Gloria Steinem, one of America’s foremost feminists, will talk about her new memoir, “My Life on the Road” (Random House, $28) at a “Making Waves: 20 Years of Advancing Women and Girls” program presented by The Community Fund for Women and Girls on Friday, Oct. 30, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Omni Hotel at Yale, 155 Temple St., New Haven. Teresa Younger, president & CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, also will speak.
Steinem is a writer, editor and activist who, in 1972, co-founded Ms. magazine and also helped found New York magazine. She is the author of best-selling books and has won many major journalism awards, as well as a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. Tickets are $150 from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and include a copy of the book: cfgnh.org or 203-777-2386.
Authors At R.J. Julia
National Novel Writing Month, in which participants write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, begins on Nov. 1. To help wannabe novelists take part, R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, New Haven, will hold a free “NanoWrimo” workshop on Monday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m., led by its marketing manager, Barbara Plotkin. The workshop will offer tips to “Wrimos,” as the writers are called, on such issues as writers’ block, over-planning and other problems and will explain how to use the NanoWrimo website to gain encouragement from other participants and authors such as Neil Gaiman and Sarah Gruen.
On Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. at the bookstore, author Sloane Crosley will discuss her wry and witty comic novel, “The Clasp” (Farrar Straus Giroux, $26). It involves three friends, a necklace with a secret past and the estate of Guy de Maupassant, author of the classic short story, “The Necklace.” Crosley’s earlier best-sellers were “I Was Told There’d Be Cake” and “How Did You Get This Number.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 6 p.m., the bookstore will host a panel discussion on “Grappling with Graphic Novels?” for parents of children age 7 or older. Panelists include an elementary school librarian, an author of more than 20 books, a middle school language arts teacher, the store’s lead children’s bookseller and a publisher’s representative from Scholastic. Tickets are $5.
Also on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m., New Haven Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue, of Hamden, will discuss his book, “The Case of the Piglet’s Paternity” (Wesleyan, $22.95). Blue has researched 17th-century trial records from the New Haven Colony, which offer vivid accounts of legal battles large and small, from murders to shipwrecks to sexual matters. The “Case of the Piglet’s Paternity” assesses 33 such trials from a contemporary legal viewpoint.
On Thursday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m., TV star and comedian Judah Friedlander, known for his seven-year role on “30 Rock,” will give a free talk on his book, “If the Raindrops United: Drawings and Cartoons” (Hachette Books, $16.99). The book offers “Joodles,” witty drawings illustrating such ideas as plastic surgery for imperfect triangles or George Washington visiting Las Vegas.
On Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m., Elaine Kuzmeskus will discuss her latest book, “The Medium Who Baffled Houdini: Margery Crandon” (Aventine Press, $12.50). Crandon, a Boston surgeon’s wife in the 1920s, was said to be able to communicate with spirits. Houdini denounced her as a fraud, but others believed that she had real powers. Kuzmeskus is a Spiritualist medium who writes about physical mediumship, clairvoyance, psychic investigation and channeling. Tickets are $15. All R.J. Julia programs require registration. Information and tickets: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
Riverwood Poetry
Richard Blanco, who wrote the poem “One Today,” which praises American diversity, for President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, will give a free reading on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. at Cheney Hall, 177 Hartford Road, Manchester. The program is presented by the Riverwood Poetry Series, Manchester Arts Commission and Imagine Main Street.
Manchester Mayor Jay Moran will speak and WNPR’s Chion Wolf will host. Readings by state Poet Laureate Rennie McQuilkin and current and former town poets laureate will open the event. They are Christine Beck, Ginny Connors, Hugo DeSarro, Charles Margolis, Julia Morris Paul, Alexandrina Sergio, Davyne Verstandig and Gordy Whiteman.
Blanco is a poet, author and civil engineer who has taught at Georgetown University, American University and Central Connecticut State University. His poems appear in The Nation, Ploughshares, Indiana Review and many other journals. Information: riverwoodpoetry.org.
Russell House Writers
The Russell House Writers Series on the Wesleyan University campus in Middletown continues with a free talk by Leslie Jamison on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. at Russell House, Wesleyan University, 50 High St., Middletown.
Jamison’s essay collection, “The Empathy Exams” (Graywolf,$16), won the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and was named one of the best books of 2014 by NPR, The New York Times and Publishers Weekly. She also is the author of the novel, “The Gin Closet” (Free Press, $15). Information: 860-685-3448 or www.wesleyan.edu/writingevents.
Poetry At UConn Co-Op
Danielle Chapman will read from her poetry on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m. at the UConn Co-op, One Royce Circle, 101 Storrs Center, on the University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus. Chapman, who lives in Hamden, teaches English at Yale University. Her latest collection is “Delinquent Palaces” and her work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, Poetry International and The New Yorker.
This event will benefit the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic and is co-sponsored by UConn’s Creative Writing Program and UConn Co-Op. Information: 860-486-8525 or creativewriting.uconn.edu.
The Works Of Primo Levi
Ann Goldstein, an editor for The New Yorker and editor and translator of “The Complete Works of Primo Levi” (Liveright, $100), will give a free talk on Levi, an Italian Jewish chemist, writer and Holocaust survivor. The book contains all of Levi’s 14 books of memoir, essays, poetry, commentary and fiction.
Goldstein will speak Monday, Oct. 26, at 4:15 p.m. at McCook Auditorium, Trinity College, 300 Summit St., Hartford. Information: trincoll.edu or 860-297-4285.
Poets on Poetry
The Connecticut Poetry Society will continue its free monthly poetry book group discussions at the Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., Hartford, on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 10:15 a.m. with a program on poems by Emily Dickinson, moderated by David Epstein. Information: ctpoetry.net or 860-695-6300.
Keeping It Classy
The Manchester Public Library, 586 Main St., Manchester, will host a meeting of its free Keeping It Classy Book Club on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. The book is the classic Vietnam War novel, “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien. Information: 860-643-2471 or visit the library website at library.townofmanchester.org.
Original Ghost Stories
Original ghost stories by Manchester’s Em-Dashes Writer’s Group members Dan Foley, Stacey Longo, Ryanne Strong and John Valeri will be presented Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 6 p.m. at a free program at the Whiton Branch Library, 100 N. Main St., Manchester. Information: 860-645-0821.
One Book One Bloomfield
The fourth annual One Book One Bloomfield community reading project, which focused on “The Invention of Wings” (Penguin, $17) by Sue Monk Kidd, will conclude Thursday, Oct. 29, at 6:30 p.m. at Prosser Public Library, 1 Tunxis Ave., Bloomfield, with a community conversation on “Authority & Power — Then & Now: A closer look at issues of race in our community.”
Michelle McFarland, manager of the Mark Twain Branch of the Hartford Public Library, will lead the discussion with Chief Paul Hammick of the Bloomfield Police Department; communications liaison and Bloomfield resident Marie Robinson; and the Rev. Dr. Alvan Johnson Jr. of Grant A.M.E. Church in Boston. Registration and information: prosserlibrary.info or 860-243-9721.
Mystery Book Discussion
Carole Shmurak, of Farmington, who writes the Susan Lombardi mystery novels, will lead a free discussion in the Crime Pays: Award-Winning Mysteries series, Part 1, of “Bootlegger’s Daughter by Margaret Maron” on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 12:30 p.m. at Kent Memorial Library, 61 Fyler Place, Suffield, a temporary site for programs while the library is undergoing renovations. Information: 860-668-3896.
Editors note: this listing of events has been changed from an earlier version to note a time change for the Mystery Book Discussion.
