Jewish Book Festival; Young Poets; Sisters In Crime

Two authors who have written books about Jewish athletes will talk about “Jews In Sports,” as the Jewish Book Festival presented by the Mandell Jewish Community Center continues on Sunday, March 11, at 1 p.m. at the center, 335 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford.

Brad Drazen, morning co-anchor of NBC Connecticut News Today, will moderate the discussion with Mark Kurlansky and Doug Stark.

Kurlansky, the best-selling author of such books as “Cod,” “Salt,””1968” and “The Food of a Younger Land,” also wrote “The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris” and “Hank Greenberg: A Hero Who Didn’t Want to Be One,” (Yale University Press, $25), about the great slugger who played first base for the Detroit Tigers during a period of rampant anti-Semitism in America.

Stark, museum director at the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum, in Newport, R.I., is the author of the first book about a less well-known team, “The SPHAS: The Life and Times of Basketball’s Greatest Jewish Team” (Temple University Press, $29.50). It is about the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association’s team, the professional Jewish basketball team that won seven of 13 American Basketball League championships from the mid-1940s through 1959.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for students: 860-231-6316 or tickets@mandelljcc.org or http://www.mandelljcc.org.

Sisters (And A Brother) In Crime

The New England Chapter of Sisters in Crime, which promotes the work of female crime and mystery writers, will present a free Connecticut SinC Reads 2012 program at Noah Webster Library, 20 S. Main St., West Hartford on Sunday, March 11, at 2 pm.

Ten members of the group from Connecticut will speak and read from works in progress or forthcoming books and answer audience questions. They are: Patti Brooks, Liz Gordon, Rosemary Harris, Rhonda Lane, Karen Laugel, Steve Liskow, Susan Santangelo, Carole Shmurak, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith and Anne-Marie Sutton.

Parking is available in the Isham Road garage in Blue Back Square.

Information: 860-667-7744 or sliskow@snet.net.

Words To See And Hear

Young poets who attend the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford will present a free program of their works, in sign language with voice translation, Thursday, March 8, at 7 (doors open at 6:30) at the Underwood Café, Wood Memorial Library, 783 Main St., South Windsor. An open mike will follow.

Donations will be gratefully accepted, as will non-perishable foods for Amazing Grace Food Pantry, Middletown. Information: 860-324-4740.

John Brown And The Civil War

Pulitzer Prize-winningauthor Tony Horwitz, who has written for The New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal, will discuss his acclaimed book, “Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War (Holt,$29)” on Sunday, March 11, at 12:30 p.m. at Geer Village, 77 South Canaan Road, Canaan. His talk is part of a series of free author appearances open to all at the senior housing complex.

The book explains how Brown, a highly controversial man, led the raid in 1859 on the U.S. arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The attack and the freeing and arming of slaves that followed fractured the country and helped launch the war.

Information: 860-824-8133.

Earl Lovelace At Trinity

Caribbean novelist Earl Lovelace, who has won many awards, will give a free talk Monday, March 12, at 7 p.m. at Mather Hall at Trinity College, 300 Summit St., Hartford, as part of the Allan K. Smith Reading Series.

Lovelace, who was born in Trinidad, will read from his latest novel, “Is Just a Movie” (Haymarket, $14.95) which won the Grand Prize in Caribbean Literature and was published first in the United Kingdom.

Information: Christina.Bolio@trincoll.edu or 860-297-2036.

Workshops For Young Writers

The Connecticut Young Writers Trust, a literary competition for teens that is celebrating its 15th year, will offer free workshops for young poets, writers and their teachers Saturday, March 10, at Jumoke Academy, 339 Blue Hills Ave., Hartford.

The events will begin at 3 p.m. with a reception featuring the Jen Allen Jazz Combo and DominiQue. (cq) Workshops led by poet and playwright Iyaba Mandingo and Courant sportswriter Paul Doyle, on performance poetry and sports writing, will follow. Information: 860-938-2139 or emailravishankar2011@gmail.com

WordForge Reading Series

The free WordForge Reading Series continues Monday. March 12, at 7 p.m. at The Studio @ Billings Forge, 563 Broad St., Hartford, with a program on “Poetry and Translation from the Italian.”

