More than 30 authors and illustrators will take part in the 21st annual Sharon Summer Book Signing, which benefits Hotchkiss Library of Sharon, under tents on the town green at 10 Upper Main St., Sharon, on Friday, Aug. 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. Admission is $40, and there also will be a free children’s book signing from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Authors of fiction, nonfiction, biography, memoir, history, politics, humorous essays, sports, arts, food and children’s books will sign copies. They include Joseph Kanon, Min Jin Lee, Courtney Maum, Allen Blagden, Ann Hodgman, Joan Osofsky, Abby Adams, John Gruen, Carol Ascher, Sally Mott Freeman, Leonard Marcus, James Charlton, Kathy Chamberlain, David Leite, Sheila Nevins, Dani Shapiro, David K. Leff, Jesse Eisinger, Chris Whipple, Sally Cook, Greg W. Prince, Ann Brashares, Jennifer Donnelly, Deborah Heiligman, Steve Sheinkin, Michelle Cuevas, Wendell and Florence Minor , Jordan P. Novak, Laurie Wallmark, Katy Wu, Barbara Dee, Peter Lourie and Anita Sanchez.
Information: sharonbooksigning.weebly.com.
‘Giant Of The Senate’
Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, a former star of “Saturday Night Live” who is now a respected Democratic lawmaker, will discuss his latest book, the memoir “Al Franken: Giant of the Senate” (Twelve, $28), and his political career on Sunday, July 30, at 3 p.m., at The Shubert Theatre, 247 College St., New Haven. Franken will be in conversation with Courant columnist and blogger and WNPR radio host Colin McEnroe. The event is hosted by R.J. Julia Booksellers of Madison.
Franken is a No. 1 best-selling author who left his successful career as a satirist for the more serious, though occasionally hilarious life of a senator. The book revisits his campaign and its outcome, the closest senate victory so far and its eight-month long recount process.
Tickets are $40 and include a signed copy of the book. Tickets and information: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
Jane Austen Project
The Jane Austen Project — a free evening of conversation with author and Falls Village native Kathleen Flynn and Bruce Paddock and Cynthia Hochswender of the Lakeville Journal, will be held Saturday, Aug. 5, at 4 p.m. at David M. Hunt Library, 63 Main St., Falls Village.
They will discuss such issues as time travel, romance, physics, science-fiction and Austen, all elements of Flynn’s debut novel, “The Jane Austen Project” (Harper Perennial, $15.99), in which two time travelers plot to meet and befriend the famous author and steal an unpublished manuscript.
Flynn is a copy editor at The New York Times and a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. Information: 860-824-7424, huntlibrary.org or thejaneaustenproject.com.
Poetry In The Park
Denise Abercrombie and Jon Andersen will give a free reading on Thursday, Aug. 3, at 6 p.m., at Julia de Burgos Park, Jackson Street and Terry Avenue, Willimantic, for the annual free Poetry in the Park series hosted by the Curbstone Foundation. Guests may sit in the small stone amphitheater or bring their own seating.
Abercrombie’s work has appeared in many literary journals. She is director of English at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs. Andersen, who is her husband, also has been widely published and is the author of “Stomp and Sing” (Curbstone/ Northwestern U. Press 2005). He is a professor of English at Quinebaug Valley Community College. facebook.com/Poetry-in-the-Park.
Stowe Prize Book Discussion
The Harriet Beecher Stowe House, 77 Forest St., Hartford, will hold a free Stowe Prize Book Club Discussion of “March: Book One” (Top Shelf Productions, $14.95) on Thursday, Aug. 3, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The award-winning memoir in the form of a graphic novel is by John Lewis, a U.S. representative and civil rights activist from Georgia, written with Andrew Aydin and illustrator Nate Powell.
Reservations: HarrietBeecherStowe.org or 860-522-9258, ext. 317.
Books About England
Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Road, Avon, will offer three free talks about books set in England for its International Book Discussion Series. All will begin at 1 p.m.
On Monday, July 31, “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows will be discussed.
On Aug.14, the book will be “Year of Wonders?” by Geraldine Brooks, and on Aug. 28, “Innocent Traitor” by Alison Weir. 860-673-9712, ext. 225, or clarsen@avonctlibrary.info.
