Shelby Van Pelt never thought her first would be a popular success, and she never thought it would be optioned to be a major movie starring Sally Field — but all those things are happening, and she shared her thoughts with the community of Poplar Bluff.
Van Pelt spoke to a large crowd at the Tinnin Center, located on the Three Rivers College campus, culminating the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library’s 2024 Book in the Bluff.
Van Pelt is the author of the book “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” which was featured throughout the Book in the Bluff event. Following her speaking engagement, she signed several copies of her book for a long line of fans.
“This is my third event in Missouri,” Van Pelt informed the crowd. “I spoke in Joplin and in Springfield, and I honestly believe that Poplar Bluff is the most beautiful location of all the ones I have been to in this state.”
Van Pelt shared with the crowd how she embarked on her journey as a writer.
“I actually majored in philosophy and economics in college,” Van Pelt noted. “I ended up working a boring spreadsheet job, and at one point I thought: ‘I don’t know what will feed my soul but Microsoft Excel is not it.’”
After relocating to Atlanta, Gerogia with her husband, Van Pelt enrolled in a creative writing class. It was there that she wrote what would essentially become the first pages of her novel. She explained her inspiration for having an octopus as one of the central characters being the result of going “down a Youtube rabbit hole one afternoon and being inspired by stories of these naughty octopuses who kept escaping captivity.”
The process of writing the book did take a while, though, and Van Pelt said was guilty of “picking it up and putting it down” repeatedly until the year 2020.
“I’m sorry, I may have jinxed everyone that year,” Van Pelt joked. “On New Year’s Day, 2020, my friend and I both committed to finishing our books in 2020, no matter what.”
Since being published in 2022, her book has spent 56 weeks in total on the New York Times best seller list. Van Pelt also said Poplar Bluff is the first location where she could publicly announce her book as being optioned and in production for a movie starring actress Sally Field.
Best event so far
Prior to introducing Van Pelt, Library Director Shannon Midyett informed the large crowd this year’s event was “the most successful Book in the Bluff event so far.”
Midyett explained 2024 was the fifth year for the biannual event, which has built on the success of the previous years.
“We hope that we are creating opportunities for community and new relationships through discussion,” Midyett remarked.
Midyett said prior to this year, the most successful Book in the Bluff was the first year, 2016. The numbers from this year’s event broke the previous record held by the inaugural event.
In total, the numbers were:
• Times the novel Remarkably Bright Creatures was checked out from the library since the BITB launch on June 3rd: 322
• Participants across the 9 BITB events: 426
• Audience members at the Shelby Van Pelt author appearances (public event and school event): 169
• Copies of the novel either sold or gifted by Sterling Bank, the event sponsor, in the community: 300
“There wouldn’t be a Book in the Bluff event without our partners,” Midyett noted. “Sterling Bank has been so supportive since the very beginning of this program. Every time we have asked for help, they have answered the call.”
Midyett also thanked Friends of the Library group and the Library Board of Trustees for their collective involvement.
The event at TRC was dedicated to the memory of Emily Kinder Wolpers, who was a committee member for the Poplar Bluff Public Library’s Community Read program.