DON’T MISS IT
Online Reading: Bill O’Neill
Thu 12/3/20 5:30pm to 7:00pm, SOMOS Salon & Bookshop, 108 Civic Plaza Drive, Taos, NM New Mexico Senator Bill O’Neill reads from his debut novel: “Panoramic Diaries.”
In this picaresque first novel, the protagonist moves from a rebellious existence to be more focused in the surrounding adult world. As he heads once more to the freights, after working intensely for seven years with parolees in a halfway house, he brings his old railroad diaries with him. Reading them over as he bounces from railyard to railyard, framed by the scenery of the Southwest, he winces at his own self-absorption back then, the shame he feels about his own privilege and the deep insecurity about his sexual worth. The path forward takes shape when he meets Kit, and they embark on a romance that parallels his becoming who he is. Bill O’Neill grew up in rural Ohio and graduated from Cornell University. Elected to the New Mexico Legislature in 2008 he is now in his second term in the New Mexico State Senate. His poems have appeared in numerous literary reviews, both regional and national. Bill’s career has been framed by his work with nonprofits, with a focus on incarcerated juveniles and adults. In 2005 Gov. Bill Richardson appointed him executive director of the NM Juvenile Parole Board. Named an Emerging Leader in 2016 by the University Of Virginia’s Darden School, he credits his early literary inspiration to mentors E.L. Doctorow and V.B. Price. Contact Jan Smith somos@somostaos.org or (575) 758-008.