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November 2017

STEPH BURT, Advice from the Lights

November 16, 2017 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Belmont Books is pleased to host STEPH BURT, reading from her newest collection Advice from the Lights. Stephen Burt is a literary critic, poet, and professor at Harvard University. The New York Times has called her "one of the most influential poetry critics of generation." "Poet and critic Burt diagnoses feelings of alienation and its possible antidotes in this touching portrait series of self and family." - Publishers Weekly

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April 2018

Xhenet Aliu, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, & Gabrielle Fuentes at Belmont Books

April 5, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Belmont Books is thrilled to have three wonderful prose writers visiting for a special event. In Xhenet Aliu's new novel Brass, a waitress at the Betsy Ross Diner, Elsie hopes her nickel-and-dime tips will add up to a new life. Then she meets Bashkim, who is at once both worldly and naive, a married man who left Albania to chase his dreams--and wound up working as a line cook in Waterbury, Connecticut. Back when the brass mills were still open, this bustling…

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July 2018

MARY HOGAN in conversation with MARY BAUM

July 3, 2018 | 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Join Belmont Books for an intimate evening with author MARY HOGAN whose new novel, Left: A Love Story was inspired by her real-life marriage to a man with early Alzheimer’s. With humor and insight, Mary will discuss the book, as well as her experiences spotting early signs of trouble, the perils of undiagnosed dementias, creative caretaking, nursing home vs. home care, and living, loving and coping when a loved one leaves you little by little. MARY HOGAN will be in…

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Reading For Rosie: A Fundraiser for Rosie’s Place

July 17, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Interviewing each other—and telling tales well out of school—to raise money for Rosie’s Place are Boston Globe columnist, MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN, 2018 author of Can't Help Myself: Lessons & Confessions from a Modern Advice Columnist, a memoir and Chemistry Lessons, a young adult novel about a woman who tries to use science to manipulate her love life, JULIETTE FAY,best-selling author of The Tumbling Turner Sisters, chosen as the Costco Pennie’s Book Club Pick, and RANDY SUSAN MEYERS, twice-chosen for Massachusetts “Must Read Fiction” and…

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Reading for Rosie Fundraiser with JULIETTE FAY, MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN, and RANDY SUSAN MEYERS

July 17, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Belmont Books is proud to host a fundraiser for Rosie's Place with authors JULIETTE FAY, MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN, and RANDY SUSAN MEYERS. The event includes: Author round-robin interviews, tales out of school, giveaway prizes, sweet and savory treats, and more.

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August 2018

Writer’s Craft: Literary Magazines with BECKY TUCH & SONYA LARSON

August 8, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Next in our Writer's Craft series: join us for a discussion of literary magazines with two local short story writers. BECKY TUCH is a writer, editor, teacher, and dabbler in visual art. Her fiction has been published in Moment Magazine, Glimmer Train, Briar Cliff Review, and more. SONYA LARSON is the director of the Muse and the Marketplace literary conference. Her fiction has been published in American Short Fiction, Poets & Writers,Salamander, Solstice Magazine, and the 2017 Best American Short Stories anthology.

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ERIC RICKSTAD live podcast with Writer’s Bone

August 9, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Girls comes this chilling, harrowing thriller set in rural Vermont about a recluse who believes the young girl he's found in the woods is the reincarnation of his missing daughter, returned to help him solve her and his wife's disappearance. Join us as ERIC RICKSTAD does a live podcast with Writer's Bone.

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September 2018

LANA POPOVIC at Belmont Books

September 6, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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In the bewitching conclusion to Lana Popovic's sumptuous and romantic teen fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Holly Black and Leigh Bardugo, Malina must rescue her twin sister from a magical power more dangerous than Death. Twin sisters Iris and Malina thought they knew how to reverse the ancient curse that haunts their line, the spell that destines them to use their gleams--unique forms of beauty-manipulating magic--to entice and enchant none other than Death himself. But both sisters thought wrong.…

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Biographer ANTONIA FELIX on ELIZABETH WARREN

September 12, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Belmont Books welcomes ANTONIA FELIX author of a new biography of ELIZABETH WARREN In this breakthrough biography, bestselling author Antonia Felix carries readers from Warren's hardscrabble roots in Norman, Oklahoma, to her career as one of the nation's most distinguished legal scholars and experts on the economics of working Americans. Felix reveals how Warren brought her expertise to Washington to become an icon of progressive politics in a deeply divided nation, and weaves together never-before-told stories from those who have…

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Screenwriter/author JEFFREY LEWIS at Belmont Books

