Wednesday, October 2, 2:00 to 3:00 pm, A Journey into the Hidden World of Tropical Bats with Scientists from the Smithsonian – Join us as we welcome three Smithsonian-affiliated scientists to explore the fascinating world of tropical bats. Based on the book Bat Island: A Rare Journey into the Hidden World of Tropical Bats, their presentation will showcase decades of research on Panama’s diverse bat species, featuring insights from scientists and stunning photography by National Geographic contributor Christian Ziegler. Learn about bats’ unique adaptations, ecological importance, and the conservation efforts needed to protect these essential creatures. For the link, register HERE.
Wednesday, October 8, 7:00 to 8:00 pm, Liberating Latin American Genre Fiction with Bestselling Author Silvia Moreno-Garcia – An inspiring conversation with Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Gods of Jade and Shadow, and more. Moreno-Garcia will discuss Latin American genre fiction, her writing process, and her latest book, The Seventh Veil of Salome. For the link, register HERE.
Tuesday, October 22, 2:00 to 3:00 pm, Author Talk: Maybe You Should Talk to Somebody with Lori Gottlieb – An insightful discussion with Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, who will share her experiences as both a therapist and a patient. Despite her qualifications, Gottlieb emphasizes that her most important credential is her understanding of the human experience, particularly during times of crisis. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the truths and fictions that can hold us back from living our desired lives. For the link, register HERE.
For the links to these virtual author talks and to learn about other upcoming events, register at sawyerfreelibrary.org.
Brought to you in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium.
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.
The Sawyer Free Library is please to present talks with bestselling authors in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium. Register for these upcoming virtual events at sawyerfreelibray.org.
RANGE and THE SPORTS GENE: Author Talk with David Epstein
A conversation with New York Times bestselling author David Epstein as he chats about his most recent book, Range: Why Generalist Triumph in a Specialized World.
What’s the most effective path to success in any domain? It’s not what you think.
Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.
David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters, and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, juggling many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.
Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.
About the Author: David Epstein is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and of the New York Times bestseller The Sports Gene, both of which have been translated into more than 20 languages. His writing has been honored by an array of organizations, from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, to the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Center on Disability and Journalism, and has been included in the Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology. His story “Following the Trail of Broken Hearts,” on sudden cardiac death in athletes, was chosen as one of the top 100 stories of the last 100 years by Columbia Journalism alumni. He has master’s degrees in environmental science and journalism and lives in Washington, DC.
A delicious chat with celebrity chef Jernard Wells which will leave you starving for more as he discusses his newest cookbook, Southern Inspired: More Than 100 Delicious Dishes from My American Table to Yours.
Delicious and inventive recipes that remix the traditional flavors and classic dishes of Southern food and celebrate African-American culinary contributions to tables worldwide—from the host of CLEO TV’sNew Soul Kitchen. After growing up in Mississippi, Jernard Wells brought the familiar dishes and bold flavors of the South along his culinary journey to become a chef, restaurateur, and TV host. With Southern Inspired, Jernard continues his journey—retracing the steps of generations of African American cooks whose creations have contributed to global kitchen tables since slavery. Southern food defines American food at large, and Chef Jernard takes it to a whole new level while still honoring its roots. Chef Jernard also brings in flavors from the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, and Europe, always with his signature Southern flair. This cookbook shares 100 recipes that are approachable for both beginners and more experienced cooks.
About the Author: Jernard Wells is an Award Winning TV Host/Celebrity Chef/Bestselling Cookbook Author. He is the host of “New Soul Kitchen” & “New Soul Kitchen Remix” on CLEO TV and is well-known for appearing on numerous cooking shows on Food Network & Cooking Channel over the last decade. Wells has worked with Tyler Perry, NBA Allstar Brandon Ingram, Lady Antebellum, Tom Joyner, New Edition &BBD. He has been featured on “Today Show“, “Good Morning America”, PEOPLE, “Steve Harvey Morning Show“, “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show”, ESSENCE, “Daily Blast Live”, USA Today, Lifetime, Oprah Winfrey Network to name a few. The James Beard House Honored Chef is affectionately called “The Family Chef” because he loves using food to promote positive family images. He and his wife of 25 years have 9 children and live in the Atlanta area.
New York Times bestselling historical fiction author Pam Jenoff will take us on an exciting trip through time as she shares the details of her newest book, Code Name Sapphire, where a woman must rescue her cousin’s family from a train bound for Auschwitz in this riveting tale of bravery and resistance.
