Author, journalist, actress and social commentator Fran Lebowitz, purveyor of satirical opinions on current events and hilarious explanations of her many pet peeves, will appear Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at Garde Arts Center, 325 State St.. New London.
Her essay collections, “Metropolitan Life” and “Social Studies, were best-sellers. She also is the author of the children’s book, “Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas.” She played Judge Janice Goldberg on TV’s “Law & Order,” and is a regular on talk shows hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, and Bill Maher.
Connecticut novelist Wally Lamb will introduce Lebowitz. Tickets are $35 to $55. gardearts.org/calendar.
Connecticut Book Awards
Winners of the 2018 Connecticut Book Awards have been announced by the Connecticut Center for the Book, a Connecticut Humanities program. The awards honor books with ties to the state written in the past year.
The winners in five categories are Fiction: “We Were the Lucky Ones” by Georgia Hunter; Nonfiction: “The Martyr and the Traitor – Nathan Hale, Moses Dunbar, and the American Revolution” by Virginia DeJohn Anderson: Poetry: “Because When God is Too Busy” by Gina Athena Ulysse; Young Readers – Young Adult: “Greetings from Witness Protection!” by Jake Burt; and Young Readers – Juvenile: “Double Take! A New Look at Opposites” by Susan Hood.
Bank Square Books
On Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. Bank Square Books, 53 W Main St., Mystic, will host Belle Brett, author of “Gina in the Floating World,” a novel about an American woman who becomes entangled in Tokyo’s erotic arts scene. Brett will be in conversation with Jeanne Blasberg, author of “Eden,” a novel about family secrets.
Information on these and other free Bank Square events: 860-536-3795 or banksquarebooks.com.
Holocaust Conference
Registration is open through Nov. 7 for the Nov. 11 Descendants of the Shoah: New England Holocaust Conference presented by Voices of Hope at the University of Hartford, 200 Blommfield Ave., West Hartford, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Kosher breakfast, lunch and snacks will be provided. Registration costs range from $18 to $85.
The event aims to increase awareness of the genocide carried out by the Nazis through four one-hour sessions of talks and films by authors, survivors and descendants, scholars and historians. Authors who will take part include K. Heidi Fishman, Hanna Pearlstein Marcus, Arlene Stein, Sonia Taitz, Caroline Heller and Deborah Vadas Levison.
Information and registration: ctvoicesofhope.org or 860-470-5591.
Children’s Book Fair
The free Connecticut Children’s Book Fair will conclude Nov. 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Rome Commons Ballroom at UConn’s South Campus Complex.
Authors and illustrators who will speak include Caldecott and Newbery Honor winner Tomie dePaola and New York Times Best Illustrated Book winner Stephen Savage, among others. Connecticut authors will include Jake Burt, Alan Katz, Tochi Onyebuchi and Chandra Prasad. bookfair.uconn.edu.
R.J. Julia events
Jacques Pépin, internationally acclaimed chef, cookbook author and TV personality, will sign copies of his book, “Menus,” and meet fans on Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison. Pépin’s latest chronicles meals he created for friends and special occasions and memories they evoke. He has won 16 James Beard Awards, published 29 cookbooks and starred in 12 PBS cooking series. Tickets are $19.99 plus tax and include admission to the book signing line and one copy of “Menus.”
On Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. B.A. Shapiro, author of “The Collector’s Apprentice,” will give a free talk. Shapiro is known for her historical art world best-sellers. Her latest is set in the 1920s in Paris and Philadelphia and features a woman bent on recovering an art collection, clearing her name and taking revenge on a duplicitous lover.
Registration is required for both events: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
At Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore, 413 Main St., Middletown on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. two poets will speak. Kevin Goodan, author of “Anaphora” and J. Kates, author of “The Briar Patch,” will give the free talks. books@wesleyan.edu or 860-685-3939
Book Club Bookstore & More
Suzanne Davis, author of “The Appointed Hour,” a collection of linked stories about life in rural America, will discuss her book Nov. 10 at 1:30 p.m. at Book Club Bookstore & More, 869 Sullivan Ave., South Windsor. 860-432-7411 or bookclubct.com.
Stowe Center
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, 77 Forest St., Hartford, will host a free Words That Changed the World Book Club meeting on Nov. 8 at 5:30 p.m. with a staff-led discussion of “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly. The book is the true story of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, the black female NASA mathematicians whose work supported U.S. space exploration, despite the restrictions of segregation. 860-522-9258, ext. 317.
David Leff events
On Nov, 8 at 7 p.m. at Storytellers Cottage, 750 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury, author and environmentalist David Leff will present a discussion, conversation and readings from his book, “Terranexus: Connection and Meaning in Ordinary Places,” which advises readers how to connect with places close to home. Admission is $5. On Nov. 10 from noon to 5 p.m. at Storytellers Cottage, Leff will lead a nature poetry writing workshop with readings, discussion, an outdoor walk stressing observation and a writing assignment with feedback. The cost is $100. Registration and information: storytellerscottage.com.
