The latest release from local children’s author Diana Pishner Walker features two characters based on a pair that many in Bridgeport are familiar with.

 

Benny and Turner are the protagonists in “A Christmas Feast: A Fishy Tale” and both names can be traced to All Saints Church.

 

“It is dedicated to two of the priests who were at All Saints in Bridgeport,” Pishner Walker said. “Father Benny Kapa and Father Chris Turner, the reason being they always teased me about not being in any of my books because I go to Mass there. So, I used their names in this book. They are called Benny and Turner.

 

“Turner we used instead of Chris because it’s about The Feast of the Seven Fishes. He’s the one that turns the wheel, so we named him Turner.

 

“The boys get into a little bit of trouble, they go through a storm but it has a good ending.”

 

Father Kapa passed away earlier this year in January, so Pishner Walker is also happy the book will serve as a nice memory and tribute to him.

 

“The book was done when he was still with us and he knew that I was writing it and he was excited about being able to see it,” she said. “Then he passed before I had one in my hands to be able to give him one. Father Turner said Father Benny knows what we did and he’s proud of it.”

 

Pishner Walker was born in Clarksburg and attended Notre Dame High School where she graduated in 1977. She attended Fairmont State and was employed by the Marion County Board of Education for more than 25 years before turning her attention to a fulltime career as an author. She currently resides in Fairmont.

 

“A Christmas Feast: A Fishy Tale” like her previous children’s books, has a heartwarming story with an Italian-American theme. This particular tale takes place in an Italian fishing village many years ago — the them of remembering how things were in a previous era is also a big part of her previous works.

 

Her first release was a non-fiction book “I Don’t Want To Sit In The Front Row Anymore” and it is a self-published memoir that deals with the loss of both of her parents in the span of seven months of each other.

 

From there she joined Headline Books, who has published every one of her children’s books. The first came out in 2015 entitled “Spaghetti and Meatballs: Growing Up Italian” and it is about her own childhood.

 

All of her Headline releases have come with the same illustrator as well.

 

“Finding the right illustrator is so important with children’s books,” she said. “Ashley Belote has illustrated all of my children’s books. I imagine it, I think it, and she draws it. We work very well together.”

 

Next, she launched a series under the “Hopping to America” banner. The first being “Hopping to America: A Rabbits Tale of Immigration” which is the story of immigration from Italy to the United States to Ellis Island to Clarksburg by a family of rabbits.

 

The second in the series, “Hopping to America: A Rabbit’s Tale of LaBefana” which tells of the bunnies’ Italian Christmas traditions and how they intertwine with their new American culture.

 

“Hopping to America: A Rabbit’s Tale of a Wedding” is the third in the series and it is a story of love from across the ocean.

 

All three of the Hopping to America stories have been featured at the West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival, brought to life on state by the Vintage Theater Company.

 

“Seeing your characters come to life and see children get as much enjoyment out of it as you, is something special,” Pishner Walker said.”

 

Since she is so involved in creating children’s books, Pishner Walker is also a frequent guest at schools where another one of her works — an activity book “Hopping to America Coloring and Activity Book” has proven to be quite popular.

 

“When I go into the schools to talk to children most of the time the teachers purchase ahead to activity book so that when I leave, they have a follow-up to work with it,” she said.

 

“I do a lot of travel for book signings and there is nothing like that experience of having people coming to talk to you about your books and their life stories.”

 

That part of the business is tough on authors in the COVID-19 pandemic world we are living it as in-person crowd interaction has pretty much been shut down.

 

Pishner Walker is hopeful she can go virtual with a lot of those opportunities, one example being the WVIHF 2020 Authors Forum which was filmed a week ago to be a part of the festival’s Labor Day weekend virtual activities. “A Christmas Feast: A Fishy Tale” was presented at the forum.

 

The video of the forum can be found HERE.

 

More information about all of her releases, including how to purchase them can be found at her website HERE.