Book Notes New Hampshire

NHBF Author: Eloisa James

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Eloisa James has published over 30 historical romances, many of which have hit the bestseller lists. She also wrote a bestselling memoir, Paris in Love, as well as a contemporary novel, Lizzie and Dante. Her books are published in 28 languages and 30 countries, from Slovakia to Sweden. Worldwide, she has approximately 7 million books published in print or electronically. She lives in New York City and Florence, Italy. After graduating from Harvard University, Eloisa earned a M. Phil. from Oxford University and a Ph.D. from Yale and eventually became a Shakespeare professor, publishing an academic book with Oxford University Press. Her "double life” as a professor and romance writer is a source of fascination to the media and her readers. In her professorial guise, she's written a New York Times op-ed defending the romance genre, as well as articles published everywhere from women's magazines such as More to journals such as the Romance Writers' Report.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Kate Hosford

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Kate Hosford is the author of seven picture books and two poetry collections, garnering awards such as an American Library Association Notable Book, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book. Her books have been published in eight languages. She is a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts where she earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Her most recent book, You and I are Stars and Night, was published by Simon & Schuster this year. Kate lives in Brooklyn with her family and is represented by Victoria Wells Arms at HG Literary.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Edwin Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Edwin Hill’s critically acclaimed crime novels include the standalone thrillers What Happened Next, Who to Believe (Kirkus Reviews Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2024), and The Secrets We Share, and three novels featuring librarian Hester Thursby: Watch Her, The Missing Ones, and Little Comfort. He has been nominated for Edgar and Agatha Awards, featured in Us Magazine, received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and Library Journal, and was recognized as one of “Six Crime Writers to Watch” in Mystery Scene magazine. He lives in Roslindale, Massachusetts with his partner Michael and his favorite reviewer, their lab Edith Ann, who likes his first drafts enough to eat them.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: T. Greenwood

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

T. Greenwood is the Lambda Literary Award–nominated author of Bodies of Water and fifteen other novels. Two of her books have been Amazon Editor’s Picks, and six have made the Indie Next list. Keeping Lucy was a Target Book Club book, and Rust & Stardust was a Library Reads selection. She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She and her husband split their time between San Diego, CA, and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

Book of the Week (9/7/2026)

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Calmly on the Waters: Seasonal Essays From Monadnock by Jarvis Coffin (Bauhan Publishing, 2026)

Calmly on the Waters is Jarvis Coffin’s first collected volume of essays. For more than a decade, as co-owner with his wife of New Hampshire’s oldest inn, The Hancock Inn (now, The Inn at Hancock), Coffin offered a steady sense of place in conversations with travelers from around the world, and in popular, monthly pieces sent to the inn’s guest list.
In this collection he gathers a selection of essays rooted in life beside a pond in the woods of southern New Hampshire. Quiet, attentive, and occasionally humorous, these essays invite readers to slow down and observe a world reachable “on two feet, or by canoe, or by car, with no more than a tank of gas.” Written against the backdrop of deep winters, uncertain springs, brief summers, and colorful autumns, Calmly on the Waters is organized by season, following the rhythms that shape daily life in rural New England. --Author's website

About the author:

Jarvis Coffin writes fiction and essays on rural life from southern New Hampshire. In addition to his bi-weekly column in the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, his work has been published in Jimson Weed, Down in the Dirt, Swanannoa Review, ellipsis...language and art, and the Glint Literary Journal (forthcoming). He is the former co-owner with his wife of New Hampshire's oldest inn, The Hancock Inn, and, for thirty years, was a media and advertising sales executive with leading magazines, newspapers, and co-founder and CEO of internet ad sales pioneer, Burst Media.

Join Jarvis at the following locations where he will be discussing his new book:

September 11, 2026- Bob’s Chocolate Cafe in Francestown, NH, 6:30 p.m.

September 12, 2026- The Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough, NH, 11:00 a.m.

September 19th, 2026- Bound Together Books, Nashua, NH, 1:30 p.m.

