The Wonderful World of Walter Wick - Enoch Pratt Free Library

Writers LIVE!
Readings and Book Signings
Copies of the authors’ books will be on sale at
book signings following the programs.
Summer Whitford
Join Us at the Embassy
Saturday, September 11, 2 p.m., Edmondson Avenue Branch
Summer Whitford provides an insider’s view of how foreign ambassadors
and embassies in Washington entertain and showcase their
countries’ food, wine, and culture. Summer Whitford is a professional
chef, cooking instructor and wine educator.
Paul Reyes
Exiles in Eden: Life Among the
Ruins of Florida’s Great Recession
Tuesday, September 14, 6:30 p.m.,
Central Library, Wheeler Auditorium
Paul Reyes’ father, a Cuban immigrant, made his living in Tampa’s
poorer neighborhoods by “trashing-out” foreclosed homes. Reyes
worked alongside his father and his crew cleaning out the foreclosed properties and
sometimes interviewing the former tenants. His new book, Exiles in Eden, details the true
costs of the national foreclosure crisis.
Daisy Lewellyn
Never Pay Retail Again: Shop Smarter,
Spend Less, & Look Your Best Ever
Wednesday, September 15, 7 p.m.,
Central Library, Wheeler Auditorium
Daisy Lewellyn, the “queen of effortless chic,” shows you how to maximize
your personal style in this guide to smart shopping. Lewellyn’s fashion and beauty
expertise has been featured in Glamour, InStyle, and Essence, as well as on Good Morning
America and Martha Stewart’s XM Sirius Radio.
David Rakoff
Half Empty
Wednesday, September 22, 7 p.m., Central Library, Poe Room
In Half Empty, a collection of witty, wise and poignant essays, David
Rakoff examines the realities of our sunny contemporary culture and
finds that the best is not yet to come, adversity will triumph, justice will
not be served, and your dreams won’t come true. Rakoff is the author of
Don’t Get Too Comfortable and Fraud. He is a regular contributor to Public Radio International’s
“This American Life.”
Neela Vaswani
You Have Given Me a Country: A Memoir
Wednesday, September 22, 6:30 p.m.,
Southeast Anchor Library
Combining memoir, history, and fiction, Neela Vaswani follows the
paths of her Irish-Catholic mother and Sindhi-Indian father on their
journey towards each other and the biracial child they create. Neela
Vaswani has a Ph.D. in American Cultural Studies from the University of Maryland and
teaches writing at Spalding University.
David Plouffe
The Audacity to Win:
How Obama Won and
How We Can Beat the
Party of Limbaugh,
Beck and Palin
6 September & October 2010
Thursday, September 23,
6:30 p.m.
Central LibrarY
David Plouffe served as
the manager for Barack
Obama’s historic presidential campaign and will play a
key strategy role for Democrats in the 2010 midterm
elections. Plouffe explains the secrets to winning
elections in contemporary politics and shows how
Democrats can build on the historic campaign of
2008 to keep the country on the right path.
Susan Fales-Hill
One Flight Up
sunday, october 17, 2:30 p.m.
Central Library,
wheeler auditorium
Susan Fales-Hill’s new novel takes us on a comedic
romp through the boardrooms, bedrooms and
ballrooms of Manhattan and Paris. Susan Fales-
Hill graduated from Harvard, wrote for The Cosby
Show and A Different World, and was co-creator and
executive producer for the series Linc’s. She is the
author of the memoir, Always Wear Joy.
Michele Andrea Bowen
More Church Folk
Saturday, September 25, 2 p.m., Edmondson Avenue Branch
Picking up in 1986, twenty-three years after the events detailed in her
bestselling novel Church Folk, Michele Andrea Bowen’s inspirational
novel uses humor, local color, and vividly descriptive language, demonstrating
why she is the queen of African American Christian fiction.
Bowen is the author of four novels, including Church Folk and Second Sunday, which were
Essence bestsellers.
Deborah Rudacille
Roots of Steel: Boom and Bust
in an American Mill Town
saturday, September 25, 3 p.m., Light Street Branch
Through personal narrative, interviews with workers, and extensive
research, Deborah Rudacille captures the history and character of communities
around Sparrows Point and dissects the complicated racial, class, and gender
politics that played out at the mill since 1889. Deborah Rudacille is the author of The
Scalpel and the Butterfly and The Riddle of Gender.
Sheri Parks
Fierce Angels: The Strong Black
Woman in American Life and Culture
Wednesday, September 29, 6:30 p.m.,
Central Library, Poe Room
In Fierce Angels, Dr. Sheri Parks explores the mythology of the “strong
black woman” in both black and mainstream cultures and the ways
in which it both empowers and burdens women today. Dr. Parks is an award-winning
teacher and public speaker and associate professor of American Studies at the University
of Maryland, College Park.
Jean McGarry
Ocean State: Stories
Tuesday, October 5, 6:30 p.m., Central Library, Poe Room
The stories of Ocean State roll over the reader like a wave: family pleasures,
marriage, the essential moments and mysteries of a seemingly
ordinary world that break into magical territory before we can brace
ourselves. Jean McGarry teaches in The Writing Seminars at Johns
Hopkins University. Ocean State is her eighth book of fiction.
Sandra Evans Falconer
The Six o’clock Siren
Wednesday, October 6, 6:30 p.m., Central Library, Poe Room
Sandra Evans Falconer’s new book of poems is a first person account of
her 2003 battle with breast cancer. A recipient of an Individual Artist
Award in Poetry from the Maryland State Arts Council in 1999, Falconer
is also a dancer and performer.
Michael Lisicky
Hutzler’s: Where Baltimore Shops
Saturday, October 9, 2 p.m., Roland Park Branch
For 132 years, Hutzler Brothers Company was a beloved part of the
Baltimore retail and cultural scene. Michael Lisicky chronicles the rise
of the family-run department store, its growth into Towson and other
Maryland cities, and its eventual and much lamented passing. Michael
Lisicky is an oboist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and a certified tour guide
for the Preservation Society of Fell’s Point and Federal Hill.
Brian Murray
The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair
Companion to Dickens
Wednesday, October 13, 6:30 p.m.,
Central Library, Poe Room
Brian Murray takes a wide-ranging look at Charles Dickens’ life and
career, from his politics to his Christian faith to his pragmatic, yet hopeful, worldview.
Brian Murray is professor in the Writing Department at Loyola University and the author
of Charles Dickens.