Events featuring authors of books about witches and vampires, suspense and mystery and politics, religion and history, as well as books for young readers, are among those coming our way this fall. Here are highlights of literary events scheduled from September through December.
September
>>Big Book Getaway: The Big Book Club and The Day newspaper will present a Big Book Getaway evening of talks by mystery and suspense authors at The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook, on Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. On the docket: authors John Searles, editor-at-large for Cosmopolitan Magazine and book critic for the NBC Today Show; Tess Gerritsen, bestselling creator of the Rizzoli & Isles books and TV series; Alafair Burke, crime novelist, law professor of law and legal commentator; international best-selling thriller novelist Lisa Unger; and David Handler, of Old Lyme, author of the Hoagy & Lulu and Mitch & Desiree mysteries. Boston TV investigative reporter and crime fiction author Hank Phillippi Ryan will moderate. Tickets are $45 and include a vodka martini and hors d’oeuvres. The event will benefit Reach Out and Read Connecticut. Information and registration: 860-460-0875 or thebigbookclub.org.
October
>>Connecticut Forum: A noted historian and biographer, a New York Times columnist and the Republican strategist who was the chief advisor to Pres. George W. Bush will speak Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. as the Connecticut Forum lecture series begins at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. “Debating Our Broken Political System: What’s Wrong and How to Fix It” will present Doris Kearns Goodwin, Charles Blow and Karl Rove in conversation on stage, moderated by John Dankosky, host of WNPR’s “Where We Live.” Tickets are $39 to $99, with VIP packages at additional cost. Information and registration: 860-509-0909 or ctforum.org.
>>The Mark Twain House & Museum: Many events are planned for book lovers, including talks and a gala party. Among them are a free BOOK/MARK series Conversation with Colm Toibin, on Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. The acclaimed Irish journalist, author and professor has won many awards for his work, which includes novels and short stories, essays, memoir, travel writing and plays. Toibin’s latest novel is “Nora Webster.” Information and registration: 860-280-3130. On Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. at Hartford Stage, 50 Church St., Hartford, the Twain House will present gothic novelist Anne Rice, whose latest, “Prince Lestat,” is a sequel to her mega-hit “Interview With a Vampire,” and her son Christopher Rice, a bestselling paranormal thriller author. Tickets: $35 at 860-527-5151 or www.HartfordStage.org.
The gala Twain House fundraiser event, Mark My Words 2014: A WICKED Cool Evening! will take place Oct. 21, at 8 p.m., at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. Gregory Maguire, author of the novel, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”,” which tells the sympathetic backstory of the character from “The Wizard of Oz,” and Stephen Schwartz, composer and lyricist of “Wicked,” the Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Maguire’s book, will be in conversation with Courant theater critic Frank Rizzo. Tickets: $25 to $55, VIP $125. Information: TwainMarkMyWords.com or 860-987-5900 or www.bushnell.org .
>>Webb Barn: Author and former Courant editor Anne Farrow will launch her new nonfiction book on the connection between a famous Connecticut family and the slave trade on Oct. 23, at 6:30 p.m., at the Webb Barn at the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, 211 Main St., Wethersfield. A 6 p.m. wine reception will begin the event. Her book, “The Logbooks: Connecticut’s Slave Ships and Human Memory,” from Wesleyan Press, traces the life of the logbooks’ author, Dudley Saltonstall, a controversial figure in Connecticut history who was the brother-in-law of Wethersfield’s Silas Deane. Information: www.webb-deane-stevens.org or 860-529-0612.
November
>>Wesleyan University’s Russell House Series: Held at 350 High St., Middletown, this series brings noted authors to the campus for free talks. Among them are Ariel Levy, a staff writer at The New Yorker and author of “Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture,” who will speak Nov. 5, at 8 p.m. Levy won a National Magazine Award for her essay, “Thanksgiving in Mongolia.” On Nov. 12, at 8 p.m., Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Paul Harding, author of “Tinkers” and “Enon,” will speak. Information: 860-685-3448 or wesleyan.edu.
>>Jewish Book Festival: The five-event festival presented by the Mandell Jewish Community Center, 335 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford, opens with a talk on Nov.13, at 7 p.m. by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin on his book, “Rebbe,” about the life and teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, thought to be the most influential rabbi in modern history. The series continues Dec. 18 with “Truth Be Told,” a talk by mystery author and investigative reporter Hank Phillipi Ryan, moderated by Cip Tafrate, a professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Three more talks will follow in 2015. Tickets are $25 for “Rebbe,” $20 for each other single event or $90 for the series. Information and reservations: 860-231-6316 or tickets@mandelljcc.org or www.mandelljcc.org.
>>Leslie Jamison: The West Hartford Public Library, 20 S. Main St., West Hartford, will present a free reading and discussion on Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. Jamison, author of “The Empathy Exams” and a contributor to the New York Times Book Review, and Gary Greenberg, a Connecticut psychiatrist, award-winning magazine writer and author of “The Book of Woe,” will offer their thoughts on how pain provides a way to understand ourselves and others and a mordant critique of the mental health industry. Registration: westhartfordlibrary.org.
>> Connecticut Children’s Book Fair: The free 23rd Annual fair will take place Nov. 8 and 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Rome Commons Ballroom, Rome Hall, South Campus Complex at the University of Connecticut, Storrs campus. The event brings many authors of books for children to give presentations and sign books. Among the authors this year will be Anika Denise, Christopher Denise, Jane Dyer, Florence Minor, Wendell Minor, Chris Grabenstein, Jeff Kinney, Jean Marzollo, Caragh O’Brien, Judy Schachner, Len Vlahos and Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. Costumed book characters will be on hand. Cafeteria breakfasts, free for kids 12 and younger and for a small fee for others, with Clifford the Big Red Dog will be offered both days from 9 to 10 a.m. Breakfast registration opens Oct. 10 at 10 a.m. at 860-486-5027 or 1-800-U-READ-IT. Information: bookfair.uconn.edu.
December
>>Jewish Authors: A free panel discussion marking the publication of “The New Diaspora: The Changing Landscape of American Jewish Fiction,” an anthology of 50 years of writings by winners of Edward Lewis Wallant Award in American Jewish Fiction and other prominent Jewish authors from other countries, will take place on Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. in University of Hartford’s Mali I Auditorium, Dana Hall, on the campus at 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford. The annual award, which commemorates the author of “The Pawnbroker” and other novels, who died at 36 of a brain aneurysm, was established by Dr. and Mrs. Irving Waltman of West Hartford and is presented by the university’s Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies. It honors writers of fiction of significance for American Jews, and winners include authors Cynthia Ozick, Curt Leviant, Chaim Potok, Myla Goldberg, Dara Horn, Nicole Krauss and Julie Orringer. I will moderate the discussion with panelists Avinoam Patt, professor of Modern Jewish Studies at the university and an editor of the anthology, and Josh Lambert of the Yiddish Book Center. Information: mgcjs@hartford.edu, 860-768-4964 or uhaweb.hartford.edu