September 13, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Join us for an evening with Jeffrey Lewis as he discusses his latest novel, Bealport: A Novel of a Town. In Bealport, Jeffrey Lewis takes us inside the town, revealing its secrets, acknowledging its problems, and honoring its ambitions. Brilliantly deploying a large cast from all walks of life, he reveals small town America in the early twenty-first century through the interwoven secrets and desires of its residents, and through them delivers a striking portrait of America at a moment…

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The Great Late Bloomer’s Cake Baking Contest

September 15, 2018 | 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Enter our baking contest for a chance to win great prizes from Didrik's/Local Root, The Wellington, Bells & Whistles, Topsfield Fair, and more! Our judges are: Wellington pastry chef Jennifer Larosa, Belmont Books bookseller and baker Alessandra Spencer-Pereira, and professional pastry chef and novelist Louise Miller, author of The City Baker's Guide to Country Living and The Late Bloomers' Club.  We'll begin with a reading from Louise's latest novel, The Late Bloomers' Club before the contest, with judging and tastings after. Rules No premade cakes, mixes, or…

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DANA LEVIN in conversation with STEPHANIE BURT

September 17, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for an evening of poetry discussion featuring Dana Levin and local poet Stephanie Burt to celebrate Levin's latest collection, Banana Palace. In her newest collection, Dana Levin uses humor, jump-cut imagery, and popular culture references in preparation for the approaching apocalypse. Against a backdrop of Facebook, cat memes, and students searching their smartphones for a definition of the soul, Levin draws upon a culture of limited attention spans as it searches for greater spiritual meaning. The poems in Banana Palace are…

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Idol Talk: Women Writers on the Teenage Infatuations that Changed Their Lives

September 20, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Come join Elizabeth Searle, editor of Idol Talk: Women Writers on the Teenage Infatuations That Changed Their Lives, in a fun reading and panel discussion featuring Mary Granfield, B.A. Shapiro (The Muralist), Marianne Leone (Ma Speaks Up), Lise Haines (When We Disappear), and Suzanne Strempek Shea (This Is Paradise). Bring stories of your own teen idols, and enjoy some throwback snacks and tunes! In the midst of acne, social anxiety and training bras are the teen idols that make adolescent life a…

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Writers’ Craft Series: On the Dark Side: YA Authors Talk Craft

September 21, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for an evening of readings and panel discussion on dark young adult fiction through the lens of various genres. The panel will be moderated by Kim Savage (In Her Skin), and will feature Holly Black (The Cruel Prince) and Lygia Day Peñaflor (All of This Is True). Lygia Day Peñaflor is the author of Unscripted Joss Byrd, which was inspired by her work teaching child stars on movie sets, and All of This Is True. Lygia lives with her husband on Long…

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Crime Fiction Authors in Conversation

September 25, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for an evening with local author EDWIN HILL, who will be discussing his debut mystery Little Comfort with award-winning investigative journalist and mystery writer HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN, whose latest novel Trust Me was published in August. Little Comfort Harvard librarian Hester Thursby knows that even in the digital age, people still need help finding things. Using her research skills, Hester runs a side business tracking down the lost. Usually, she’s hired to find long-ago prom dates or to reunite adopted children and…

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CHERYL SUCHORS at Belmont Books

September 26, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Come hear author CHERYL SUCHORS read from her new memoir 48 Peaks: Hiking and Healing in the White Mountains. Floundering in her second career, the one she's always wanted, forty-eight year old Cheryl Suchors resolves that, despite a fear of heights, her mid-life success depends on hiking the highest of the grueling White Mountains in New Hampshire. All forty-eight of them. She endures injuries, novice mistakes, and the heartbreaking loss of a best friend. When breast cancer threatens her own life,…

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STEPHANIE GAYLE at Belmont Books

September 27, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Come hear Stephanie Gayle read from her third book in the Thomas Lynch series, Idyll Hands. Charleston, Massachusetts, 1972: Rookie cop Michael Finnegan gets a call from his mother. His youngest sister, Susan, has disappeared, the same sister who ran away two years earlier. Anxious not to waste police resources, Finnegan advises his family to wait and search on their own. But a week turns into two decades, and Susan is never found. Idyll, Connecticut, 1999: In the woods outside of…

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October 2018

HEATHER ABEL and JESSICA KEENER at Belmont Books

October 2, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join Belmont Books for a conversation between HEATHER ABEL, author of The Optimistic Decade, and JESSICA KEENER, author of Strangers in Budapest.