NHBF Author: Christopher Golden

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Christopher Golden has been called “the king of the horror-thriller.” The New York Times bestselling, multi-award-winning storyteller has made his mark in many mediums, as a writer of novels, screenplays, animation, audio dramas, and comics, and as an editor of landmark horror anthologies. His work has been published in dozens of languages around the world. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Audie Award, he has been nominated for others, including the British Fantasy Award. His best-known novels include Road of Bones, The House of Last Resort, All Hallows, and his latest, Carry Me to My Grave. He lives in Massachusetts, where he watches too many movies and eats too much chocolate.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Maria Gianferrari

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Maria Gianferrari is a picture book reader/writer, animal-lover, and bird nerd. She writes books that honor our bonds with creatures both domestic and wild, and that celebrate urban ecosystems and the natural world around us. Maria’s newest releases are Just One Oak and Puffins!, both published in April 2026. Other recent titles include Rain and the Reading Horse, To Dogs, with Love, Fungi Grow (a Boston Globe Horn Book Honoree), Thank a Farmer, You and the Bowerbird as well as the companion books, Being a Cat & Being a Dog. Her book, Be A Tree!, won a Massachusetts Book Award Honor and has been translated into 16 languages. She grew up in Keene, NH, and lives with her family in Worcester, MA, where coyotes, bobcats and bears traverse her backyard.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Bonnie Friedman

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Bonnie Friedman is the author of the bestselling Writing Past Dark, named one of the Essential Books for Writers by the Center for Fiction and Poets & Writers. She is also the author of The Thief of Happiness and Surrendering Oz, a finalist for the PEN Award in the Art of the Essay. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Ploughshares and numerous other literary journals, and she has been named a notable essayist four times in The Best American Essays. She has taught writing at the University of Iowa, Dartmouth, NYU, and the University of North Texas. Don’t Stop is her first novel.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Carrie Finison

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Carrie Finison writes children’s books with humor and heart that are fun to read aloud. Her books include Dozens of Doughnuts and the sequel, Plenty of Pancakes; Don’t Hug Doug, an ALA Notable Children’s Book; Even Steven: A Book About Sharing; Lulu & Zoey: A Sister Story; Hurry, Little Tortoise, Time for School; Pigs Dig a Road; and Touch a Truck Day, a lift the-flap board book. In addition, her poetry and stories have been published in magazines including Highlights, High Five, Ladybug, and Babybug. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, son, and daughter, and two cats who permit her to work in their cozy attic office.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

3 on a Theme: Fire & Ice

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 07:33:00 +0000

The Fire in the Glass (The London Charismatics) by Jacquelyn Benson

Ice Lands by Carol Westberg

Iggy Who Breathes Fire by Carrie Kruck

NHBF Author: E.M. Elliott

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

E.M. Elliott grew up on a steady diet of Goosebumps, a series he credits for his life-long love of all things spooky. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, daughter, and dog. He hopes Bigfoot is real.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: David Elliott

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

David Elliott is the award-winning author of over thirty-five picture books and novels for young people, including The New York Times bestselling And Here’s to You!. He is also the author of three critically acclaimed YA verse novels: Bull; Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc; and The Seventh Raven as well as such picture books as Finn Throws a Fit and Baabwa and Wooliam. He is a two-time winner of the Claudia Lewis Award for Poetry Book of the Year. His most recent book, Bonebag, co-written with his son, Eli, received starred reviews from both Booklist and Kirkus. His books have been translated into more than fifteen languages. David was a founding member of Lesley University’s Low Residence Master of Arts Program in Creative Writing where he taught for twenty years. Before becoming a writer, David worked as a cucumber washer in Greece, a popsicle stick maker in Israel, a teacher in Libya, and a singer in Mexico. Currently, David lives in New Hampshire with his wife.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

2026 Ladybug Voting Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:13:44 +0000

The 2026 Ladybug Picture Book Award Voting Guide is now available.

The guide includes information and activities for each nominated title and is a printable pdf.

New Hampshire children, from preschool to fourth grade, will select the winning picture book when they vote in November 2026.

The deadline for sending in votes is Sunday, December 20, 2026 at 4:30 pm.

Voting materials, including ballots and a link to the online tally sheet, are available on the Ladybug web page.

