U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith is among the acclaimed poets who will appear when the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival presents its 26th season outdoors in the beautiful gardens on the grounds of Hill-Stead Museum, a National Historic Landmark at 35 Mountain Road, Farmington.
The festival will offer five events from 5 to 8:30 p.m., three on Wednesdays and two on Sundays, featuring well-known and emerging poets. Interviews with the poets will take place at 5 p.m., and there will be live music. Poetry writing workshops will be offered for the first four events, at noon, except as noted, at costs from $40 to $60.
The festival begins Sunday, May 27, with an Irish Night program of music, dance and poetry with Eamon Grennan and David McLoghlin. There will be music by Daymark and Irish dancing by Scoil Rince Luimni. McLoghlin will lead a workshop at noon.
On June 20, Molly Brown and Margaret Gibson will read.
Individual tickets are $15 online and $20 at the gate. Children under age 18 are free. Parking is free. Guests should bring their own seating and can bring picnic suppers or buy food and beverages at the festival.
For tickets and full schedule, visit hillstead.org and 860-677-4787.
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, 77 Forest St., Hartford, will present a free Words That Changed the World Book Club discussion of “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” by 2018 Stowe Prize winner Matthew Desmond, on Thursday, May 31, at 5:30 p.m.. The book reveals eviction practices in American cities, told through the experiences of eight families and their landlords in Milwaukee.
Desmond will not be present for this discussion, but will appear on Stowe Prize Day, Sept. 5, when he will be honored at the Stowe Center’s eighth annual fundraising event, the Big Tent Jubilee, along with Student Stowe Prize winners from Charlottesville, Va., Zyahna Bryant of Charlottesville High School and Wes Gobar of University of Virginia. Tickets to the Jubilee are $175 or $300.
Desmond and the students also will give a free talk at an Action Fair at Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford, immediately preceding the Jubilee. Free workshops and discussions will be held in June, July and August.
Bryant’s winning entry, “Change the Name of Lee Park and Remove the Statue,” a petition to the Charlottesville city council, advocated the removal of Confederate statues. Gobar wrote “What It’s Like to Be a Black Student When White Supremacists March in Your College Town” published on Vox. The entries are available at HarrietBeecherStowe.org.
The Stowe Prize, which promotes social justice and positive change, is given annually to a U.S. author whose work affects a critical social issue ,in the tradition of Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which changed American thought about slavery in the mid-1800s. The Student Stowe Prize recognizes outstanding writing by U.S. high school and college students that inspires action for positive social change.
Information and tickets: HarrietBeecherStowe.org or 860-522-9258, ext. 305.
Murder on the Orient Express
On Saturday, June 2, at 8 p.m., the Storyteller’s Cottage, 750 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury, will host a “Murder on the Orient Express” gala, inspired by the classic mystery novel by Agatha Christie. Up to 40 guests may attend, and period clothing is recommended for this immersive event that offers themed hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and music. Guests will guess the murderer’s identity based on clues they will find.
Admission is $50. Those 21 and older will be allowed to have the cocktails.
Registration: 860-877-6099, Info@StorytellersCottage.com or StorytellersCottage.com/book-online.
Bank Square Books
On Sunday, May 27, from 1 to 3 p.m., Bank Square Books, 53 W, Main St., Mystic, will host book signings with Connecticut authors Connie Bombaci (“Hogan’s Hope”) and Shawn Flynn (“The Kitty Who Rescued Me After I Rescued Him”).
“Hogan’s Hope” is about a rescued deaf dog that learned American Sign Language. Flynn’s book is about a rescued stray cat that helped him through personal difficulties when his life took an unexpected turn.
On Thursday, May 31, from 6 to 7 p.m, Mystic author Susan Kietzman will launch her latest book, “It Started In June.” The novel follows a 42-yar-old woman whose brief romance with a younger colleague leads to life-changing events.
On Saturday, June 2, from 1 to 3 p.m., a Self-Improvement Series book signing will present motivational transformation specialist Joe Swinger, whose “Awaken the Magic Within: The Seven Essential Virtues for Incredible Success,” is a book of advice for business leaders.
860-536-3795 or banksquarebooks.com.
Mark Twain House
The Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford, continues its free The Trouble Begins at 5:30 series on Wednesday, May 30, with a talk by Kevin Mac Donnell on “Was Huck Quaker?”
An independent Twain scholar, Donnell studies Twain’s exploration of the Religious Society of Friends, better known as Quakers, a pacifist group that had been persecuted. He believes that what Twain learned about brutal persecution played a role in his creation of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
The event will begin with a reception at 5 p.m. marktwainhouse.org or 860-247-0998.
R.J. Julia Events
R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison will present free talks by the winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the author of a book about heredity. Both require reservations: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
On Thursday, May 31, at 7 p.m., New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer will discuss “She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity.” In it, Zimmer explores how ideas about heredity have changed as knowledge of genetics grew and genetic identity tests became widely available. Zimmer writes the “Matter” column for The New York Times and has won many awards. He teaches at Yale University.
On Friday, June 1, at 7 p.m., Andrew Sean Greer, author of the novel, “Less,” will speak. His bittersweet, satirical love story is about an aging, failed novelist who hopes to avoid his ex-lover’s wedding by accepting a mishmash of invitations to sketchy literary events abroad, with hilarious and poignant results. Greer is the best-selling author of five works of fiction and the winner of many literary honors.
At Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore, 413 Main St., Middletown, on Wednesday, June 27, at 7 p.m., Newington novelist and Speak Up storytelling organization co-founder Matthew Dicks will give a free talk about “Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling.”
Dicks writes that people use storytelling in all interactions, “narrating events and interpreting emotions and actions.” His book offers techniques for constructing, telling and polishing any story.
Information: 860-685-3939.
Not So “YA”
The Not So “YA” Book Club will meet Wednesday, May 30, at 7 p.m. at Whiton Library, 100 N. Main St., Manchester.
The book to be discussed is “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, about Starr, a teenager from a poor neighborhood who attends a posh suburban high school and witnesses the killing of an unarmed friend by a police officer. The killing becomes a national story and rumors about the victim abound. Starr knows what really happened, but the truth could upset her community and risk her life. 860-645-0821 or library.townofmanchester.org.
Book Club Bookstore
Book Club Bookstore & More, 869 Sullivan Ave., South Windsor, will host a book launch for “The Writer’s Romance” by Elsa Kurt on Saturday, June 2, from 1 to 2 p.m.
Kurt’s romantic comedy brings together a handsome reality TV host and his noisy crew and a reclusive writer trying to finish her book, with humorous results. 860-432-7411 or bookclubct.com.
Wood At Hickory Stick
L Todd Wood will sign copies of his “Currency: A Financial Thriller” at The Hickory Stick Bookshop, 2 Green Hill Road, Washington Depot, on Saturday, June 2 at 2 p.m.
Wood’s debut novel involves global economic, military and political issues, blending historic actions by the Founding Fathers with current events. Wood, an aeronautical engineer, Air Force pilot and former international bond trader, is national security columnist for The Washington Times and editor-in-chief of Tsarizm.com. 860-868-0525 or hickorystickbookshop.com.
