ELLA WEBER

"The Deli Diaries" Book Tour + Art Talk

Tuesday, March 25, 4 p.m. Book signing to follow.

Free | Museum of Art | Sinnott Family – Bank of Utica Auditorium 

About the Artist

Ella Weber, a former Artist-in-Residence at Munson, is a basement-based artist blending humor, storytelling, and play into her work. With an MFA in printmaking from the University of Kansas, she transforms day jobs into art, capturing life’s absurdities. Her debut novel, The Deli Diaries, is a sharp and heartfelt take on life behind the counter.

For more information about Weber, visit ellaweber.com/the-deli-diaries. 

About the book | The Deli Diaries

"A stream-of-consciousness tour through a shift that is at once one day and many days, with Della pontificating on life, reality shows, dating, the patriarchy, and everything in between."   --Kirkus Reviews

Fresh out of art school with a pile of debt and a broken heart, Della moves into her parents’ basement in suburban Nebraska and lands a “temporary” job as a deli clerk. Struggling to smile under the small talk of corporate commands, she contends with mind-numbing 8-hour shifts, bumbling management, ruthless secret shoppers, and a crew of misfit coworkers. Despite the monotonous drudgery, can Della stay true to herself and find creative inspiration in a life behind the counter?

With inimitable quirkiness and fever dream flair, Ella Weber’s debut novel is a hysterical yet heartfelt parody of millennial plight, Midwest mediocrity, overweening artistic ambition, and the inanity of the daily delicatessen grind. As inventive and entertaining as autofiction gets, The Deli Diaries is an unforgettable slice of life unafraid to ask the big questions: Who ham I? What ham I? Where ham I? 

Published by Latah Books