Upcoming Event: Virtual Discussion with Phillip Goodrich and May Wuthrich on their audiobook

Upcoming Event:

 Virtual Discussion with author Phillip Goodrich and audiobook producer and director May Wuthrich on their Audiobook Original, Somersett: Benjamin Franklin and the Masterminding of American Independence

Wednesday, March 9th, 2022, at 7 PM via Zoom 

Author Phillip Goodrich and audiobook producer and director May Wuthrich (an old Greenwich resident) discuss adapting and producing the award-winning full cast recording of Goodrich’s  nonfiction title, Somersett: Benjamin Franklin and the Masterminding of American Independence.

Part courtroom drama, and part political thriller, five actors bring over thirty historical characters to life in a powerful dramatization of this little-known story of the founding of our country. James Somersett, mentioned in Nikole Hannah-Jones and the New York Times' 1619 Project, became the first enslaved person freed by the British Supreme Court. Pursued behind-the-scenes by Franklin and an inner circle of highly placed London abolitionists, this judgment became an important motivating factor in convincing reluctant slaveholders to join the Revolution. 

The book, formerly published under a different title, has been updated and expanded to reflect the changes made for the audio production and will be available in print and ebook editions after February 28th. 

The audiobook has garnered much praise, including an Earphones Award from AudioFile Magazine, which also named it a Best Audiobook of 2021. It is a Gold Winner from the Hear Now Festival, a finalist for The Society of Voice Arts and Sciences (SOVAS) 8th annual Voice Arts® Awards in the History/Biography category, and most recently a 2022 Audio Publishers Association (APA) Audie Award finalist in the same category. 

Short audio clips from the program will be featured in the event.

Learn more about the speakers here:

www.philgoodrichauthor.com

www.maywuthrich.com

Register today via Zoom

Upcoming Event: Virtual Book Discussion on Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet

Upcoming Event:

Virtual Book Discussion, cosponsored by Greenwich Pen Women

Hamnet, by Maggie O'Farrell

facilitated by GPW Member Diane Morello

Monday, March 7th, 2022, at 7 PM via Zoom 

Meet Hamnet, a young boy scrambling through his family’s home in the late 1500s looking for someone, anyone, to help him care for his feverish twin sister, Judith. In this tour de force in compassion, historical detail and storytelling, we watch love bloom between Hamnet’s mother, Agnes, and his father. We witness the emergence of the plague and the wrenching sorrow that ensues. We sneak with Agnes into a London theater where the husband, whom we now recognize as William Shakespeare, gives in to his sorrow and resurrects his dead son in Hamlet. Whether or not you’ve read the book, join the March 7 discussion as we explore Maggie O’Farrell’s prize-winning recreation of love and grief in a time we will never know. 

Place a hold on Hamnet

For more information on Maggie O’Farrell, visit www.maggieofarrell.com

Greenwich Pen Women, a branch of the National League of American Pen Women, is a nonprofit organization of local women artists, writers, and musicians. Find out more at www.greenwichpenwomen.org

Register today via Zoom

Upcoming Event: Virtual Book Discussion with Greenwich Pen Women- The Warmth of Other Suns

Upcoming Event:

Virtual Book Discussion 

cosponsored by Greenwich Pen Women

The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson

Monday, January 31st, 2022, at 7 PM via Zoom 

Greenwich Pen Women and Perrot Memorial Library will continue their cosponsored book discussion series on Monday, January 31, 2022, from 7:00 to 8:00 PM, via Zoom. The group will discuss The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, a masterwork by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Isabel Wilkerson. The discussion will be facilitated by Greenwich Pen Women members Lynn Garelick and Adrienne Reedy.

This beautifully written masterwork, by the bestselling author of Caste, chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: The Great Migration, which was the decades-long exodus of Black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. These Black Americans often left under the cover of night, leaving their sharecropper tools in the fields, their future plans and whereabouts a mystery to those they left behind.  

For more information on Isabel Wilkerson, visit www.isabelwilkerson.com

Greenwich Pen Women, a branch of the National League of American Pen Women, is a nonprofit organization of local women artists, writers, and musicians. Find out more at www.greenwichpenwomen.org

Register today via Zoom

Upcoming Event: Plants First-- Virtual Book Discussion with Dr. Katie Takayasu

Upcoming Event:
Plants First, A Virtual Book Discussion featuring Dr. Katie Takayasu

Wednesday, January 12th, 2022, at 7 PM via Zoom

Dr. Katie Takeyasu will discuss her book, Plants First: A Physician's Guide to Wellness Through a Plant-forward Diet, and share how plant-based nutrition can help prevent disease and manage chronic illness. Learn easy recipes and tips for introducing plant-based meals into your everyday diet. 

