Signing Day Saturday: Summer Edition (Grand Rapids)

We love our indie authors! Join us for our summer edition of Signing Day Saturday, where a selection of local, indie authors from all over Michigan will be stopping by throughout the day to chat and sign books. This is an open-house-style event, so feel free to drop in at our Grand Rapids location to chat and get your book signed!Tom Huggler will be signing from 11:00am to 1:00pm, Brandon G. Kroupa will be signing from 1:30pm to 3:30pm, and Melissa Vanderzyden will be signing from 4:00pm-6:00pm.We love seeing who is planning to join us! Your RSVP helps us prepare to host you. You can RSVP here: https://events.humanitix.com/signing-day-saturday-summer-edition-sbgr826About The Woman She Left Behind:In the spring of 1862, widowed Rachel Barnum leaves three children with her farm's hired man in Michigan to embark on either a fool's errand or a hero's journey. Traveling alone into the heart of darkness, Rachel needs to find her son Dwight, a Union soldier dying hundreds of miles away on a Missouri battlefield.When a large Rebel force entrenched on a Mississippi River island stymies her mission, Rachel fears she won't find Dwight in time to save him. And she despairs each day she's gone from her 10-year-old twin girls and another son, 16, who can't abide the hired man. With time running out, Rachel faces an agonizing decision: abandon her firstborn to the ravages of war and go back to family and the man she loves? Or fight on against all odds?Until her death at age 96, Rachel reveled in sharing her life's tales as a pioneer wife and mother but never told what happened as the Civil War's second year began. The Woman She Left Behind is that story.About the Author:Tom Huggler is a full-time freelance writer and author of 20 nonfiction books and two novels, including his latest historical fiction, THE WOMAN SHE LEFT BEHIND (Sunacumen Press, 2025). Born in Detroit, he grew up in the Flint area, has lived in Michigan his entire life, and now resides near Sunfield in Ionia County.About 30 Storeys:Carlton Wolverton's big day has arrived. Today, Carlton has a meeting with a highly regarded publisher and the expectation of a book deal for his first novel. After a productive meeting, Carlton gets into the elevator to leave when misfortune strikes... The elevator cables snap As Carlton plummets to a possible demise, he recounts a story as each floor passes by him. If he survives... He'll have 30 Storeys to tell.About the Author:Brandon G. Kroupa, a self-published author, started his journey into writing in October of 2005 after hearing the song, "The Legend" by Steve Cook, which was the inspiration for his first novel, "The Seventh Year,"which saw its release in April of 2012.He publishes through the Chapbook Press, which is located inside Schuler Books, a local, independent bookstore in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has since gone onto "self-publish" seven other titles including his most recent work, "30 Storeys" You will find him every "Writing Wednesday," as they have come to be known, sitting comfortably in his home office, listening to movie scores or Christmas music, while working on his next novel.As a self-published author, he has a unique approach and outlook which is, “If I sell one book at a signing or even hand out one business card, then that signing was a success.” You may ask, "But it was only one?" True, but that one might tell others who will get them interested and then that one turns to two and so on. It works, trust him.His books are stories inspired by songs, life-events, and personal interests.About Sorrow’s Apprentice: Becoming a Student of Grief, and the Lessons on Love, Loss, and Living:What if grief is not something to solve or heal from, but a teacher that holds profound wisdom?In Sorrow's Apprentice: Becoming a Student of Grief, and the Lessons on Love, Loss, and Living, Melissa VanderZyden reflects on her own experience of living through two devastating losses in 2005 within a three-and-a-half month period: first, the death of her infant son, and then, the death of her husband and father to her two young children.Blending personal narrative with therapeutic wisdom as a clinical social worker, this post-modern memoir gently challenges the cultural pressure often felt by grievers to "move on" from their grief. Instead, VanderZyden invites readers to consider grief as a companion and teacher - one that reveals:how grief is its own languagehow loss reshapes identityhow grief is meant to be witnessedhow grief is held in the bodyhow grief is universalhow love endureshow meaning can emerge even in the most broken placesThoughtful, compassionate, and quietly hopeful, Sorrow's Apprentice speaks to:those who are navigating their own experiences with grief and losshelping professionals and caregiversreaders seeking deeper conversations around connection, compassion, and meaningTender and honest, Sorrow's Apprentice is for anyone learning how to carry love and loss at the same time.About the Author:Melissa VanderZyden is a licensed clinical social worker, with over 30 years in the field, who has both personal and professional experience navigating grief and loss. Blending personal narrative with therapeutic wisdom, her post-modern memoir, Sorrow's Apprentice: Becoming a Student of Grief, and the Lessons on Love, Loss, and Living, gently challenges the cultural pressure to "move-on" following loss. Instead, VanderZyden invites readers to consider grief as a companion and teacher--one that reveals how love endures, how loss reshapes identity, and how meaning can emerge even in the most devastating places.