Book Notes New Hampshire

NHBF Author: Elaine Sexton

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

Elaine Sexton is a poet, critic, and educator. Her latest work, The Post Office: An Opera in Poems, premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Spruce Peak Arts, Stowe, Vermont in 2026. The libretto was also published in book form in tandem with the opera. Her five previous books of poetry include: Site Specific: New & Selected Poems (2025), Drive (2022), Prospect/Refuge (2015), Causeway (2015), and Sleuth (2003). She is a 2026 NYSCA (New York State Council for the Arts) grantee for her work on the opera, as well as a 2025 Mellon Foundation funded Opera Fusion: New Works residency, and a 2023
Hermitage Artist Retreat residency.

Her poems, art reviews, book reviews, and works in visual art have appeared in journals and anthologies, textbooks and websites including American Poetry Review, Art in America, Five Points, Poetry, Poetry International, Ploughshares, O! the Oprah Magazine, Poetry Daily, and the 50th Anniversary issues of Provincetown Arts. She teaches at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute, and has been guest faculty at New York University and in the graduate writing program at City College (CUNY). She is regularly invited to teach poetry, bookmaking, and art writing at arts and writing programs and centers in the U.S. and abroad, among them Poets House, Hudson Valley Writers Center, and Arts Workshop International (Assisi). She teaches private workshops in her studio and online.

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 Schoedinger

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

Kate Schoedinger recently retired after forty joyful years teaching in Bedford, New Hampshire where she learned daily from the curiosity, humor, and persistence of her students. Kate holds an M.Ed., from Antioch of New England, an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and a BA from Wittenberg University. Kate lives in Weare, NH and is also a founding board member 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.

NHBF Author: Shannon Sanders

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

Shannon Sanders is the author of the linked short story collection Company, which won the 2024 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, was named a best book of 2023 by Publishers Weekly and Debutiful, and was shortlisted for the 2024 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including One Story, Sewanee Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Electric Literature, and has received a PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband and three sons.

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 (9/28/2026)

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Death By Molasses by Kate Schoedinger (Peter E. Randall Publisher, 2026)

Middle grade historical fiction novel, Death By Molasses, follows Luca, a child survivor of the 1919 Great Boston Molasses Flood, who dares to speak out against greedy powerhouses, to avenge his sister’s death. His testimony becomes a spark that ultimately contributes to the creation of modern workplace protections, now known as OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Kate Schoedinger recently retired after forty joyful years teaching in the Bedford, New Hampshire school district where she learned daily from the curiosity, humor, and persistence of her students. Kate holds an M.Ed., from Antioch of New England, an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and a BA from Wittenberg University. Kate grew up in Bexley, Ohio as a dedicated Ohio State Buckeyes fan before relocating to Weare, NH on Lake Horace thanks to marrying the waterski counselor at Camp Kawanhee for Boys, the summer camp her parents directed for over thirty years. She serves as the secretary on the board of the George and Raymond Frank Foundation, which operates Camp Kawanhee and is also a founding board member of the New Hampshire Book Festival.

Join Kate at Gibson's Bookstore on Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 6:30 pm where she will present her new book!

NHBF Author: Rebecca Rule

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

Rebecca Rule gathers and tells stories. Her storytelling programs, many sponsored by NH Humanities, take her all over the state (and sometimes beyond) to libraries, town halls, schools, senior centers, and other gathering places. She’s the author of many books for children and adults, including NH Trivia; That Reminds Me of a Funny Story; The Iciest, Diciest, Scariest Sled Ride Ever!, illustrated by Jennifer Thermes; Moved and Seconded: NH Town Meeting; and N is for NH. Her new picture book is Who Loves Blueberries?, illustrated by Arpita Choudhury. For NHPBS she hosts Our Hometown. Each show in the series features a different New Hampshire town, its stories told by those who live there and love it best.
Her daughter, Adi Rule, is also a writer.

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: Adi Rule

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

Adi Rule is the author of the Ghost Chickens series (Tundra), Nell and the Netherbeast (Andrews McMeel), Why Would I Lie? and Hearts of Ice (Scholastic), and The Hidden Twin and Strange Sweet Song, which won the 2016 NH Writers Project literary award for Outstanding Young Adult Book and the Vermont College of Fine Arts Houghton Mifflin/Clarion Prize (St Martin’s Press). Adi has led workshops throughout New England for many organizations, including 826 Boston, the NH Writers Project, and the VCFA Young Writers Network. Her work has appeared in Hunger Mountain journal of the arts, NH Pulp Fiction anthologies (Plaidswede), and New Hampshire Magazine. Adi is a member of the faculty of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing program at Lasell University.

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: Christine Pride

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

Christine Pride is a writer, editor and long-time publishing veteran where she held editorial posts
at various Big Five imprints and published many bestselling and critically acclaimed novels and
memoirs over her twenty-year career. She is also the author of four novels: three with Jo Piazza: We Are Not Like Them (a Good Morning America Book Club Pick), You Were Always Mine, and I Never Knew You At All, as well as her solo debut, All The Men I’ve Loved Again which was an instant USA Today bestseller. In addition to writing, she does select editorial work, proposal/content development, and teaching and coaching.

