Today's Featured Books— Events

Free online: Winter Solstice Writing Ritual. No experience necessary! Join for an evening of creativity and connection. This online event will guide you through a series of writing prompts and exercises to honor the longest night of the year. Celebrate the turning of the seasons and tap into inner wisdom through the power of words. No writing experience necessary, just bring an open heart and a willingness to explore. Saturday, December 21, 7:00 PM EST. 

"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise." ~Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Free online: PEN/Dau Best Debut Short Stories 2024. Join six winners of the 2024 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers as they read selections from their award-winning stories. Thursday, December 19, 7:00 - 8:30 PM EST. 

“Storytelling is the essential human activity.” ~Edward O. Wilson

Free online: MOMA Virtual Art Tour. Join Art Historian Caterina Pierre for a virtual visit to the Museum of Modern Art's current exhibition entitled Life Dances On: Robert Frank in Dialogue. Best known for his 1958 photography book entitled The Americans, the exhibition will focus on the six decades of art Frank produced after that significant publication. Wednesday, December 18, 11:00 - 11:45 AM EST. 

“When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.” ~Robert Frank

Free online: Hudson Valley Writers Center Event. Join to hear from four recenlty published HVWC poetry students and two memoir students at the semi-annual HVWC Published Student Reading. Sunday, December 15, 4-5 PM ET.

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” ~Anaïs Nin

Free online: Poetry Lit! Join this monthly online reading series with international poets and their passionate fans. This month's event features poets Laura Fyfe and Finola Scott. Friday, December 13, 1:00 - 2:30 CST. 

"A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe." ~Dylan Thomas

Cozy Mystery Book Giveaway! Hosted by BookSweeps, enter for a chance to win a bundle of 10 cozy mysteries. 2 winners! Giveaway ends Jan. 1. 

“No one ever got in trouble keeping his mouth shut.” ~Elmore Leonard

Free online: The Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands features masterworks from the Dutch Golden Age, including paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt. The Rijksmuseum itself is also a masterpiece: a stunning building with amazing interior design. You can view many works from the museum's collection and take virtual tours of some of its galleries via Google Art. Free online, any time you like!

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” ~Andy Warhol

Free online tonight: Excited Utterance, a quarterly reading series established 2014 in Chicago. Events are held online via Facebook. Host Larry O. Dean welcomes co-poets Nancy Miller Gomez and Meghan Lamb. Wednesday, December 4, 7 PM CT.

"People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy." ~Anton Chekhov

Free online: Japan's Literary Boom. Join the Japan Society of Boston to celebrate the launch of Volume 5 of MONKEY: New Writing from Japan, the only annual English-language anthology of Japanese contemporary literature. Tuesday, December 3, 6 PM ET.

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” ~Haruki Murakami

Free online: "Chills & Thrills" in The Back Room. Join for readings and conversation with four authors of recently released mystery, suspense, and thriller novels. Sunday, December 1, 7 PM ET. 

"December is the time for remembering the past and reaching toward the future." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

We're coming up on the Thanksgiving Holiday in the United States, a time to celebrate with family, followed by Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. If you're looking for something to do that doesn't involve turkey or shopping, consider The Getty Center. 

If you happen to be in the Los Angeles area, in-person admission is free. (The museum is closed Thanksgiving Day, but open the rest of the weekend.) If you're not in LA, don't fret! Visit The Getty Center website for an overview of the museum's two locations (The Getty Center and The Getty Villa), then take a self-guided virtual tour of The Getty Center via Google Arts & Culture, or watch some of the many on-demand videos on The Getty's YouTube page. 

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." ~Henry David Thoreau

Free online: The Art of Journaling. Journaling can be enjoyable and enlightening. It can deepen your self-awareness, and help you gain clarity and add a sense of calm. Join to explore the why, the how, and the art of journaling. Tuesday, November 26, 12 PM CT. 

"In the journal, I am at ease." ~Anaïs Nin

Free online: Lovestruck Books presents Love Stories Live - a Virtual Romance Roundtable. Grab some popcorn (or a glass of wine) and join for conversation with six incredible romance authors: Sarah Hogle (author of Old Flames and New Fortunes), Hannah Whitten (The Nightshade Crown), Lish McBride (Uncanny Romance), Casey Blair (Diamond Universe), Lana Harper (The Witches of Thistle Grove), and Amanda Bouchet (The Kingmaker Chronicles). Sunday, November 24, 3:00 - 4:40 PM EST. Tickets are free, but sales end soon, so reserve your spot today.

“Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time; effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end.” ~Anne Louise Germaine de Staël, Corinne

Free online tonight: Poetry Reading at the Hudson Valley Writers Center. Join via Zoom for an evening of new poetry with Diane Seuss, Christian Gullette, and Richie Hofmann. Wednesday, November 20, 7:00 - 8:30 PM ET.

