Courtesy Photo New York Times best-selling author Shelby Van Pelt will visit Alpena on June 3.

ALPENA — The Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library is pleased to announce that New York Times best-selling author Shelby Van Pelt will be the 2024 Spring Author.

Van Pelt, the author of runaway bestseller “Remarkably Bright Creatures”, also known as “That Octopus Book”, will appear at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 3. The event will be held in the Stanley Beck Auditorium at Alpena High School.

Van Pelt will be available immediately following the event for signing. Books will be available for purchase from Parallel 45 Books and Gifts.

“Remarkably Bright Creatures” is the author’s debut novel, published in 2022. The novel has received widespread recognition for its portrayal of grief, loneliness, and the need for connection.

Tickets will be available to purchase through the library’s website www.alpenalibrary.org beginning Wednesday, Jan. 17. Tickets are $30 for the main floor and mezzanine and $20 for balcony seating.

With wit and charm, Shelby Van Pelt’s luminous debut novel, “Remarkably Bright Creatures”, explores the unlikely friendship of a widow and a giant Pacific Octopus. After her husband dies, Tova begins working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium where she encounters curmudgeonly Marcellus. In the midst of this remarkable friendship, the mysterious past of two young men begins to unfold, untangle, and ultimately offer a future that once seemed impossible.