Hank Phillippi Ryan knows news, and she knows crime. As a longtime investigative reporter for Channel 7 news, the NBC affiliate in Boston, she has won 32 EMMYs, 12 Edward R. Murrow awards and many other honors.
Ryan also is an author of award-winning mysteries and thrillers, and she will talk about her latest novel at a New Jewish Book Festival event on Thursday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m., at the Mandell Jewish Community Center, 335 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford.
The book is “Truth Be Told” (Forge, $24.99), part of a series set in Boston featuring TV reporter Jane Ryland and detective Jake Brogan. It tells a story about financial skullduggery involving foreclosures, secrets and murder. It was named a Library Journal Best Book Of 2014 and a Library Journal Editor’s Pick.
The moderator for the discussion with Ryan will be Raymond Chip Tafrate, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Central Connecticut State University.
Tickets are $20 and each one purchased entitles the buyer to a free ticket.
Guests are asked to donate a new or gently used children’s book to benefit the Read to Grow Foundation, which provides books to needy families of newborns in Connecticut.
Information and reservations: 860-231-6316 or www.mandelljcc.org.
“The Great Connecticut Caper”
An online serialized mystery story will begin in January, and reservations are being taken now for the free launch party at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main St., Hartford, on Jan. 7 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
“The Great Connecticut Caper,” about a state landmark that mysteriously disappears, is a project of the Connecticut Center for the Book at Connecticut Humanities. The online story, aimed at kids in grades 4 through 7, will run in chapters at ctcaper.cthumanities.org every other week from Jan. 4 through June, written and illustrated one chapter at a time by 12 local authors and 12 local artists, based on the details in the previous chapter.
The launch party is for parents, educators and librarians, and the writers and artists will attend. There will be mini-workshops, a scavenger hunt and a chance to work on a Great Hartford Caper story. Light refreshments, beer and wine will be served. Those who make a reservation by Monday, Dec. 15, will receive a Caper Sneak Peek.
Reservations: ctcaperlaunch.eventbrite.com.
Wintonbury Poetry Series
Connecticut poets Charles Fort and JoAnne Bauer will read from their work on Thursday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m. as the free Wintonbury Poetry Series continues at McMahon Wintonbury Branch Library, 1015 Blue Hills Ave., Bloomfield. An open mike session will follow the readings.
Fort, a New Britain native, has published two collections, “We Did Not Fear the Father, New and Selected Poems” (Red Hen Press, $24.95) and “Mrs. Belladonna’s Supper Club Waltz, New and Selected Prose Poems” (Backwaters Press, $16). His poems have appeared in journals and anthologies such as The Best American Poetry 20030 and 2003, The American Poetry Review, Georgia Review, and The Carnegie Mellon Anthology of Poetry. He has won awards from the Poetry Society of America and the Randall Jarrell Poetry Prize, among others.
Bauer’s poems have been published in the journals Caduceus, Connecticut River Review, Theodate and Where Flowers Bloom and she has won a Connecticut Poetry Society prize. Her chapbook, “Dances with Masks and Mirrors,” ($12) was published by Finishing Line Press and she is the author of the collection, “Drawn Parallels” (Trafford, $12.60).
Information: 860-242-0041 or www.prosserlibrary.info.
“Inventing Scrooge”
Hartford Stage, 50 Church St., Hartford, will host a book signing with Carlo DeVito, author of “Inventing Scrooge” (Cider Mill Press, $18.95) following the 2 p.m. matinee performance of “A Christmas Carol” on Sunday, Dec. 14.
DeVito, whose more than 15 books include biographies of Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto, “A Mark Twain Christmas” and “10 Secrets My Dog Taught Me,” will discuss the facts about the inspiration, writing and publication of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale. Patrons do not have to attend the matinee to hear his free talk, which will begin around 4 p.m.
Information: 860-520-7114 or tmacnaughton@hartfordstage.org.
“The Pollan Family Table”
The Hickory Stick Bookshop, 2 Green Hill Road, Washington Depot, will host a book signing on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. for the new cookbook, “The Pollan Family Table: The Best Recipes and Kitchen Wisdom for Delicious, Healthy Family Meals” (Scribner, $30), with a forward by family member and food journalist Michael Pollan.
Corky, Lori, Dana and Tracy Pollan will sign copies of their book. Corky Pollan is the author of Shopping Manhattan, a food blogger, Best Bets editor at New York magazine and former Style Director of Gourmet magazine. Lori Pollan co-founded the Pollan-Austen Fitness Center with her sister Dana. Tracy Pollan, the actress, is the wife of actor Michael J. Fox and is on the board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation For Parkinson’s Research.
Information: 860-860-0525 or www.hickorystickbookshop.com.
Discussing “Unbroken”
As part of the free Changing America series of exhibits, programs and films about landmark events in American history from The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to the March in Washington in 1963, Avon Public Library, 281 Country Club Rd., Avon, will present a book discussion on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m.
John Henry Mueller, an adjunct professor of history at Central Connecticut State University, will lead the talk on the best-selling nonfiction book, “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” by Laura Hillenbrand. It is a biography of Louis Zamperini, the Olympic track star who became a bombardier in World War II, was shot down with two others, survived 47 days adrift in the Pacific, was captured by Japanese soldiers and spent two years enduring sadistic treatment. Zamperini died at age 92 in July. A film version, directed by Angelina Jolie, is set to open Dec. 25.
Information: 860-673-9712, ext. 234.
Voices in the Bookstore
A Voices in the Bookstore program will be held Friday, Dec. 19, at 6 p.m., at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison. The free program will present Madison area writers reading from their works in progress, and listeners are welcome to attend. Writers interested in reading at the event should sign up in advance at 203-245-3959 or www.rjjulia.com.