Katherine Wehri Takayasu, M.D., M.B.A. practices Integrative Medicine, combining traditional Western medicine with acupuncture, mind-body medicine, botanicals, nutrition, and lifestyle optimization. She’s an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University/New York-Presbyterian and teaches the next generation of doctors about healing the whole patient mind, body, and spirit. For her own wellbeing, Dr. Katie practices what she preaches by engaging in regular yoga and meditation. She lives with her husband and sons in Connecticut. Visit www.DrKatie.com to discover Dr. Katie’s Life Kitchen and visit her on Instagram @DoctorKatie

Copies of the book are available at Diane’s Books in Greenwich.

Register today via Zoom

Upcoming Event: Decorating Holiday Planters, In-person/outdoors at Perrot

Upcoming Event:

Decorating Holiday Planters, with Floral Designer Lorie Cunningham

In-Person/Outdoors at Perrot Library

Saturday, December 11th, 2021, at 1 PM

Learn how to decorate outdoor planters for the holidays with local floral designer Lorie Cunningham. Using winter greens, berried branches, and her innate creativity, Lorie will show you how to make an outdoor container go from just pretty to spectacular for the holiday season. This event will be in-person and outdoors, outside of the main entrance to Perrot. No advance registration required.

Upcoming Event: In-Person/Zoom Book Discussion on Sleepy Cat Farm: A Gardener's Journey

Upcoming Event:
In-Person/Zoom Book Discussion on 

Sleepy Cat Farm: A Gardener's Journey

with Fred Landman and Curtice Taylor

Wednesday, December 1st, 2021, at 7 PM
Perrot Memorial Library/Live-streamed via Zoom

Join us in welcoming Greenwich residents Fred Landman and Curtice Taylor for an enchanting discussion of Sleepy Cat Farm: A Gardener’s Journey. Located on 13 acres in Back Country Greenwich, Sleepy Cat Farm represents  the creative vision of its owner Fred Landman, who acquired a historic Georgian Revival Home in 1994 and set to work with the help of  architect Charles Hilton and landscape architect Charles J. Stick to create "a garden of which the house could be proud." 

After a 25-year collaboration, Sleepy Cat Farm features an abundance of garden experiences: formal boxwood and undulating hornbeam hedges, dense woodland, reflecting pools, arbors and follies—and a ferme ornée (ornamental farm) offering organic produce to the community. 

A self-taught gardener, Fred Landman serves on the Garden Conservancy’s board of directors, and resides at Sleepy Cat Farm with his wife, Seen Lippert, a professional chef who spent more than a decade at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA. Curtice Taylor has been photographing landscapes and gardens for more than forty years. His work has been published in major gardening and shelter magazines including House & Garden, Architectural Digest, and Connecticut Cottages and Gardens. A childhood friend of Fred Landman, Taylor has been documenting the gardens at Sleepy Cat Farm for more than ten years.

Program will be presented in-person at Perrot, and live-streamed via Zoom. In-person attendees must show proof of vaccination. Seating will be limited due to social distancing requirements. Masks required for all attendees.

Register here for the Zoom presentation

Upcoming Event: Virtual Book Discussion Featuring author Laura Munson in conversation with Lee Woodruff about her novel, Willa's Grove

Upcoming Event:

Virtual Book Discussion

Featuring author Laura Munson in conversation with Lee Woodruff about her novel, Willa's Grove

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021 at 7 PM via Zoom

Willa’s Grove is an inspirational story of four women, each at a crossroads in life, who gather in the wilderness of Big Sky country in Montana to ponder and answer the question: so now what? 

Laura Munson is the bestselling author of This Is Not The Story You Think It Is, which chronicles her journey through her own midlife crossroads. Drawing from the striking response to her memoir, the essay version of it in the New York Times' "Modern Love" column, and her speaking events at women’s conferences across the U.S., Laura founded the acclaimed Haven Writing Retreats and Workshops. After watching hundreds of people find their unique and essential voices under the big sky of Montana she calls home, Laura created Willa, the invitation, the friends, and the town to share what she has learned with people globally. Her work has been published and featured in many media outlets throughout the world.

Lee Woodruff is an author, public speaker and journalist. A former contributing reporter for CBS This Morning and Good Morning America, she's the best-selling author of three books as well as numerous articles and essays. She now runs a communications and media training business, working with clients around the globe.

