pursuing their own studies in the arts. Forty years ago, Thompson was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by Western Maryland College, with a second certificate commemorating the recognition when the school was renamed McDaniel.

The program is presented by A Likely Story Bookstore, Carroll Lutheran Village and Carroll County Public Library.

Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

In compliance with venue guidelines, masks will be required at this program. This is a free program, but attendees should register in advance at ccpl.librarymarket.com/event/be-read-ernest-thompson.

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(c)2023 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.)

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