The International Carillon Festival - 2025

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In May of 2025, I was invited to return to the International Carillon Festival in Springfield, Illinois, to give another book presentation. I jumped at the chance! The topic? My Campanello Travels book series! Although AMIROSIAN NIGHTS takes place in Greece, and THAI TWIST takes place in Chiang Mai, CARILLON CHASE takes place mostly right here in Springfield, Illinois, in and around the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon. (Yes, my characters' last name, Campanello, means "little bell" in Italian!)
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I had a lovely time explaining how I have come by the travel bug naturally thanks to great aunts and travels as a kid. In college, I majored in Spanish to have the excuse to study abroad! Then I took a job in Mexico teaching English, came back to the US and taught writing, and have been playing violin in a mariachi band and writing ever since!
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I also explained how I offset the difficulties of writing a dissertation with writing what came to be my first published novel, AMIROSIAN NIGHTS. To celebrate the novel, I even sang a song in Greek! Then I gave some background on using the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon as a backdrop to CARILLON CHASE. I finished with a couple of brief readings of OLIVE ENVY, which will be the fourth book in the series.
To hear the presentation on Youtube, follow the links below.

Part 1: The Travel Bug Teaches Me to Write about Greece, Thailand, & Springfield, IL
Part 2: Gina's New Adventure Takes Her to Italy

Smaller Clips:
The Travel Bug
Barka Sto Yialo (Greek folk song)
Short Passages from CARILLON CHASE and OLIVE ENVY
Reginella Campagnola (Italian folk song)
Pesky Questions by the Audience

Many thanks to Elise Ransdell, Eddie Holt, and David Loeb: they ran the videos and took pictures!