DOWAGIAC — When he was growing up in the Missouri Ozarks, author Wade Rouse spent a lot of time with his grandmothers. He would go with them to the library, tug at the hems of their aprons as they cooked him dinner and sit in beauty parlors waiting for them to coif and perm their hair to perfection.

“They would get their hair permed and backcombed higher and higher until it reached, as one of my grandmothers used to say, ‘it reached God’s eye,’” Rouse recalled with a laugh. “‘If God can see it, I’m good,’ my grandma would say.”

Though the days of watching his grandmothers perm their hair are long past him, Rouse said they still affect him deeply today and influence the novels that he writes — many of which revolve around the ways women interact with each other.

Rouse took the stage at Southwestern Michigan College Friday evening as the final act of the 2019 Dogwood Fine Arts Festival. An internationally bestselling author, Rouse lives on the coast of Michigan in Saugatuck. Rouse pens his novels under the penname Viola Shipman, the name of his grandmother, and sets all of his stories in coastal Michigan. To date, his novels, including the recently released “The Summer Cottage” and “The Hope Chest” have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Friday’s event featured a presentation from Rouse and a section reading of “The Summer Cottage.” Following his presentation, Rouse sat down with Dogwood Fine Arts Festival representative Cindy Most for a question and answer session with the audience. Rouse spoke about his inspirations, the writing process and bookselling process, and why he chooses coastal Michigan as the setting for his novels.

One of the questions Rouse is most often asked is why he chose to write under a women’s pen name. As Viola Shipman is the name of his grandmother, Rouse said that the pen name is his way of honoring her.

“I didn’t choose the pen name. The pen name chose me,” he said.

Before he concluded his presentation, Rouse said he would encourage any potential writers to continue to follow their passion and that he would encourage readers to keep reading, as he believes that books are important to keep alive, even in today’s technology-focused world.

“Reading changes lives. Books change lives,” Rouse said. “What all of you do — those that write, read books, read to their children and their grandchildren, support authors and bookstores and libraries and events like this tonight — you change lives. I know because it changed mine.”

Dogwood Fine Arts Chair Jim Benedix said he enjoyed and was entertained by Rouse’s presentation. As the event marked the end of the 2019 Dogwood Fine Arts Festival, Benedix said he believes the 2019 festival was a successful celebration of the arts in Dowagiac.

“I thought we hit home runs with every event we had,” Benedix said. “We have such a diverse [lineup] that we touched on something for everyone.”