[Register today via Zoom]

Upcoming Event: Virtual Writers' Open Mic Night

GREENWICH PEN WOMEN 

presents

VIRTUAL WRITERS’ OPEN MIC NIGHT

Wednesday, November 10th, 2021 at 7 PM via Zoom

The Perrot Memorial Library and the Greenwich Pen Women invite the community to a Virtual Writers’ Open Mic Night on Wednesday, November 10th, 2021, at 7 PM. Participants must register in advance, and those who wish to present must also sign up for a 5-minute time slot. A Greenwich Pen Woman emcee will introduce the event and manage the speakers and time flow. 

Writers are asked to select and read from their own original work that will best shine in a 5-minute time segment. 

These collaborations are intended to create a community space for original work to be introduced and heard and to help encourage the creation of original work by the writers in our community.

QUOTE BY ATTENDEE: “The Open Mic Night I attended was exciting – so many writers having the courage to step up and share stories, essays, poems, memoirs and projects in five-minute time slots. I was energized by the quality of people’s work.” Diane Tunick Morello, Riverside, CT

[Register now via Zoom]

Upcoming Event: Virtual Discussion with Caryn B. Davis on her book, Connecticut Waters

Virtual Book Discussion 

featuring author Caryn B. Davis speaking about her book, 

Connecticut Waters: Celebrating Our Coastline and Waterways

Wednesday, October 20th, 2021 at 7 PM via Zoom

A photographic tribute to Connecticut's maritime roots, both past and present, Connecticut Waters takes readers on a nautical journey exploring the many ways Nutmeggers use the state's lakes, rivers, sounds, and shores for industry, education, and recreation. From boat builders, to antique, power, and sailing vessels, to lobster shacks, the oyster and fishing industries, historic ferries, nautical arts, lighthouses and islands, charter boats, maritime festivals and celebrations, and more, this book showcases how these waterways have defined Connecticut culture. 

Caryn B. Davis is an award-winning photographer, a journalist, and a best-selling author specializing in architectural, garden and travel photography. Caryn's career has spanned the globe, taking her to more than 50 countries, and her images and articles and have appeared in over 60 publications worldwide, including the New York Times, Town & Country, the Wall Street Journal, Fine Art Connoisseur, and others. Her first commissioned photography book, A Connecticut Christmas: Celebrating the Holiday in Classic New England Style, garnered high accolades in 15 newspapers and magazines nationwide. 

Register today via Zoom

Upcoming Event: Virtual Book Discussion-- Secret Connecticut: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

 Upcoming Event: Virtual Book Discussion 

Secret Connecticut: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, with author Anastasia Mills Healy

Wednesday, October 13th, 2021, at 7 PM via Zoom

What's a travel writer to do during a pandemic? Greenwich author Stasha Healy turned her attention to her own state, and discovered 84 fascinating stories which she collected in her book, Secret Connecticut: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. Stasha will begin her illustrated Zoom presentation with little-known stories about Greenwich and then cover true tales from other parts of the state, like the charismatic Nutmegger who inspired the character of Indiana Jones, the man who was technically president before George Washington, and the fact that Martin Luther King, Jr. spent two formative summers in Connecticut as a teenager. Did you know that the state has its own Stonehenge and safari park as well as the country's smallest Native American reservation? Tune in to learn about all this and more!

[Register today via Zoom]

Upcoming Event: A Year of Blooming Bulbs, a Virtual Discussion with Ilona Ontsherenki

Upcoming Event: 

A Year of Blooming Bulbs, a virtual discussion with Master Gardener Ilona Ontsherenki

cosponsored by the Garden Club of Old Greenwich

Wednesday, September 29th, 2021, at 7 PM via Zoom

This talk covers the extensive variety of flower bulbs that can be planted in the fall to ensure an exciting succession of blooms starting in the new year. Planting techniques will be covered, including how to force bulbs for indoor bloom. Emphasis will be on deer-proof selections and successful combinations.

Ilona has been a Rutgers Master Gardener for over a decade. She moved from a career as an economist to an avocation in horticulture and credits this to an expensive landscape project that inspired her to learn more about the plants on which she was spending so much money. She now gives talks for Rutgers and for the Friends of the Frelinghuysen Arboretum, where she is on the board and manages their popular annual plant sale fundraiser. Ilona gardens in Chester, New Jersey, Zone 6B.