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GennaRose Nethercott and Mary Kovaleski Byrnes

October 3, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

A discussion between poets GennaRose Nethercott and Mary Kovaleski Byrnes about the process, the art, and their new publications.   In the ingenious and vividly imagined narrative poem The Lumberjack’s Dove, GennaRose Nethercott describes a lumberjack who cuts his hand off with an axe—however, instead of merely being severed, the hand shapeshifts into a dove. Far from representing just an event of pain and loss in the body, this incident spirals outward to explore countless facets of being human, prompting profound…

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MITALI PERKINS at Belmont Books

October 4, 2018 | 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us as Mitali Perkins discusses her novel, You Bring the Distant Near. A 2017 National Book Award Longlist Title with six starred reviews A School Library Journal's Best Books of 2017 A New York City Public Librariy's Notable 50 Best Books for Teens South Asia Book Award Winner This elegant young adult novel captures the immigrant experience for one Indian-American family with humor and heart. Told in alternating teen voices across three generations, You Bring the Distant Near explores sisterhood, first loves, friendship, and…

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DOUG BURGESS in conversation with HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN

October 10, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for a conversation between Doug Burgess, author of Fogland Point, and Hank Phillippi Ryan, author of Trust Me. "Fogland Point is a unique, surprising, moving, occasionally hilarious, and entirely marvelous book about the complicated mysteries that lie at the heart of all families - although the Hazard family is definitely more complicated and mysterious and interesting than most." --Nick Petrie, author of Light It Up, the latest of the award-winning Peter Ash thrillers "Elegant prose, a veritable Chinese box of puzzles, and…

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Author JENN ABELSON and Boston Globe’s MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN

October 11, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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We'll be hosting a conversation between authors, journalists, and friends Jenn Abelson and Meredith Goldstein.   Can't Help Myself is a disarmingly honest memoir about giving advice when you're not sure what you're doing yourself, by the woman behind The Boston Globe's Love Letters column, Meredith Goldstein. Every day, Boston Globe advice columnist Meredith Goldstein takes on the relationship problems of thousands of dedicated readers. They look to her for wisdom on all matters of the heart- how to cope with dating fatigue and infidelity,…

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MADELINE MILLER, author of Circe, at Belmont Books

October 12, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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$5

Tickets are limited and seating will be on a first come, first serve basis, after which we will move to standing room only. Please contact events@belmontbooks.com for any special accommodations. Students wishing to attend should buy their tickets in-store, which will be rung out at a 100% discount after presentation of a Student ID. Tickets entitle the holder to $5 off a Madeline Miller book on the night of the event--either Circe or Song of Achilles. In-store only.

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DANIEL GOLDEN: Spy Schools Paperback Launch

October 16, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist DANIEL GOLDEN exposes how academia has become a major target of foreign and domestic espionage—and why that is troubling news for our nation's security and democratic values. Grounded in extensive research and reporting, Spy Schools reveals that globalization—the influx of foreign students and professors and the outflow of Americans for study, teaching, and conferences abroad—has transformed U.S. higher education into a front line for international spying. In labs, classrooms, and auditoriums, intelligence services from countries like China, Russia, and…

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RAMIE TARGOFF on “Renaissance Woman” at Belmont Books

October 18, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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A biography of Vittoria Colonna, a confidante of Michelangelo, the scion of one of the most powerful families of her era, and a pivotal figure in the Italian Renaissance Ramie Targoff’s Renaissance Woman tells of the most remarkable woman of the Italian Renaissance: Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa of Pescara. Vittoria has long been celebrated by scholars of Michelangelo as the artist’s best friend—the two of them exchanged beautiful letters, poems, and works of art that bear witness to their intimacy—but she also had…

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Frankenstein Read Aloud!

October 20, 2018 | 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for a read-aloud marathon of this year's selection for One Book One Belmont: Frankenstein by MARY SHELLEY. The reading will kick off at 8 AM and continue through the end of the novel. If you would like to sign up to read, email events belmontbooks com. Volunteer readers will receive 10% off bookstore purchases on October 20 only.

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Book Club at Belmont Books

October 21, 2018 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

The very first meeting of our adult book club! Our first book will be Ann Patchett's Bel Canto. The book will be 20% off in store until the 21st so grab your copy today!

