Best-Selling Author James Patterson Among Summer’s Headliners

Famous authors and poets, including James Patterson, Jodi Picoult, Judy Blume and Ted Kooser, will give talks in Connecticut this summer, and new and established literary festivals will offer programs. Here are some of the most interesting.

>>David Sedaris, whose sophisticated wit enlivens his essays and memoirs, will present all-new readings on Friday, May 15, at 8 p.m., at The Bushnell Center for the Arts, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Sedaris mines humor from his recollections of growing up in a family of six children in North Carolina and his life in France and the U.S. with his partner, Hugh. His bestselling books include “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim,” “When You Are Engulfed in Flames” and “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary.” His latest is “Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls” (Back Bay, $17). Tickets are $27.50 to $57.50. For more information and reservations, visit rjjulia.com.

>>Popular novelist Jodi Picoult and her daughter and co-author, Samantha van Leer, will speak May 19, at 6 p.m., at First Congregational Church, 26 Meetinghouse Lane, Madison, in a program presented by R.J. Julia Booksellers of Madison. Picoult and van Leer will discuss their new romantic and humorous YA novel about a prince from a fairy tale who enters the real world, “Off the Page” (Delacorte Press, $19.99), a companion to their “Between the Lines.” Picoult’s 23 books include many No. 1 New York Times best-sellers. Van Leer is a sophomore at Vassar College. Admission, which includes a copy of “Off the Page,” is $19.99. For reservations and more information, call 203-245-3959 or visit rjjulia.com.

>>On June 4, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize for Writing to Advance Social Justice will be awarded to Ta-Nehisi Coates, a journalist and blogger for The Atlantic magazine and its website. The Big Tent Jubilee, a gala party on the grounds of the Stowe Center, 77 Forest St., Hartford, will feature a farm to table dinner and the award ceremony. Tickets are $175 and $300, and reservations must be made by May 21. The event benefits Stowe Center education programs. Coates, national correspondent at The Atlantic, writes about racial, cultural, social and political issues as well as history, sports and music. From 4 to 5:30 p.m., he will take part in a free program, “A Conversation on Race with Ta-Nehisi Coates” with John Dankosky of WNPR, at Immanuel Congregational Church, 10 Woodland St., Hartford, where an Inspiration to Action Fair for students and community groups will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. Jubilee For reservations, StowePrize2015. BrownPaperTickets.com. For more information, visit harrietbeecherstowecenter.org or call 860-522-9258.

>>The Wesleyan Writers Conference, held on the campus of Wesleyan University in Middletown, will celebrate its 59th year, from June 10 to June 14, including a One Day Festival of talks and closing celebration on June 13. The conference offers talks with editors and agents, seminars, lectures, readings and workshops on such topics as the novel, short stories, poetry, nonfiction, memoir, biography, journalism, writing for film, TV and new media and about food, travel, science and medicine, as well as preparing work for publication and selling a book. The faculty includes Amy Bloom, Roxana Robinson, William Finnegan, Honor Moore, Lis Harris, Alexander Chee, Salvatore Scibona, Adam Levy, Hirsh Sawhney, Pamela Dorman, Vicky Bijur and Johnny Temple. Fees are $225 for the One-Day Festival or $850 for full-event tuition, plus optional costs for meals and lodging. Registration with a $100 deposit is due by Friday, May 15. For more information, visit wesleyan.edu or call 860-685-3604.

>>On June 11, at 7 p.m., the free Authors Live! series of talks at Noah Webster Library, 20 S. Main St., West Hartford, will host author Dan Pope, whose latest novel is “Housebreaking” (Simon & Schuster, $25) about two families in a Connecticut neighborhood. His first novel, “In the Cherry Tree”, was set in West Hartford, where he grew up. Pope, whose work appears in many literary magazines, will be in conversation with author and journalist Rand Richards Cooper, of Hartford, who writes about books and film for Commonweal Magazine and restaurants for the New York Times. Parking in the Isham Road garage will be validated by the library. Register here. Information: westhartfordlibrary.org and 860-561-6990.

