Past Events, Interviews & Reviews
Tom Swift is available for interviews, speaking engagements, writers workshops, signings, and book club meetings.
Past Events
• Book signing at the Metrodome before and during a Minnesota Twins game (April 4, 2008)
• Reading, discussion and book signing at River City Books (April 5, 2008)
• Reading, discussion and book signing at Monkey See-Monkey Read (April 10, 2008). Click here for audio from that event.
• Reading, signing and Q&A during “Baseball Book Bonanza” night at Magers & Quinn Bookseller (April 12, 2008)
• Book signing at Books-A-Million, Hattiesburg, MS (April 26, 2008)
• Classroom discussion, sports literature classes at Northfield High School (May 23, 2008)
• Book signing at the St. Olaf Bookstore (May 24, 2008)
• Book signing at the downtown Minneapolis Barnes & Noble (June 11, 2008)
• Book club meeting, Halsey Hall chapter book club, Mall of America-Barnes & Noble (June 14, 2008)
• Book signing at the Mall of America-Barnes & Noble (June 14, 2008)
• Discussion and signing at the Oak Grove Public Library (June 19, 2008)
• Baseball Authors Roundtable at the Cleveland Public Library (June 27, 2008)
• Midwest Booksellers Association trade show and convention (September 26, 2008)
• Book Signing at Central Avenue Bookstore (October 11, 2008)
• Reading and book signing at Common Good Books (October 21, 2008)
On-Air Interviews
• The Connection hosted by Jim Wishner, AirAmerica Radio (March 29, 2008)
• ArtZany! hosted by Paula Granquist, KYMN Radio (Part I-April 11, 2008)
• Comment Please hosted by Darryl Berger, WNPV 1440-AM (May 5, 2008)
• ArtZany! with host Paula Granquist, KYMN Radio (Part II-May 23, 2008).
• The Donna Seebo show, BBS Radio (September 5, 2008).
Reviews & Interviews
• “Swift’s account of the treatment of Native Americans and his richly detailed portrait of Philadelphia at the beginning of the 20th century will … interest general readers,” Minnesota Monthly (October 2008)
• “Too bad baseball’s Hall of Fame doesn’t have a Most Valuable Book category. Tom Swift’s biography of historic hurler Charles A. Bender … qualifies hands down,” TC Daily Planet (August 16, 2008)
• “Swift’s book is an apt memorial to this almost-forgotten baseball hero,” Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (July 26, 2008)
• “I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about baseball, but Tom Swift sweeps readers — even those clueless about the game — up in this epic, eye-opening, turn-of-the-century tale. … Swift combines painstaking research with great storytelling to take us along on Bender’s remarkable journey.” -Gail Huganir, managing editor, Central PA magazine (July 2008)
• Salon.com interview with columnist King Kaufman (May 23, 2008)
• From the May/June issue of ForeWord magazine: “Fans of baseball’s Pre-Golden Age will appreciate the scholarship that went into ‘Chief Bender’s Burden,’ Tom Swift’s sad but sweet biography of the Native American pitcher who toiled for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics.”
• ‘Chief’ Bender Biography a Gem, Chicago Sun-Times (April 20, 2008)
• Book featured in the Washington Post (April 13, 2008).
• “Swift’s book is a success, and a success story,” review, BaseballLibrary.com (April 23, 2008)
• Swift’s ‘Chief Bender’ Worth Checking Out (Brainerd Dispatch, April 13, 2008)
• April issue of Booklist magazine: “In Swift’s hands, Bender’s life unfolds gradually, as though he were a character in a novel, and the prejudice he experienced, though never justified, is set within the context of the times. Carefully researched — and documented — as well as stylishly written (uncommon in the genre), this belongs in most baseball collections.”
• Q&A in GameDay magazine (April 2008)
• Feature, Trap & Field magazine (April 2008)
• Included in cover story, the Cleveland Free Times, (April 2, 2008)
• Feature, MinnPost.com (March 31, 2008)
• Baseball Roundup issue of Library Journal included a starred review
• Feature, Anishinaabeg Today (March 19, 2008)
• Article, Detroit Lakes Tribune (April 13, 2008)
• Feature, New Brighton Bulletin (April 2, 2008)