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SUSAN K. HAMILTON at Belmont Books

October 24, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for an evening of faerie and fantasy with local author SUSAN K. HAMILTON. As the Fae Patriarch of Boston's criminal underworld, Aohdan Collins enjoys his playboy lifestyle while he works from the shadows to expand his growing empire, until one night when he shares a shot of whiskey with the lovely Seireadan Moore... A Fae Seer, Seireadan is haunted by a vision of the Fae responsible for destroying Faerie and murdering her family. Common sense tells her to…

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HOWARD MANSFIELD at Belmont Books

October 25, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Hear Howard Mansfield discuss his latest collection of essays about property, land, and ownership. While reporting on citizens fighting natural gas pipelines and transmission lines planned to cut right across their homes, Howard Mansfield saw the emotional toll of these projects. "They got under the skin," writes Mansfield. "This was about more than kilowatts, powerlines, and pipelines. Something in this upheaval felt familiar. I began to realize that I was witnessing an essential American experience: the world turned upside down.…

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Kids Book Club at Belmont Books

October 27, 2018 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for our first kids' book club! All kids ages 6 and up are welcome, even if you've just started. We'll be reading Pablo and Birdy by Alison McGhee, which will be 20% off through 10/27. This enchanting tale is a great family read aloud book.

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Bookstore After Dark Halloween Party!

October 28, 2018 | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Jack o' lanterns have been carved and lit, hexes have been cast, and a chill wind is blowing...so it must be Halloween! Bring the whole family to celebrate at Belmont Books with a special spooky story time, scavenger hunt, costume contest, and special treats from our Halloween menu. Costumes are not required, but enthusiastically encouraged!

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TOM CALVIN at Belmont Books

October 29, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Valley Forge is the riveting true story of a nascent United States toppling an empire. Using new and rarely seen contemporaneous documents—and drawing on a cast of iconic characters and remarkable moments that capture the innovation and energy that led to the birth of our nation—Drury and Clavin provide the definitive account of this seminal and previously undervalued moment in the battle for American independence. Tom Clavin is the author or coauthor of sixteen books. For fifteen years he wrote…

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November 2018

PETER STARK at Belmont Books

November 8, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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A new, brash, and unexpected view of the president we thought we knew, from the bestselling author of Astoria. Two decades before he led America to independence, George Washington was a flailing young soldier serving the British Empire in the vast wilderness of the Ohio Valley. Naïve and self-absorbed, the twenty-two-year-old officer accidentally ignited the French and Indian War—a conflict that opened colonists to the possibility of an American Revolution. With powerful narrative drive and vivid writing, Young Washington recounts the wilderness trials,…

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VIRGINIA PYE and LAURA VAN DEN BERG

November 13, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Virginia Pye (author of Shelf Life of Happiness) and Laura van den Berg (author of The Third Hotel) will be discussing their works and signing books. In these bittersweet, compelling stories, Virginia Pye’s characters long for that most elusive of states: happiness. A young skateboarder reaches across an awesome gap to reconnect with his disapproving father; an elderly painter executes one final, violent gesture to memorialize his work; a newly married writer battles the urge to implode his happy marriage; and a…

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ERIC JAY DOLIN reading at Belmont Books

November 14, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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In Black Flags, Blue Waters, Eric Jay Dolin presents the surprising and enthralling Age of Pirates that was more bloody than golden. In the process, he proves again that skillfully presented narrative nonfiction is even more gripping than swashbuckling mythology. If you've never read Dolin before, prepare to have a new favorite historian.  —Jeff Guinn, author of Manson and The Road to Jonestown This is a masterly and vivid account of the pirates who operated around America’s coasts in the…

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CANCELED: Wendy Drexler & Gabrielle Calvocoressi at Belmont Books

November 15, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Wendy Drexler's Before There Was Before is that rare book that both ranges far, into the worlds of science, nature and art, and moves in close, examining her own particular human experience. Drexler takes us back in time to the Big Bang and projects us 7.5 billion years into the future. She thinks about birds and elephants, flies, beetles, crickets, chameleons. She imagines Monet and CEzanne, she listens to Schubert, looks closely at film, sculpture, paintings and photographs. The pressure of time…

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Kwan Kew Lai, “Lest We Forget” at Belmont Books

November 20, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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In 2014 after fighting through yards of bureaucratic red tape, leaving her family, and putting her own health at risk in order to help suffering strangers, Kwan Kew Lai finally arrived in Africa to volunteer as an infectious disease specialist in the heart of the largest Ebola outbreak in history. What she found was not only blistering heat, inadequate working conditions, and deadly, unrelenting illness, but hope, resilience, and incredible courage. Lest We Forget chronicles the harrowing and inspiring time spent…

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Elizabeth Berg at Belmont Books

