Lesley Stahl, the award-winning journalist and 25-year “60 Minutes” correspondent, will speak about her new book at a luncheon presented by R.J. Julia Booksellers of Madison on Thursday, May 26, at noon, at Pine Orchard Yacht & Country Club, 294 Pine Orchard Road, Branford.
Tickets are $55 and include lunch and a signed copy of the book. Stahl will discuss her memoir about how having a grandchild transformed her life, “Becoming Grandma: The Joys and Science of the New Grandparenting” (Blue Rider Press, $27, Stahl was CBS News White House correspondent during the Carter, Reagan, and part of first Bush presidencies, hosted “Face the Nation” for eight years and co-anchored “America Tonight.”
At the bookstore, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison, on Sunday, May 22, at 4 p.m., William Stolzenburg will discuss “Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat’s Walk Across America” (Bloomsbury USA), the true story of a mountain lion that crossed the country from the Black Hills of Dakota but was struck by an SUV in Connecticut in 2011. It was the farthest journey ever documented for a wild animal in the U.S. Stolzenburg has monitored endangered species and has written about rarity and extinction. Before his free talk, he and Christopher Spatz, of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation, will walk from Greenwich, where the cat was first photographed, to Milford, where it was hit.
On Wednesday, May 25, at 7 p.m., Thad Carhart will give a free talk about his memoir, “Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy in France” (Viking, $27). The son of an Air Force officer, Carhart lived in many places, including Washington, Minneapolis, Amherst, Tokyo and Fontainebleau, France, during the 1950s. His experience left indelible memories, and he returned to France to live with his family in Paris. He is a former U.S. State Department interpreter and an author. All R.J. Julia events require reservations: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
‘Of Beards And Men’
Author Chris Oldstone-Moore will give a free Book/Mark talk on Wednesday, May 25, at 7 p.m. at the Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford, about “Of Beards & Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair” (University of Chicago Press, $30). Beards go in and out of fashion and are so popular today that some men undergo facial hair transplants. Oldstone-Moore says facial hair preferences are linked to varying ideals of masculinity. Reservations: 860-247-0998 or marktwainhouse.org.
The Real Downton Abbey
Lady Fiona, the 8th Countess of Carnarvon, who lives in Highclere Castle in England, where much of “Downton Abbey” was filmed, has written four books about her family history. She will visit Hill-Stead Museum, 35 Main St., Farmington, for talks on Wednesday, May 25, and Friday, May 27, on how some characters were inspired by family members and will attend a gala fundraiser on Thursday, May 26.
Tickets are $150 for the Wednesday talk at 2 p.m.; $225 or $500 for the Thursday Grand Tour Benefit Dinner Auction at 6 p.m. and $100 for the Friday talk at 10 a.m. Information: hillstead.org.
Ann Leary
Best-selling Connecticut novelist Ann Leary will give a free talk about her latest novel, “The Children” (St. Martin’s Press, $26.99) about a wealthy and quirky New England family. It is her third novel, following “The Good House” (to become a film starring Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro) and “Outtakes From a Marriage,” and the memoir, “An Innocent, A Broad.”
Leary will appear May 28 at 4 p.m. at the Hickory Stick Bookshop, 2 Green Hill Road, Washington Depot. Information: 860-868-0525 or hickorystickbookshop.com.
Poetry Salon
A free poetry salon at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 22, will be part of F.A.C.E, a three-day festival of arts, culture and entertainment presented by the Oxford Cultural Arts Commission at Oxford Grange Hall, 482 Oxford Road, Oxford. The poets taking part are Andy Weil, Susan Allison, John Basinger and Ameen-Storm Abo-Hamzy. Information: 203-881-6085.
Poets At Griswold Museum
Members of Connecticut River Poets and Guilford Poets Guild will give a reading with music by David Cohen and Alan Kennedy on clarinet on Sunday, May 22, at 2 p.m. at Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. The cost is included in the museum admission fee: $10 Adults; $9 Seniors; $8 Students and free for those 12 or younger. Information: 860-434-5542.
Memorial Day Poetry
Three recent Connecticut Poets Laureate will read poems for Memorial Day on Monday, May 23, at 7 p.m., at a free program at Simsbury Public Library, 725 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury.
The current State Poet Laureate, Rennie McQuilkin, and his two immediate predecessors, Dick Allen and Marilyn Nelson, will read their own Memorial Day poems and some by others, based on wars from the American Revolution to the Middle East, including an excerpt from Les Kay’s “Kilo Co.,” about Vietnam. Registration: 860-658-7663 or simsburylibrary.info.
Big Read Finale
The Big Read 2016, which focused on John Steinbeck’s classic Depression-era novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” end with a free reception Wednesday, May 25, at 5 p.m., at Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., Hartford. Photographer Jack McConnell, whose portraits of 65 local farmers are on display, will speak at 5:30 p.m. and the HartBeat Ensemble will perform an original theater piece based on the book’s themes of family, resilience and the importance of the land. Information: 860-695-6300 or hplct.org.
Norway And The Holocaust
On Thursday, May 26, at 7 p.m., at Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon, Irene Levin Berman will discuss “Norway Wasn’t Too Small: A Fact-Based Novel about Darkness and Survival” (Hamilton Books, $18).
Born before the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940, Berman was among 1,200 Norwegian Jews who escaped death by fleeing to Sweden. About 800 others, including seven members of her father’s family, were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Estelle Kafer, executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, will introduce Berman at the free event. Information: 860-673-9712 or avonctlibrary.info
