Author Talk

Capturing the Human Drama Through History with Author Garrett Graff

~ Sawyer Free Library

Join the Sawyer Free Library on Tuesday, September 10 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm for a moving virtual chat with New York Times bestselling author Garrett Graft, an expert at capturing the human drama. Graff will speak about his body of work with particular focus on his oral histories, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 and When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day. Graff’s work, filled with impressive detail, captures a human drama and history like no other. 

This is a virtual event; for the link, register at sawyerfreelibrary.org. If you have questions contact moneill@sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

Brought to you in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium.

Gloucester Reads 2024: Author Talk with NYT Bestselling Author Clint Smith

~ Sawyer Free Library

Citywide Summer Reading Initiative Wraps Up with Panel Discussion Led by Renowned Author

The community is invited to the final event of Gloucester Reads 2024, where best-selling author Clint Smith will join a panel discussion virtually on Tuesday, September 10 at the Gloucester Stage Company, located at 267 East Main Street.

Presented by the Sawyer Free Library in partnership with Gloucester Racial Justice Team, and the Gloucester Health Department, Gloucester Reads 2024 is a community-wide book club designed to spark conversations, inspire new ideas, and encourage introspection about racial equity within our community.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the free event, and the program begins at 7:00 p.m. Clint Smith, the award-winning author of “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America,” will provide an overview of his work, share selected readings from his book—which was the main selection for Gloucester’s summer book read—and answer pre-submitted questions from a panel of local community members. The evening will end at 8:45 p.m.

Following Smith’s appearance, there will be a discussion on how we can apply the lessons learned to Gloucester. The program will be moderated by Michea McCaffrey, co-chair of the Gloucester Racial Justice Team and a member of the Gloucester Human Rights Commission. The panel will include Doug Rich, owner of Susie’s Reads bookstore in Rockport, and Dominique Hurley, Gloucester’s Director of Public Health. The event is free and open to the public to attend, although registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. 

Clint Smith’s “How the Word is Passed” sheds light on some of America’s most essential yet overlooked stories and emphasizes how much we can gain by paying attention to them. In this narrative nonfiction debut, Smith explores eight sites—including his hometown of New Orleans, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, New York City, and Angola Prison—using archival research and contemporary interviews to uncover how slavery has profoundly shaped our nation’s collective history and memory.

The book, which has won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism, the Stowe Prize, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, was featured on numerous “Best Books of 2021” lists, including being named one of former President Barack Obama’s favorite books.

In addition to this work, Smith is the author of two poetry books, Above Ground and Counting Descent, both of which won the Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and were finalists for NAACP Image Awards. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, The Harvard Educational Review, and other publications.

The Gloucester Reads Panel Discussion with Author Clint Smith is free and open to the public. Registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. Gloucester Reads is offering to cover childcare expenses for those attending the author’s talk. Participants can request funds through the registration form.

For more information on the event, including a full list of Gloucester Reads 2024 programs, book suggestions, and resources on racial equity, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org/gloucester-reads. Event registration at: sawyerfreelibrary.org.

One Person, One Crossing, One Week with Heidi Wakeman

~ Sawyer Free Library

Stories and Service at the Border at the Sawyer Free Library

Local educator and poet Heidi Wakeman traveled to the Arizona-Mexico border in April 2024, where she collaborated with activists from New England, Arizona, and Mexico to learn about and assist people involved in the immigration story. The Sawyer Free Library is pleased to welcome Heidi on Thursday, August 1, at 5:30 pm as she shares her experiences and insights through stories and slides about this complex situation, which many consider one of the most important issues of the 2024 presidential election. Heidi’s talk will be conducted in English. Registration is not required. The event will take place at 21 Main Street. For more information, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org.

An Evening with Mercury Stardust Watch Party

~ Sawyer Free Library

Happy Pride Month! You’re invited to a watch party this Thursday, June 20, 6:00 to 8:00 pm hosted by the Sawyer Free Library and the Cape Ann YMCA.

Teens and tweens, join us at the Cape Ann YMCA for an evening of tie dye, snacks, and a virtual author talk with author and TikToker Mercury Stardust who will discuss her new book, Safe and Sound: A Renter Friendly Guide to Home Repair, followed by a moderated Q&A session. Be sure to bring a white article of clothing that you’d like to dye.

Register here to let us know you are attending, 6th to 12th grader welcome. For more information, visit SawyerFreeLibrary.org or call 978-325-5500.

If you prefer to watch the virtual talk at home you can register to receive a link from the Rowley Public Library HERE.

Mercury Stardust, the Trans Handy Ma’am, is a professional home maintenance technician and award-winning activist. Mercury credits her TikTok success to her experience teaching burlesque, where she learned to communicate and create a safe space for students who had frequently experienced trauma. She’s been featured in stories by NBC, NPR, Buzzfeed, Newsweek, Washington Post, and Pink News. Her leadership within the trans community has led to collaborations with such brands as Dolby, Lowe’s, and Point of Pride.

