Local authors of mysteries, crime novels and thrillers will speak at a free program Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 7 p.m., at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison.
The writers are:
Geoffrey Craig, author of “Scudder’s Gorge” (Prolific Press, $16.95), a novel about man’s inhumanity to man and the struggle for dignity for all people from 18th century Vermont to Hiroshima. Craig lives in Bloomfield. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer and banker, and now writes fiction, poetry and drama.
D.H. Robbins, author of “Chamelea” (CreateSpace, $14.95), an avant-garde historical novel set in the 1960s in New York, about a pastor who thinks the voices he hears in his mind are the words of God, but may be schizophrenia. He regards his dangerous alter-ego, Chamelea, as a force for good that absorbs souls, not a killer. Robbins lives in Simsbury.
Jack Smith, author of “The Unknown” (Xlibris, 29,99), a mystery novel about a newborn abandoned in a dumpster who survives and grows up to repeatedly escape strangers who are out to kill her.
Linda Morrison Spear, author of “The Iceman Checks Out” (Green Ivy, $15.99), a crime novel set at chemical industry company, where a brutal downsizer is murdered after firing many employees and a day later, another murder takes place. Are the crimes connected, and if so, who done ’em?
On Wednesday, Aug. 24, at 6 p.m. at the bookstore, best-selling author Elin Hilderbrand will discuss her novel “Here’s to Us” (Little Brown and Company, $28), in which three romantic rivals, who had all been married to a celebrity chef and hate each other, are brought together for a drama-filled weekend at the Nantucket home where he has died. The book is Hildebrand’s 17th novel.
On Thursday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m., best-selling author Lauren Belfer will discuss her novel “And After the Fire” (Harper, $26.99). The story involves a European woman in 18th century Germany and a 20th century American woman whose lives are changed by the discovery in Germany in 1945 of a long-hidden anti-Jewish cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Belfer, who lives in New York City, has won many awards for her novels.
The events are free, but require registration: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
Connecticut Authors Trail
The eighth Annual Connecticut Authors Trail, a series of free talks at 20 eastern Connecticut libraries, from Mansfield to Mystic, continues with three events and will have its finale Sept. 15 at Mohegan Sun with romance writer Kristan Higgins.
On Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 6:30 p.m., at Preston Public Library, 389 Connecticut Route. 2, Preston (860-886-1010), John-Manuel Andriote will speak. He is the author of “Tough Love: A Washington Reporter Finds Resilience, Ruin, and Zombies in His ‘Other Connecticut’ Hometown” (self-published, $21), a collection of newspaper articles, essays and columns about life in eastern Connecticut. Andriote also is the author of “Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America” and “Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco.” He is working on “Stonewall Strong,” a narrative nonfiction book about building gay men’s resilience, to be published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2017. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, BBC News, Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Review of Books and the Washington Post.
On Thursday, Aug. 25, at 6:30 p.m., at Mansfield Public Library, 54 Warrenville Road, Mansfield Center (860-423-2501), Heather Webb will speak. Webb, who lives in New England, is the author of the historical novels “Becoming Josephine” and “Rodin’s Lover” (Both Plume, $15). Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, France Magazine, Dish Magazine, Houston Chronicle, and more.
Information: connecticutauthorstrail.org.
The Author’s Table
Jan Mann, author of “How I Won the West: A Journey of Discovery” (Hillside House, $15), will give a free Author’s Table talk at Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., Hartford, on Wednesday, Aug. 24, from noon to 3 p.m. The book describes her solo five-week, 6,400-mile trip to the Western U.S. and is a guide to planning such a trip, traveling economically and packing the car wisely. Mann is also the author of “Cruising Connecticut with a Picnic Basket.”
Information: 860-695-6300 or hplct.org.
Young Adult Author Panel
Lucy Robbins Welles Library, 95 Cedar St., Newington, will present a free Young Adult Authors Panel program on Thursday, Aug. 25, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., featuring Karen Fortunati (“The Weight of Zero” Delacorte Press, $17.99), Kate McGovern (“Rules for 50/50 Chances” Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17.99), Shannon Parker (“The Girl Who Fell” Simon Pulse, $17.99), and Rebecca Podos (The Mystery of Hollow Places” Balzer + Bray, $17.99).
Information: 860-665-8707 or mroyer@newingtonct.gov.
The Mischievous Moustache
Alan Katz, author of “The Day the Moustache Came Back” and “The Day the Moustache Took Over” ( both Bloomsbury USA Childrens, $13.99), will give a free multimedia presentation aimed at young readers at Avon Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon, on Wednesday, Aug. 24, at 2 p.m.
Information: 860-673-9712 or avonctlibrary.info.
Poetry In the Park
María Luisa Arroyo will give the closing program of this summer’s free Poetry in the Park series presented by the Curbstone Foundation at Julia de Burgos Park, Jackson Street and Terry Avenue, Willimantic, on Thursday, Aug. 25, at 6 p.m.
Arroyo, the first poet laureate of Springfield, is the author of “Gathering Words: Recogiendo Palabras” (Bilingual Review, $13) and other works. An open mike will follow her reading.
Information: 860-287-8056.
Poetry Place Series
The Clinton Art Gallery will continue its free Poetry Place Sunday Series on Sunday, Aug. 21, with a reading at 2 p.m. in the Laurel Ann Olcott Art Center, 20 E. Main St., Clinton.
Connecticut poets Jane D’Arista, Nancy Fitz-Hugh Meneely and Sarah Ingram will read, and an open mike will follow.
Information: 860-552-3239 or clintonartgallery.org.
Poetry On The Patio
West Hartford former and current poet laureates: Maria Sassi, Denise Barone, Jim Finnegan, Ginny Lowe Connors and Christine Beck, will give a free outdoor reading (weather permitting) on Tuesday, Aug. 23, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Bishops Corner patio outside Blue Plate Kitchen, 345 N. Main St. in West Hartford. Guests are asked to bring their own seating.
Information: web.whchamber.com/events/Arts-Bishops-Corner-367/details.
