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In a sun-filled room overrun by spindly hanging plants Edward Kelsey Moore sits in his favorite chair to write. He scribbles notes—always in pencil and always on index cards. These cards will one day become his next novel.

On the bookshelf sits an older, well-thumbed stack of cards. These are the early scratchings of what is now his funny and poignant debut novel The Supreme's at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat. The novel tells the story of three African American woman as they deal with cheating husbands and debilitating illness, the whole time chiding each other over cups of coffee at the local diner.

Moore's path to becoming a novelist was not a direct one, although he says he knew he would one day write a book from an early age. He first studied music, becoming an accomplished cellist who has performed with the Chicago Philharmonic and the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra. It was Moore's relationship with music that enabled him to create the structure of his first novel. Lacking any formal writing education, Moore turned to his knowledge of how a symphony is structured as a model for formulating his narrative.

Edward Kelsey Moore lives in Chicago's North Park neighborhood, and he will be visiting Skokie Public Library for a discussion of The Supreme's at Earl's All-You Can-Eat on Wednesday, February 18 at 10 am. This novel is one of the featured books for 2015 Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township.