Ryan Stradal grew up in the southern Minnesota town of Hastings and, by his own admission, often failed his driver’s license exams. He also graduated from Northwestern University where he slipped on the ice all too often. However, he went on to become a prolific writer and his books are too many to be listed.  

Stradal has had a very interesting career and will speak at the La Cañada Flintridge Orthopaedic Guild (LCFOG) annual Book and Author Luncheon on Oct. 24, at the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club, 5500 Godbey Drive in La Cañada.

Stradal is a man of many talents. His latest novel, “Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club,” was an instant national bestseller. It debuted at No. 11 on the national ABA Indiebound list and No. 7 on the Los Angeles Times list and was the No. 1 selling hardcover fiction book among independent bookstores in its first week of release.

“Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club” is the story of Mariel and Ned, a couple from two very different restaurant families in Rustic, Minnesota. It tells the legacy of love and tragedy and the hardship and hope that unites and divides them.

Stradal will also present “Lager Queen of Minnesota,” a national best seller in its first week of release and was named one of the best books of the year by USA. This book won him the WILLA Literary Award, which honors the best in literature featuring women/young girls stories set in the West. “Lager Queen of Minnesota” is the story of Edith and Helen, estranged since their father died and left the farm to Helen. It shows how a family business succeeds with generations of strong, determined women at the helm. It will make readers laugh and maybe even cry.

Stradal’s shorter writings have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Guardian and the Los Angeles Review of Books, to name a few.

He is married and a father, does not own a gun or a motorcycle, likes books, wine, sports, root beer, craft beer and peas.

Now that readers know all about J. Ryan Stradal, plan to come to the Book and Author Luncheon on Oct. 24 at the La Cañada Country Club and meet him in person. He will be available to sign his books at that time.

Tickets for the Book and Author Luncheon will be available the first week of September. Contact either Joan Cleven at (818) 249-4603 or Joanne Ploszaj at (818) 249-82876 and ask for an invitation.          

LCFOG is proud of its silent auction with numerous items “too good to miss bidding on,” according to Marie Baker and her assistants Alicia Thompson and Chris Wright Roper. Working in the background to provide donations to the silent auction has been DeeDee Nuanes, Ways and Means chair. All funds generated at the luncheon, from the sale of books to the last item on the auction table, will go directly to Luskin Orthopaedic Institute for Children (LuskinOIC). Over the years LCFOG has donated over $844, 059 to help children “Grow Well and Play Well.”

LuskinOIC is deeply committed to providing the best orthopaedic medical care for children, whether a broken hand or the need for a prosthetic leg or arm. They believe every child should have access to the best medical care available and not be limited because they do not have insurance or are underinsured. This is a practice started in 1911 when Dr. Charles LeRoy Lowman was treating crippled children at USC’s Graves Memorial Clinic. For over 110 years no child in need of orthopaedic medical care has ever been turned away for lack of funds.

Submitted by Arlene MASSIMINO