The Mark Twain House & Museum Center, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford, continues its programs of author talks and writing workshops.
On Tuesday, July 28, at 7 p.m., it will present a free book launch for “The Two State Delusion: Israel and Palestine — A Tale of Two Narratives” (Viking, $30) with author Padraig O’Malley, who writes that a new framework for peace in the Middle East must be sought because of the costs, Palestine’s political disunity and shaky economy, changing demographics, Israel’s conservative political shift, climate change’s effect on the water supply and other problems of the outmoded two-state model. The World Affairs Council will co-sponsor the talk.
Irish author O’Malley is a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, who specializes in the problems of divided societies, such as South Africa and Northern Ireland, the subjects of his previous books.
Norton Mezvinsky, professor of history emeritus from Central Connecticut State University and president of the International Council for Middle East Studies in Washington, D.C., will moderate the talk.
Reservations: 860-280-3130 or www.marktwainhouse.org .
Two writing workshops begin Monday, July 27, at the Twain House & Museum.
Mary Sharnick will lead a course called Jump Start Your Novel and Christine Palm will lead Writing for the Real World. Both will run through Thursday, July 30, from 6 to 8 p.m. each evening. Each workshop costs $180.
Jump Start Your Novel students will write a first chapter for a proposed novel, establishing plot and characters, after reading powerful opening chapters from published novels. Sharnick, an award-winning writer, has published two historical novels set in Venice and is writing a sequel to the second, “Plagued” (Fireship Press, $18).
Palm’s workshop will show how write memorable obituaries, eulogies, wedding or anniversary toasts, protest manifestos, public hearing testimony, op-ed pieces or letters-to-the-editor. She has taught creative writing, poetry, grammar and film studies at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts and at the Kent School’s summer workshop for young writers.
Connecticut Authors Trail
The 2015 Connecticut Authors Trail, presented by a group of libraries in eastern Connecticut, offers free talks by authors who live in the state or write about it. At each event, guests can acquire “passports” that are guides to the series and offer a chance to win a themed basket. The trail will conclude at The Mohegan Sun Cabaret Theatre on Sept. 10 at 6:15 p.m., with a talk by baker, cookbook author and culinary arts expert Robert Landolphi.
June Hyjek, author of “Unexpected Grace: A Discovery of Healing Through Surrender” (Meridian Media, $16.95), will speak on Tuesday, July 28, at 7 p.m., at Willington Public Library, 7 Ruby Road, Willington. Hyjek is a mind/body coach, certified hypnotherapist, meditation teacher and reiki master.
Deborah Ann Davis will speak on Thursday, July 30, at 6:30 p.m. at Scotland Public Library, 21 Brook Road, Scotland, Davis is the author of “Fairly Certain” (D&D Universe, $12.99), a new twist on the Robin Hood legend that asks, “What happens when a computer geek challenges a medieval outlaw?” “Fairly Safe,” the second in her Love of Fairs series, will be published later this year.
Information: connecticutauthorstrail.org.
Avon Local Author Festival
The Avon Free Public Library‘s free Local Author Festival will run through Aug. 24 at the library, 281 Country Club Road.
Children’s Night is Tuesday, July 28, at 7 p.m., with Donna LeBlanc, author of “Explorations of Commander Josh: Book One — In Space” (SDP Publishing, $14.95); Shannon Mazurick, author of “Gemma: The Search For The Gem” (AuthorHouse, $15); J. C. Phillipps, author of “The Simples Love a Picnic” (HMH Books for Young Readers, $16.99); and Martha Ritter, author of “The Nearly Calamitous Taming of PZ” (Bradley Street Press, $13.99).
Author James Frey, who gained fame and notoriety from his 2003 memoir “A Million Little Pieces,” will give a free talk at the library on Thursday, July 30, from 6 to 8 p.m. Frey also is co-author with Nils Johnson-Shelton of “The Calling” (HarperCollins, $10.99).
Local authors will sell and sign books at the library’s Farmers Market from 4 to 7 p.m. on Mondays. Glenn Maynard, author of “Desert Son” (Black Rose, $15.95) and Nan Arnstein, author of “Rocky Shores” (CreateSpace, $16) will sign on Monday, July 27.
In addition, the library is offering a free Story Walk on its grounds during July and August based on the children’s book “Market Maze,” by Roxie Munro, a story about collecting things to take to a farmers market. Visitors can solve the maze and find objects hidden in pictures.
Information: 860-673-9712, ext. 235.
Authors At R.J. Julia
College health and sports psychiatrist Paul Steinberg will give a free talk about his book, “A Salamander’s Tale: My Story of Regeneration —- Surviving 30 Years with Prostate Cancer” (Skyhorse Publishing, $24.99), on Wednesday, July 29, at 7 p.m. at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison. The book describes his medical and spiritual journeys in his long battle with metastatic cancer and explores such issues as human tissue regeneration and the development of prostate cancer. Steinberg is believed to be the longest surviving metastatic prostate cancer patient. He contributes to The New York Times and Washington Post and practices in Washington, DC.
On Thursday, July 30, at 7 p.m., Susannah Marren, author of “Between the Tides” (St. Martin’s Press, $25.99), will give a free talk. Marren’s debut novel is about a woman who must adjust from life she loves in Manhattan to life she abhors in the suburbs, complicated by betrayal by an old friend.
All R.J. Julia events require reservations: 203-245-3959 or www.rjjulia.com.
Summer Poetry
Poets who took part in Edwina Trentham’s 10th annual summer poetry workshop, “The Star-Eaten Blanket of the Sky,” will read their work on Sunday, July 26, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Two Wrasslin’ Cats: a Coffee House, Gallery and Café, 374 Town St., East Haddam. The readers at the free event will be Trentham, Carol Altieri, Pat Barone, Barbara Batt, Janet Greenberg, Pat O’Brien, Lauren Rhines, Jay Thumar, Karen Torop and Mary Buell Volk.
Information: 860-873-1472 or 860-891-8446.