November 26, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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A delightful novel about surprising friendships, community, and the way small acts of kindness can change a life, from the bestselling author of The Story of Arthur Truluv. Lucille Howard is getting on in years, but she stays busy. Thanks to the inspiration of her dearly departed friend Arthur Truluv, she has begun to teach baking classes, sharing the secrets to her delicious classic Southern yellow cake, the perfect pinwheel cookies, and other sweet essentials. Her classes have become so popular…

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Ariel Burger at Belmont Books

November 28, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

“Witness is beautiful, and important . . . A superb piece of writing.” — Parker Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach   The world remembers Elie Wiesel—Nobel laureate, activist, and author of more than forty books, including Oprah’s Book Club selection Night—as a great humanist. He passed away in July 2016. Ariel Burger first met Elie Wiesel at age fifteen. They studied together and taught together. Witness chronicles the intimate conversations between these two men over decades, as Burger sought counsel on matters of intellect, spirituality, and…

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B. A. Shapiro at Belmont Books

November 29, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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It’s the summer of 1922, and nineteen-year-old Paulien Mertens finds herself in Paris—broke, disowned, and completely alone. Everyone in Belgium, including her own family, believes she stole millions in a sophisticated con game perpetrated by her then-fiancé, George Everard. To protect herself from the law and the wrath of those who lost everything, she creates a new identity, a Frenchwoman named Vivienne Gregsby, and sets out to recover her father’s art collection, prove her innocence—and exact revenge on George. When the eccentric…

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December 2018

Belmont Bookseller Susan Bernhard presents WINTER LOON

December 3, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Join us for the book launch of our very own bookseller Susan Bernhard's debut novel Winter Loon! A haunting debut novel about family and sacrifice, Winter Loon reminds us of how great a burden the past can be, the toll it exacts, and the freedom that comes from letting it go.

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Chaya Bhuvaneswar at Belmont Books

December 5, 2018 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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A woman grieves a miscarriage, haunted by the Buddha's birth. An artist with schizophrenia tries to survive hatred and indifference in small-town India by turning to the beauty of sculpture and dance. Orphans in India get pulled into a strange "rescue" mission aimed at stripping their mysterious powers. A brief but intense affair between two women culminates in regret and betrayal. A boy seeks memories of his sister in the legend of a woman who weds death. And fragments of…

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Story Time with Erin Dionne

December 7, 2018 | 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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When his Ernest Shackleton report is ironically quashed because of a snowstorm, a school cancellation-celebrating elementary schooler chronicles his adventures at home with hilarious log entries and read-aloud-friendly results. The Captain's (our young protagonist) belongings start to go missing while homebound due to weather, and humorous attacks and pell-mell mutiny follow. After a series of snow day events, the crew (the Captain's parents), the first mate (his trusty dog), and the scallywag (also known as the younger sibling) are freed…

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January 2019

Belle Brett reads from GINA IN THE FLOATING WORLD at Blemont Books

January 10, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Many novelists begin with their own life experiences or familiar settings, but in the course of revising, greatly transform their stories. Belle Brett will read from, discuss, take questions about, and discuss the evolution of her novel, Gina in the Floating World (She Writes Press), which was inspired by her own experiences as a bar hostess in Tokyo in the 1970s.

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BOOK LAUNCH: The Chef’s Secret by Crystal King

January 11, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Come hear Crystal King discuss and read from her newest novel, The Chef's Secret. A captivating novel of Renaissance Italy detailing the mysterious life of Bartolomeo Scappi, the legendary chef to several popes and author of one of the bestselling cookbooks of all time, and the nephew who sets out to discover his late uncle’s secrets—including the identity of the noblewoman Bartolomeo loved until he died. Wine and treats made from Renaissance-era recipes will be served.

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February 2019

Belmont Books Kids Book Club

February 9, 2019 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for February's Kid's Book Club! This month we'll be reading Rita Williams-Garcia's award winning One Crazy Summer. Bookclub books are discounted 20% so make sure to grab your copy today!

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Crystal King Launch at Belmont Books

February 13, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

A captivating novel of Renaissance Italy detailing the mysterious life of Bartolomeo Scappi, the legendary chef to several popes and author of one of the bestselling cookbooks of all time, and the nephew who sets out to discover his late uncle’s secrets—including the identity of the noblewoman Bartolomeo loved until he died. When Bartolomeo Scappi dies in 1577, he leaves his vast estate—properties, money, and his position—to his nephew and apprentice Giovanni. He also gives Giovanni the keys to two strongboxes and…

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Family Game Night at Belmont Books

February 19, 2019 | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for an evening of games - old and new - of all kinds! We'll even provide the snacks! Bring the whole family - all ages welcome.