[Register today]

Upcoming Event: Virtual Book Discussion on Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars., by Joyce Carol Oates

Perrot Memorial Library & Greenwich Pen Women

present a Virtual Book Discussion on

Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars., by Joyce Carol Oates

Facilitated by Barbara Ehrentreu of Greenwich Pen Women

Monday, September 20th, 2021 at 7 PM via Zoom

This novel provides an examination of contemporary America through the prism of a family tragedy: when a powerful parent dies, each of his adult children reacts in startling and unexpected ways, and his grieving widow in the most surprising way of all. Stark and penetrating, it's an exploration of psychological trauma, class warfare, grief, and eventual healing.

Borrow a copy of the book here

Register for this event today via Zoom

For more information, contact lending@perrotlibrary.org

Movies in the Park 2021

 Movies in the Park 2021

Perrot is pleased to present our summer series of Movies in the Park in Binney Park. 

Bring your picnic, your chairs, and enjoy the show!

INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

(1981, Rated PG, 115 minutes)

Saturday, August 21st, 2021, at 8:30 PM

[No Rain Date]

Dr. Indiana Jones, a renowned archeologist and expert in the occult, is hired by the U.S. Government to find the ark of the covenant, which is believed to still hold the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately, Hitler's agents are also after the ark. Indy and his ex-flame Marion escape from various close scrapes in a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo.

Upcoming Event: Virtual Book Discussion with Julia Cooke, in conversation with Jo Ling Kent

Upcoming Event:

Virtual Book Discussion, featuring author Julia Cooke in conversation with NBC Anchor Jo Ling Kent

on Cooke's new book, Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am

Wednesday, July 14th, 2021, at 7 PM via Zoom

 [ Register now ]

Join us for a virtual celebration of the golden age of travel-- with Julia Cooke in conversation with NBC news correspondent Jo Ling Kent about Cooke’s new book, Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am. The book explores the lives and careers of Pan Am stewardesses between 1966 and 1975 and their iconic role in such historic events including Operation Babylift and the transport of soldiers during the Vietnam War. 

Julia Cooke's reporting has been published in Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times, Smithsonian, The Village Voice, and Virginia Quarterly Review, where she is a contributing editor. Her essays have been published in A Public Space, Salon, The Threepenny Review, Tin House, and more. Come Fly the World is her second book. Her first book, The Other Side of Paradise: Life in the New Cuba, published in 2014, was called "absorbing, touching... wonderful vignettes covering the daily lives of Cubans in which their hopes, dreams, and frustrations are revealed" by Booklist and "incomparable" by Time Out New York. She holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and an MFA from Columbia University

Jo Ling Kent is a correspondent at NBC News covering business, technology, and the economy. Her reporting appears across all platforms of NBC News and MSNBC and she is an integral part of NBC News’ robust Business & Tech Unit, reporting on TODAY and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.

Movies in the Park 2021

Perrot is pleased to present our summer series of Movies in the Park in Binney Park. 

Bring your picnic, your chairs, and enjoy the show!

FIELD OF DREAMS

(1989, Rated PG, 107 minutes)

Saturday, July 17th, 2021, at 8:30 PM

[No Rain Date]

Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella hears a voice in his corn field tell him, "If you build it, he will come." He interprets this message as an instruction to build a baseball field on his farm, upon which appear the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other seven Chicago White Sox players banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series. When the voices continue, Ray seeks out a reclusive author to help him understand the meaning of the messages and the purpose for his field. 

(Plot summary from IMDb.com)

Upcoming Event: Become a Dementia Friend

Become a Dementia Friend: A Zoom Workshop

presented in partnership with the Greenwich Commission on Aging and River House Adult Day Center

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021, at 7 PM

Register today via Zoom

Dementia Friends is a global movement that is changing the way people think, act, and talk about dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Each one of us can make a difference for people touched by dementia, if we understand what it is and how it impacts people. 

To become an official Dementia Friend, join us for this one-hour Zoom session to learn the five key messages and what it's like to live with dementia. As a Dementia Friend, your new understanding and attitudes will guide the practical actions you can take to help someone with dementia living in your home, family, or community. 

Questions? Call the Greenwich Commission on Aging: 203-862-6710

Upcoming Event: Author Talk with Jim Campbell on his book, Madoff Talks

Virtual Author Talk with Jim Campbell on his book, 

Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History

Wednesday, May 19th, 2021, at 7 PM

Register today via Zoom

No name is more synonymous with the evils of Wall Street than Bernie Madoff. Arrested for fraud in 2008―during the depths of the global financial crisis―the 70-year-old market maker, investment advisor, and former chairman of the NASDAQ had orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in world history, fleecing thousands of investors across the globe to the tune of $65 billion. 

