September update and shop sale!
It might still technically be summer, but Labor Day just feels like the end of the season (especially as a former shore-area resident). I hope you’re getting in one last beach day or hitting up DiCosmo’s before they close for the season or doing whatever it is you planned to do before summer ends!
Thanks for all of your nice feedback about the updated newsletter format. This the third edition under this new iteration and I look forward every month to putting these together. If you want to support my efforts, a great way to help is by sharing the newsletter with anyone you think might enjoy it or find value in the opportunities for artists/writers links. You can also share the post on Instagram to your Story to help us reach more people.
Read on for some fun links this month, a great Q&A with a Jersey author, and info about a SALE!
-Kerri
I had a great time popping up at Rad Shirts in Manasquan last week! They have a few more events scheduled for this year. Check them out if you like supporting local artists, vintage clothing, and ephemera! They had a ton of cool Jersey-themed stuff, too.
Thanks to Siren Books for interviewing me recently for their author interview series!
Sticker Club
This is long overdue, but our Series 3 artists are finally up on our website! I, for some reason, thought I did this months ago and only recently realized I did not. Be sure to click here to meet the artists, see their designs and read the stories behind them. And keep your eyes peeled for upcoming pop-ups with the machine…I have to fix something on it so I haven’t been able to leave it anywhere unattended this summer, but hopefully that will be resolved soon.
Upcoming Events
More fall and winter markets to be announced soon! I’ll have the sticker machine at all of these vendor events! For more info, see our website.
Virtual Author Talk hosted by the Paul Robeson Library at Rutgers-Camden
Tuesday, September 17 at 6:00 PM
Virtual, join us from anywhere by registering here!
I’m really looking forward to having a discussion and Q&A with librarians from the Paul Robeson Library at Rutgers-Camden, where there’s currently an exhibit about the ten year anniversary of Jersey Collective.
Nutley’s Fall Festival in the Park
Sunday, September 29 from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Memorial Park I, Nutley, NJ
I was supposed to vend at this last fall but it got rained out—keep your fingers crossed for better weather this year!
Geek Flea
Saturday, November 23 from 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church: 663 Kearny Ave, Kearny NJ
Come say hi, browse the other vendors, and don’t skip the snack bar/bake sale!
Bell Works Fresh Holiday Market
Saturday, December 7 from 2:00-7:00 PM
Bell Works: 101 Crawfords Corner Rd, Holmdel, NJ
Special afternoon/evening market featuring vendors and photos with Santa! I’ll have all the usual stuff plus maybe something new by then, so you can knock out all your holiday shopping in person!
Can’t make it to an event? Shop our online souvenir shop! New Jersey Fan Club is also available wherever books are sold—if your favorite local shop doesn’t have it, ask them to order it! Same goes for your local library.
End-of-Summer Shop SALE!
I do this very infrequently because it’s just me dealing with the web orders, but now through September 3rd, everything is on sale in our shop! Get Go Fish! decks for $15 each instead of $17. Stickers are all discounted by $1 or more. The only items excluded are multipacks (already always a deal!), our already-cheap logo stickers, and New Jersey Fan Club. I don’t run sales often and can’t promise I’ll do another one closer to the holidays, so if you are planning to give Go Fish or anything else as a gift this year, here’s your chance to save a little!
Should I publicly admit that I, a film school graduate and a more-or-less lifelong New Jerseyan, have never actually seen Garden State? This oral history of the making of the film and its cultural impact was a fun read and makes me want to see it!
Be forewarned: while this link is not obscene, it’s not exactly safe for work either! I love that New York magazine did a delightful piece for their ongoing “Look Book” series—where they photograph and interview people at different places/events—at Gunnison Beach, New Jersey’s clothing-optional beach on Sandy Hook. I loved these portraits and the accompanying interviews. Everyone looks so self-assured and chill and comfortable! And it’s fun seeing what they chose to cover up with for the photos.
Literary Hub and Wildsam put together this beautifully designed "Literary Road Trip Across America,” with suggestions of where and what to read in each state. For New Jersey, they shined a light on our friends at Little City Books in Hoboken, William Carlos Williams, and Allen Ginsberg. The books they chose for New Jersey are American Pastoral by Philip Roth and The Pine Barrens by John McPhee. I can’t help wishing they would’ve showed some love for Judy Blume or some more contemporary writers, but still worth perusing the piece!
Highlighting our locally-based independent retailer partners who carry our products!
Pretty Handy Makerspace & Gift Shop
Location: Nutley, NJ
Pretty Handy is a combination makerspace and retail shop that offers summer camps and arts/crafts programs for kids, customized products, and a vast gift shop. They especially carry a lot of New Jersey and Nutley-specific items. And now you can also grab a deck of New Jersey Go Fish! from them, or some of our stickers!
Welcome to the NJ Q+A, where we hear from an interesting New Jerseyan!
This month, we spoke to writer Patrick Lombardi, who recently released an essay collection called Clear as Clay and who previously published The New Jersey Food Truck Cookbook. We asked him about both of these things and for some book recs.
What was your path like in terms of ending up a writer?
