Today's Featured Books— Events

Free online: The Writers' Room After Hours. Join The Writer's Room of Boston for an interview with Mable Chan, journalist, writer, producer, and founder of One in a Billion Productions, a film-focused multi-media nonprofit. Her current writing projects include a memoir and a TV pilot. Wednesday, June 18, 7:30 - 8:30 EDT.

"Productivity is a trap. There will always be too much to do." ~Mable Chan

Free online: Rogue Reads - A Crime Spree, a fun online event where authors discuss not just their latest crime novels, but also share recipes for their favorite drinks and snacks. Tonight's line-up includes Christina Dodd, author of Thus With a Kiss I Die; Vaseem Khan, The Girl in Cell A; Delia Pitts, Death of an Ex; and Ryan Pote, Blood and Treasure. Monday, June 16, 6 PM CDT. 

"Life is about working out who the bad guy is." ~Sophie Hannah

Free online: Speculative Sunday Poetry Reading Series Juneteenth and the Black Fantastic. Join for a virtual poetry reading series celebrating Juneteenth and exploring the Black Fantastic in speculative poetry. Sunday, June 15, 6:00 - 7:15 PM CDT. 

"Discomfort is always a necessary part of enlightenment." ~Pearl Cleage

Free online: Art & Spirit Forum, a weekly forum that focuses on art and related spiritual forces, including inspiration, intuition, beauty, intent, perfection, and meaning. Each session begins with an informal sharing of inspirational writings, then the group explores a specific aspect of art or an individual artist’s work. Participants are welcome to observe, but everyone is welcome to share their thoughts and views. Thursdays, 5:30 - 7:00 PM CDT. 

“A creative life is an amplified life.” ~Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

Free online: Join the staff of the New York Public Library Grand Concourse Branch for a discussion of "A Pair of Silk Stockings" by Kate Chopin. Wednesday, June 11, from 11:00 AM to 12 PM ET or from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM ET. 

“She was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment.” ~Kate Chopin, The Awakening

Free online Sunday: What's New in Historical Fiction, a panel series celebrating bold new voices and fresh perspectives in historical storytelling. Featuring Hazel Gaynor, author of Before Dorothy; Kristina McMorris, The Girls of Good Fortune; Kelli Estes, Smoke on the Wind; and Susan Wiggs, Wayward Girls. Sunday, June 8, 1 - 2 PM CDT. 

“History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” ~David McCullough, American historian

Free online Friday: Larksong Writers Place First Friday Book Talk & Reading with spoken work poet Jewel Rodgers, 2025 - 2029 State Poet of Nebraska. Friday, June 6, 12 PM CDT. 

"Be revolutionary." ~Jewel Rodgers

Free online: Austin Public Library Book & Movie Club. This month, the club will be reading The Hours, a 1998 Virginia Woolf tribute novel written by Michael Cunningham, and watching the 2002 film adaptation of the same title. Tuesday, June 3, 7 PM CDT. 

"Absorbing, mysterious, of infinite richness, this life." ~Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

Free online: Poetry for National Creativity Day. Join some of the most creative voices in contemporary poetry for a burst of imagination and invention! Featuring: Julie Stevens, Mark Antony Owen, Sarah Reeson, Beth Brooke, Maggie Mackay, Nina Parmenter, Sarah Doyle, Martin Kennedy Yates, and Corinna Board. Saturday, May 31, 1:00 - 2:30 PM CDT. 

"The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it." ~Dylan Thomas

Free online: Join the Academy of American Poets for the 2025 Blaney Lecture on "Poetry and Spirituality" delivered by acclaimed poet Kaveh Akbar, author Pilgrim Bell (Graywolf Press, 2021) and Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James, 2017). He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 100 Poets on the Divine. His first novel, Martyr! (Knopf, 2024), was a New York Times Bestseller. Thursday, May 29, 6-7 PM CDT. 

“Bewilderment is at the core of every great poem.” ~Kaveh Akbar

Free online: What's New in Historical Fiction. This special event features four powerful authors whose novels uncover hidden histories, challenge the status quo, and illuminate the human experience across time and place. Join for conversation with Alina Adams (author of Go On Pretending), Kyra Davis Lurie (The Great Mann), C.W. Towarnicki (Notes from a Deserter), and Marie Bostwick (The Book Club for Troublesome Women). 