>>The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford will present the world’s No. 1 best-selling author, James Patterson, who has more than 300 million copies of his works in print, in conversation with WNPR’s Ray Hardman on June 17, at 7:30 p.m., at Immanuel Congregational Church, 10 Woodland St., Hartford. Patterson, the first author to achieve 10 million e-book sales, is known for his thrillers, such as the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club and Michael Bennett series, and he is the current top bestselling author of young adult and middle grade books. He is an advocate for reading and has donated hundreds of thousands of books to American schools and troops stationed overseas, Tickets are $60, or $175 for a VIP pre-event reception with Patterson, premium seating and a pre-signed copy of one of his books. For reservations, call 860-280-3130. Information: marktwainhouse.org.

The free Avon Free Public Library Local Author Festival will begin June 20 at 2 p.m. and run through Aug. 24 at Avon Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon. It opens with a talk by author, detective and death investigator for Vermont’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Archer Mayor, who writes the best-selling series of police procedural novels featuring Det. Joe Gunther. The festival will continue on Tuesday evenings with programs about Avon, YA/Teen books, poetry and essays, fiction, returning authors and children’s books. On July 30, author James Frey will speak at 6 p.m. Local authors will sell and sign books in tents at the library’s Farmers’ Market from 4 to 7 p.m. on July 20 and 27 and Aug. 3, 17 and 24. For more information, call 860-673-9712, ext. 235.

The 23rd annual Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, the nationally acclaimed series of outdoor readings on the grounds of the Hill-Stead Museum, 35 Mountain Road, Farmington, will include Sunday as well as Wednesday performances this year. Former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Ted Kooser and the winner of the Hill-Stead Chapbook Contest will open the series on June 24. Other programs will feature Marie Howe and Ciaran Berry on July 12; Vijay Seshadri and Ravi Shankar on July 22; Li-Young Lee and Tina Chang on Aug. 9; and Young Poets Day with Natalie Diaz and Aja Monet and winners of the high school poetry competition on Aug. 19. On Sundays, gates open at 2:30 p.m., conversation with headlining poet at 3 p.m., music at 4 p.m. and headlining poet at 5 p.m. On Wednesdays, gates open at 4:30 p.m., conversation with headlining poet at 5 p.m., music at 6:30 p.m. and headlining poet at 7:15 p.m. Guests bring their own seating and food or can buy food and wine there. Tickets are $12 online in advance or $15 at the door; free for those 18 or younger. For more information, call 860-677-4787 or visit hillstead.org.

>>Judy Blume, the beloved author of books for younger and adult readers, will appear June 26 at 7 p.m. in conversation with Carole Baron to discuss her new adult novel, “In The Unlikely Event” (Knopf, $27.95) at First Congregational Church, 26 Meeting House Lane, Madison. Blume’s novel, set in her hometown of Elizabeth, N.J., was inspired by the highly unlikely but true occurrence of three separate airplane crashes there in rapid succession in 1952, which traumatized the town. Tickets are $5, which can be applied to the purchase of a copy at R.J. Julia Booksellers of Madison, sponsor of the event. Books must be bought there to be eligible for signing. For reservations, call 203-245-3959 or visit rjjulia.com.

>>Readers are once again invited to travel the Connecticut Authors Trail this summer. A group of libraries in Eastern Connecticut will present free talks by authors who live in Connecticut or write about it. At each event, guests can acquire “passports” that are guides to the series and offer a chance to win a themed basket. The 2015 Trail will start at Calvert Library in Franklin on July 7 at 6:30 p.m. with thriller writer E.J. Simon and will conclude Sept. 10 at The Mohegan Sun Cabaret Theatre on Sept. 10 at 6:15 p.m., with a talk by baker, cookbook author and culinary arts expert Robert Landolphi. Other authors taking part include Janet Barrett, Cindy Rodriguez, Jeff Goldberg (my son), Kara Sundlen, Donald Williams and Charlotte Rogan, among others. For more information, visit connecticutauthorstrail.org.

You can find our complete summer arts roundup here.