Book Events: Former Black Panther At Hartford Library; Poet Blanco At Hill-Stead

An author who explores the relationship of humans and animals will give a free Book/Mark talk on Thursday, March 3, at 7 p.m. at the Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford.

B.J. Hollars is the author of “From the Mouth of Dogs: What Our Pets Teach Us About Life, Death, and Being Human” (University of Nebraska Press, $24.95), which describes how people learn from, love and mourn their animal companions, from ancient times to today.

Hollars will also appear Friday, March 4, from 6 to 9 p.m., at a “Bark Twain Bash! It’s the Cats Meow!” fundraiser for the Twain House & Kenway’s Cause, Inc. Animal Rescue. The event will include cocktails, food, the appearacnce of Fidelco puppies, Hartford animal control and K9 officers, a band and dancing. Tickets are $30. Reservations: 860-247-0998 and marktwainhouse.org.

Blanco At Hill-Stead

The Live Poets Society of the Hill-Stead Museum, 35 Mountain Road, Farmington, will present poet Richard Blanco on Thursday, March 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., in a program to benefit the annual Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, at which he appeared in 2004 and 2014.

Blanco, the fifth poet to create a poem for a presidential inauguration, has published three collections: “Looking for the Gulf Motel,” “Directions to the Beach of the Dead” and “City of a Hundred Fires” and two memoirs: “The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood” and “For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey.” The event will include readings by Blanco, Connecticut Poet Laureate Rennie McQuilkin and poets Vivian Shipley and Brett Maddux, live piano music and wine and hors d’oeuvres.

Tickets are $100. For information on availability, contact Lisa Lappe at lappel@hillstead.org or 860-677-4787, ext. 111.

‘Panther Baby’

Jamal Joseph, a former member of the Black Panther Party and now a professor and former chairman of the Columbia University’s graduate film division, will discuss his memoir, “Panther Baby” (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, $14.95), on Wednesday, March 2, at 6 p.m. at the Center for Contemporary Culture, Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., Hartford.

Joseph, once spokesman for the New York chapter of the Panthers, served time for murder and his role in the 1981 Brinks robbery, during which police officers and an armored car driver were killed. In prison, he earned two college degrees and wrote five plays and two poetry collections.

He was a friend of Charles “Butch” Lewis, founder of the Hartford Black Panthers, who died in 2015. The program is presented in Lewis’ honor. Information: 860-6928955 or dlarcen@hplct.org.

Authors At R.J. Julia

R.J. Julia Booksellers of Madison and Madison Youth and Family Services will present a talk by Nancy Jo Sales, author of “American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers” with Dr. Kiki Kennedy, of Yale University, on Tuesday, March 1, at 7 p.m., at Polson Middle School, 302 Green Hill Road, Madison.

Sales, a journalist who reports on youth culture, crime and pop-culture icons, has written for such publications as Vanity Fair, New York and Harper’s Bazaar. Her new book is about the negative impact on teenage girls of today’s social media and hypersexualized online culture, which fosters cyber-bullying and sexual harassment.

Admission: $30 plus tax for one or $35 plus tax for two, including one copy of “American Girls.”

Reservations: or 203-245-3959.

Also on Tuesday, March 1, at 7 p.m. at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison, Essex author Susan Strecker will give a free talk about her novel, “Nowhere Girl” (Thomas Dunne Books, $25.99), a thriller about a thriller author investigating the long-ago death of her twin. Strecker’s first novel, “Night Blindness,” was an Indie Next Pick.

On Wednesday, March 2, at 7 p.m. at the bookstore, seven of nine authors of historical fiction who contributed to “Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War” (Morrow, $14.99), an anthology of short stories set just after World War I, will will appear in a free program. They are Jessica Brockmole, Hazel Gaynor, Marci Jefferson, Jennifer Robson, Heather Webb, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig.

Reservations for all events: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.

David Denby On Literature

David Denby, the critic, New Yorker staff writer and author of “Lit Up: One Reporter. Three Schools. Twenty-Four Books that Can Change Lives” (Holt, $30) will speak at a WSHU “Join the Conversation” series event on Sunday, Feb. 28, at 2 p.m., at The Study at Yale, 1157 Chapel St., New Haven. WSHU Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” host Mark Herz will interview Denby, who will discuss visiting three high school English literature classes, including New Haven’s Hillhouse High, to see if students today appreciate serious reading. Denby’s books include “American Sucker,” “Snark” and “Do the Movies Have a Future?”

Admission is free, but reservations are required: wshu.org.

