Write Stuff: CT Children’s Book Fair; Wallace Stevens Birthday Bash

The 25th Connecticut Children’s Book Fair will take place on the UConn campus from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4 and Nov. 5, in Rome Commons Ballroom, 626 Gilbert Road Ext., Storrs.

Twenty authors and illustrators of books for beginning to Young Adult readers, including Connecticut residents Caragh O’Brien, Florence and Wendell Minor and Andrea Wisnewski, will speak and sign books. There will be child-oriented activities such as story time and breakfast both days with costumed characters from 9 to 10 a.m. The fair is free; breakfast is $8 for adults and kids 12 and older; free for kids under 12. bookfair.uconn.edu.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Stevens

The 22nd Annual Wallace Stevens Birthday Bash will be Saturday, Nov. 4, at 2 p.m. at Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St.

Noted poet and author Paul Mariani, who has published 18 books and biographies of great American poets, including “The Whole Harmonium, The Life of Wallace Stevens,” will discuss “Wallace Stevens: Facets of the Human Face Behind the Marble Edifice.”

Stevens, the great modernist poet and a vice president at Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., won major honors, including two National Book Awards and Bollingen and Pulitzer prizes.

The event, hosted by the library and The Friends & Enemies of Wallace Stevens, will include a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception, birthday cake and champagne. The suggested, but not required, donation to benefit the library is $10. jforjames@aol.com or 860-508-2810

Connecticut Book Awards

The winners of the 2017 Connecticut Book Awards were announced Sunday, Oct. 22, at the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford.

“Fugitives” by Danielle Pieratti won the Poetry award, and Gray Jacobik was given a Lifetime Achievement award for her work. Karen Forunati’s “The Weight of Zero” took the Young Readers award. Okey Ndibe won the Nonfiction award for his memoir, “Never Look an American in the Eye” and Robert H. Patton’s novel “Cajun Waltz” received the award for Fiction.

The awards, presented by the Connecticut Center for the Book of Connecticut Humanities, honor books published the previous year whose authors or subjects have ties to the state. ctcenterforthebook.org.

Authors At R.J. Julia

At R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison, several authors will speak at 7 p.m. Reservations are required: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.

On Wednesday, Nov. 1, Alex Prud’homme, grandnephew of Julia Child’s husband, Paul Child, will discuss “France is a Feast: The Photographic Journey of Paul and Julia Child.” Prud’homme co-wrote her bestseller, “My Life in France” and wrote “The French Chef in America.” His talk is free.

On Thursday, Nov. 2, C. Morgan Babst will give a free talk about his novel, “The Floating World,” about a New Orleans family confronting the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina as well as personal issues.

On Friday, Nov. 3,” Real Housewives Of New Jersey” star and best-selling author Teresa Giudice will sign copies of her second memoir, “Standing Strong.” Admission is the purchase of a copy for $26. The book chronicles her life after release from prison and difficult times as a single mother.

Other authors will give free talks at 7 p.m. at Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore, 413 Main St, Middletown.

On Wednesday, Nov. 1, Rick Berlin, author of “The Paragraphs,” a memoir of his life in the Boston music scene, will play songs and read corresponding vignettes from his book.

On Thursday, Nov. 2, Matthew “Levee” Chavez, who after the 2016 presidential election gave people sticky notes to post their thoughts on “Subway Therapy Walls,” will discuss “Signs of Hope: Messages from Subway Therapy.” Thousands posted comments in such cities as San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Boston and Washington and internationally.

On Friday, Nov. 3, Beverly Tatum, author of an updated edition of the classic bestseller on the psychology of racism in America, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” will speak. Tatum is president emerita of Spelman College and received the Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology, the American Psychological Association’s highest honor. wesleyanrjjulia.com or 860-685-3939.

‘Lift And Separate’

Marilyn Simon Rothstein, of Avon, will give a free reading from her novel, “Lift And Separate,” on Thursday Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. at the Storyteller’s Cottage, 750 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury.

Rothstein received the Star Award from the Women’s Fiction Writers Association for the best debut novel of 2017 for her comic and poignant story of a long-married wife who starts over after her bra-manufacturing husband finds a new romance. StorytellersCottage.com.

Tara Betts In Storrs

The UConn Creative Writing Program will present a free reading by poet Tara Betts on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble Bookstore, One Royce Circle, 101 Storrs Center. Betts, a graduate of the Cave Canem writing program, has published two collections and several chapbooks. She is a co-editor of “The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives About Being Mixed Race in the 21st Century.” The free event is a benefit for the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic, and donations are welcome. 860-486-8525 or creativewriting.uconn.edu.

“New Boys Of Summer”

On Saturday, Nov. 4, from 2 to 3 p.m., Book Club Bookstore & More, 869 Sullivan Ave. South Windsor, will launch Paul Hensler’s book, “The New Boys of Summer: Baseball’s Radical Transformation in the Late Sixties,” about how the sport handled the challenges of the Civil Rights Movement, political assassinations, war, drugs and other social upheavals. 860-432-7411 or bookclubct.com.

Sip & Shop

On Sunday, Oct. 29, from 2 to 6 p.m., the J. McLaughlin store, 981 Farmington Ave., West Hartford, will host a Sip & Shop with Irene Levin Berman, author of “Norway Wasn’t Too Small: A Fact-Based Novel about Darkness and Survival.” Berman was among 1,200 Norwegian Jews who escaped death by fleeing to Sweden. About 800 others, including seven of her father’s family, were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Fifteen percent of merchandise sales that day will benefit Voices of Hope, a nonprofit Holocaust education organization. 860-216-5148 or ctvoicesofhope.org.

‘Remarkable Women Of Hartford’

The AAUW Shoreline Branch Scholarship Luncheon will take place Saturday, Nov. 4, at 11 a.m. at Clinton Country Club, 128 Old Post Road, Clinton. Connecticut author Cynthia Wolfe Boynton will discuss “Remarkable Women of Hartford,” which profiles such notables as Beatrice Fox Auerbach and Ella Grasso. Tickets are $50 and reservations and menu choices must be made by Tuesday, Oct. 31: shoreline-ct.aauw.net. 860-669-0115.

Bank Square Books

On Wednesday, Nov. 1, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Bank Square Books, 53 W. Main St., Mystic, will host Anna Raimondi, a spiritual counselor and author of “Conversations with Mary: Messages of Love, Healing, Hope, and Unity for Everyone,” which celebrates the Virgin Mary. 860-536-3795 or banksquarebks@msn.com.

Central Authors

Central Authors, a free series of talks about books by CCSU faculty, staff members or alumni, continues Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 12:15 p.m., in the Student Center Bookstore, 1615 Stanley St., New Britain. Carl Antonucci and Sharon Clapp of Burritt Library will discuss “The LITA Leadership Guide: The Librarian as Entrepreneur, Leader, and Technologist.” 860-832-2759 or gigliotti@ccsu.edu.

Mystery Book Discussion

Carole Shmurak, of Farmington, who writes the Susan Lombardi mystery novels, will lead a free discussion on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 3 p.m., for the Wallingford Mystery Group: “Kill All the Lawyers” Part 3,” at Wallingford Public Library, 200 N. Main St. The book is “Open and Shut” by David Rosenfelt. 203-265-6754.