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Story Time with Maddie Frost

February 21, 2019 | 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Local author Maddie Frost will be here reading her books for a very special pajama story time. Wear your comfiest jimmie jams and join us for pizza!

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Craig Morgan Teicher & Natalie Shapero at Belmont Books

February 26, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

“The staggering thing about a life’s work is it takes a lifetime to complete,” Craig Morgan Teicher writes in these luminous essays. We Begin in Gladness considers how poets start out, how they learn to hear themselves, and how some offer us that rare, glittering thing: lasting work. Teicher traces the poetic development of the works of Sylvia Plath, John Ashbery, Louise Glück, and Francine J. Harris, among others, to illuminate the paths they forged—by dramatic breakthroughs or by slow…

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Tui Sutherland Launch at Belmont Books

February 28, 2019 | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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$5

Join us for the launch of the second graphic novel in the Wings of Fire series. Tui will be discussing the series, answering questions, and signing books. Tickets will be $5 and can be purchased over the phone or in store. You can also purchase tickets online here. We only have 100 tickets available so get yours now! All children under the age of 11 will need to be accompanied by an adult. Seating is first come, first served with seating…

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March 2019

Emma Wunsch and Gail Donovan at Belmont Books

March 3, 2019 | 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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A princess and a self-described social justice advocate compete against and boycott each other until they discover they may be able to help each other if they could just get along. It is the first day of school for Princess Miranda, and she does not want to be there. It smells like hard-boiled eggs (ugh), the principal is too loud, and everyone is whispering about her. Maude, however, loves going to school because she wants to “make sure things are…

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Christopher Castellani in conversation with Marianne Leone

March 5, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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In July of 1953, at a glittering party thrown by Truman Capote in Portofino, Italy, Tennessee Williams and his longtime lover Frank Merlo meet Anja Blomgren, a mysteriously taciturn young Swedish beauty and aspiring actress. Their encounter will go on to alter all of their lives. Ten years later, Frank revisits the tempestuous events of that fateful summer from his deathbed in Manhattan, where he waits anxiously for Tennessee to visit him one final time. Anja, now legendary film icon…

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Whitney Scharer in conversation with Jessica Shattuck

March 7, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
Free

A captivating debut novel by Whitney Scharer, The Age of Light tells the story of Vogue model turned renowned photographer Lee Miller, and her search to forge a new identity as an artist after a life spent as a muse. "I'd rather take a photograph than be one," she declares after she arrives in Paris in 1929, where she soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee convinces him to take…

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Benjamin Dreyer at Belmont Books

March 12, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

We all write, all the time: books, blogs, emails. Lots and lots of emails. And we all want to write better. Benjamin Dreyer is here to help. As Random House’s copy chief, Dreyer has upheld the standards of the legendary publisher for more than two decades. He is beloved by authors and editors alike—not to mention his followers on social media—for deconstructing the English language with playful erudition. Now he distills everything he has learned from the myriad books he…

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Kimberly Kruge and Nathan McClain at Belmont Books

March 13, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Ordinary Chaos looks at the real, almost-real, unreal, and once-real phenomena that hide behind the veneer of ordinariness. With Kimberly Kruge’s deep focus, daily life unfurls into strangeness—time and space become malleable materials as her observations of seemingly normal objects and situations expand, take on meaning beyond their appearance, and begin a life of their own. As much as the poems address the quotidian, they also consider the mysteries of mortality, awe, mysticism, comprehension, and violence. The pages are laced with…

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Kathryn Lasky in conversation with Karen Kosko

March 19, 2019 | 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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For fans of the Royal Diaries series and Gail Carson Levine, Newbery Honor-winning author Kathryn Lasky delivers the first enchanting adventure in a compelling new middle grade series about a newly orphaned girl who finds herself time-travelling between the present day and the court of the two most memorable English princesses in history. Life used to be great for Rose: full of friends, a loving mom, and a growing fashion blog. But when her mother dies in a car crash, Rose…

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Christopher Castellani in conversation with Marianne Leone

March 20, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

In July of 1953, at a glittering party thrown by Truman Capote in Portofino, Italy, Tennessee Williams and his longtime lover Frank Merlo meet Anja Blomgren, a mysteriously taciturn young Swedish beauty and aspiring actress. Their encounter will go on to alter all of their lives. Ten years later, Frank revisits the tempestuous events of that fateful summer from his deathbed in Manhattan, where he waits anxiously for Tennessee to visit him one final time. Anja, now legendary film icon…

