LYNN — Growing up, Benji Wozniak spent his days hanging out at Goldfish Pond with his friends and Dungeon Rock on field trips with his elementary school. Lynn, he said, is a special place, and one that can be read about in his recently self-published book.
Wozniak’s new book, “Hodge Podge,” contains a series of short stories and poems, many of which take place at locations throughout Lynn.
“I’ve included many locations of Lynn like High Rock Tower, Dungeon Rock, Goldfish Pond, just stuff that’s overlooked by people,” he said.
Wozniak acknowledged that some people tend to have a negative view of Lynn. They only see the violence and equate the city to the poem “Lynn, Lynn the city of sin, you never come out the way you went in,” he said.
“But I grew up here,” Wozniak said. “This is my home, I love Lynn. It has a lot of history that people overlook.”
His favorite short story in “Hodge Podge” is called “A Common Christmas.”
“It’s just about a relationship between a teenager and his girlfriend and the banter that they have between them. Like it’s just a cute little story and I think people can relate to it,” Wozniak said.
The book has been a work-in-progress for most of his life, Wozniak said. He began writing it around the age of 12.
“I wanted to publish it because we’re our biggest enemies, we self-doubt ourselves more than anything,” Wozniak said. “I did this because I wanted my grandkids to look back and be like, ‘Alright, he did this. He’s done everything he wanted to do. He wrote a book, he does a podcast, he does stand up comedy.’ I want the young kids to realize that you know, don’t give up on your dreams.”
In his podcast, “Woz Happening,” he and a friend of his review movies. Wozniak is also in the process of finishing up another book that is a continuation of “A Common Christmas.”
The feedback he has received from the book has been great so far, he said.
“The stories aren’t all the same. Some of them are ghost stories, some of them are romance, some of them are mysteries, some of them are comedies,” Wozniak said. “It’s like Lynn, it’s a hodgepodge of stuff.”
This past week, he donated some copies of “Hodge Podge” to the Lynn Public Library. He will be holding a book signing on June 24 at Balin Books in Nashua from 2 to 4 p.m.
