Community Calendar

Join the Easthampton Public Library for a family-friendly event with Lisa Stringfellow, author of the Massachusetts Book Awards–honored novel Kingdom of Dust. Stringfellow will read from her work, share folktales that have influenced her storytelling, and talk about the traditions and inspirations that shape her fantasy worlds. The program will conclude with an audience Q&A.

Honored in the Mass Book Awards in the Middle Grade/YA category, Kingdom of Dust follows Amara, a young girl on a quest to find her land’s lost storytellers in order to save her family and society. Drawing inspiration from West African mythology, the novel blends lush prose with accessible writing for readers of all ages. Amara’s journey—rooted in themes of climate justice, cultural memory, and the restoration of her people’s stories—has earned the book recognition within the growing canon of modern fantasy for children.

This program is sponsored by the Mass Book Awards Speakers Bureau and is presented in collaboration with the Massachusetts Center for the Book.

LISA STRINGFELLOW is a middle-grade author and longtime educator who has taught Language Arts and technology to middle-school students for over 30 years. She writes fantasy with a dark, folkloric twist, inspired by her love of fairy tales. A member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Authors Guild, and Black Creators HQ, she is an active advocate for equity and inclusivity in children’s literature.

Unitarian Universalist Society East, 153 Vernon St. West, Manchester CT, presents a recorded lecture by award-winning transgender journalist, activist, and story-teller Imara Jones in honor of the 2026 Transgender Day of Visibility. In the lecture, which will be screened at 7 PM March 31 at the UUSE meetinghouse, Jones lays out how the Heritage Foundation and the architects of Project 2025 use anti-trans policies as a wedge to divide the country. While her analysis is chilling, her lecture is equally hopeful and uplifting. The event is sponsored by the UUSE Welcoming Congregation Recertification Team. Jones’ presentation was the Unitarian Universalist Association’s 2025 Ware Lecture. Jones has won Emmy and Peabody Awards and is the creator of TransLash Media, a cross-platform project seeking to shift the current culture of hostility towards transgender people in the US.

Come meet bestselling novelist Kate Milford! The author of the GREENGLASS HOUSE series will be in the High Five Books studio after school from 4-6pm on Friday, April 17 to celebrate the launch of her new magical mystery book, RIALTO. Please join us for a free meet-and-greet with Kate, who will answer Qs about writing and inventing new worlds.

Participation is FREE! Drop in anytime after school!

(And yes, you can bring your own beloved Kate Milford books for signing. Additional books will be for sale.)

Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. at the Yiddish Book Center
In his entertaining, thought-provoking detective graphic novel set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a fictional Ilan Stavans seeks to solve a murder and locate a lost manuscript by a prominent 16th-century Crypto-Jew burned at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition. The graphic novel, El Iluminado, tells the story of a secret history of religion in the Americas, showing how thousands of European refugees have left a trail of ghostly footprints—and troves of mysteries—across the American Southwest. Author and cultural critic Ilan Stavans will talk about the book and the newly released paperback edition, which includes a new afterword recounting the amazing events that occurred after the original publication, including the real-life discovery of the long-lost memoir of Luis de Carvajal and its restoration to Mexico.
Ilan Stavans is the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, the cofounder and publisher of Restless Books, and the academic director of the Great Books Summer Program. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, his work, translated into twenty languages, has been adapted into film, theater, television, and radio.