Roughly 600 people lined up at the Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley, PA on Sunday, April 17th for the chance to buy tickets for a Stephen King talk, reading, and Q&A to take place on June 8th.
The initial first sales window for tickets had been scheduled to begin at 11, according to Penguin Bookshop’s posted guidelines about the event, but by 9AM approximately 400 people were already in a line that started at the Penguin Bookshop on Beaver Street and wrapped around several blocks. Some had even camped out overnight, determined not to miss out on a ticket for the event, which includes a copy of King’s forthcoming hardcover, End of Watch (Scribner). Penguin Bookshop’s event — “An Evening with Stephen King” at Sewickley Academy’s Rea Auditorium — will be King’s second stop in support of his newest novel, which goes on sale June 7th, the day before he arrives in Pittsburgh!
First in line for tickets was Jan Gebicki, of Latrobe, with her daughter Jaclyn Devincentis and her two nieces. Gebicki said that seeing Stephen King was “number one on [her]bucket list” because she’s a huge fan of his short stories and his nonfiction book, On Writing. She arrived at Penguin Bookshop the day before at around 1PM and camped out overnight in front of the store.
Next in line were Tim and Denise Harrigan, who drove four hours from Springfield, OH, to get in line at around 4PM the day before. The couple found out about the event on Facebook (and their favorite King novels include the author’s Dark Tower fantasy series and It). Karen Luketic also arrived the day before with her eleven year old son. Luketic said this was a rare chance to see King, as he rarely does events in Pennsylvania (she estimated that it had been at least four years since he had done so). Her favorite King novels are also his Dark Tower books, while her son is a fan of the Under the Dome TV series.
The youngest person in line? One-year-old Maximus Wilkinson — accompanied by his mother, Nicole.
While the line was certainly long, there was a buzz of excitement among the crowd over the course of the morning and into the early afternoon, helped by the beautiful weather and enterprising employees from the nearby Starbucks who ran up and down the line taking drink orders. Susan Hans O’Connor — owner of the Penguin Bookshop — and several staff members walked through the crowd, answering questions and keeping things moving until tickets sold out at about 2:30PM.
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