Above: A look at this season’s virtual events featuring bestselling authors. (images edited from library flyers and promos on library website)
The Southborough Library is continuing to offer the virtual author talk series available to Southborough residents. Most are targeted to adults, but a few are geared to children or young adults.
The series features:
bestselling, award-winning, and highly acclaimed authors from around the world. The featured writers and thought leaders will cover a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.
The series features 2-3 live events per month. When you register to join the live zoom, you can also pre-submit questions for the Q&A. As with all library events, participation is free to the public. Anyone can take advantage of the opportunity, but registration is required for the live talks.
If you can’t make the live event, the library’s subscription allows patrons to view the recording later. Each talk is added to the existing library of streaming videos available through the library’s website.
Any Southborough resident with a Southborough Library card can register to join the free live talks. Here’s what’s on tap for the next few months:
Children’s Author — Wonderfully Weird: Celebrating the Joys of Feeling Different with Zaila Avant-garde
Tuesday, June 16th at 7:00 – 7:45 pm
This author talk for children features the Scripps National Spelling Bee Champ and bestselling children’s book author will focus on her new picture book, Weird and Wonderful You, “in which she encourages young readers to embrace what makes them different.”
(Avant-garde has also written early readers and a collection of stories from her life.)
To learn more and register, click here.
Simple, Sustainable, and Powerfully Delicious Meals with Sana Javeri Kadri and Asha Loupy
Tuesday, June 23rd at 2:00 – 3:00 pm
The CEO & Founder of Diaspora Spice Co. (Sana Javeri Kadri) and Renowned Food and Recipe Writer (Asha Loupy) will discuss the cookbook they teamed up to create. The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook, “celebrates beautiful, simple, and seasonal cooking with 85 recipes adapted from India and Sri Lanka’s best family spice farms.”
To learn more and register, click here.
How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are (and How to End the Cycle) with Renowned Therapy Expert Mark Wolynn
Tuesday, July 7th at 2:00 – 3:00 pm
The author of the award-winning book, It Didn’t Start with You, author Mark Wolynn cites scientific research purporting that traumatic experiences can be passed down in our genes for generations, and “play a far greater role in our emotional and physical health than has ever before been understood.” He will discuss “how to break the cycle” and his companion workbook for a practical, therapeutic “approach to resolving longstanding difficulties”.
To learn more and register, click here.
Small Towns and Big Secrets: In Conversation with Bestselling Author Karin Slaughter
Tuesday, July 14th at 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Slaughter is the author of international and New York Times bestselling mystery/detective novels, including Pretty Girls, the Will Trent series, and The Good Daughter. In this talk, she’ll discuss her North Falls series We Are All Guilty Here and the upcoming sequel, The Secrets We Hide.
To learn more and register, click here.
Young Adult author — Dragons, Castles, and an Irresistible Princess Bent on Revenge with Katherine Rundell
Thursday, July 30th at 2:00 – 2:45 pm
Rundell is the 2024 Author of the Year, and a bestselling and award-winning author of children’s fantasy books including Impossible Creatures. She’ll discuss the sequel, The Poisoned King! “Register now to go behind-the-scenes of the making of the Impossible Creatures books–just in time for The Neverfear’s (Book #3)’s release on September 1, 2026!”
To learn more and register, click here.
The Legacy of Julia Child’s Kitchen with Smithsonian Curator Paula J. Johnson
Tuesday, August 4th at 2:00 – 3:00 pm
(Rescheduled from December) The historian will discuss her book Julia Child’s kitchen: the design, tools, stories, and legacy of an iconic space. The author will discuss the famous cookbook author and TV chef’s kitchen (which was recreated at the National Museum of American History) and her legacy.
To learn more and register, click here.
Live Aware, Not in Fear: Street Smarts and Safety Tactics with Dannah Eve
Thursday, August 13th at 2:00 – 3:00 pm
For years, Eve who has shared with millions of social media followers “her advice, self-defense strategies, and safety tips”. She’s the bestselling author of Street Smarts: Trust Your Instincts, Outsmart Danger, and Stay Safe in a World That Isn’t. Her talk will focus on “mastering situational awareness, calculated deception, and the art of always being ready.”
To learn more and register, click here.
YA author — My Bicentennial Summer: A True-Life Adventure Across America with G. Neri
Thursday, August 20th at 7:00 – 7:45 pm
Neri is the multi-award winning and bestselling author of several books for “young people” including Ghetto Cowboy (made into the 2020 Netflix movie Concrete Cowboy). In this talk, he’ll focus on “his funny and heartfelt book, My Bicentennial Summer.” It recounts the summer of 1976 when his family went on an 8,000 mile road trip “from California to Washington, DC, with only the aid of paper maps and transistor radios rather than smartphones and GPS.”
To learn more and register, click here.
High Altitudes and High Stakes: A Miss Marple Mystery with Lucy Foley
Thursday, August 27th at 2:00 – 3:00 pm
Foley is the #1 NYT bestselling mystery thriller author of of The Guest List and The Midnight Feast. In this talk, she’ll “delve into her brand-new Miss Marple mystery, Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel.” In it, she transports “transport Miss Marple – her favorite Christie creation – to the glamorous post-war setting of the Swiss Alps, in a mystery that feels gloriously escapist yet utterly relevant to our times.”
To learn more and register, click here.
For more information or to register for any of the author talks, visit bit.ly/sbliblsc. There you can also find links for the following talks that took place since July 2022. They cover a diverse array of subjects and genres including children’s author talks appropriate for kids
