Book festivals thrive because those of us who love to read also relish the opportunity to the meet authors. But it turns out that authors enjoy meeting their kind, too. It’s one of reasons many of them keep coming back to the annual Sharon Summer Book Signing event, now celebrating its 25th year. On Friday, August 4 from 5:30-7:30 p.m., the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon’s major fundraiser will move over just a couple of steps to the lawn of the Sharon Historical Society and Museum, where 30 mostly local/regional authors will sit under the tent, sign books, schmooze with us and, we now know, each other.

It's astounding how many authors we have living among us in Northwest Connecticut. The first book signing event in 1997, envisioned and produced by former board members Kathy Metz and Betsy Palmer, featured around a dozen hyper local authors, all from the towns surrounding Sharon. By year ten, the author list had grown to over 20 and encompassed writers in the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, and throughout Connecticut. The one condition was and still is that the author’s book has been published since the preceding festival. Certain authors have been part of the event many times. Wendell Minor, an astonishingly prolific illustrator and writer who lives in Washington, Connecticut, may take the prize for number of appearances, but others — among them Dani Shapiro and Simon Winchester — are mainstays and readers’ favorites.

“There are so many great authors around here, it’s not hard to find them, and they’re happy to support the library,” says Gretchen Hachmeister, executive director of the library. “Sometimes they even call us.” A committee of two library staffers plus community members hunt all year for the titles. They scour the book trade publications and consult with book agents and editors who also live in Litchfield County for their recommendations.

Photo courtesy Hotchkiss Library of Sharon

“Traditionally, nonfiction has been an easier sell for us,” Hachmeister says. “They’re easier for people buy as gifts. But we have featured more and more fiction.” Author Jen Beagin will be signing copies of Big Swiss; Martha Hall Kelly will be there with her latest, The Golden Doves, as will Dani Shapiro, with Signal Fires Young adult fiction and children’s books will be represented, and nonfiction authors Tamar Adler, Stacy Schiff, James Stewart, Chris Whipple and Simon Winchester will be among the nonfiction authors with new books under the tent. You can find this year’s full list of authors and the books they’ll be signing here.

For readers who’d like to share a meal with their favorite author, library supporters host dinners at their homes, each one with a selected author. Those dinners come at an additional cost — this is a fundraiser, after all. There’s also a reception for the authors prior to the event that enhances the experience.

"What's not to like?” says Winchester. “A couple of hours in a pretty New England town, spent in agreeable company — other authors, mostly nice (though I sat next to Henry Kissinger on one occasion) and fans, people who read and oftentimes buy your books — after which a dinner in the nearby mansion of someone who gives money to the library and who knows a thing or two about good food and wine and imparting hospitality. So as long as the dear old Library asks me, I’ll trot along, and expect, since everyone is so kind and well-organized, to have a pretty decent time.”

With more than 300 book lovers attending each year, it’s not an overstatement to say, as the library does, that this is Litchfield County’s most anticipated literary event. And the fact that this is its quarter-century festival — and that the library, which has been undergoing a major renovation and will be reopening its doors as soon as the certificate of occupancy arrives —makes this year’s festivities a fortuitous milestone.

Most of the authors live within at least a fairly easy commute to Sharon, and it’s an opportunity sell books, and as we see they’re treated quite well at this event, but it’s sort of remarkable that these national and international best-selling authors would agree to sit under a tent for two hours in August. We’re grateful it’s as rewarding for them as it is for us regular old readers.

“The thing about book events is, you never know who will show up or what will happen,” Dani Shapiro says. “And over the years I have found this particularly true in a wonderful way about the Hotchkiss Library’s annual book signing, which is why I keep returning when I have a new book out. When I attended years ago while immersed in writing my memoir Devotion, I was seated next to the yoga philosopher Stephen Cope, whose book I was devouring and had in my handbag. That encounter led to a friendship and plays a significant part in that book. And more recently, when I attended for my memoir Hourglass, the novelist and memoirist Courtney Maum met for the first time, though we were cert25th Annual Sharon Summer Book Signingainly aware of one another. And that has led to a lovely friendship as well.”

25th Annual Sharon Summer Book Signing
Friday, August 4, 5:30-7:30 p.m.; Author dinners follow at 7:30 p.m.
18 Main Street, Sharon, CT
Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

Share this post

Written by
Editor