"Events are as much the parents of the future as they were the children of the past." ~John Galsworthy

Free online: Scribente Maternum (Write Like a Mother), a reading that celebrates the works of writer-moms who have new or forthcoming works. Thursday, May 22, 1:00 - 2:30 PM EDT. 

“A mother is the one who fills your heart in the first place.” ~Amy Tan, Saving Fish from Drowning

Giveaway: Teen & YA Books. Hosted by CraveBooks, there are 19 books to be won in this Teen & Young Adult Giveaway. First prize is ALL of the books, in either print or ebook format. Second and third prize winners get an e-book. Deadline for entry is June 2, 2025. 

"Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs." ~Charlotte Bronte

Free online: Artful Dodgers Poetry Saturday. Join online or in person for a poetry open mic at the new Brooklyn Heights Public Library. Saturday, May 17, 1 PM CDT. 

"The most important thing in life is to stop saying 'I wish' and start saying 'I will.'" ~Charles Dickens

Free online: Strong Women, Strange Worlds. Join for a tasting menu of science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories from six authors who will each have 8 minutes to tempt and tantalizing you with their reading. Thursday, May 15, 6 PM CDT. 

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” ~Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Free online: Pen Parentis Salon, an open discussion about writing while parenting and the creative practice of our featured authors Susanna Sonnenberg, Sonja Curry-Johnson, Miranda Schmidt, and Annie Wenstrup. Tuesday, May 13, 6 PM CDT.

“Don’t worry that children never listen to you: worry that they are always watching you.” ~Robert Fulghum

Free online: Virtual Mother's Day Celebrations. Sunday is Mother's Day, and this list suggests 12 ways to celebrate Mother's Day across the miles. 

"Behind all your stories is your mother's story, for hers is where yours begins." ~Mitch Albom

Free online: Mapping the Unmappable. Poets Michelle Latavala and Maya Stein will read their work, using the theme of the reading (mapping the unmappable) as a loose guide for which poems they'll choose to share. Interspersed with the readings will be an informal conversation and Q&A with participants. Wednesday, May 7, 6:00 - 7:30 PM CDT. 

“Literature is not only a mirror; it is a map, a geography of the mind.” ~Margaret Atwood

Free online: Writers LIVE! Presented by the Enoch Pratt Free Library, join for a reading and conversation with poets Jalen Eutsey and Dora Malech. Saturday, May 3, 3:00 - 4:30 PM EDT. 

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”  ~A.A. Milne

Free online: Bellevue Literary Review Spring Reading. Join to celebrate the publication of BLR's latest issue and meet the winners of the 2025 BLR Literary Prizes. Pia Jee-Hae Baur, Fiona Ennis, and Sandra Dolores Gómez Amador will read from their winning work and be interviewed by BLR editors. Wednesday, April 30, 7:00 - 8:00 PM EDT. 

“Don’t wait for inspiration. It comes while working.” ~Henri Matisse

Free online: Writers' Room of Boston - Readings from the Room. Join us for an evening of readings and discussion, hosted by Spencer Storey Johnson and featuring the work of Anu Kandikuppa and Jake Hargrove. Tuesday, April 29, 7 PM EDT. 

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Free online - Unwritten: A Life Writing Workshop, a guided journey to uncover and reflect on the stories that shape your life. Sunday, April 27, 12:00 - 1:30 PM CDT. 

"Experience is the teacher of all things." ~Julius Caesar

Free online: Poetry and the Creative Mind. Presented by the Academy of American Poets, this celebratory broadcast features actors, artists, and leaders from across the arts and honors poetry's important place in our society and its impact on the lives of readers. Thursday, April 24, 7:30 PM ET. 

"I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything." ~Steven Wright

Free online: Literary Editions from the University of Alberta Press, an online listening party featuring readings from UAlberta Press’ newest poetry collections: This Sweet Rupture by Omar Ramadan, When Whales Went Back to the Water by Lisa Baird, and Python Love by Shannon Arntfield. Wednesday, April 23, 6:00 - 7:30 PM CDT. 

"Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash." ~Leonard Cohen

Free online: Earth Day Film Festival, an online documentary film festival that invites you to explore both the wonders and the challenges facing our natural world. Presented by Earth Day Orcas and the San Juan Islands Makers Guild, in collaboration with the Friday Harbor Film Festival. April 19 - 28. 

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” ~Rachel Carson