Boston Public Library

Author Talks & LecturesSeptember – December 2017 Central Library in Copley Square

www.bpl.org/authors 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116

Boston Public Library AUTHOR TALKS feature a wide range of talented writers. Hear authors read from their books, purchase a copy and have it signed, and learn about the creative process that gets such magnificent stories told.

Sign up to receive email updates on Author Talks, Events, and Programs at the BPL by visiting bit.ly/BPLAuthors.

Tuesday, September 12 • 6 p.m. Rabb Hall

Nancy Pearl, author of George and Lizzie

From “America’s librarian” and NPR Books commentator NANCY PEARL comes a debut novel about an unlikely marriage

at a crossroads. George and Lizzie is an intimate story of new and past loves, the scars of childhood, and an imperfect marriage at its defining moment.

Pearl speaks about the pleasures of reading to literacy organizations and community groups throughout the world and hosts a monthly television show, Book Lust with Nancy Pearl. Among her many honors and awards are the 2011 Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal and the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association.

Thursday, September 14 • 6 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Beyond Mr. Darcy: New Markets in Romance

A panel with romance authors Damon Suede, Farrah Rochon, and Sarina Bowen

DAMON SUEDE grew up out-n-proud in conservative America. Though new to romance fiction, Suede has been writing for print, stage, and screen for two decades. He’s won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his beautiful husband, and his loyal fans.

USA Today bestselling author FARRAH ROCHON hails from a small town just west of New Orleans. She has garnered much acclaim for her Crescent City-set Holmes Brothers series and her Moments in Maplesville small town series. Rochon is a two-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America and has been nominated for an RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. In 2015, she received the Emma Award for Author of the Year.

SARINA BOWEN is a USA Today bestselling and RITA Award-winning author of contemporary romance and new adult fiction. She holds a BA in economics from Yale University.

Wednesday, September 20 • 6 p.m. Rabb Hall

Robert McKee: The Primacy of Story

ROBERT MCKEE, a Fulbright Scholar, is the best-selling author of Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting and Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen.

McKee’s signature STORY Seminars have been held around the globe, with alumni including over 65 Academy Award winners, 250 Emmy Award winners, and 50 Directors Guild of America Award winners. McKee continues to be a project consultant to major film and television production companies such as 20th Century Fox, Disney, and Paramount.

Photo credit: Aram Boghosian

Saturday, September 23 • 2 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Lenora Chu, author of Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve

Journalist LENORA CHU offers a rare glimpse inside China’s insular education system and uses her parenting journey to launch a wider

investigation into whether China’s educational methods are something to which the West should aspire.

Chu is an award-winning journalist and a contributing writer with CNNMoney.com. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and PRI’s The World. Chu holds degrees from Stanford University and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and speaks Mandarin.

Wednesday, September 27 • 6 p.m. Rabb Hall

2017 Druker Lecture: Celebrating Urban Design and Architecture

Joseph Abboud, fashion designer and author of Threads: My Life Behind the Seams in the High-Stakes World of Fashion

Born in Boston, JOSEPH ABBOUD studied at the University of Massachusetts and the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1968, Abboud joined the prestigious retail store Louis Boston. Over the course of twelve years, he served as buyer, merchandiser, and coordinator of promotion and advertising. Launching his namesake brand in 1987, Abboud created an exceptional style sensibility, infused with intelligence, grace, and ease. Abboud has been accorded numerous honors including the coveted Menswear Designer of the Year in 1989 and 1990 (the only designer to have received it two years in a row), the Special Achievement Award from the Neckwear Association of America (1994), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from MR Magazine (2016). Abboud joined Tailored Brands, Inc. as its chief creative director in 2012 and was reunited with the Joseph Abboud brand when Tailored Brands, Inc. acquired JA Holding, Inc. in August 2013.

The annual Druker Lecture was established by the Druker family in 2001 to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Druker Company and its three generations of development and philanthropy in the City of Boston and to commemorate the family’s longstanding relationship with the Boston Public Library. Speakers are selected for their outstanding contributions to the world of urban art and architecture.

Thursday, September 28 • 6 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Dr. Andrew Budson, author of Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory: What’s Normal, What’s Not, and What to Do About It

Written with coauthor Dr. Maureen O’Connor, DR. ANDREW BUDSON’s first book for the public, Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory, explains which types of memory failures are normal and which are not, how and why you should get your memory evaluated and treated, how to strengthen your memory, and how to plan your future.

