Winchester Public Library to host ‘Zombie Prom’ featuring author Jo Salazar
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By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
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The Winchester Public Library will host a Zombie Prom Saturday, May 31 at 6 p.m., in honor of Zombie Awareness Month. The highlight of the Zombie Prom evening at the Winchester Public Library will be a visit from Jo Salazar, a Scott County native and author of The Dead Weight. Set along the Illinois River from Peoria down to Alton, Salazar’s book features settings that many area residents will find familiar – including Naples. The Dead Weight finds the book’s protagonist Quinn, a 16-year-old girl, living in a residential treatment facility as a zombie apocalypse unfolds. The book’s author, whose name was Jo Pollock at the time, attended Bluffs Elementary School and graduated from Routt High School. She went on to attend Millikin University and the University of Illinois, and she currently resides in Chicago.
The Winchester Public Library will host a Zombie Prom Saturday, May 31 at 6 p.m., in honor of Zombie Awareness Month.
Established by the Zombie Research Society (ZRS) in 2007, Zombie Awareness Month takes place each May. According to the group’s website, the ZRS is dedicated to the historic, cultural, and scientific study of the living dead.
The highlight of the Zombie Prom evening at the Winchester Public Library will be a visit from Jo Salazar, a Scott County native and author of The Dead Weight.
Set along the Illinois River from Peoria down to Alton, Salazar’s book features settings that many residents will find familiar – including Naples.
The Dead Weight finds the book’s protagonist Quinn, a 16-year-old girl, living in a residential treatment facility as a zombie apocalypse unfolds.
Readers and reviewers noted that the book uses the zombie genre to tell a coming-of-age story informed by feminist ideas.
“A feminist-driven psychological thriller that explores survival, friendship, love, and betrayal in the most dire of circumstances,” one Goodreads.com reviewer wrote on the social cataloging site.
The book’s author, whose name was Jo Pollock at the time, attended Bluffs Elementary School and graduated from Routt High School. She went on to attend Millikin University and the University of Illinois.
Salazar will give a reading, sign books, and chat with fans at the Winchester Public Library’s Zombie Prom event.
The night will also feature refreshments, music, and a screening of the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead.
Attendees are encouraged to wear ‘undead formal wear,’ but a costume is not required to attend.
For more information, visit www.winchesterpubliclibrary.org or contact the Winchester Public Library at 217-742-3150.