NHBF Author: Maggie Dietz

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Maggie Dietz’s third book of poems, If You Would Let Me, was published by Four Way books in March 2026. Her previous collections, both from the University of Chicago, are That Kind of Happy and Perennial Fall, which won New Hampshire's Jane Kenyon Award for Outstanding Book of Poetry and a Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award for Outstanding Achievement. Dietz was founding director of the Favorite Poem Project, created by former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky, and is co-editor of three anthologies related to the project: Americans’ Favorite Poems, Poems to Read, and An Invitation to Poetry (all W.W. Norton). From 2004-2012, she was assistant poetry editor at Slate. Her awards include a Pushcart Prize, the Grolier Poetry Prize, the George Bennett Fellowship at Phillips Exeter Academy, as well as fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA, the NH State Council on the Arts, and Jentel Arts. Her work has appeared in AGNI, The Adroit Journal, Bennington Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, Salmagundi, The Threepenny Review, and elsewhere. She is an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

Book of the Week (8/31/2026)

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Passionate Teaching in Troubled Times: A Practical Guide by Robert L. Fried (Beacon Press, 2026)

Every teacher can be a passionate teacher—one who engages young people in the excitement of learning and ideas—if teaching is not undermined by the ways we "do business" in schools. In this book, a professor draws on the voices and firsthand accounts of teachers in urban, rural, and suburban classrooms to provide educators everywhere with useful advice and ‘things to try'. Their successes will inspire you to grow and maintain your own passion for teaching in the face of day-to-day obstacles.
This edition of The Passionate Teacher also includes a new chapter for teachers beginning their careers.-- Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Rob Fried, Concord resident since 1976, is an author of several books on effective teaching and education reform. He was a professor of education at Northeastern University and headed the Upper Valley Educators Institute in Lebanon, NH. His books include: "The Passionate Teacher" (now revised and expanded as "Passionate Teaching in Troubled Times"; "The Passionate Learner," and "The Game of School." Fried has interviewed several local educators for his books, as well as nationally known leaders of education reform. He served on the Concord School Board and wrote columns for the Concord Monitor. He is married to Patricia Wilczynski.

Join Rob at Gibson's Bookstore on Thu., September 10, 2026 at 6:30 pm where he will discuss his book.

NHBF Author: Christine Hartman Derr

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Christine Hartman Derr is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Her short fiction is included in Just YA as well as in the Michael L. Printz Award–winning anthology Legendary Frybread Drive-In. Her debut picture book, Until We Meet Again: Donadagohvi and debut novel, Raven, Rising, are forthcoming from Heartdrum/HarperCollins Children’s. Further work can be found on Indigenous Reads Rising, Booklist, and in the Bank Street College of Education Occasional Paper Series. Originally from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Christine lives in East Tennessee with her spouse, children, and a rambunctious crew of lovable pets with themed names.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Julie Carrick Dalton

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Julie Carrick Dalton is the author of The Forest Becomes Her, The Last Beekeeper, and Waiting for the Night Song. She is the winner of the New Hampshire Book Awards' People's Choice for Best Novel, and was a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award, the Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature, and the ASLE Book Award. Her novels have been named to Most Anticipated lists from CNN, Newsweek, USA Today, Parade, and others, and were selected as an Amazon Editor's Pick for Best Book of the Month. A former organic farmer, forest manager, and beekeeper, and a 2026 TEDx speaker, she is a frequent speaker on the topic of fiction in the age of climate crisis at universities, museums, and conferences, nationally and internationally. She currently serves on the teaching faculty of Drexel University's Creative Writing MFA program and is a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard. When she isn't reading or writing, you can probably find Julie kayaking, skiing, swimming, gardening, or trying to track down her four children and two dogs.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Lynette D'Amico

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Lynette D'Amico is an essayist and fiction writer whose work has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, The Ocean State Review, and at Brevity, Slag Glass City, Short Reads, and Guernica. Her novella Road Trip was short-listed for the Paris Literary Prize. Her memoir in essays Men I Hate, won the Gournay Nonfiction Prize and was published by Mad Creek Books in 2026. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center. She holds an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She makes her home in Rhode Island with the writer P. Carl.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Wyn Cooper

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Wyn Cooper has published six books of poetry, including, most recently, The Unraveling. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Poetry, as well as in 25 anthologies of contemporary poetry, including A Century of Poetry in The New Yorker. Many of his poems have been turned into songs, including by recording artists Sheryl Crow, David Broza, and Madison Smartt Bell. He is a former editor of Quarterly West, and the recipient of a fellowship from the Ucross Foundation. For two years he worked at the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, a think tank run by the Poetry Foundation, and he has taught at Bennington and Marlboro Colleges. His first novel, Way Out West, was published in 2022. He lives in Vermont and works as a freelance editor.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Brinda Charry

