Free Local Author Talks At R.J. Julia; African American Poetry Read-in at Coffee House

R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison will host free programs with local authors and a prize-winning writer of thrillers who lives in Salem, Mass.

A Local Author Night Memoir discussion will be held Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m., featuring works by four writers.

Shawn Elizabeth George will talk about her book, “My Journey to Live from the Inside Out” (CreateSpace, $19.95). Suffering anxiety and depression, George found healing by embracing her Christian faith. She lives in Connecticut and is an author, blogger, and inspirational speaker.

Sherry Horton will discuss “Witness Chair: A Memoir of Art, Marriage, and Loss” (Shanti Arts, $21.95). Horton, of Unionville, is the widow of artist and Hartford Art School faculty member Chris Horton. The book, a guide to living with suffering and death, is about their marriage and his last project before he died of leukemia, the preparation of an art installation to commemorate the 17th-century Salem Witch Trials. Horton was director of the Center for Reading and Writing at the University of Hartford and is a co-founder of the East Hill Writers’ Workshop.

Cindi Michael, daughter of Sports Machine TV broadcaster George Michael, will talk about “The Sportscaster’s Daughter” (She Writes Press, $16.95). Her book explains how her father, who had gained custody of his three children, later inexplicably banned her from their home and did not speak to her for 20 years, leaving her to see him only on TV and long for reconciliation.

Roni Beth Tower is the author of “Miracle at Midlife: A Transatlantic Romance” (She Writes Press, $16.95), the true-life romantic story of how she, a Connecticut psychologist, met David, a divorced man living on a barge in Paris, when they were in their 50s and had given up on finding love.

On Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m., Brunonia Barry will discuss her latest novel, “The Fifth Petal” (Crown Publishing Group, $27). It is a thriller set in Salem, Mass., where a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, echoing the deaths of three women, descendants of accused Salem witches, in an unsolved 1989 case, were killed on Halloween night. Barry is a best-selling author, a winner of the International Women s Fiction Festival’s Baccante Award and a New England Book Festival award for Best Fiction. Registration is required: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.

Riverwood Poetry Series

The Riverwood Poetry series will continue Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m., with a reading by and conversation with Margaret Gibson, on the theme of “Love, in Sickness and in Health,” at the Universalist Church of West Hartford, 433 Fern St.

Gibson, a poet and professor, has published 11 poetry collections. The most recent, “Broken Cup,” focuses on her poet-husband’s Alzheimer’s disease

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for light refreshments and an open mike, for which poems on love and its challenges are encouraged but not required. The program is free, but donations will be gratefully accepted. Information: riverwoodpoetry.org.

African American Poetry

A free African American Poetry Read-in to celebrate Black History Month will be presented by Together We Rise: Building Bridges to Justice on Sunday, Feb. 5, from 4 to 6 p.m., at Two Wrasslin’ Cats Coffee House, 374 Town St., East Haddam.

Participants are invited to bring a poem by an African American poet to read or to read one from collections available at the coffee house. The event is part of the National African American Read-In sponsored by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Co-hosts are Marilynn S. Turner, an English professor at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, and Edwina Trentham, professor emerita of English at Asnuntuck, where she founded the poetry journal, Freshwater. Information: 860-891-8446 or 860-537-9031 or 860-873-1472.

Connecticut Conservation Corps

Martin Podskoch, author of a book about Connecticut’s participation in the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps, will give a free talk on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. at the Suffield Senior Center, 145 Bridge St., Suffield. Kent Memorial Library is sponsoring the talk.

“Connecticut Civilian Conservation Corps Camps: Their History, Memories & Legacy” (North Country Books, $29.95) tells how the corps, the Depression-era public works program begun in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create jobs, resulted in more than 20 camps in the state. Reservations: 860-668-3896 or suffield-library.org.

Valentine’s Day Poetry

On Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m., Simsbury Public Library, 725 Hopmeadow St., will present a free program by local poets who wrote poems about love in a workshop led by state Poet Laureate Rennie McQuilkin. He will read, along with Donna Fallon Page, Janet Rice Finney, Kathleen Macintosh, Cora M. Ekwurtzel, Lynn Hunter, Cheryl Picard and Shirley Whiddon.

Registration: 860-658-7663 or simsburylibrary.info.

France Book Discussion Series

Free talks focusing on books set in France will continue at Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon. On Monday, Feb. 6, “The Lantern” by Deborah Lawrenson will be discussed, and on Feb. 27, “Lisette’s List” by Susan Vreeland. French-themed refreshments will be provided and registration is not necessary. Information: 860-673-9712, ext. 225, or clarsen@avonctlibrary.info.

Book Club Bookstore & More

Book Club Bookstore & More, 100 Main St., in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor, will host a free Page to Screen Book Discussion of “Big Little Lies” (Berkley, $16) by Liane Moriarty on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 6 p.m. An HBO series based on the best-selling book about parents, children and a mysterious death will begin Feb. 19.

On Saturday, Feb. 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the bookstore will host a Valentine Pop-Ups shopping event with authors and artisans, including Shawn P. Flynn, author of “The Kitty: Who Rescued Me After I Rescued Him” (CreateSpace, $9.95). Information: 860-623-5100 or bookclubct.com.

The Founding Fathers

Best-selling author Stephen Spignesi will give a free talk titled “The Founding Fathers: An Illustrated Lecture” at Hagaman Memorial Library, 227 Main St., East Haven, on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 6:30 p.m.

Spignesi is a professor at the University of New Haven and author of “499 Facts About Hip-Hop Hamilton and the Rest of America’s Founding Fathers” (Skyhorse Publishing, $16.99). His book includes information about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, James Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, James Madison, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry and more. Registration: at the library or 203-468-3890.

Canoeing Maine

New England Trail Poet-in-Residence David K. Leff will discuss his latest book, “Canoeing Maine’s Legendary Allagash: Thoreau, Romance, and Survival of the Wild” (Homebound, $26.95), on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 4 p.m. at Byrd’s Books, 26 Greenwood Ave., Bethel.

The book tells how Henry David Thoreau, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, and others explored the wild country of northern Maine. Leff, an essayist and poet and former deputy commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, writes extensively about the relationship of people to man-made and natural environments. Information: 203-730-2973.

Central Authors

Central Authors, a free series featuring books by Central Connecticut State University faculty, staff members or alumni, will continue Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 12:15, in the CCSU Bookstore in the Student Center on the campus, 1615 Stanley St., New Britain. There is free parking in the Student Center Garage on Ella Grasso Boulevard.

Marianne Fallon will discuss “Writing Up Quantitative Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences” (Sense Publishers, $25). The book is a user-friendly, humorous guide for emerging researchers facing the intellectual and emotional challenges of writing quantitative research reports. Information: 860-832-2759 or gigliotti@ccsu.edu.