Spirit Friends: Spiritualism and Suffrage

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, 77 Forest St., Hartford, will present a free program called “Spirit Friends: Spiritualism and Suffrage,” with author Susan Campbell on Thursday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m.

A former Courant reporter and columnist, Campbell published the biography “Tempest-Tossed: The Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker” (Garnet Books, $28.95). Hooker, a half-sister of Stowe and an early supporter of women’s right to vote, was interested in spiritualism, and with her husband, John Hooker, took part in séances in their home in Hartford’s Nook Farm neighborhood.

Reservations: Info@StoweCenter.org or 860-522-9258, ext. 317.

Maple Sugaring

David K. Leff will speak and sign copies of “Maple Sugaring: Keeping It Real in New England” (Wesleyan University Press, $24.95) at the UConn Co-op Bookstore at Storrs Center, 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, on Tuesday, March 1, at 6 p.m.

The book explores the history, art, science and technology of this ancient practice, with stories from sugar makers, and offers recipes from “The Maple Sugar Cookbook: Connecticut Style.”

Leff, of Collinsville, is a former maple sugar maker and board member of the Connecticut Maple Syrup Producer’s Association, as well as a former deputy commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection. He also is a poet and essayist and the author of “Hidden in Plain Sight: A Deep Traveler Explores Connecticut” and other books. Information: 860-486-8525.

Writers Who Edit,Editors Who Write

The University of Connecticut’s Creative Writing Program will host a free talk and reading for its Writers Who Edit, Editors Who Write series by author, publisher, editor and teacher Matvei Yankelevich on Thursday, March 3, at 6 p.m. at the Uconn Co-op, One Royce Circle, 101 Storrs Center, Storrs.

Yankelevich teaches at Queens College CUNY, Columbia University’s School of the Arts and Bard College. He is a co-founder of and designer and editor for Ugly Duckling Presse and the author of several books. He will discuss balancing creative writing and editorial work. Information: 860-486-8525 or creativewriting.uconn.edu.

Newington Community Theater

Ed Pizella, a lawyer, politician and author of “The Versatility of Chairs” (XLibris, $15.99), a memoir about his and other Newington residents’ involvement in community theater, will give a free talk sponsored by the Newington Kiwanis Club at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 29, at Paradise Pizza Restaurant, 10 East St., New Britain. TV and radio personality Steve Parker will host the event. Information: 860-594-4495.

Ireland’s Great Hunger

Christine Kinealy and John A. Walsh, co-authors of the graphic novel “The Bad Times: An Drochshaol” (XanEdu Publishing Inc., $15.19) that describes Ireland’s Great Hunger, when more than a million Irish citizens died of famine or related disease, from the perspective of three teenagers and their dog, will sign copies at a free event on Thursday, March 3, at 5:30 p.m. at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, 3011 Whitney Ave., Hamden.

Kinealy is founding director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac and author of many books on the Irish famine. Walsh is an illustrator and graphic novelist. Information: ighm.org or 203-582-6500.

Zambra At Trinity

Alejandro Zambra will give a free talk in Trinity College’s A.K. Smith Reading Series on Tuesday, March 1, at 4:30 p.m., at Smith House, 123 Vernon St., Hartford.

Zambra is a Chilean author and poet whose novels are “Ways of Going Home,” “The Private Lives of Trees” and “Bonsai,” which won Chile’s Literary Critics’ Award for Best Novel. His short story collection is “My Documents.” He was named one of the Best of Young Spanish Language Novelists by Granta in 2010. Information: Christina.Bolio@trincoll.edu or 860-297-2036.

One Book, One Town

On Sunday, Feb. 28, at 1 p.m., Barnes & Noble at Blue Back Square, 60 Isham Road, West Hartford, will host a free One Book, One Town West Hartford talk on “Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team That Changed a Town” (Ember, $8.99 ) by Warren St. John.

Connecticut author Pegi Deitz Shea will present a slideshow about her visit to a refugee camp. At 2 p.m., Shea will read from her children’s picture book, “The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee’s Story” (Boyds Mill Press, $10.95). Shea has written books about Hmong and Liberian refugees. The event is appropriate for children ages 6 and older. Information: 860-236-9900.

“Intruder”

Connecticut author Dan Foley, who writes contemporary horror fiction, will appear Saturday, March 5, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Book Club Bookstore & More, 100 Main St., in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor. Foley’s books include the novel “Death’s Companion,” the story collection “The Whispers of Crows” and most recently, the novella “Intruder” (CreateSpace, $4.99), set on a ballistic nuclear missile submarine invaded by a malignant ghost reliving the sinking of his German U-boat. Information: 860-623-5100.