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” ~Robert Frost

Free online: Keeping It Short, a special edition of The Back Room reading series focused on short stories. Join for a discussion with authors Michael Bracken, Kristopher Zgorski & Dru Ann Love, Wendy Walker, and Stacy Woodson. Sunday, November 17, 7 PM ET. 

“A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick–a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.” ~Neil Gaiman

Free online tonight: What's New in Historical Fiction, a panel series featuring historical novelists with new and upcoming titles. Moderated by Colin Mustful, founder of History Through Fiction, tonight's panel includes: Adriana Allegri, author of The Sunflower House; Monica Chenault-Kilgore, author of The Jewel of the Blues; Susan J. Morris, author of Strange Beasts; and A.D. Rhine (Ashlee Cowles and Danielle Stinson), authors of Daughters of Bronze. Wednesday, November 13, 7-8 PM CT.

"In history lies all the secrets of statecraft." ~Confucius

Free online: B&N Book Club. Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louise Erdrich for a live, virtual event to discuss the October B&N Book Club pick, The Mighty Red, Erdrich's most stunning novel yet. Tuesday, November 12, 3 PM ET.

"Sorrow eats time. Be patient. Time eats sorrow." ~Louise Erdrich

Free online: Speculative Sundays, a poetry reading to celebrate Speculative Poetry Month. Speculative poetry is humanity’s primordial literature. Nearly everyone knows some speculative poetry—from nursery rhymes, to Edgar Allen Poe, to Puff the Magic Dragon, it’s been here all along. Join for a reading featuring poets Mary Soon Lee, Brandon O’Brien, and Vivian Faith Prescott. November 10, 7 to 8 pm ET.

"Mainstream poetry deals with the rendering and exploration of the here and now, reality as we know it, internal and external. Speculative poetry has more to do with imagination, the world of dreams, and the world as it could be." ~Bruce Boston, speculative poet

Free online: Poetry Lit!, a monthly online reading series for poets from all over the world. Explore the world of poetry from the comfort of your favorite chair via a reading series that features international poets and their passionate fans. Friday, November 8, 1:00 PM CST.

"Perseverance is the act of continuing to move forward, even when you want to give up." ~Rachel Scott, journalist

Free online: Perspectives is the Metropolitan Museum of Art online home for deep dives on art, interviews, personal essays, scientific discoveries, and more. Can't make it to NYC today? Visit the Perspectives website for interviews with Korean artist Lee Bul and writer Amor Towles. You can access these video and audio interviews any time, on demand! 

"Sometimes the wrong choices bring us to the right places." ~Amor Towles

We have a new giveaway to announce, but first...

Congratulations to Amber K. of Bay City, Michigan, on winning the LitNuts Fall Giveaway! The prize was s Stained Glass Book Table Lamp or a $75 Amazon.com Gift Card, and Amber chose the lamp. Congratulations to Amber, and a big "thank you" to all who entered. 

Also, the LitNuts Holiday Giveaway is now live! The prize is a Beginner Biography Set for young readers or a $75 Barnes & Noble Gift Card. Enter now through December 15 for a chance to win.

"One of the greatest gifts adults can give—to their offspring and to their society—is to read to children.” ~Carl Sagan

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. Friday, November 1, 11 AM CDT. 

“We’re only different from the bacteria because we are able to ask what the hell this is all about. Not answer, just ask.” ~Carolyn Ives, “Umbernight”

Free online: Black Mountain Institute presents author Mia Alvar. Join via Zoom for a reading and discussion with Mia Alvar, author of In the Country, a short-story collection that won the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize from the University of Rochester. Tuesday, October 29, 2 PM CDT.

"She holds a grudge against the world for defaulting on its promises to beautiful women. It didn’t occur to me that I’d been counting on similar promises, made to smart girls who studied hard." ~Mia Alvar

Free online: Poetry Reading hosted by Hudson Valley Writers Center. Join the editors of Slapering Hol Press as they welcome four poets who have just published full-length collections: Sara Daniele Rivera, winner of the 2023 Academy of American Poets First Book Prize; Cindy Juyoung Ok, winner of the 2023 Yale Younger Poets Prize; Katie Berta, winner of the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize; and Christian J. Collier, author of Greater Ghost. Sunday, October 27, 4:00 - 5:30 PM EDT.

"The poet is the priest of the invisible." ~Wallace Stevens

It's the last call for the LitNuts Fall Giveaway. Enter by October 31 for a chance to win a stained glass book lamp or a $75 Amazon.com gift card (winner's choice!). Already entered? You can earn additional entry points by visiting the LitNuts Facebook page or website via the entry form. 

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ~Albert Camus