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Holi Celebration at Belmont Books

March 21, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for a celebration of Holi and show you love for some great local authors! Anjali Mitter Duva is an Indian American writer raised in France. She is the author of the bestselling historical novel Faint Promise of Rain. She is also a co-founder of Chhandika, a non-profit organization that teaches and presents India's classical storytelling kathak dance. Educated at Brown University and MIT, Anjali is a frequent speaker at conferences, festivals, libraries, schools and other cultural institutions. She was a…

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Kid’s Book Club at Belmont Books: New Kid

March 23, 2019 | 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

This month we're reading Jerry Craft's graphic novel New Kid. As always, the book will be 20% off! Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real, from award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft.

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Book Club at Belmont Books: Killers of the Flower Moon

March 25, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
Free

This month's book club will be discussing David Grann's Killers of the Flower Moon which will be 20% before our meeting.

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Kim Savage at Belmont Books

March 26, 2019 | 7:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for the paperback release of Kim Savage's In Her Skin.    Kim Savage is a former reporter who received her master’s degree in Journalism from Northeastern University. Her work includes the critically acclaimed novels After the Woods and Beautiful Broken Girls. Kim grew up in South Weymouth, Massachusetts, and lives north of Boston, not far from the real Middlesex Fells of After the Woods. Praise For… Praise for In Her Skin: "The mood of this psychological suspense story is appropriately dark and ominous, with a…

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Kim Savage in conversation with Vanessa Linsey

March 26, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for the paperback release of Kim Savage's In Her Skin. Kim will be speaking with Vanessa Linsey, author of the upcoming Metta Mom: A Mindful Guide to Managing Your Mood & Your Brood.   Kim Savage is a former reporter who received her master’s degree in Journalism from Northeastern University. Her work includes the critically acclaimed novels After the Woods and Beautiful Broken Girls. Kim grew up in South Weymouth, Massachusetts, and lives north of Boston, not far from the real Middlesex Fells of After the…

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Susan Conley in conversation with Maryanne O’Hara

March 27, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

“In this intricate, delicate-as-rice-paper novel, an American painter living in Beijing and trying to clean up her act at a yoga retreat makes gains in fits and starts, ‘a butterfly, flitting from leaf to leaf.’”—O Magazine From the widely praised author of Paris Was the Place—a shattering new novel that bravely delves into the darkest corners of addiction, marriage, and motherhood When Elsey’s husband, Lukas, hands her a brochure for a weeklong mountain retreat, she knows he is really giving her…

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Susan Conley in conversation with Maryanne O’Hara

March 27, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

“In this intricate, delicate-as-rice-paper novel, an American painter living in Beijing and trying to clean up her act at a yoga retreat makes gains in fits and starts, ‘a butterfly, flitting from leaf to leaf.’”—O Magazine From the widely praised author of Paris Was the Place—a shattering new novel that bravely delves into the darkest corners of addiction, marriage, and motherhood When Elsey’s husband, Lukas, hands her a brochure for a weeklong mountain retreat, she knows he is really giving her…

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Mathangi Subramanian at Belmont Books

March 28, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

A politically driven graffiti artist. A transgender Christian convert. A blind girl who loves to dance. A queer daughter of a hijabi union leader. These are some of the young women who live in a Bangalore slum known as Heaven, young women whom readers will come to love in the moving, atmospheric, and deeply inspiring debut, A People's History of Heaven. Welcome to Heaven, a thirty‑year‑old slum hidden between brand‑new high‑rise apartment buildings and technology incubators in contemporary Bangalore, one…

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Mathangi Subramanian at Belmont Books

March 28, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

A politically driven graffiti artist. A transgender Christian convert. A blind girl who loves to dance. A queer daughter of a hijabi union leader. These are some of the young women who live in a Bangalore slum known as Heaven, young women whom readers will come to love in the moving, atmospheric, and deeply inspiring debut, A People's History of Heaven. Welcome to Heaven, a thirty‑year‑old slum hidden between brand‑new high‑rise apartment buildings and technology incubators in contemporary Bangalore, one…

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Lesléa Newman at Belmont Books

March 30, 2019 | 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for a reading and Q & A from Lesléa Newman, author of Gittel's Journey! Gittel and her mother are supposed to immigrate to America together. Before they can board the boat to Ellis Island, the health inspector tells Gittel’s mother that she isn’t well enough to travel. Gittel must make the journey alone. Her mother promises her that everything will turn out fine, but the boat is so big and Gittel is so small. Can she really go across…

