There’s no doubt St. Louis is a literary city — with local bookshops such as Left Bank Books hosting events almost every day, to the St. Louis County Library hosting tons of educational initiatives for the area, there are literary opportunities everywhere you turn. Check out some of the exciting authors coming to town March and April and make sure you reserve your tickets ASAP! Can’t make it or just want more? Watch our “First Person One-on-One” series, in conversation with each of these authors after their talks, here: http://hectv.staging.wpengine.com/watch/maryville-talks-books/
Anna Quindlen | Alternate Side
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
St. Louis County Library Headquarters
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. | Event starts at 7 p.m.
An onstage Interview with St. Louis Public Radio host Don Marsh.
In this provocative novel, acclaimed novelist Anna Quindlen explores tensions in a tight-knit community following an unexpected act of violence. Some days Nora Nolan thinks that she and her husband, Charlie, lead a charmed life. Then one morning she returns from her run to discover that a terrible incident has shaken her comfortable neighborhood, and the fault lines begin to open: on the block, at her job, especially in her marriage. With humor, understanding, and a warm heart, Anna Quindlen explores what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a woman at a moment of reckoning.
https://www.slcl.org/content/anna-quindlen
Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie | My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton
Thursday, April 12, 2018 7:00 p.m.
St. Louis County Library Headquarters
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. | Event starts at 7 p.m.
From the bestselling authors of “America’s First Daughter” comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. Haunting, moving, and beautifully written, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza’s story as it’s never been told before—not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal—but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.
https://www.slcl.org/content/stephanie-dray-and-laura-kamoie
Jenna Fischer | An Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide
April 16, 2018
Ethical Society St. Louis
Doors open at 6 p.m. | Event starts at 7 p.m.
Left Bank Books welcomes actress and St. Louis native Jenna Fischer, who will sign and discuss her new book, The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide! Jenna Fischer’s Hollywood journey began at the age of 22 when she moved to Los Angeles from her hometown of St. Louis. With a theater degree in hand, she was determined, confident, and ready to work hard. So, what could go wrong? Uh, basically everything. It would be eight long years before she landed her iconic role on The Office, nearly a decade of frustration, struggle, rejection and doubt. With amusing candor and wit, Fischer spells out the nuts and bolts of getting established in the profession, based on her own memorable and hilarious experiences. Her inspiring, helpful guidance feels like a trusted friend who’s made the journey, and has now returned to walk beside you, pointing out the pitfalls as you blaze your own path towards the life of a professional actor.
*Fischer’s event is sold out, but make sure to watch her one-one-one conversation with HEC (and all these authors) after their events on hectv.staging.wpengine.com!
http://www.left-bank.com/fischer
Sarah Kendzior | The View From Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America
April 17, 2018
Left Bank Books
Doors open at 6 p.m. | Event starts at 7 p.m.
Left Bank Books & Maryville Talks Books welcome St. Louis journalist Sarah Kendzior, who will sign and discuss her new book, The View from Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America! St. Louis–based writer and expert in authoritarian states Sarah Kendzior has been called “a Cassandra in Trumpland,” and is often credited with first predicting Donald Trump’s presidential victory. A clear-eyed account of the realities of life in America’s overlooked heartland, The View from Flyover Country is a piercing critique of the labor exploitation, racism, gentrification, media bias, and other aspects of the post-employment economy that gave rise to a president who rules like an autocrat. The View from Flyover Country is necessary reading for anyone who believes that the only way for America to fix its problems is to first discuss them with honesty and compassion.
http://www.left-bank.com/event/sarah-kendzior
Nicholas Reynolds | Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway’s Secret Adventures
May 15, 2018
St. Louis County Library Headquarters
Doors open at 6 p.m. | Event starts at 7 p.m.
In 2010, while he was the historian at the esteemed CIA Museum, Nicholas Reynolds, a longtime American intelligence officer, former U.S. Marine colonel, and Oxford-trained historian, began to uncover clues suggesting Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway was deeply involved in mid 20th Century spycraft — a mysterious and shocking relationship that was far more complex and fraught with risks than has ever been previously supposed. A literary biography with the soul of an espionage thriller, Reynolds’s meticulously researched narrative reveals for the first time the whole story of this hidden side of Hemingway’s life.