David Cappella, a prize-winning poet, author and professor of English at Central Connecticut State University, and Maria Esposito Frank, an author who is chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Hartford, will speak, and an open mike will follow.

Information: JforJames@aol.com or 860-508-2810.

Delaney At Hickory Stick

Frank Delaney, the broadcaster, producer and best-selling author of historical novels set in his native country of Ireland, will sign copies of his latest, “The Last Storyteller” (Random House, $26) on Saturday, March 10, at 2 p.m. at The Hickory Stick Bookshop, 2 Green Hill Road, Washington Depot. Delaney has homes in New York City and Kent.

The novel, part of a trilogy featuring the characters Ben MacCarthy and Venetia Kelly, is set in Ireland during the IRA battles of 1956. Information: 860-868-0525 or http://www.hickorystickbookshop.com.

“Hoops In Connecticut”

Don Harrison, a Connecticut sportswriter and author, will speak Wednesday, March 14, at 7 p.m. at Cromwell Belden Public Library, 39 West Street, Cromwell.

Harrison, of Fairfield, covered men’s basketball for the Waterbury Republican-American and is the author of “Hoops in Connecticut: The Nutmeg State’s Passion for Basketball” (History Press, $19.99). Many of his interviews with basketball stars appear in the book. He has also written for The New York Times, The Sporting News, Connecticut magazine and other publications.

The event is free, but registration is necessary: 860-632-3460.

Patton At R.J. Julia

Benjamin Patton, a documentary filmmaker who is the grandson of World War II Gen. George S. Patton Jr., will discuss his book about his father and grandfather at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison tonight, March 8, at 7 p.m.

“Growing Up Patton: Reflections on Heroes, History, and Family Wisdom” (Berkley, $26.95) is based on letters about duty, heroism and honor sent from 1939 to 1945 from the general to his son, then a cadet at West Point who later became a major general.

Tickets are $5, which can be used towards purchasing a copy. Reservations are required: 203-245-3959 or http://www.rjjulia.com .

New Date For Memoir Workshop

Poet and author Bessy Reyna‘s workshop, “Tell Me a Secret: Writing Your Memoir,” originally scheduled for May at the Makeshift Theater at the Hill-Stead Museum, 35 Mountain Road, Farmington, has been moved to March 18 from 1:30 to 5 p.m.

The cost is $25 and early registration is recommended: 860-677-4787, ext. 134 or poetry@hillstead.org.

Racial Innocence

Robin Bernstein, author of “Racial Innocence: Performing Childhood and Race from Slavery to Civil Rights” (New York University Press, $24) will speak today, March 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, 77 Forest St., Hartford, on how the concept of childhood “innocence” affected racial agendas in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Bernstein did much of the research for her book at the center and is a blogger for the center’s web project, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the National Era.”

Reservations: 860-522-9258, ext.317.

Cruson At Gunn Museum

Daniel Cruson, historian and author of “Putnam’s Revolutionary War Encampment: The History and Archaeology of Putnam Memorial State Park” (History Press, $19.99), will present a free slide presentation at The Gunn Memorial Museum, 5 Wykeham Road, Washington, Saturday, March 10, at 1 p.m.

The book tells how Gen. Israel Putnam led 3,000 troops to North Redding during the winter of 1778-79, where they stayed for six months before fighting the British. Cruson has spent 12 years doing archaeological excavations at the campsite. He is president of The Archaeological Society of Connecticut. Information: 860-868-7756 or http://www.gunnlibrary.org.

Readings By The River

The free Sunday Readings by the River program presented by the Farmington River Literary Arts Center, 40 Mill Lane, Farmington, continues Sunday, March 11, at 4 p.m., with a talk by Culver Modisette, of Somers, on his book, “Honored Enemy” (PublishingWorks, $14.95). The book is about Quanah Parker, born to a white mother taken in a raid, who later led the Comanche, Kiowa and Cheyenne tribes in confrontations with the U. S. Fourth Cavalry in the 1880s and became a friend of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Information and registration: 860-677-9662 or http://www.frlac.org.

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