Local author holds book signing

news@theheraldnewspapers.com Local Seymour author and Herald Newspapers Co-Publisher Michele Karl has a new book in stores titled What Celebrities Collect! and will be attending a book signing in Knoxville today. “I’ve been working on this book for awhile now,” Karl said, with over seven years spent conducting and compiling interviews. What Celebrities Collect! features a compilation of interviews and information collected on over 70 celebrities ranging from Dan Akroyd to John Travolta to Jay Leno and Louise Mandrell. The book combines two of Karl’s favorite topics, celebrities and collectables, adding that some of the celebrities she’d interviewed were bigger collectors than herself. “There were some people who were such pack rats,” she said. Karl’s grueling effort involved trying to catch up with her star-studded cast. “Sometimes it would take six months just to set up an interview,” she said. Once she was able to nail down an interview, the information was forthcoming. When Karl went to interview NYPD Blue star Dennis Franz, “his publicist told me that I had 15 minutes but we ended up talking for over an hour,” she said. “Some celebrities are so used to conducting interviews about their movies or books, where they’ve already talked about the same thing over and over, but with me they got to talk about something they actually enjoy,” she said. What Celebrities Collect! is Karl’s sixth book in her career. Her repertoire also includes Greetings With Love – The Book of Valentines, Composition & Wood Dolls and Toys, Baby Boomer Dolls: Plastic Playthings of the 1950’s and 1960s (1st and 2nd edition), and Celebrity Dolls. The book signing will take place at the Barnes and Nobles bookstore on Kingston Pike in Knoxville next Thursday from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. The book is now available in all bookstores for $19.95. If sold out at the store you visit, the book can be purchased online via Pelican Publishing’s website. For an autographed copy, send $19.95 plus $3 shipping and handling to The Herald Newspapers, 500 Maryville Highway, Seymour, TN 37865.