The 21st annual John Gardner Society gathering at the Pok-A-Dot to remember Batavia's most famous novelist at his favorite local restaurant brought people in from some distance this year. There were two people who drove in from Pennsylvania, two from Indiana, and one of Gardner's best friends, who drove up from Binghamton (playwright Jan Quackenbush). Among the travelers, a former student and a former dorm mate of Gardner's. First-timers to the reading also included a couple from Buffalo.
Reading in the top photo, Beth Buechler, who was one of Gardner's students in Binghamton and traveled to Batavia from Indiana.
Tracy Ford
Bill Kauffman
Terry Abrams, of Basom, reading, as he does every year, from "On Becoming a Novelist."
Norm Morford, a dormmate's of Gardner's while in college.
Helen Maier
Other readers included Byron Hoot, from Pennsylvania, Lucine Kauffman, Steve Lewandowski, JoNelle Toriseva, and John Maier.
