Poet and children’s book author Richard Michelson became a good friend of Leonard Nimoy in the last dozen years of the actor’s life. And after Nimoy, who achieved fame playing the character of Spock in the original “Star Trek” TV series, died in 2015, Michelson honored his memory by publishing the children’s biography “Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy.”
Now “Fascinating,” which won a number of children’s book awards in 2017, is headed to a national stage. It will be the “Great Read” from Massachusetts at the National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
The annual event, at which dozens of authors give presentations and books from all 50 states are presented, is designed in part to cultivate young readers, and the “Great Reads” from each state consist primarily of titles for children and young readers. Those books generally are set in their respective state or celebrate its heritage; Nimoy, for instance, grew up in a Jewish family in Boston.
Ellen Flanagan Kenny, communications associate for the Mass Center for the Book in Boston, said “Fascinating,” with a storyline that focuses on Nimoy’s immigrant family background and his persistence in trying to become an actor, is a good fit for the center’s goal of choosing a book each year “with an eye to social justice.”
Michelson, the owner of R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, won’t be at the book festival himself. But in an email, he said he was honored to have “Fascinating” chosen to represent Massachusetts, especially given the book’s celebration of Nimoy, who among other things exhibited his photos at Michelson’s gallery and also at MASS MoCA.
“It is like all my worlds colliding — I couldn’t be more pleased!” said Michelson, who earlier this year won a National Jewish Book Award for his newest children’s title, “The Language of Angels.”
Among the writers at this year’s National Book Festival will be Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is launching her first children’s book, “Turning Pages: My Life Story”; Annie Proulx, author of “The Shipping News” and “Brokeback Mountain”; and Ron Chernow, the biographer of Alexander Hamilton, George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant, among others.
Other area writers whose books have been featured as “Great Reads” from Massachusetts at the national festival include Corrine Demas, Norman Juster and Jane Yolen.
“To follow in the footsteps of three of my Western MA good buddies,” said Michelson, “makes it extra sweet.”
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.