Educated at Haverford College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Budson is professor of neurology at Boston University, lecturer in neurology at Harvard Medical School, and chief of Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. A clinician, researcher, and author, his textbook, Memory Loss, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Dementia: A Practical Guide for Clinicians has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese.

Thursday, October 12 • 6 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Wendy E. Parmet and Patricia Illingworth, authors of The Health of Newcomers: Immigration, Health Policy, and the Case for Global Solidarity

Immigration and health care are hotly debated issues. Policies that relate to both issues—to the health of newcomers—often reflect misimpressions about immigrants and their impact on health care systems. In The Health of Newcomers, WENDY E. PARMET and PATRICIA ILLINGWORTH draw on rigorous legal and ethical arguments and empirical studies, as well as personal stories of immigrant struggles, to make the compelling case that global phenomena such as poverty, the medical brain drain, organ tourism, and climate change ought to inform the health policy we craft for newcomers and natives alike.

Parmet is George J. and Kathleen Waters Matthews Distinguished Professor of Law and professor of public policy and urban affairs at Northeastern University, where she directs the Center for Health Policy and Law. She is the author of Populations, Public Health, and the Law. Illingworth is professor in the Department of Philosophy and in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, where she is also lecturer in law. She is the author of AIDS and the Good Society; Trusting Medicine: The Moral Costs of Managed Care; and Us Before Me: Ethics and Social Capital for Global Well-Being.

Saturday, October 14 • 12:30 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Claire McMillan, author of The Necklace, and Denise Kiernan, author of The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home

A stunning inheritance stirs up old jealousies in CLAIRE MCMILLAN’s The Necklace, which alternates between past and present to link two women—a bewitching Jazz Age beauty and a young lawyer—to a spectacular Indian necklace and an even more valuable secret. DENISE KIERNAN’s The Last Castle explores the true story behind the magnificent Gilded Age mansion Biltmore—the largest, grandest residence ever built in the United States.

McMillan is the author of Gilded Age, inspired by Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth. She practiced law until 2003 and then received her MFA in creative writing from Bennington College. Kiernan’s The Girls of Atomic City was a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and NPR bestseller. She has also worked in television, serving as head writer for ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire during its Emmy Award-winning first season.

Thursday, October 19 • 6 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Nancy Schön, author of Make Way for Nancy: A Life in Public Art Moderated by author Anita Diamant

NANCY SCHÖN is best-known for her iconic Make Way for Ducklings sculpture in Boston’s Public Garden. Based on Robert McCloskey’s book and visited by thousands of children and adults every year, it has become a beloved Boston landmark. In Make Way for Nancy, Schön explores her major public projects and commissions, what inspired them, and what goes into making a beautiful and tactile work of public art.

Schön will be interviewed by ANITA DIAMANT, author of The Red Tent and The Boston Girl.

Monday, October 23 • 6 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie, author of Southern Food and Civil Rights: Feeding the Revolution

From home cooks and professional chefs to local eateries and bakeries, food has helped activists continue marching for change for generations. Paschal’s Restaurant in Atlanta provided safety and comfort food for civil rights leaders; Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam operated their own farms, dairies, and bakeries in the 1960s; “The Sandwich Brigade” organized efforts to feed the thousands at the March on Washington. DR. FREDERICK DOUGLASS OPIE details the ways southern food nourished the fight for freedom along with cherished recipes associated with the era.

Opie is a professor of history and foodways at Babson College and the author of Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America; Black Labor Migration in Caribbean Guatemala, 1882–1923; and Zora Neale Hurston on Florida Food: Recipes, Remedies, and Simple Pleasures. Opie is a regular contributor on the radio show The Splendid Table.

Thursday, October 26 • 6 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Erica Ferencik, author The River at Night

The River at Night, set against the harsh beauty of the Maine wilderness, charts the journey of four friends as they fight to survive the aftermath of a white water rafting accident. With intimately

observed characters, visceral prose, and pacing as ruthless as the river itself, ERICA FERENCIK explores creatures both friend and foe.

