Pomeroy author wins award for first novel

POMEROY– "Glory Grove" a first novel written by local resident Gary Bye, has received the Benjamin Franklin Silver Award in the Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book (Fiction) category of Independent Book Publishers Association's contest. The contest received close to 1,800 entries. "It's a very bid honor for a prestigious award," Bye said. "It made all the work worthwhile." He stated that the novel has been well received, both in the county and in distant places.

Bye, who has written numerous magazine articles, credited a writers' group that meets monthly at the Denny Ashby Library with the inspiration to write a novel. "I went home from the first meeting and wrote the first sentence," Bye said. "I was thrilled to win the award and receive recognition for my first attempt at writing a fictional novel. I've had a lot of good feedback from readers, especially Pomeroy people and am working on a sequel. I really appreciate all the encouragement I have received and owe a lot to the Pomeroy Writers Group which got me started down this path. And of course my family helped me along the way," Bye said.