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Brinda Charry came to the United States from India as a graduate student in 1999 and has been living here since. The East Indian, her first work of fiction published in the United States was awarded the Society of American Historians Prize (formerly the James Fenimore Cooper Prize) for Historical Fiction, and was shortlisted and longlisted for several other awards and recognitions. She is also a specialist in English literature and has published a number of books and articles in that field. She currently lives in Keene, New Hampshire, with her husband and dogs.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Nora Shalaway Carpenter

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Nora Shalaway Carpenter is the award-winning author of the novels Fault Lines and The Edge of Anything, the picture book Yoga Frog, and contributing editor of four anthologies, including her newest: ONWARD: 16 Climate Fiction Short Stories to Inspire Hope. Her fiction has been named to NPR’s and Kirkus Reviews' Best of the Year lists, praised in the New York Times and People, and won the Green Earth Book Award, the Whippoorwill Award, and the Nautilus Book Award. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and teaches at Boyds Mills' (formerly the Highlights Foundation) Whole Novel Workshop. Shalaway Carpenter also works as a voice actor and serves on the executive team of Kindling Words. She lives with her family in the mountains of North Carolina.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Emilie Christie Burack

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Emilie Christie Burack lives in rural New Hampshire. Her novel, The Runaway’s Gold (Abrams/Amulet), is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection and was New Hampshire's featured book at the National Book Festival. Dominic Bean and the Mammoth Melt (Groundwood) releases September 1, 2026. Emilie serves on the Children’s Literacy Foundation board and is co-founder of the New Hampshire Book Festival.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

Book of the Week (8/24/2026)

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Death in a Blackout (A WPC Billie Harkness mystery, Book 1) by Jessica Ellicott (Severn House, 2022)

1940. Britain is at war. Rector's daughter Wilhelmina Harkness longs to do her duty for her country, but when her strict mother forbids her to enlist, their bitter argument has devastating consequences.
Unable to stay in the village she loves, Wilhelmina - reinventing herself as Billie - spends everything she has on a one-way ticket up north. Hull is a distant, dangerous city, but Billie is determined to leave her painful memories behind and start afresh, whatever the cost.
The last thing Billie expects on her first evening in Hull, however, is to be caught in the city's first air raid - or to stumble across the body of a young woman, suspiciously untouched by debris.
If the air raid didn't kill the glamorous stranger, what did? Billie is determined to get justice, and her persistence earns her an invitation to the newly formed Women's Police Constabulary. But as the case unfolds, putting her at odds with both high-ranking members of the force as well as the victim's powerful family, Billie begins to wonder if she can trust her new friends and colleagues . . . or if someone amongst them is working for the enemy. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Jessica Ellicott loves fountain pens, Mini Coopers and throwing parties. She lives in New Hampshire where she obsessively knits wool socks and enthusiastically speaks Portuguese with a shocking disregard for the rules of grammar.

As Jessie Crockett she’s the author of the nationally bestselling Sugar Grove Mysteries, and the Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Live Free or Die. She also is the author of the books in the Change of Fortune mysteries as Jessica Estevao.

NHBF Author: Lisa Borders

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Lisa Borders’s third novel, Last Night at the Disco – a dark comedy set in the disco era – was published last fall. She is the author of two previous novels, The Fifty-First State and Cloud Cuckoo Land, the latter chosen by Pat Conroy as the winner of River City Publishing’s Fred Bonnie Award and a 2003 Massachusetts Book Awards honoree. A frequent humor contributor at McSweeney’s, Lisa received a 2025 Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. She lives outside of Boston with her partner and two rescue cats.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Valerie Bolling

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Valerie Bolling is an award-winning author/educator who is passionate about creating stories in which all children can feel seen, heard, valued, and validated. She’s the author of eight picture books, including LET’S DANCE! (SCBWI Crystal Kite Award winner); TOGETHER WE SWIM (Kirkus Prize Finalist); I SEE COLOR (Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection); A FLEA FOR JUSTICE: MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN STANDS UP FOR CHANGE (Notable Social Studies Trade Book Selection); and a Scholastic Acorn early reader series, RAINBOW DAYS. Sharing her books with children and inspiring them to write their own stories brings Valerie immense joy. Valerie lives in Connecticut with her husband where they enjoy traveling, hiking, reading, going to the theater, and dancing.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.