Ferencik has an MFA in creative writing from Boston University. Her work has appeared in Salon and the Boston Globe as well as on NPR.

Thursday, November 2 • 6 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Maureen Boyle, author of Shallow Graves: The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer

Eleven women went missing over the spring and summer of 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, an old fishing port known as the

Whaling City, where Moby Dick, Frederick Douglass, textile mills, and heroin dealing are just a few of the many threads in the community’s diverse fabric. In Shallow Graves, investigative reporter MAUREEN BOYLE tells the story of a case that has haunted New England for forty years.

Boyle, an award-winning journalist, has been a crime reporter in New England for more than twenty-five years, including at the Standard-Times of New Bedford during this serial murder case. She holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Bridgeport and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Anna Maria College. She is now director of the journalism program at Stonehill College.

Saturday, November 4 • 3:30 p.m. Rabb Hall

Paul Lewis, author of A is for Asteroids, Z is for Zombies: A Bedtime Book about the Coming Apocalypse

PAUL LEWIS’s fascination with gothic fiction and horror films prepared him to publish “The Funeral Game” in Crazy Magazine while he was in graduate school, coin the word “Frankenfood” at the dawn of the GMO era, and write A Is for Asteroids, Z Is for Zombies as gallows humor for a time of global threats. In the spirit of taking these threats seriously while also finding relief from the anxiety they provoke, Lewis asks, “If you can’t laugh about the Apocalypse, what can you laugh about?”

Lewis is an English professor at Boston College, president of the Poe Studies Association, and the author of Cracking Up: American Humor in a Time of Conflict.

This talk follows the film screening:

Saturday, November 4 • 1:00 p.m.–3:30 p.m. Rabb Hall

Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive

Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive draws on the rich palette of Poe’s evocative imagery and sharply drawn plots to tell the real story of the notorious author. The film features Tony Award-winning and Emmy-nominated actor Denis O’Hare and will air on American Masters (PBS) later this year.

Thursday, November 16 • 6 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Laura Young, author of Boston Ballerina: A Dancer, a Company, an Era

Boston Ballerina is both a memoir of LAURA YOUNG’s personal journey and a fascinating account of Boston Ballet’s rise from a regional troupe to the internationally recognized company that it is today. It is interspersed with ruminations on the history of ballet, stories from the company’s Balanchine-influenced early years under founder E. Virginia Williams, and recollections from noteworthy tours, including those featuring the legendary Rudolf Nureyev, with whom Young was frequently paired.

Young was a company dancer in the Boston Ballet since its inception in 1965 and continues with the organization as a Boston Ballet School faculty member.

Saturday, November 18 • 2 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Laura Erickson-Schroth, MD, and Laura Jacobs, LCSW-R, authors of You’re in the Wrong Bathroom! And 20 Other Myths and Misconceptions about Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming People

Between 2010 and 2016, at least 111 transgender and gender-nonconforming Americans were murdered according to a study by Mic, especially transgender and gender-nonconforming people of color; meanwhile, TGNC youth face bullying from families, peers, and outsiders. Though there has been prolific media coverage of the lives of Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, and Caitlyn Jenner, harmful and inaccurate beliefs about the transgender community still permeate society. LAURA ERICKSON-SCHROTH and LAURA A. JACOBS bring together the medical, social, psychological, and political aspects of being transgender today and provide useful tools for the transgender community, educators, and allies.

Erickson-Schroth, MD, is a psychiatrist working with LGBTQ+ people in New York City. She is the editor of Trans Bodies, Trans Selves, a resource guide written by and for transgender people. She was featured in Out Magazine’s “Out 100” list in 2014. Jacobs, LCSW-R, is a trans and genderqueer-identified psychotherapist, writer, activist, and public speaker working with transgender and gender-nonconforming, LGBTQ+, and sexual/gender diversity issues. Mx. Jacobs serves as chair of the board of directors for the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in New York City.

Thursday, December 7 • 6 p.m. Commonwealth Salon

Jessica Keener, author of Strangers in Budapest Moderated by author Risa Miller

In JESSICA KEENER’s atmospheric and intricately woven novel, a young American couple and their infant son move to

the mysterious city of Budapest. Eight months into their stay, they receive a secretive request from friends in the United States to check in on a Jewish American World War II veteran.