Connecticut Authors Trail
The ninth annual Connecticut Authors Trail, a series of free author talks presented by a consortium of Eastern Connecticut libraries, will continue with three programs. The trail will end Sept. 14, at 6:15 p.m., at Mohegan Sun Casino’s Cabaret Theatre, with a program with Connecticut novelist Beatriz Williams.
On Monday, July 31, at 7 p.m., Mystic & Noank Library, 40 Library St., Mystic, will host Nancy Butler, whose “Above All Else: Independence, Happiness and Success in Your Senior Years” (Turning Page Publishing, $12) is a guide to handling the challenges to independence and physical and financial health that come with aging. Information: 860-536-7721 or info@mysticnoanklibrary.org
On Tuesday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m. at East Lyme Public Library, 39 Society Road, Niantic, Michaelle Pearson, a trustee of the Old Lyme Historical Society and a member of the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society and Connecticut Society of Genealogists, and her husband, poet and musician Jim Lampos, will discuss their book about shoreline towns’ involvement in the Revolutionary War, “Revolution in the Lymes: From the New Lights to the Sons of Liberty” (History Press, $21.99), Information: 860-739-692.
On Thursday, Aug. 3, at 7 p.m. at Willington Public Library, 7 Ruby Road, Willington, mystery author Felix F. Giordano, whose books focus on the American West and Native American characters, will speak. His latest is “The Killing Zone”(Red Road, $14.80), about a Native American sheriff pursuing an outlaw motorcycle gang in northwestern Montana. Information: 860-429-3854.
Trail information: 860-642-6207 or connecticutauthorstrail.org.
Authors At R.J. Julia
Authors of novels and a nonfiction account of a heart attack will give free talks at R.J. Julia Booksellers, 768 Boston Post Road, Madison. All require reservations: 203-245-3959 or rjjulia.com.
On Sunday, July 30, at 4 p.m., Joe Mauro will talk about the heart attack he chronicles in “I Am Joe’s Heart (Attack)” (Page Publishing, $11.95), a factual but humorous account of what happened to him before, during and after his medical experience.
On Monday, July 31, at 7 p.m., Linda Fairstein, a former chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the Manhattan district attorney’s office and a legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence as well as a best-selling author, will discuss her latest crime novel, “Deadfall” (Dutton Books, $28). The story involves illegal trading in wild animals, street gangs and an assassination victim who may be a worse person than the killer.
On Tuesday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m., Joanna Scott will talk about her novel, “Careers for Women” (Little Brown and Co., $26), which is set in in New York in the late 1950s, where young women came to begin new and more exciting lives. Scott, who has won a MacArthur Fellowship, has published 11 books. Scott also will give a free talk on Wednesday, Aug. 2, at 7 p.m. at Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore, 413 Main St., Middletown. Registration: 860-685-3939 or wesleyan.edu/rjjuliabookstore.
On Wednesday, Aug. 2, at 7 p.m., Abby Fabiaschi will talk about her novel, “I Liked My Life” (St. Martin’s Press, $25.99). Fabiaschi’s novel is about an apparently happy wife and mother whose death is a shocking suicide. But when, from the beyond, she sees her husband and teenage daughter struggling without her, she tries to help, going so far as to find a possible new love for him.
On Thursday, Aug. 3, at 7 p.m., novelist Dorothea Benton Frank will discuss her latest novel, “Same Beach, Next Year” (William Morrow, $27.99). Set like many of her books in South Carolina, is about long-married two couples caught up in flirting, jealousy and the sustaining power of friendship.
Surowiecki Poetry Reading
The Two Wrasslin’ Cats coffeehouse, 374 Town St., East Haddam, will host a poetry reading by John Surowiecki on Sunday, July 30, from 3 to 5 p.m., to celebrate Surowiecki’s fifth collection, “Martha Playing Wiffle Ball in Her Wedding Dress, and Other Poems” (Kindle, $3.99). He has won many honors, including the Poetry Foundation Pegasus Award, Pablo Neruda Award, Washington Prize, White Pine Prize, a Sunken Garden National Competition and the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel for his novel, “Pie Man,” which is scheduled to appear in October.
Information: Edwina Trentham at trentham@comcast.net.
