James Tillman was in his public housing apartment in Hartford when the police burst in and arrested him for the brutal rape of a young corporate executive. For more than 18 years, through a trial and appeals, he maintained his innocence to no avail until the Connecticut Innocence Project won Tillman’s freedom. He is the first person to be exonerated in Connecticut through DNA evidence.
With Jeffrey Kimball, Tillman has written an inspirational book about his false imprisonment and how he survived it. They will discuss “The Power of Conviction: My Wrongful Conviction 18 Years in Prison and the Freedom earned Through Forgiveness and Faith” (Morgan James, $17.99) at a free program presented by The Mark Twain House & Museum, Community Partners in Action and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center on Monday, June 8, at 7 p.m. at The Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford The program, moderated by John Motley, will be followed by an 8:30 p.m. dessert reception, and a book sale and signing.
The Twain House & Museum will host the launch “Mark Twain’s Guide to Diet, Exercise, Beauty, Fashion, Investment, Romance, Health & Happiness” (Prospect Park Books, $16.95) by Mark Dawidziak on Tuesday, June 9 at 7 p.m.
Dawidziak and Sara Showman, co-founders the Largely Literary Theater Company, will present a one-act play based on the book, which collects advice Twain gave on health and social behavior. Dawidziak, TV critic at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and a longtime friend of actor Hal Holbrook, has portrayed Twain on stage for more than 35 years and has written other books about him.The suggested donation is $5.
On Wednesday, June 10, the Twain House & Museum Center will present “The Trouble Begins” at 5:30 p.m. talk by Henry S. Cohn, a Superior Court judge, legal historian and Twain aficionado from West Hartford.
Judge Cohn will discuss the American Protestant Christians known as the Jaffa Colony in what is now Tel Aviv in Israel, whom Mark Twain wrote about in his book, “The Innocents Abroad.” The colony, led by a charismatic preacher, believed they could bring on the Second Coming of Christ by encouraging Jewish resettlement of Palestine, but they failed in a venture Twain called a “complete fiasco.” Cohn is the author of “The Great Hartford Circus Fire: Creative Resolution of Mass Disasters,” and has written about Connecticut political and legal history in Mark Twain’s era.
The talk will follow a 5 p.m. reception and is free, but a $5 donation is requested.
Reservations for these events: 860-280-3130 or marktwainhouse.org.
Great Connecticut Caper
To celebrate the conclusion of “The Great Connecticut Caper,” an online serial mystery for young readers written and illustrated by 12 Connecticut authors and 12 Connecticut artists, a free party will be held Sunday, June 7, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam. There will be storytelling, letterboxing, craft activities and a chance to meet authors and illustrators of the book, a project of the Connecticut Center for the Book at Connecticut Humanities.
The online story, with chapters posted every other week from January to June 7, is about school kids trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of Gillette Castle. It attracted more than 4,000 readers worldwide, in addition to students who read it in school. They came from in 44 of the 50 U.S. states and such countries as Canada, Argentina, UK, Germany, Turkey, South Africa, Australia, France and Israel.
Information: cthumanities.org/c4b/ctcaper/ or ctcaper.cthumanities.org/get-ready/ .
Wesleyan Writers Conference
The Wesleyan Writers Conference, held on the campus of Wesleyan University in Middletown, will celebrate its 59th year, from Wednesday, June 10, to Sunday, June 14, including a One Day Festival of talks and closing celebration on Saturday, June 13. The conference offers talks with editors and agents, seminars, readings and workshops on such topics as the novel, short stories, poetry, nonfiction, memoir, biography, journalism, writing for film, TV and new media and more. The faculty includes Amy Bloom, Roxana Robinson, William Finnegan, Honor Moore, Lis Harris, Alexander Chee, Salvatore Scibona, Adam Levy, Hirsh Sawhney, Pamela Dorman, Vicky Bijur and Johnny Temple. Fees are $225 for the One-Day Festival or $850 for full-event tuition, plus optional costs for meals and lodging. For information on late registration: wesleyan.edu or 860-685-3604.
Dan Pope’s “Housebreaking”
On Thursday, June 11, at 7 p.m., the free Authors Live! series of talks at Noah Webster Library, 20 S. Main St., West Hartford, will host author Dan Pope, whose latest novel is “Housebreaking” (Simon & Schuster, $25) about two families in a Connecticut neighborhood. His first novel, “In the Cherry Tree”, was set in West Hartford, where he grew up. Pope, whose work appears in many literary magazines, will be in conversation with author and journalist Rand Richards Cooper, of Hartford, who writes about books and film for Commonweal Magazine and restaurants for the New York Times. Parking in the Isham Road garage will be validated by the library. Registration: http://bit.ly/pope11june. Information: westhartfordlibrary.org or 860-561-6990.