Keener is the author of the national bestselling novel Night Swim and a collection of award-winning short stories, Women in Bed. Her work has appeared in O, Redbook, and the Boston Globe. She has taught English literature and writing at Brown University, Boston University, and GrubStreet. Moderator RISA MILLER holds an MFA from Emerson College and is the author of two novels, Welcome to Heavenly Heights and My Before and After Life. She is a recipient of the PEN New England Discovery Award and has taught fiction writing at GrubStreet, UMass Boston, and Emerson College.

Wednesday, December 13 • 6 p.m. Rabb Hall

Brian Clements, Alexandra Teague, and Dean Rader, editors of Bullets into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence

Focused on the crisis of gun violence in America, Bullets into Bells brings together poems by dozens of the country’s best-known poets, including Billy Collins, Mark Doty, Rita Dove, Martín Espada, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ocean Vuong, and Juan Felipe Herrera. Each poem is followed by a response from a gun violence prevention activist, including Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, Senator Chris Murphy, and Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts, or from gun violence survivors of the Columbine, Sandy Hook, Charleston Emanuel AME, and Virginia Tech shootings. The result is a persuasive and moving testament to the urgent need for gun control.

City of BostonMartin J. Walsh, Mayor

Boston Public Library

David Leonard, President

Board of Trustees

Robert Gallery, ChairEvelyn Arana-Ortiz, Vice ChairZamawa ArenasBen Bradlee, Jr.Cheryl CroninPriscilla DouglasJohn HailerPaul La CameraRepresentative Byron Rushing

www.bpl.org/authors • 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116

Schedule of Author Talks & Lectures

September

12

T

Nancy Pearl, author of George and Lizzie

Rabb Hall

6 p.m.

14

Th

Beyond Mr. Darcy: New Markets in Romance

A panel with romance authors Damon Suede, Farrah Rochon, and Sarina Bowen

Commonwealth Salon

6 p.m.

20

W

Robert McKee: The Primacy of Story

Rabb Hall

6 p.m.

23

Sa

Lenora Chu, author of Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve

Commonwealth Salon

2 p.m.

27

W

2017 Druker Lecture: Celebrating Urban Design and Architecture

Joseph Abboud, fashion designer and author of Threads: My Life Behind the Seams in the High-Stakes World of Fashion

Rabb Hall

6 p.m.

28

Th

Dr. Andrew Budson, author of Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory: What’s Normal, What’s Not, and What to Do About It

Commonwealth Salon

6 p.m.

October

12

Th

Wendy E. Parmet and Patricia Illingworth, authors of The Health of Newcomers: Immigration, Health Policy, and the Case for Global Solidarity

Commonwealth Salon

6 p.m.

14

Sa

Claire McMillan, author of The Necklace, and Denise Kiernan, author of The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home

Commonwealth Salon

12:30 p.m.

19

Th

Nancy Schön, author of Make Way for Nancy: A Life in Public Art

Moderated by author Anita Diamant

Commonwealth Salon

6 p.m.

23

M

Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie, author of Southern Food and Civil Rights: Feeding the Revolution

Commonwealth Salon

6 p.m.

26

Th

Erica Ferencik, author of The River at Night

Commonwealth Salon

6 p.m.

November

2

Th

Maureen Boyle, author of Shallow Graves: The Hunt for the New Bedford Highway Serial Killer

Commonwealth Salon

6 p.m.

4

Sa

Paul Lewis, author of A is for Asteroids, Z is for Zombies: A Bedtime Book about the Coming Apocalypse

Rabb Hall

3:30 p.m.

This talk follows the film screening: Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive at 1 p.m.

16

Th

Laura Young, author of Boston Ballerina: A Dancer, a Company, an Era

Commonwealth Salon

6 p.m.

18

Sa

Laura Erickson-Schroth, MD, and Laura Jacobs, LCSW-R, authors of You’re in the Wrong Bathroom! And 20 Other Myths and Misconceptions about Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming People

Commonwealth Salon

2 p.m.

December

7

Th

Jessica Keener, author of Strangers in Budapest

Moderated by author Risa Miller

Commonwealth Salon

6 p.m.

13

W

Brian Clements, Alexandra Teague, and Dean Rader, editors of Bullets into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence

Rabb Hall

6 p.m.