It’s 1942 and Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed in a pogrom. When her ship bound for America is turned away at port, she has nowhere to go but to her cousin Lily, who lives with her family in Brussels. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to escape occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind.
Seeking help, Hannah joins the Sapphire Line, a secret resistance network led by a mysterious woman named Micheline and her enigmatic brother Mateo. But when a grave mistake causes Lily’s family to be arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties. How much is Hannah willing to sacrifice to save the people she loves? Inspired by incredible true stories of courage and sacrifice, Code Name Sapphire is a powerful novel about love, family and the unshakable resilience of women in even the hardest of times.
About the Author: Pam Jenoff was born in Maryland and raised outside Philadelphia. She attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Cambridge University in England. Upon receiving her master’s in history from Cambridge, she accepted an appointment as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. Following her work at the Pentagon, Pam moved to the State Department. Pam left the Foreign Service in 1998 to attend law school and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She now teaches law school at Rutgers.
Pam is the NYT bestselling author of The Woman With The Blue Star, The Lost Girls of Paris, The Orphan’s Tale, The Kommandant’s Girl, The Diplomat’s Wife, The Ambassador’s Daughter, The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach, The Winter Guest, The Things We Cherished, Almost Home, and A Hidden Affair. She also authored a short story in the anthology Grand Central: Original Postwar Stories of Love and Reunion. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband, three children, dog, cat, lizard and bird.
The Sawyer Free Library is please to present talks with bestselling authors in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium. To register for these upcoming virtual events, visit sawyerfreelibray.org.
Tastes Like War: An Author Talk with Grace M. Cho
Thursday, February 16, 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
An insightful chat with award-winning author Grace M. Cho who discusses her memoir, Tastes Like War: Part food memoir, part sociological investigation.
Grace M. Cho grew up as the daughter of a white American merchant marine and the Korean bar hostess he met abroad. They were one of few immigrants in a xenophobic small town during the Cold War, where identity was politicized by everyday details—language, cultural references, memories, and food. When Grace was fifteen, her dynamic mother experienced the onset of schizophrenia, a condition that would continue and evolve for the rest of her life.
Part food memoir, part sociological investigation, Tastes Like War is a hybrid text about a daughter’s search through intimate and global history for the roots of her mother’s schizophrenia. In her mother’s final years, Grace learned to cook dishes from her mother’s childhood in order to invite the past into the present, and to hold space for her mother’s multiple voices at the table. And through careful listening over these shared meals, Grace discovered not only the things that broke the brilliant, complicated woman who raised her—but also the things that kept her alive.
About the Author: Grace M. Cho is Associate Professor of Sociology at the College of Staten Island. She received a PhD in Sociology and Women’s Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center and an MEd from Harvard School of Education. Her work crosses disciplinary boundaries and seeks to engage popular audiences. From 2005 to 2007 she was a contributing performance artist for Still Present Pasts: Korean Americans and the Forgotten War, a collaborative art project based on the oral histories of Korean War survivors and their children. Her participation in Still Present Pasts influenced the form and content of her first book, Haunting the Korean Diaspora: Shame, Secrecy and the Forgotten War (University of Minnesota, 2008) which combined fiction, performance, autoethnography and sociological research. It won a 2010 book award from the American Sociological Association for its innovative methodology. Her second book, Tastes Like War, was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the winner of the 2022 Asian Pacific American Literature Award for Adult Nonfiction.
Author Talk with Sadeqa Johnson: Award-Winning Author of Yellow Wife and The House of Eve
Tuesday, February 28, 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.
An invigorating conversation with highly acclaimed author Sadeqa Johnson who will be speaking about her brand-new novel, The House of Eve!
In The House of Eve, Fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising her daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed onto her like a birthright.
Eleanor Quarles arrived in Washington DC with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his parents don’t just let anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.
The lives of these two women collide in the most unexpected way as they both face life altering decisions. The House of Eve is a fast-paced, harrowing story that hinges on what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.
About the Author: Sadeqa Johnson is the award-winning author of four novels, including Yellow Wife. Her accolades include the National Book Club Award, the Phillis Wheatley Book Award, and the USA Best Book Award for Best Fiction. She is a Kimbilio Fellow, former board member of the James River Writers, and a Tall Poppy Writer. Originally from Philadelphia, she currently lives near Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and three children. To learn more, visit SadeqaJohnson.net.
Cape Ann Community 