The 21st poet laureate of the United States, Juan Felipe Herrera, will headline a program of Latino poetry and music as the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival continues Sunday, Aug. 7, on the grounds of the Hill-Stead Museum, 35 Mountain Road, Farmington. Poet Peg Boyers also will read.
The events will begin at 2:30 p.m. with a community conversation about cultural identity and literary inspiration, with Latino poets and authors Cindy Rodriguez, Jose B. Gonzalez, Marianela Medrano and Boyers, moderated by Ernesto Varela.
A Prelude Conversation with Herrera will be held at 5 p.m., followed by a reading by Boyers at 6 p.m., music by the Latin Heartbeat Orchestra at 6:30 p.m. and Herrera’s reading at 7:15 p.m.
Herrera is the first Latino to be named U.S. Poet Laureate, following his service as California State Poet Laureate. His many collections have won major honors, such as the PEN/Beyond Margins Award, the Americas Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He also writes books for children and is a performance artist and advocate for migrant and indigenous communities and at-risk youth.
Boyers, who was born in Venezuela and now lives in the U.S., also has lived in Italy, Spain, Cuba, Nigeria, Indonesia and Libya. She has published three poetry collections, teaches poetry at Skidmore College and Columbia University and co-edits the literary journal Salmagundi.
Guests must bring their own seating and can bring food and beverages or purchase them at the festival. Admission: $12 on-line; $15 at the gate; free for ages 18 or younger. Parking is free. Tickets and information: hillstead.org or 860-677-4787, ext. 111.
Authors At R.J. Julia
Writers of short stories, nonfiction about an American spy and guidebooks for parents will speak at events presented by R.J. Julia Booksellers, They will take place at the bookstore, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison, except as noted. The talks are free and will begin at 7 p.m. Reservations are required: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
Margaret Malone, an author from Oregon, will discuss her debut story collection, “People Like You” (Atelier26 Books, $16), on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Her collection won the Balcones Fiction Prize, was named a Best Book of the Year by several newspapers and organizations and was a finalist for the 2016 Pen/Hemingway Award For Debut Fiction.
Jennifer Munro will talk about her collection, “Aunty Lily: And Other Delightfully Perverse Stories” (Parkhurst Brothers Publishers. $19.95), on Wednesday, Aug. 10. Munro is an acclaimed professional storyteller as well as an author. The book’s stories were inspired by her childhood experiences.
Barry Meier will talk about his nonfiction book, “Missing Man: The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27), on Wednesday, Aug. 10, at Scranton Memorial Library, 801 Boston Post Road, Madison. His book tells the story of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent turned private investigator who disappeared in Iran in 2007 while on a secret mission for the CIA and explores connections between crime, business, espionage and the law. Meier is an award-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times.
Two experts on parenting will hold a conversation at the bookstore on how to raise a happy child on Thursday, Aug. 11. Columnist Jessica Joelle Alexander and psychotherapist Katie Hurley will discuss their respective books, “The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know about Raising Confident, Capable Kids” (Tarcherperigee, $16) and “The Happy Kid Handbook: How to Raise Joyful Children in a Stressful World” (Tarcherperigee, $16.95. Alexander, whose husband is Danish, lives in Europe with her family. Hurley, a West Hartford native who is a child and adolescent psychotherapist in Los Angeles, also writes the Practical Parenting blog. Danish food and beer will be served at the event.
National Book Lovers Day
Hartford Public Library will hold a free event celebrating National Book Lovers Day on Tuesday, Aug. 9, at the Downtown Library, 500 Main St., Hartford.
Participants can play Literary Bingo from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. using book covers as playing pieces. Bingo winners will be registered for a Kindle Fire tablet giveaway. Blind Date With a Book will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Library cardholders can check out a “mystery date” book wrapped and covered with clues and can register for the Kindle giveaway up to 12:30 p.m. People of Goodwill will perform from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the library terrace. Information: hplct.org/classes-seminars-exhibits/summer-learning or 860-695-6300.
‘Free State of Jones’
The author of a book about Civil War history will speak on Thursday, Aug. 11, at 7 p.m. at a free Book/Mark event at the Mark Twain House & Museum Center, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford.
Victoria E. Bynum, author of “The Free State of Jones: Mississippi’s Longest Civil War” (The University of North Carolina Press, $18), which inspired the feature film starring Matthew McConaughey, will discuss the true story of the Confederate Army deserters in 1863 and 1864 who fought Confederate cavalry in the Piney Woods region of Jones County, Miss. Helped by women, slaves and children who spied on the Confederacy and provided food and shelter, it is said they declared the Free State of Jones in the swamps of the Piney River. Their leader, Newt Knight, had an interracial relationship that led to a rare mixed race community in Mississippi. Bynum plays a role in the film. Reservations: 860-247-0998 or marktwainhouse.org.
Ruggiero At Book Club Bookstore & More
Book Club Bookstore & More, 100 Main St. in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor, will present a free event on Saturday, Aug. 13, from 10:30 to noon with Tolland author Linda Ruggiero, who writes the Ruthie series of books for young readers. Drawing on her Lithuanian family history, Ruggiero’s books are about an 8-year-old tomboy and her adventures. Information: 860-623-5100.
Connecticut Authors Trail
The eighth annual Connecticut Authors Trail, a series of free talks at 20 Eastern Connecticut libraries, from Mansfield to Mystic, continues with three events and will have its finale Sept. 15 at Mohegan Sun with romance writer Kristan Higgins.
On Monday, Aug. 8, at 5:30 p.m., at the Public Library of New London , 63 Huntington St., New London (860-447-1411), Frida Berrigan, author of “It Runs In the Family” (OR Books, $17.95), will speak.
Berrigan, who is on the board of The War Resisters League, a 90-year-old pacifist organization, and helped found Witness Against Torture, a nonviolent direct action group focused on shutting down the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, and ending torture, is the daughter of Philip Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister, the former priest and nun who became famous for their prophetic witness against war and nuclear weapons, for which they went to jail.
On Tuesday, Aug. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at Sprague Public Library , 76 Main St. in the Grist Mill, Baltic (860-822-3012), Cassandra Giovanni will discuss her New Adult contemporary romance and speculative fiction novels. Giovanni also is a full-time financial marketer and part-time photographer.
On Thursday, Aug. 11, at 5:30 p.m., at Stonington Free Library, 20 High St., (860-535-0658), Bruce Ware Allen, an author with an interest in military history, will discuss his work, including “The Great Siege of Malta: The Epic Battle between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St. John” (University Press of New England, $29.95). Information: connecticutauthorstrail.org.
