Book Signing by Star-Ledger Reporter Mark Di Ionno

Meet award-winning Star-Ledger columnist Mark Di Ionno at Bernardsville Public Library on Saturday, April 6 at 2:00 pm.  He'll speak about and sign copies of his debut novel, "The Last Newspaper Man," which centers on the Lindbergh baby case that rocked the nation in the 1930s as well as three other major news stories of that era as seen through the eyes of Fred Haines, an ambitious reporter who covered them all.  The book, published by Plexus Publishing, Inc. was released last fall. 

A highly-praised debut novel, “The Last Newspaperman,” is a gripping critique about present-day journalism which focuses on sensationalism and often irrelevant and superficial news coverage.  Although Di Ionno’s new book is fiction, The Last Newspaperman explores the real roots of tabloid journalism where it was born.

During his book tour appearances, Di Ionno gives a thought-provoking look at the role of the media and how reporting has devolved to create the crime-saturated and celebrity-obsessed media we have today.  Learn about the fascinating real-life events that took place in New Jersey in the 1920s and 1930s which led to the birth of tabloid journalism, and how Charles Lindbergh became the first “celebrity” to be hounded by the press.

Mark Di Ionno is a lifetime newspaperman and a four-time winner of the New Jersey Press Association’s first-place award for column writing for The Star-Ledger.  His pieces have followed the most controversial Garden State stories including, in recent years, the Dharun Ravi trial and Governor James McGreevey’s resignation.  He has recently been providing in-depth coverage of the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

Besides his work as columnist and author, he is also an adjunct professor of journalism at his alma-mater Rutgers Newark, the State University of New Jersey.  Di Ionno is the author of three award-winning nonfiction books.  New Jersey’s Coastal Heritage and A Guide to New Jersey’s Revolutionary War Trail won the New Jersey Academic Alliance Award, which is judged by a consortium of librarians and historians.  Backroads, New Jersey was named among the most notable New Jersey books (1995–2005) by the New Jersey Center for the Book. 

The library's Saturday Samplers Book Group will meet after the book signing to discuss the book.  There is no charge to attend either program, but advance sign-up is requested for the book signing.  Register online at www.bernardsvillelibrary.org and follow the link from Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.