Local Author Talk: Nonna, What is Saint Peter’s Fiesta?

~ Sawyer Free Library

In celebration of the St. Peter’s Fiesta, the Sawyer Free Library is pleased to host a local author talk with Laura Ventimiglia on Thursday, June 27 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm as she discusses her book, Nonna, What is Saint Peter’s Fiesta? The fiesta is a longstanding tradition in Gloucester, Massachusetts that pays homage to Saint Peter, the patron saint of fishermen and it celebrates the town’s historic fishing industry

Laura M. Alberghini is a third-generation Italian American and a retired college educator, author, and administrator who established Buttieri press in 2015 to support the preservation of family histories and traditions. She released her first book, A Letter to My Children, An Italian American Family’s Heritage, in 2016 as a dual language book in English and Italian. She lives in Gloucester, Ma with her family.

The event is open to all at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester. No registration needed.

For more information or question, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

Sawyer Free Library to host Author Talk with Henriette Lazaridis: “Last Day in Planka” on Thursday, May 9th

~ Sawyer Free Library

The Sawyer Free Library will welcome local author Henriette Lazaridis for a discussion of her new book Last Days in Plaka on Thursday, May 9 at 5:30-6:30 pm. The event will take place at the Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester.  Registration is not required. 

Featured Buzz Pick on Good Morning America, Last Days in Planka, explores the lies at the heart of an old woman’s identity and the desperation of a young woman’s struggle to belong.  

Searching for connection to her parents’ heritage, Greek American Anna works at an Athens gallery by day and makes street art by night. Irini is elderly and widowed, once well-to-do but now dependent on the charity of others. When the local priest brings the two women together, it’s not long before they form an unlikely bond. As they join the priest’s tiny congregation to study the Book of Revelation in preparation for a pilgrimage to Patmos, Anna sinks deeper into Irini’s stories of a glamorous past and an estranged daughter and lost wealth and the earthquake damage to her noble home. Looking for revelation of her own and driven by a sense that time is running out, Anna makes a decision that puts her in peril, exposes Irini’s web of lies, and compels Anna to confront the limits of her own forgiveness.  

Henriette Lazaridis is the author of The Clover House (a Boston Globe bestseller), Terra Nova (which the New York Times called “ingenious”), and Last Days in Plaka (publishing April 2024). She earned degrees in English literature from Middlebury College, Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and the University of Pennsylvania. Having taught English at Harvard, she now teaches at GrubStreet in Boston. She was the founding editor of The Drum Literary Magazine and runs the Krouna Writing Workshop in northern Greece. Her essays and articles have been published in Elle, Forge, Narrative Magazine, The New York Times, New England Review, The Millions, and Pangyrus, and earned her a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists Grant. An avid athlete, Henriette trains on the Charles River as a competitive rower, and skis, trail runs, or cycles whenever she can. 

The event is open and free to attend at the Sawyer Free Library located at 21 Main Street in Gloucester. Registration not required.  For more information, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org or call, 978-325-5500.

Sawyer Free Library to present the author of “The Unlocked Path” Janis Robinson Daly

~ Sawyer Free Library

Author Talk: Thursday, April 11, at 5:30 pm at 21 Main Street

The Sawyer Free Library will welcome Massachusetts author Janis Robinson Daly on Thursday, April 11, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm to discuss her debut novel, The Unlocked Path, which embraces the “New Woman” of the early 20th century. The event will be at the Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester. Registration is not required. 

This fictional testament of a doctor’s life at the turn of the 20th century, “The Unlocked Path,” introduces us to educated, career-minded, independent Eliza Edwards. In 1897, in Philadelphia, after witnessing her aunt’s suicide, Eliza rejects her mother’s wishes for a society debut. At a time when five percent of doctors are female, she enters a women’s medical college. With the support of a circle of women and driven by a determination to conquer curriculum demands, battle sexism, and overcome doubts, Eliza charts her new life path. Combining science and sympathy, she triumphs to heal others and herself. 

Janis Robinson Daly grew up outside of Boston and remained in Massachusetts, graduating with a B.A. in Psychology from Wheaton College, at the time, an all-women’s college. At Wheaton, she developed a fond appreciation of the supportive relationships established between students, faculty, and alumnae and a heightened awareness of female-centric issues. Both directed the author’s writing of “The Unlocked Path”

Registration is not required.  All are invited to attend. For additional information visit, sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

Girl Power: The Supremes as Cultural Icons at Sawyer Free Library

~ Sawyer Free Library

SATURDAY, MARCH 30 from 3:00 – 4:30 PM at Sawyer Free Library, 21 Main Street

Bringing Women’s History Month to a close, the Sawyer Free Library invites you to Girl Power: The Supremes as Cultural Icons Presentation, with Tom Ingrassia. Tom is a Motown historian, author, radio personality and motivational speaker.

