Library find sparks author’s debut novel

The great-great-grandson of a legendary competitive walker takes up his ancestral activity and treads thousands of miles to connect with family in “Walker,” the debut novel from Irvington native Sam Pasternack. The book was released by Humorist Books in August 2024, and Pasternack, a 2009 graduate of Irvington High School who now lives in Los Angeles, made a book tour stop at the Irvington Public Library last month.

“It was really fun to get back to Irvington because that’s where we [he and younger brother Jesse] found the seed of the idea in the first place, hidden in the Irvington Library,” Pasternack told the Dispatch, adding that his friends’ parents, his former pediatrician, and his childhood rabbi were among the locals in attendance on Dec. 17. “The way I describe it is, it felt like my second bar mitzvah.”

The initial inspiration for “Walker” dates to 2016, when Jesse came across a book — at the library — titled “Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America's Favorite Spectator Sport,” by author and journalist Matthew Algeo. He knew that pedestrianism, also known as competitive walking, would be in line with his brother’s oddball interests.