Nick Offerman, actor, author, humorist (and woodworker), 2015 Annual Conference Auditorium Speaker

For Immediate Release
Tue, 02/24/2015

Contact:

Amy McGuigan

Conference Manager

Conference Services

American Library Association

amcguigan@ala.org

CHICAGO – Actor Nick Offerman—best  known for his role as Ron Swanson on NBC's “Parks and Recreation”— promises 2015 Annual Conference attendees plenty of laughter when he appears as an Auditorium Speaker from 3:30-4:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 27. Offerman is also a humorist, woodworker and the author of the New York Times bestseller “Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living” and the forthcoming “Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers” (Dutton, May 2015).

As a lifelong reader coming from a family of librarians, he credits his aunt, Michelle Houchens, the local history librarian at the Three Rivers Public Library in Minooka, Illinois, with encouraging his love of reading. (His Aunt Michelle still works at the Three Rivers Public Library, where his sister Laurie is assistant director.)

Offerman acted with Chicago theater companies, worked as a fight choreographer and master carpenter at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and has appeared in numerous films. Prior to “Parks and Recreation,” for which he received the Television Critics Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy, his most prominent role was as factory worker and Benny-Lopez-love-interest Randy McGee on “George Lopez.” In 2007, he co-starred in the Comedy Central series “American Body Shop.” Other TV appearances include as a plumber on “Will & Grace,” as a hobo on “The King of Queens,” in “24” and in an episode of “The West Wing.”

Attendees can look forward to a humor-filled hour if the introduction on Offerman’s professional woodshop’s website is any indication: “We like to carve spoons, chainsaw stumps, plank canoes, keep our chisels sharp with stones, build pinball machines and fine furniture.  From refined modern designs to enormous Middle-Earth masterpieces, we build it all while smiling a lot.”

Offerman’s appearance at ALA Annual Conference is sponsored by Dutton, a division of Penguin Publishing.

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