April 30, 2024

Award-winning novelist, comics writer and screenwriter Benjamin Percy spoke about his upbringing and evolution as an author at Lakeville North and Lakeville South high schools on Friday, Apr. 19. His visit was in conjunction with the Friends of the Lakeville Heritage Library’s new author series, Books with Friends. 

During his visit, Percy talked about growing up in Bend, Oregon and when his love of comics began, switching from archeology studies to writing in college and his overall journey to becoming the author he is today. He talked about the comics he’s worked on, screenwriting projects, his novels and future plans. Percy described the challenges and joys of working on different styles of writing projects. 

“I learned that Percy had an interesting path to becoming a writer. After college, he worked as a groundskeeper at Glacier National Park before deciding to head back to college to hone his writing skills,” said Rocky Boelter, Lakeville North media specialist. “He often failed to get his stories and articles published, but he kept writing and rewriting, eventually becoming a writer for DC Comics and then Marvel.” 

Percy went further in-depth on this year’s Books with Friends featured novel, The Ninth Metal. The Ninth Metal is the first novel in Percy’s sci-fi, crime and superhero Comet Cycle trilogy. It explores how a modern-day gold rush turns the middle of nowhere into the center of everything, with one family hoping to control it all. 

“We were pretty pumped about Benjamin’s visit since The Ninth Metal has been a big hit with our teachers and students,” said Boelter. 

The event also included a question and answer session where students asked about character development, storylining, Percy’s biggest achievements and more. As the event wrapped up, students were excited to take selfies with Percy, get his autograph on their copies of The Ninth Metal and ask him additional questions one-on-one. 

The Books with Friends author series is designed to bring renowned authors to the Lakeville community, promoting literacy and community engagement. For more information, visit the .