Community Corner

Authors to Spark Discussion At Friends of the Larchmont Library Speaker Series

The "2011-12 Sunday Speaker" series will begin this Sunday, Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. at Larchmont Temple on 75 Larchmont Ave., with homegrown authors reading from pieces published in the "Westchester Review," a local literary journal.

In keeping with a literary tradition of many years, the Friends of the Larchmont Library will once again offer their free “2011-12 Sunday Speaker” series, where a wide variety of authors—many with a connection to the local community— will read from their own novels or the works of others, touching on themes both weighty and lighthearted including religion, meditation, athletics and economics.

The series will kick off on Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. in the Garden Room of the where several local authors will read from their pieces, recently published in the fifth anniversary edition of the Westchester Review. The Review pieces range from short fiction and poetry to plays and interviews from emerging and more established authors.

Although submissions to the literary journal are close to several hundred per year, the six-editor staff at the Review personally read and review each entry for its potential inclusion in the journal, said Editor Amy Ralston Seife.

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“Also increasingly unusual in the world of literary journals, we work closely with writers to ready their pieces for publication and our authors value the individual attention we give to their manuscripts,” she said about the submission process.

The writers scheduled to speak at the event include Angela Taylor, Joe Landau, Blythe Hamer, Luann Jacobs and Tracy Williamson.

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Other upcoming events in the “Sunday Speaker” series include:

  • Sunday, Oct. 2: A concert by world-class harmonica player, Jia-Yi He. Jia-Yi has appeared as a soloist with many symphony orchestras and teaches at Turtle Bay Music School in Manhattan.
  • Sunday, Oct. 16: Author Deborah Baker will read from The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism, the story of a Muslim woman living in Pakistan who was born an American Jew and grew up in Larchmont.
  • Sunday, Oct. 30: Local author and New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg will read from his new book, You are an Iron Man: How Six Weekend Warriors Chased Their Dream of Finishing the World’s Toughest Triathlon. Steinberg will also interview a panel of men and women who have lived the dream.
  • Sunday, Nov. 13: In an event made possible by the New York Council for the Humanities, which links distinguished scholars with diverse audiences, Larchmont author, historian, and former Ringling Brothers clown Dave Carlyon will take a fresh look at Abraham Lincoln’s famous words in a lecture entitled, “Gettysburg Address: Politics & Performance.”
  • Sunday, Nov. 20: Local author Priscilla Warner will read from her new book, Learning to Breathe: My Yearlong Quest to Bring Calm to My Life, a witty meditation memoir for believers and skeptics alike.
  • Sunday, Dec. 4: Carrying on a beloved tradition, Larchmont librarian Frank Connelly will read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
  • Sunday, Dec. 11: Sylvia Nasar, acclaimed author of A Beautiful Mind, will read from her new book, Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius. The book is an epic story of the men and women who transformed the dismal science into a triumph over misery and early death.

All events in the Speaker series begin at 4 p.m., with refreshments served at 3:30 p.m.  With the exception of the event on Sept. 18, all other events will be held at the Village Center, behind the .  The series is free and open to the public.  All programs are sponsored by the Friends of the Larchmont Library, a not-for-profit organization that supports cultural events not covered by government funding.

 


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