In this lively, entertaining and educational multimedia lecture program, Motown historian Tom Ingrassia (who worked for Mary Wilson, of The Supremes, for 6 years) takes you on a journey back to a turbulent time in American history, when Blacks and Whites were trying to change things…and The Supremes’ music helped to bridge the gaps.

Tom grew up with The Supremes. Don’t misunderstand…Tom wasn’t raised in Detroit’s Brewster Housing Projects. Nor did The Supremes live in tiny Middletown, New York. Their cultural and physical neighborhoods were hundreds of miles and a world apart.

But, in 1964, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard—the legendary Supremes—burst into the American musical consciousness just as Tom was becoming aware of the music shimmering from his tiny transistor radio. In no time, we was hooked on the Music of Motown—and that began an obsession that eventually led him to work with some biggest names in music history.

The Supremes owned the 1960s. Today, that statement may be obvious. But…in mid-60s America? The fact that three young African American women from Detroit’s housing projects conquered the world was profound…it was revolutionary. The Supremes were trendsetters, and set the standard against which all future female groups are measured. During the 1960s, only The Beatles and Elvis Presley sold more records than The Supremes. 

Girl Power takes audiences on a remarkable trip back in time—an engaging stroll into pop music history—to an era when the Music of Motown reigned supreme—and three young African American women from the Detroit housing projects conquered the world.

This event is open to all to attend. No registration required. For more information, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org or call 978-325-5500.

Untold Story of 1960s Women’s Olympic Glory Featured at Sawyer Free Library Author Talk

~ Sawyer Free Library

The Sawyer Free Library is pleased to host local author Aime Alley Card on Thursday, March 7 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. She will be discussing her book The Tigerbelles: Olympic Legends from Tennessee State. Joining her in the conversation will be fellow author, Jean Duffy, author of Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World. 

The Tigerbelles: Olympic Legends from Tennessee State chronicles the 1960 Tennessee State University all-Black women’s track team, which found Olympic glory at the 1960 games in Rome. It is an epic story of desire, success, and failure—of beating the odds—against the backdrop of a changing America. 

Published this month to coincide with Women’s History Month in March,  the author, who lives in Wenham, will speak as part of the Sawyer Free Library’s author event series from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7, at the library, 21 Main Street (upstairs) in Gloucester. There will be books available for to sign. No registration required.

Tigerbelles is a multi-layered inspirational tale of triumph over adversity.  The elite group of talent includes Wilma Rudolph, Barbara Jones, Lucinda Williams, Martha Hudson, Willye B. White, and Shirley Crowder.  These are women who once were and should still be known worldwide.  Ultimately, the team’s drive is for more than medals.  Their coach, Edward Temple, and the Tigerbelles offer a challenge to the world’s perception of what a group of young Black women in the Jim Crow South are capable of.

For the past several years, Aime Alley Card has been researching, interviewing, and writing about the Tennessee State Tigerbelles and those who supported them along their path. She conducted and reviewed hundreds of hours of interviews and read just as many books and articles, ranging from concurrent to retrospective. She is a nonfiction editor for Pangyrus literary magazine and a board member for the Women’s National Book Association, Boston Chapter, and serves on her town’s cultural council supporting educational programs.

Please join us for this special event. For more information visit: sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

Author Talk with Eric Lessinger: Stethoscope on Reality

~ Sawyer Free Library

Please join the Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street this Thursday, February 8 at 5:30 p.m. for an author talk with Gloucester resident, Eric Lessinger, who will be discussing his book Stethoscope on Reality: how my journey as a working-class Jew from Brooklyn informed my 50 years of medical practice, opening my heart and mind.

In his book, Dr. Lessinger documents his education as a striving, intelligent, upwardly mobile student in New York City public schools who went to Harvard College and NYU Medical School. He exposes the oppressive nature of medical training, from medical school through the years as an intern and resident. Overwork, exhaustion, humiliation in front of one’s peers, and competition rather than cooperation were routine parts of his daily experience. Still, he refused to relinquish his full humanity in the process. Working as a family doctor, utilizing both science and deep caring, he is not defensive about his mistakes, but rather, honest and remarkably willing to show us his vulnerability.

Eric Lessinger, MD grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He is a family doctor who graduated from NYU Medical School in 1972 and did his internship at Lincoln Hospital in Bronx, New York. He completed his residency in Rochester, New York. He practiced Family Medicine and Hospice and Palliative care in Trumansburg, New York, near Ithaca, for many years. He is now happily retired and lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with his wife Meredith and two cats. 

No registration required for the event. For more information, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org.

Details: Thursday, February 8, 2024 from 5:30-6:30pm at Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street.