Since I learned to read and write in elementary school, I've loved writing my own stories. So when I enrolled in college, majoring in English with a concentration in writing was a no-brainer. At the time, I planned to go to law school, even though I secretly knew I just wanted to write. After college, I worked as a freelance journalist and photographer before getting a steady full-time gig in which I was predominantly writing. Around then I learned from a friend about self-publishing and tried it with a collection of short stories and essays I had written over the years. It was meant to be a one-off publication, because I had (and still do have haha) that imposter syndrome, telling myself this path wasn't for me. However, three books later, I'm happy that I've stuck with it. About two years ago, after my son was born, I made sure that writing daily was a part of my routine, and one way or another I'll be publishing more.
Last year you co-authored The New Jersey Food Truck Cookbook, which includes recipes from and profiles of some local food trucks. How did that project come about and what can you share about the process of putting it together?
One of my original series with BestofNJ.com was a food truck series, where we highlighted some of the best food trucks around New Jersey and incorporated interviews and photos. I always wondered if I could turn that series into a book. Then one day I was talking to a local author, who reinforced the idea, saying that there are publishers who'd definitely be interested in a food truck book. I brainstormed the format, which included recipes from each food truck—because they're all so dedicated to their craft that I knew they had thoughtful recipes for everything they made, and I thought this would be an excellent way to promote the businesses. I reached out to my editor at BestofNJ.com, and we partnered up. The process overall was a lot of fun. Most people in the food truck industry, especially those in this book, are so kind and passionate about what they do. The families and couples and everyone are wonderful to work with, making my job of interviewing, photographing, and writing a lot easier.
Your latest book, Clear of Clay, is a collection of humorous essays about "family dynamics, the absurdities of the workplace, and the joys and tribulations of embracing adulthood." How did you get the idea for this book?
Observations of adulthood turned out to be a running theme in most of the pieces I had written for a period of time. Most of them were written between about 2014 and 2021. Each piece was rewritten, revised, and edited at least a dozen times over, and during that revision process I realized that, in my writing, I was often trying to understand myself as an adult through what was happening around me. During that time especially, I was reading a ton of David Sedaris, Dave Barry, and comedian memoirs. It was all I could write, too. Sometimes I felt like I was writing standup routines. The revision process helped me reflect and reign in my themes and beef up my messages for readers. They're ideas and experiences that I hope a lot of people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s can relate to, as we all have to work and grind at the same time our parents are asking us why we're not running Google...
What is something you hope readers will take away from reading Clear as Clay?
Don't take yourself so seriously all the time. Question your decisions; challenge yourself, but be good to yourself (stole that last bit from Journey). A lot of the book is reflection, and while in some moments I act like I'm confident in what I'm doing, the retellings of those situations show I'm critical of my past-self's decisions. Even for non-writers, I think it's beneficial to have that sort of reflection system for yourself; it's helped me become more patient and understanding and behave a lot better now than I used to.
Lastly, since you have a "What I'm Reading" section on your website (where you also gave the books unusual and funny ratings), can you recommend any recent reads
This might surprise some readers, but I've always been a huge fan of horror. Books, movies, comics, all of it. (It's actually primarily what I've written since I was a weird little kid.) Clay McLeod Chapman, Rachel Harrison1, Grady Hendrix, and Paul Tremblay have blown me away recently. Also, Riley Sager's2 mystery/thriller Home Before Dark is one of my favorite reads from the past couple years. For something that's a little more similar to Clear As Clay, though, I really enjoyed Tom Segura's new book, I'd Like to Play Alone, Please; his audiobook reading is hilarious. And how could I go without recommending The New Jersey Fan Club?? Absolutely wonderful anthology, featuring some engaging voices and artists from the Garden State. Loved it all the way through!
Aw, shucks. Thank you, Patrick!
The Jersey City Arts Council is looking for its next Jersey City Poet Laureate. Deadline: 8/31.
AddamsFest, an annual event celebrating Westfield’s own Charles Addams, is looking for artists to submit their “artistic interpretation of modern day witches, warlocks, wizards and other mystical enchantments” for a group show that will also display works by Addams. All visual mediums welcome. Deadline: 9/4.
AddamsFest is also seeking artists to paint windows around town in October. Deadline: 9/6.
Studio Montclair is looking for entries for a photography show called Dwelling in Hope, which will feature “images expressing the concept of finding hope within the familiar, everyday aspects of our lives.” They especially would like “photographs made in and around your own home or in the heart of your community.” Deadline: 9/6. Entry fees: members $35, non-members: $40 for up to 3 images.
Newark-based artists and art organizations can apply for fellowship grants to support their work. Deadline: 9/9.
New Jersey-based artist Sharkboy Stuff has collaborated with Sarcastic Moth Press for a charity zine called Going for Gold: a Queer Sports Zine. They are seeking “LGBTQ+ participation in athletics whether this is a personal experience, informational, or an original story,” in the form of comics, illustrations, or writing. Deadline: 9/15.
Our friends at Dense Magazine have opened applications for Jersey Art Book Fair 2025! They’re looking for “book artists, zine makers, small presses and indie publishers across genres and subjects” to exhibit at the fair. Deadline: 9/30. $10 application fee, or apply before 8/31 and use code JAB5OFF and pay $5.
We did an interview with Rachel Harrison for Jersey Collective Reads last year, which you can watch here! I was sick at the time so Courtney handled it without me, and I was VERY bummed to miss out because I loved Black Sheep.
A fellow New Jersey-based author!