IN HIS OWN WORDS

Homer Hickam’s Keynote Address at the West Virginia Writer’s Inc., conference, on June 7, 2025 at Cedar Lakes in Ripley, West Virginia

Author and West Virginia native Homer Hickam gave the keynote address on June 7, 2025, at a conference of West Virginia Writers, Inc., at Cedar Lakes in Ripley, West Virginia. He offered up some funny and insightful commentary on how he got his name (and how his elder brother, Jim, got the better name for football and girls); his Dad’s unfiltered thought about his visage the first time he saw him as a newborn after he turned out not to be the ‘Susie’ they expected; plus, glimpses and readings from books other than the one—“Rocket Boys” and its spin-off movie, “October Sky”—which delivered Hickam global fame. Since then, he notes in his address, he has published a total of 20 books, including the one about the alligator his mother’s former love interest Buddy Ebsen (yes, that Buddy Ebsen) gifted her after she married the man who would become Hickam’s dad. The alligator’s name was ‘Albert,’ and his mother had to think about it awhile after his father declared it was either him or the alligator—one of them had to go.

CLICK THE VIDEO above to here his full address. FOR MORE ON West Virginia Writers, Inc., view their website and Facebook page.

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