Vanity Fair books columnist Sloane Crosley, former “Late Night with David Letterman” writer Nell Scovell and NPR’s “Ask Me Another” host Ophira Eisenberg, will appear Thursday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford, as part of the Mark My Words series. A cash bar opens at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30.
Crosley has published collections of humorous essays, including “Look Alive Out There.” Scovell chronicled her TV writing experience in “Just the Funny Parts…And a Few Hard Truths about Sneaking into the Hollywood Boys Club.” Eisenberg is a comedian and author of the debut memoir, “Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy.”
Also on Thursday, June 14, Brenna Harvey, a winner of the 2017 Royal Nonesuch Humor Writing Contest, will host a Writing in Mark Twain’s Library: Royal Nonesuch Edition session, from 6 to 9 p.m. Guests may spend three hours working on the 2018 humor writing competition, using pencil and paper or a fully charged laptop. No ink pens, food or drink is permitted. The cost is $75. Information and reservations: marktwainhouse.org and 860-247-0998.
Rose Garden Reading
The annual free poetry reading under a tent in the Rose Garden in Elizabeth Park, on the Hartford/West Hartford line, will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 16. Two Connecticut poets, Danielle Pieratti and Reginald Flood, will read. Pieratti has won many prizes, including “Fugitives,” which won the 2016 Idaho Prize and the 2017 Connecticut Book Award for Poetry. Flood is an associate professor of English and coordinator of African-American studies at Eastern Connecticut State University, and a Cave Canem fellow. JforJames@aol.com or 860-508-2810.
‘Storyworthy’
Best-selling author and multiple Moth StorySLAM and GrandSLAM champion Matthew Dicks will launch his first nonfiction book, “Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling,” with a PG-13 story performance on Saturday, June 16, at 7:30 p.m. at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St., Hartford. Tickets are $5, and proceeds will benefit educational programming at Real Art Ways. 860-232-1006, ext. 109, or realartways.org.
R.J. Julia Events
On Tuesday, June 12, at 7 p.m., Margaret Reed and Joan Lownds, author of “The Dogs of Camelot: Stories of the Kennedy Canines,” which explores the Kennedy’s love of dogs, will give a free talk at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison. Lownds, an award-winning writer and reporter for several Connecticut newspapers and magazines, also wrote “Man Overboard: Inside the Honeymoon Cruise Murder.” Reed, an animal training professional, met President John F. Kennedy and his dogs as a child in Hyannis Port. She is a member of the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum President’s Council.
On Thursday, June 14, at 7 p.m., Connecticut author Chandra Prasad will discuss her debut Young Adult novel, “Damselfly,” a thriller reminiscent of “Lord of the Flies,” about teens struggling to survive a plane crash in a jungle.
Reservations are required: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
At Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore, 413 Main St., Middletown, on Tuesday, June 12, at 7 p.m., science author Stephanie Mohr will give a free talk about “First In Fly,” a look at a species of fruit fly that has been the subject of scientific research on human health for more than a century,
Anthony Pioppi, a golf writer and historian, will speak Thursday, June 14, at 7 p.m. He will discuss his guidebooks, “The Finest Nines” and “To the Nines,” which explore good and unusual nine-hole courses.
Information: books@wesleyan.edu or 860-685-3939.
‘Under The Dark Sky’
Steven G. Smith, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, will give a free talk at Tolland Public Library, 21 Tolland Green, on Wednesday, June 13, at 6:30 p.m., about his book, “Under the Dark Sky: Life in the Thames River Basin.” The book has many color photos showing rural life in eastern Connecticut and southern Massachusetts.
Smith is an associate professor of visual journalism at UConn whose photos have appeared in The New York Times, CNN and USA Today. He shared in a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of wildfires in Colorado in 2003 for the Rocky Mountain News.
His talk is part of the Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series sponsored by the Tolland Public Library Foundation. Registration is required: 860-871-3620 or at tolland.org/library.
Mystery Writers
At a free event on Tuesday, June 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble UConn Hartford Bookstore, 18 Front St., Hartford, four local mystery writers, Penny Goetjen, Kathy Orzech, Mark Dressler and R. C. Goodwin, will discuss their books. 860-263-2270 or Laurie.bompart@uconn.edu
Local Author Festival
Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon, continues its fifth annual Local Author Festival, offering free panel discussions of fiction, nonfiction, teen novels, children’s books, lifestyle guides, history and mysteries and talks by authors. On Tuesday, June 12, at 6:30 p.m., it will host a Fiction Author Panel with Stephen Kushman, Heidi Ulrich, Lisa Acerbo, Kenneth Passan, Paul J. Nyerick and Wally Wood. 860-673-9712 or avonctlibrary.info/local-author-festival.
Hickory Stick Bookshop
The Hickory Stick Bookshop, 2 Green Hill Road, Washington Depot, will host a discussion and signing with poet and nurse practitioner Cortney Davis, author of “Taking Care of Time,” on Sunday, June 10, at 2 p.m. Her latest collection gives a caregiver’s perspective on the body and the spirit. Davis has won multiple honors for her poetry and nonfiction.
On Saturday, June 16, at 3 p.m., the bookstore will host author Joe Cicio, of Litchfield County, a former fashion and retail industry executive, will sign copies of his book “FRIENDS* *Bearing Gifts.” It describes his friendships with such luminaries as Lauren Bacall, Bill Blass, Carol Channing, Prince Charles, Princess Grace, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Mondaviand Joan Rivers, and the beautiful objects they gave him. 860-868 0525 or hickorystickbookshop.com.
Mystery Discussions
Carole Shmurak, a mystery writer from Farmington, will lead a free discussion at Simsbury Public Library, 725 Hopmeadow St., on Monday, June 11, at noon, for the Simsbury Mystery Group’s series, Crime-Solving Clergy, Part 4. The book is “Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death” by James Runcie. 860-658-7663.
On Tuesday, June 12, at 3 p.m., at Southington Public Library, 255 Main St., she will lead a discussion of “LA Requiem” by Robert Crais for the Southington Mystery Group: City of Angels, Part 3. 860-628-0947.
Portland Authors
Portland Library, 20 Freestone Ave., Portland, will continue its free Local Authors Series, featuring writers from the town of Portland.
On Tuesday June 12, at 7 p.m., Katherine Spada Basto will discuss her debut book, “Days to the Gallows: A Novel of the Hartford Witch Panic,” which won a Best Young Adult Book award from IPNE (Independent Publishers of New England). 860-342-6770.
‘Tiny Footcrunch’
On Sunday, June 10, from 1 to 3 p.m., Bank Square Books, 53 W. Main St., Mystic, will host a book signing by local poet David Wasserman, author of the collection, “Tiny Footcrunch,” short poems that deal with universal emotions. banksquarebooks.com or 860-536-3795.
Murder And Mayhem
The Murder and Mayhem mystery book discussion group will host Joanna Schaffhausen on Monday, June 11, at 7:30 p.m. at South Windsor Public Library, 1550 Sullivan Ave, South Windsor. Schaffhausen will discuss her debut book, “Vanishing Season,” the first in a planned series. She is a scientific editor who has worked at ABC-TV as a editorial producer. Her book was a winner in the Mystery Writers of America/St. Martin’s New Author Contest. Non-book club members are welcome to attend. 860-644-1541 or southwindsorlibrary.org.
