2017 Local author festival line up, Avon free public library This year’s Local Author Festival theme is “Conversations.” Hear what these authors have to say about writing, creating, and editing. Find out what their characters have to say to each other! Learn how they create meaningful conversations for readers in read more

Nursery rhymes, visual and audio technology are used in this modern Mother Goose program! For children ages 4 and under in the auditorium.

Jean Baur and her therapy dog Bella, volunteer in Connecticut, and have wonderful adventures together.They visit special needs children in local schools, go to rehab facilities, hospitals and a local cancer center. As Jean writes in her new book, “Joy Unleashed:  The Story of Bella, the Unlikely Therapy Dogs,” these read more

This year’s Local Author Festival theme is “Conversations.” Hear what these authors have to say about writing, creating, and editing. Find out what their characters have to say to each other! Learn how they create meaningful conversations for readers in a modern world of constant distractions. Events are free and read more

Celebrate the end of the Build a Better World Summer Reading program with ice cream from Ben & Jerrys! Then join us in the Children’s Room at 3:30 and learn about (and touch) some reptiles!

Abby Stokes has taken on the role of the Johnny Appleseed of Technology crisscrossing the country to help Digital Immigrants conquer their fear of technology. Abby has single-handedly helped over 300,000 Digitally Challenged people cross the Digital Divide and get online. She’s visited more than 25 states, 180 public libraries, over 175 senior read more

Have fun exploring the adventures of puzzle solving with CT author Eric Berlin! Eric is the authour of three puzzle-filled mysteries:The Puzzling World of Winston Breen; The Potato Chip Puzzles; and the Puzzler’s Mansion. His books have been nominated for thirteen state awards including Connecticut’s Nutmeg Award. Sponsored by the read more

Cuyler Overholt worked as a lawyer and freelance business writer before turning to fiction. She lives in the northwest corner of Connecticut where, when she isn’t reading or writing, she can usually be found on a bike, in the cobra pose, or enjoying a good movie. A Promise of Ruin is the second book in read more

Calling all Windham Kindergarteners! You’re invited to a special back to school event at the Willimantic Public Library. Thanks to an anonymous donor named Harold, kindergarten children will receive a beautiful hard copy of Harold and the Purple Crayon! But wait…that’s not all…we’re partying with all things purple, arts & read more

Jamie Beck is a Romance Writers of America Honor Roll author with a passion for writing stories about love and redemption. She earned a joint law/M.B.A. degree and practiced commercial real estate and lending law in her hometown of Pittsburgh (Go Steelers!). She was never passionate about the work, so when her husband’s career read more

This year’s Local Author Festival theme is “Conversations.” Hear what these authors have to say about writing, creating, and editing. Find out what their characters have to say to each other! Learn how they create meaningful conversations for readers in a modern world of constant distractions. Events are free and read more

We had such a great time, we’re doing it again! Save the date for the next Day of Her Own women’s writing retreat. Watch this space for details or email me (Cindy) flipflopsafter50@gmail.com The Description: A lot like last time! There will be some light facilitation throughout the day, but read more

Caragh O’Brien’s new novel, The Keep of Ages, launches on Sunday, August 27th at 5pm at the UConn Bookstore. The last installment in the Vault of Dreamers series, the YA novel is garnering stunning early reviews. The event is free, open to the public, and likely to be fun. Do read more

Classic Mystery Discussion Group Tuesday, August 29, 6:30pm. Meeting Room 3, Russell Library, 123 Broad Street, Middletown. It’s Nero Wolfe month! We will be reading Fer-de-Lance, the first Nero Wolfe mystery by Rex Stout (1934). As any herpetologist will tell you, the fer-de-lance is among the most dreaded snakes known to read more

J.L. Harris was born and raised in Southeastern CT. She loves spending time with her husband and two children. When she is not writing, she likes to hike, run, and read. D. Rankin was born and raised in Southeastern CT. She is a dog and horse trainer, who is profoundly proud of read more

Book club for kids in grades 4-9! We’ll be talking about “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. **Copies are available at the front desk. ** The narrator is a downed pilot in the Sahara Desert, frantically trying to repair his wrecked plane. His efforts are interrupted one day by read more

Racial Justice Book Discussion Tuesday, September 5, 6:00. Meeting Room 2, Russell Library, 123 Broad Street, Middletown. Join us for a discussion of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Just Mercy is at once a highly-readable unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those read more