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April 2019

Amanda MacKenzie at Belmont Books

April 3, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Fresh out of college, with no prospects of love or work on the horizon, Amanda moved back home. Living with her parents, in a suburb of Boston, was meant to be a temporary arrangement. Until she met an unexpected reason to stay: Luke, the cute, attentive, young minister at her family's church. And before she knew it, she'd fallen into love. And divinity school. By thirty, Amanda was married to Luke, in a house of their own, with a promising…

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Peter Swanson and Diane Les Becquets at Belmont Books

April 4, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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From the hugely talented author of The Kind Worth Killing comes an exquisitely chilling tale of a young suburban wife with a history of psychological instability whose fears about her new neighbor could lead them both to murder . . . Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control…

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Open Mic Poetry Night at Belmont Books

April 9, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Join us for a night of poetry! Aspiring poets wanting to try something new and expert word crafters wanting to get a broader audience are welcome. We ask that each poet plan on reading 1-2 poems or about 5 minutes worth of craft. Those interested in signing up for a spot should speak with a bookseller or email us at events@belmontbooks.com today! We invite all poets age 12 and up to participate though Belmont Books is not responsible for content.

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Julie Berry at Belmont Books

April 11, 2019 | 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Read the novel New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network Kate Quinn called "easily one of the best novels I have read all year!" A sweeping, multi-layered romance set in the perilous days of World Wars I and II, where gods hold the fates--and the hearts--of four mortals in their hands. They are Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette. A classical pianist from London, a British would-be architect-turned-soldier, a Harlem-born ragtime genius in the U.S. Army, and a Belgian…

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Story Time with Sarah Tuttle at Belmont Books

April 16, 2019 | 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Sarah Grace Tuttle first fell in love with the ocean on trips to the beach as a child. With a degree in environmental studies and an MFA in writing for children, she is still enthralled by the beauty of the marine world. She lives in Massachusetts. She'll be reading from Dot, Stripe, Squiggle and it's new sequel Spot, Spiral, Spike.

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Marvel Trivia Night at Belmont Books

April 18, 2019 | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Before the release of Avengers: Endgame join us for a Marvelous night filled with challenging trivia and supercool superhero facts! Make your team of 2-6 people and test your knowledge against your fellow Marvel lovers! We'll be covering the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as the comics and kids and adults are welcome to participate. The event will be $5/person or $20 for a team of 6. We encourage you to sign up with a team in mind as we'll…

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May 2019

Craft on Draft presents – Writing Your Novel’s Murky Middle

May 14, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Many writers start out strong but hit a wall in the middle – or they have a fabulous ending but aren’t sure how to get there. Join authors Susan Bernhard (Winter Loon), Louise Miller (The Late Bloomer’s Club), and Whitney Scharer (The Age of Light) as they discuss how they waded through the murky middle to finish their novels. Want in on the action? Submit a page from your own murky middle (max 250 words). Include a brief explanation of…

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June 2019

Reading and Slide Show: Erica Ferencik’s Into the Jungle

June 20, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Please join me for a wild night in the rainforest! Just try surviving the dinner-plate sized spiders, limo-length anacondas, and shamans who, frankly, have it out for you! But have no fear, I'll help you cope -with a brief reading from what the New York Times calls one of the best thrillers of the summer, and Publisher's Weekly calls “ ferocious fever dream of a thriller." I'll also present my slide show featuring the terrors and wonders of the most…

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November 2019

Award-winning author Eileen Pollack in Conversation with Jessica Treadway at Belmont Books

November 7, 2019 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Award-winning author Eileen Pollack (www.eileenpollack.com) who had taught as a professor at Harvard, Tufts and Emerson and has written several books will appear with fellow author Jessica Treadway at Belmont Books, located at 70 Leonard Street in Belmont on November 7 at 7 p.m. to talk about her new book, "The Professor of Immortality," a novel inspired by the true story of a home-grown American terrorist - The Unabomber.

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Sheila Cordner presents WHO’S HIDING IN THIS BOOK? at Belmont Books

November 17, 2019 | 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Belmont Books, 79 Leonard Street
Belmont, MA 02478
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Free

Come celebrate the release of Sheila Cordner's new children's book, Who's Hiding in This Book? Meet Ten Famous Authors, at Belmont Books on Sunday, Nov. 17th 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. Sheila will be signing copies, and there will be fun author trivia questions as well as a "Become An Author" activity for children.

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Did You Know?

Certain books were “banned in Boston” at least as far back as 1651, when one William Pynchon wrote a book criticizing Puritanism.