Roz Chast At Art & Ideas
The annual International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven will present a free talk by National Book Critics Circle Award-winning cartoonist Roz Chast, who won for her frank, funny and touching memoir of her parents’ decline, “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” (Bloomsbury USA, $28. Chast, of Ridgefield, is a longtime New Yorker magazine cartoonist. Earlier this year, the Heinz Family Foundation gave Chast the $250,000 Heinz Award, in the Arts and Humanities category, for the book. She will speak Saturday, June 13, at 3 p.m. at Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Information: artidea.org/ideas.
WordForge Reading Series
Poets Joan Seliger Sidney and Elizabeth Thomas will read at a free WordForge Reading Series program, followed by an open mike, on Monday, June 8, at 7 p.m., at The Studio @ Billings Forge, 563 Broad St., Hartford.
Sidney’s latest are “Bereft and Blessed” (Antrim House,$18) and “Body of Diminishing Motion: Poems and a Memoir (CavanKerry Press, $14). Her poems have appeared in many literary journals and she is writer-in-residence at the University of Connecticut’s Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life. Thomas is a poet and performer who leads writing workshops for all ages.
Information: JforJames@aol.com 860-508-2810 wfreadings.blogspot.com/
“Poetry with a Touch of Mid-Life Insanity”
Farmington’s Main Library will host a free poetry reading by Bloomfield poet and humorist Andy Weil. “Poetry with a Touch of Mid-Life Insanity” will take place on Wednesday, June 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the library, 6 Monteith Dr., Farmington. Weil is a published performance poet and member of The Faxon Poets of West Hartford.
Registration: 860-673-6791 or farmingtonlibraries.org or at the Information Services Desk.
“Heroes for All Time”
Reservations must be made by Friday, June 12, to attend a program by Dione Longley and Buck Zaidel, authors of “Heroes for All Time: Connecticut Civil War Soldiers Tell Their Stories” (Wesleyan University Press, $40) on Friday, June 19, at 7 p.m. at the Inn at Middletown, 70 Main St., Middletown. The illustrated talk, presented by the Middlesex County Historical Society, is a fundraiser to support maintenance of the Society’s headquarters, the General Joseph Mansfield House.
The book offers excerpts from soldiers’ letters and diaries and hundreds of period photographs. Longley has served as the director of the Historical Society. Zaidel collects objects and images related to Union soldiers’ daily lives.
Tickets, which include a dessert reception, are $35. Reservations: 860-346-0746.
Authors At R.J. Julia
A rock ‘n’ roll memoir and two novels will be discussed by their authors at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Road, Madison. The events will begin at 7 p.m. and are free, but reservations are required at 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
On Tuesday, June 9, Steve Katz, a guitarist and founding member of The Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears, will talk about his memoir, “Blood, Sweat, and My Rock ‘n’ Roll Years: Is Steve Katz a Rock Star?” (Lyons Press, $26.95). Katz won Grammies and other awards, had gold and platinum hits and went on to become a record producer, working with Lou Reed and others. Katz and his wife own a ceramics shop, Alison Palmer Studio, in South Kent.
On Wednesday, June 10, Brenda Bowen will visit to discuss her new summertime romance novel, “Enchanted August” (Pamela Dorman Books, $27.95). Set in Brooklyn and Maine, it is the story of four women who rent a cottage and transform their lives.
On Thursday, June 11, the acclaimed author, Kate Walbert, will talk about her new novel, “The Sunken Cathedral” (Scribner, $25). The book is about a group of New Yorkers coping with changing neighborhoods, alarming weather and the stresses of contemporary life. Walbert is the author of the novels “A Short History of Women,” a top 10 The New York Times Book Review best book; “Our Kind” and The Gardens of Kyoto, which won a Connecticut Book Award. Her stories have been appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, O. Henry Awards and “The Best American Short Stories.”
Book Club Bookstore Talk
Kimberly McCreight, the New York Times bestselling author of “Reconstructing Amelia.” will give a free talk about her new book, “Where They Found Her” (Harper, $26.99), on Saturday, June 13, at 2 p.m., at Book Club Bookstore, 100 Main St., in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor. It is the suspenseful story, told by three women, about the discovery of the body of a newborn baby found in the woods near a university. Information and reservations: 860-623-5100.
Discussing “All the Light”
A free talk about Anthony Doerr’s Pultizer Prize-winning novel, “All The Light We Cannot See” (Scribner, $27) will take place Tuesday, June 9, at 2 p.m. at Avon Public Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon
Aimee Pozorski, an English professor at CCSU will lead the discussion and analysis of this best-selling book about a blind French girl and a German boy trying to survive during World War II. Information and registration: 860-673-9712.