Hali Keeler, Leslie Evans, and David Rose are residents of the Groton Bank neighborhood and are active in its various historical groups. Hali is retired from the Bill Memorial Library in Groton and is an Adjunct Professor at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich; she has written two textbooks for read more

Layered excursions into the natural and human environs of the author’s Cape Cod home. Finch begins at the window of his Brewster house, observing birds, ants, etc.–and then humans on his side of the glass. He mulls the continuity of life in an old graveyard and discovers something about the read more

Speculative Fiction Book Discussions:   Pamela Bedore, Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, will lead this monthly series.  Multiple copies of the books will be available at the library. A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula LeGuin (2005)  The award-winning stories in A Fisherman read more

Russell Readers Tuesday, September 12, 6:30pm. Meeting Room 2, Russell Library, 123 Broad Street, Middletown. Join us to discuss “Fiesta” by Junot Díaz from the collection 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories. The group meets the second Tuesday of each month. Discussions are based on the Great Books Foundation read more

Book event for The Saboteur, Andrew Gross’s newest title, which is a riveting tale based on a true story from World War II history, in which a Norwegian soldier leads a mission to halt Germany’s march across Europe—at an intense cost. Andrew is the author of the Ty Hauk series, and read more

A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from Columbia, Beatriz Williams spent several years in New York and London hiding her early attempts at fiction, first on company laptops as a communications strategy consultant, and then as an at-home producer of small persons before her career as a writer read more

Join Simmons College professor and author Megan Dowd Lambert to learn about the Whole Book Approach, a co-constructive (interactive) storytime model focused on the art and design of the picture book, which she developed in association with The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. This work draws upon transactional read more

The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel.  In 1836, East Texas, nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanches and returned to her family 24 years later.  In the 1950s this story was turned into a novel by Alan LeMay, which would be adapted into one read more

Gillespie will discuss her Revolutionary War trilogy The Tewkesbury Chronicles.  The townspeople of Granville, Connecticut send Oliver Tewkesbury and two young local comrades off to join up with Washington’s forces in New York. Books will be available for purchase and signing.  

The Litchfield Historical Society and the Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy invite you for a book talk and reception on Sunday, September 24 at 3 p.m. with Roger D. Stone, author of the newly-released biography of S. Dillon Ripley, at the Litchfield History Museum, in Litchfield, Connecticut. This new, full-length biography read more

Yaa Gyasi will speak about her historical novel “Homegoing” at Connecticut College’s Palmer Auditorium on September 27 at 7:00 p.m. as part of the school’s One Book, One Region program. “Homegoing” follows the parallel paths of two sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the read more

Transatlantic: a novel by Colum McCann Three iconic crossings are connected by a series of remarkable women whose personal stories are caught up in the swells of history.   Laurie Wolfley, Professor of English at UConn, will lead this discussion.

‘Connecticut Civilian Conservation Corps Camps: Supervised by WWI Officers’ Saturday, September 30, 1:00pm. The Hubbard Room, Russell Library, 123 Broad Street, Middletown. Local author and historian Marty Podskoch will give a Power Point presentation on his new book Connecticut Civilian Conservation Corps Camps: History, Memories & Legacy of the CCC, which focuses read more

Speculative Fiction Book Discussions:   Pamela Bedore, Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, will lead this monthly series.  Multiple copies of the books will be available at the library. Lightless by C. A. Higgins (2015) The deeply moving human drama of gravity meets the nail-biting suspense of read more

The U.S. war in Vietnam began on August 4, 1964 when North Vietnam allegedly attacked two American warships, the destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy, while they were steaming peacefully on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin.  That is what President Lyndon Johnson reported to Congress the next day. The report prompted Congress to read more

Chris will be discussing his work, his writing process, and his most recent novel, “The Sleepwalker.” This is a lunch event. Stay tuned for informtaion on tickets!

Pamela Bedore, Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, will lead this monthly series.  Multiple copies of the books will be available at the library. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1983)  Here is the magical legend of King Arthur, vividly retold through the read more

Pamela Bedore, Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, will lead this monthly series.  Multiple copies of the books will be available at the library. A Great and Terrible Beauty  by Libba Bray(2003)   A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about read more

Pamela Bedore, Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, will lead this monthly series.  Multiple copies of the books will be available at the library. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (2012)  Secret identities form the axis of Wilson’s fast-paced, imaginative first novel, “Alif the read more

Pamela Bedore, Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, will lead this monthly series.  Multiple copies of the books will be available at the library. Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton (2016 ) For readers of Station Eleven and The Snow Child, Lily Brooks-Dalton’s haunting debut is the unforgettable story read more