Footprints across Connecticut
Genealogist Jean Perrault will discuss her book, “Footprints Across Connecticut from the 1930 Bloomfield Census,” on Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at Prosser Public Library, 1 Tunxis Ave., Bloomfield. The book documents life histories of the 3,248 residents listed in the 1930 Bloomfield Census. Perrault has produced similar books about Granby, East Granby and Simsbury.
Registration: prosserlibrary.info or 860-243-9721.
Roar reading series
The Roar Reading Series presents free talks by writers on the first Monday of the month at 7 p.m. at UConn B&N Bookstore, One Royce Circle, 101 Storrs Center, Storrs. On Nov. 5, the writers will be Ryan Curcio, a CCSU student and New Britain Herald intern reporter; author Michael Downs, a former Courant reporter and current English professor at Towson University, whose new book is “The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist;” and Ruth Danon, a poet and author. elephantrockbooks@gmail.com or 860-486-8525.
Best of the Beatles
Hagaman Memorial Library, 227 Main St., East Haven, will present a free talk by Stephen Spignesi, pop culture historian and best-selling author of “The 100 Best Beatles Songs” on Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m. Spignesi has written nearly 50 books and is a practitioner in residence at the University of New Haven. 203-468-3890 or hagamanlibrary.org.
Calling All Poets
Calling All Poets, a free spoken word series with poets and writers held each first Wednesday of the month at Silas Bronson Library, 267 Grand St., Waterbury, will host Bloomfield performance poet Andy Weil on Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m., followed by an open mic (sign up by 6:20 p.m.)
Weil, known for his humorous verse, is founder and facilitator of Senior Voices, “Expressing Yourself Through Poetry,” for which he won an award from the Assisted Living Federation of America. 203-574-8200.
Smith and Herscovitch
On Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Mystic Museum of Art, 9 Water St, Mystic, Mystic Arts Café will present a reading by prize-winning poet Patricia Smith and songs from her latest album by Lara Herscovitch. Smith’s new book, “Incendiary Art,” won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, NAACP Image Award and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Prize. Tickets are $15 for adults, $5 for students. 860-912-2444 or info@theartscafemystic.org.
Celebration of books
Lucy Robbins Welles Library, 95 Cedar St., Newington, will present a free celebration of books and their history on Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m.
Artist Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord will discuss books from around the world, their history and contemporary artists experimenting with the book form and will show items from her collection. A hands-on workshop will follow.
Registration required: 860-665-8707 or mroyer@newingtonct.gov.
Connecticut Architecture
On Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. the Connecticut Historic Preservation Trust will launch “Connecticut Architecture: Stories of 100 Places, “ with a talk by its author, the Trust’s deputy director, Christopher Wigren, at Russell House, 350 High St., Middletown. The book surveys Connecticut’s diversity of structures, from Colonial meetinghouses and Modernist houses to refurbished factories, town greens and corporate headquarters. cttrust.org/book-party or 203-562-6312.
Smeagull the Seagull
Connecticut author Mark Seth Lender and illustrator Valerie Elaine Pettis will discuss their children’s picture book, “Smeagull the Seagull, a True Story’ on Nov. 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Breakwater Books, 81 Whitfield St., Guilford. It is the story of a seagull that learns to knock on the glass door of a shoreline house to ask for food. When the bird disappears, the family learns how much Smeagull has come to mean to them. 203-453-4141.
Mystery discussions
Carole Shmurak, a mystery writer from Farmington, will lead a free talk at Simsbury Public Library, 725 Hopmeadow St., on Nov. 5 at noon for the Simsbury Mystery Group’s Don’t Bury the Lede series, Part 3. The book is “Alpine Uproar” by Mary Daheim. 860-658-7663.
On Nov. 7 at 3 p.m. Shmurak will lead a free talk at Wallingford Public Library, 200 N Main St, Wallingford, for the Wallingford Mystery Group: Crime-Solving Clergy, Part 3. The book is “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Julia Spencer-Fleming. 203-265-6754.
Central Authors
Central Authors, free talks about books by CCSU faculty, staff members or alumni, will continue Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 12:15 p.m., in the Student Center Bookstore, 1615 Stanley St., New Britain.
Christopher Doucot of the Sociology Department will discuss “No Innocent Bystanders: Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice.” 860-832-2759 or gigliotti@ccsu.edu.
Poet Jonathan Andersen
Jonathan Anderson, a professor of English at Quinebaug Valley Community College whose poetry has been widely published, will give a free reading Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. at Barnes & Noble College Bookstore, One Royce Circle, 101 Storrs Center, presented by the UConn Creative Writing Program. ASL interpreters and live captions will be available. The event benefits the Covenant Soup Kitchen and donations will be gratefully accepted. 860-486-8525 or creativewriting.uconn.edu.
International book discussion
Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon, will begin a free International Book Discussion Series about fiction set in South Africa on Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. with a discussion of “The Fever Tree,” a historical romance by Jennifer McVeigh. 860-673-9712 or avonctlibrary.info.
