BH: Gary Maggio signs and discusses his book, The Christmas Book, on Saturday October 22nd at 3pm.

The Christmas Book, by Gary Maggio, was borne of a desire to join several decades of Yuletide drawings, mostly whimsical pastels or pen and ink art, by Gary Maggio, with his musings about a lifetime of Christmases. Maggio has created a twinkling homage to his wife Barbara, who has slowly and surely transformed Christmas every year into a delight of anticipation and magic. It is her vision and spirit of hope which inspired this book. Gary Maggio, from Brooklyn, has lived 40 years in Albany, NY. He is a visual artist, poet and actor. "Gary Maggio has created the perfect stocking stuffer in The Christmas Book, a slim volume that brims with festive drawings and whimsical musings stretching from his Long Island childhood to Albany adulthood. The pages contain brightly colored, animated artwork of all the things that make the season merry and bright. Maggio enters the narrative through the backdoor in a sly, understated and self-deprecating tone. His vignettes capture the joy and heartache behind a lifetime of tinsel-refracted memories. His work brings to mind the modernist visual fables of Marc Chagall and the imaginative journeys of book illustrator and author Maira Kalman. But Maggio is a true original and The Christmas Book will light up anyone’s holiday season." -- Paul Grondahl [Times Union]