Author Returns to Maine with Two Award-Winning Books‏

June 10, 2012 – Hawthorne, NJ - Many authors turn to Maine when choosing the setting for their books, but for Gregory Allen it was about returning to a place he held fond memories as a young performer. In 1989, Gregory Allen was a New York actor who spent a summer at the Carousel Music Theater in Boothbay Harbor. Twenty three years later, he is an award-winning author whose new novel PATCHWORK OF ME returns to that same town with a fictionalized mystery as an important part of his story.

“They say to write what you know, but I don’t always play by the rules,” Allen says. “My novel is told in the first person narrative of a woman who grew up in the foster care system and through therapy uncovers some memories of her early childhood. So she travels across country from Arizona to Maine to patch her life back together.”

Allen’s book was published by ASD Publishing in April and has already won the 2012 International Book Award for Fiction in the Women’s Lit category and the 2012 NY Book Festival award for General Fiction. Like the character in his novel, he is taking a road trip back to Maine to bring the book to the area for June 23- 25 where he will be signing copies and talking about his career.

“I loved Maine the first time I came here all those years ago,” Allen says. “I’ve returned on vacations and when I started writing this book two years ago – something felt right about leading my protagonist back to this wonderful state.”

After his summer in Maine, Allen went on to work on television shows, regional theaters an even toured the country as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. He wrote several musicals over the years and then five years ago began to concentrate on writing books. He has been featured in national magazines, NY/NJ PBS stations, and several radio shows.

Allen stays very busy as an author writing in multiple genres and has a strong background in children’s theater. This spring, his children’s book on autism awareness also won an award.

“My godson has autism and I wrote a book from his perspective that I entered in a contest along with 400 other authors this past fall,” Allen says. “The public across the country was able to vote online and the book won the People’s Choice Grand Prize Award by the MeeGenius Publishing Company.”

MeeGenius published the book on their digital platform in March and Allen took his prize money and turned the book into a print book so families would have a choice when purchasing the book. Allen has since been touring schools in New Jersey where he lives, talking about CHICKEN BOY: THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF A SUPER HERO WITH AUTISM and autism awareness to children of all ages.

“I love to bring awareness to diverse situations through my storytelling and I’m so glad to be able to share both books with the people of Maine on my road-trip weekend,” he says.

Allen will be signing copies of his books at the following locations:

Sat, June 23 Bath Book Shop 11 am-1 pm Bath, ME
Sun, June 24 Tugboat Inn 12-1:30 pm Boothbay Harbor, ME
Mon, June 25 Freeport Community Library 7-8:30 pm Freeport, ME

For information about the author visit www.ggallen.net