Jack Gantons, author of the award winning book Hole In My Life, will be visiting the Albany High library today for two seminar sessions. 

Jack Gantos was born July 2, 1951. He is now 64 yet his autobiography and best-known piece of work, Hole in my Life, was written in his younger years. For Hole in My Life, Gantos has won many awards and gained huge recognition.

Hole in my Life was not his first piece of work. He began writing children’s books and remains to do so. Hole in my Life was published in 2002, and recounts Gantos time as a struggling writer in New York City, and his arrest for smuggling drugs, for which he was sentenced to serve six years in prison. In Hole in my Life Gantos writes about the troubles he faced during his time in prison.

When reading the memoir, the reader can see Gantos transform from wanting to be a writer to actually becoming one. Jack Gantos is a brilliant writer, who manages to turn his huge mistake into a compelling and hilarious story. He showed his transformation and he marveled in it. He managed to do what man people cannot do, he wrote of his mistake and he wrote about how he thrived from the experience and became the writer he is today.

If you’d like to attend either of the 11 AM or 1 PM events, you can sign up and obtain a pass in the library. There are also books written by Gantos available in the library for checkout, and an opportunity to buy autographed copies will be available.