Past Events, Interviews & Reviews
Tom Swift is available for interviews, speaking engagements, writers workshops, signings, and book club meetings.
Awards
• Winner, 2009 Seymour Medal, which honors the best book of baseball history or biography published during the preceding calendar year
• Finalist, Lawrence Ritter Award, which honors books about baseball’s Deadball Era.
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).
• Keynote speaker, Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce annual dinner (November 6, 2008).
• Reading and book signing at The Book Shelf (December 13, 2008).
• Reading, book signing at The Lit during opening reception of Seymour Medal Conference, Cleveland (April 24, 2009).
• Reading, discussion and book signing at the Merriam Park Library, St. Paul, in event sponsored by the National Writers Union (June 4, 2009).
• Book club meeting, Wayzata home, discussion and signing (December 14, 2009).
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).
• “Speaking Of …”, WSVA 550 AM (May 22, 2009).
• “The Morning Show,” KAXE 91.7 public radio (July 15, 2009).
• Minnesota Twins pre-game show, Fox Sports Net television (August 17, 2009).
• “The Don Shelby Show,” WCCO 830-AM, Monday (August 24, 2009).
Reviews
• “Baseball and Minnesota sports fans will surely enjoy digging into Swift’s research and being taken back in time,” New Brighton Bulletin (November 4, 2009).
• Summer 2009 issue of Minnesota History magazine: “[This] is clearly the definitive biography of Charles Albert Bender and should be read and enjoyed by all those interested in baseball and all those who find human tragedies and triumphs both inspiring and instructive.”
• “A must read” for Minnesota baseball fans, says Nick Coleman in his Sunday Star Tribune column. (July 12, 2009).
• “Chief Bender’s Burden” named one of 10 noteworthy books of 2008 by Kansas City Star history writer Brian Burnes.
• “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).