In Madoff Talks, author Jim Campbell presents the most comprehensive, insider account of the Madoff saga to date. Based on exclusive interviews with all the players―the Madoff family and their associates, the Wall Street wheelers and dealers, the army of lawyers, analysts, and investigators, the victims of the scheme, and Bernie Madoff himself―the book reveals:

•     what motivated a respected financier to commit such a massive fraud
•     how Madoff managed to keep the scheme hidden in plain sight
•     the shocking failures of Wall Street oversight―and how it could happen again
•     the true scale of the investment losses―and the victims’ ongoing fight for justice
•     what Ruth Madoff and the rest of the family knew―and how it shattered their lives

Meticulously researched and relentlessly riveting, Madoff Talks is the full story of an American tragedy.

Jim Campbell is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Business Talk with Jim Campbell. He is known for his hard-hitting interviews of leading figures from the worlds of business, politics, and sports. Known for “firsts,” Campbell snagged the first extensive interview with former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer after his resignation, the first interview with former Tyco CEO Denis Kozlowski after his release from prison, and the first broadcast interview with former stock analyst Roomy Kahn, a government informant in one of the biggest insider trading busts in American history. Campbell’s extensive corporate, consulting, and entrepreneurial business background includes roles at KPMG Consulting, Dean Witter Financial Services (now Morgan Stanley), and IBM. He is founder and president of JC Ventures, Inc., a management consulting business.

Upcoming Event: Author Talk with Deborah Goodrich Royce on her book, Ruby Falls

 Upcoming Event:

Virtual Author Talk with Deborah Goodrich Royce on her book, Ruby Falls

Tuesday, June 1st, 2021, at 7 PM

Register today via Zoom

Deborah Goodrich Royce’s Ruby Falls is a nail-biting tale of a fragile young actress, the new husband she barely knows, and her growing suspicion that the secrets he harbors may eclipse her own. 

On a brilliantly sunny July day, six-year-old Ruby is abandoned by her father in the suffocating dark of a Tennessee cave. Twenty years later, transformed into soap opera star Eleanor Russell, she is fired under dubious circumstances. Fleeing to Europe, she marries a glamorous stranger named Orlando Montague and keeps her past closely hidden. Together, Eleanor and Orlando start afresh in LA. Setting up house in a storybook cottage in the Hollywood Hills, Eleanor is cast in a dream role—the lead in a remake of Rebecca. As she immerses herself in that eerie gothic tale, Orlando’s personality changes, ghosts of her past reemerge, and Eleanor fears she is not the only person in her marriage with a secret. . .

Deborah Goodrich Royce’s first novel, Finding Mrs. Ford, debuted in 2019 to rave reviews. She divides her time between the Northeast and Florida, where she writes, reads, watches lots of movies, and spends time with her family.

Deborah serves on the governing and/or advisory boards of the Avon Theatre, the American Film Institute, New York Botanical Garden, the Greenwich International Film Festival, the Greenwich Historical Society, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, the Preservation Society of Newport, and the PRASAD Project. She and her husband have restored more buildings than she can count, including the Ocean House Hotel and the Deer Mountain Inn.

Deborah holds a BA in French and Italian from Lake Erie College and an honorary doctorate from the same institution. In an earlier life, she was an actress in film and television and a story editor at Miramax Films. Ruby Falls is her second psychological thriller, and she owes a debt of gratitude for its inspiration to Daphne du Maurier and Alfred Hitchcock. 

Upcoming Event: Virtual Book Discussion on The Overstory, by Richard Powers

Perrot Memorial Library & Greenwich Pen Women

present a Virtual Book Discussion on

The Overstory, by Richard Powers

Facilitated by Laurie Heiss of Greenwich Pen Women

Monday, April 26th, 2021 at 7 PM via Zoom

The Overstory is about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with five trees bring them together to address the destruction of forests. The issue of tree loss, as we celebrate the 51st Earth Day, resonates with many residents of Southwestern Connecticut.

Borrow a copy of the book here

Register for this event today via Zoom

For more information, contact lending@perrotlibrary.org

Upcoming Event: Virtual Discussion and Presentation with the Binney Park Advisory Committee

Upcoming Event:

Virtual Discussion and Presentation with the Binney Park Advisory Committee

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021, at 7 PM

Join us for an informative discussion on the progress of improvements to Binney Park and plans for the future. Featuring members of the Binney Park Advisory Committee: Peter Uhry, Nancy Chapin, and Lynne Davenport.

Register today via Zoom