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: Keith O'Brien

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

Keith O'Brien is a New York Times bestselling author and the winner of the 2025 PEN
America award for best biography. O’Brien’s books include Heartland, Charlie Hustle, Fly
Girls, Paradise Falls, and Outside Shot. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York
Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street
Journal, and Rolling Stone, and his stories have also appeared on National Public Radio and This
American Life. A native of Ohio, he now lives in New Hampshire.

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: Rena J. Mosteirin

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

Rena J. Mosteirin is the author of Disaster Tourism (BOA Editions, 2025), Experiment 116 (counterpath Press, 2021), and the chapbooks half-fabulous whales (Little Dipper, 2019) and nick trail’s thumb, a novella that won the Kore Press Short Fiction Award, judged by Lydia Davis. Mosteirin is co-author, with James E. Dobson, of Moonbit (punctum books, 2019) and Perceptron (punctum books, 2025). She is an editor at Bloodroot Literary Magazine and holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. Her work has been published in The New England Review, The Poetry Society of America, The Common, The Rumpus, New York Magazine, Meetinghouse, The Southampton Review, no tokens, The Puritan and Elsewhere, a Journal of Place. Mosteirin teaches at Dartmouth College, and owns Left Bank Books, a used bookstore in Hanover, New Hampshire.

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: Jennifer Militello

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

Jennifer Militello is the Poet Laureate of New Hampshire. She is the author of the poetry/essay collection Identifying the Pathogen, named a finalist for the FC2 Ronald Sukenick Innovative
Fiction Prize, The Pact (Tupelo Press/Shearsman Books, 2021), and the memoir Knock Wood,
winner of the Dzanc Nonfiction Prize (Dzanc Books, 2019), as well as four previous collections
of poetry. Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry, Best New Poets, American Poetry
Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, Poetry, and Tin House. She teaches
in the MFA program at New England College.

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 McGovern

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Kate McGovern is the author of the young adult novels Rules for 50/50 Chances and Fear of Missing Out, which received starred reviews, as well as the middle grade novels Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen, which was longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award, and its sequel, Maple for the People. She has worked in schools and education nonprofits in Boston, London, and New York City, including at the Harlem Children's Zone, where she served as a reading specialist and directed Shakespeare productions with middle schoolers. Kate lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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 (9/21/2026)

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Manchester through the Lens of Frank Kelly by Sam Kelly Theodosopoulos & Manchester Historic Association (Arcadia Publishing, 2026)

Frank Kelly was a prominent Manchester photographer in the mid-20th century, owning and operating Frank Kelly Studios for over 49 years.
Together with his wife, Eleanor, he captured the essence of Manchester through portraits of its people, businesses, and iconic landmarks. This book showcases his remarkable body of work, including rare images of local businesses and notable events, such as multiple presidential visits to the Queen City. Additionally, Frank Kelly was a well-respected portrait and wedding photographer who took great pride in photographing generations of Manchester families. -- Publisher's blurb

About the authors:

Sam Kelly Theodosopoulos, grandson of Frank Kelly, is a committee member of the Manchester Historic Association. A Manchester High School Central graduate, he holds a bachelor of arts in political science from George Washington University.

The Manchester Historic Association, established in 1896, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing the rich history of Manchester, New Hampshire.

NHBF Author: Mindy McGinnis

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Mindy McGinnis is an Edgar Award-winning novelist who writes across multiple genres, including post-apocalyptic, historical, thriller, contemporary, mystery, and fantasy. While her settings may change, you can always count on Mindy’s books to deliver grit, truth, and an unflinching look at humanity and the world around us.

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: Nick Lund

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Nick Lund is a nature writer who works for Maine Audubon. His writing on birds and nature has appeared in Audubon magazine, National Parks magazine, Slate.com, the Washington Post, the Maine Sportsman, the Portland Phoenix, Down East magazine, and others, as well as the Birdist blog. He is a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law and worked in federal energy policy in Washington, DC, before returning to Maine with his wife and son.

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: Michael Lowenthal

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Michael Lowenthal is the author of a story collection, Sex with Strangers, and four novels: The Same Embrace, Avoidance, Charity Girl (a New York Times Book Review “Editors’ Choice” and a Washington Post “Top Fiction of 2007” pick), and The Paternity Test (an Indie Next selection and a Lambda Literary Award finalist). His shorter work has appeared in Tin House, Ploughshares, The New York Times Magazine, Guernica, The Southern Review, and many anthologies. The recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Mass Cultural Council, he has taught creative writing at Boston College and Hampshire College, and as the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at Leipzig University in Germany. For more than twenty years he was a faculty member in the low-residency MFA program at Lesley University. Lowenthal’s most recent book is a memoir-in-essays, Place Envy, published in February 2026. He lives in Boston and Pittsburgh.

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: Cait Levin

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Cait Levin is an innovative educator and award-winning author. Kirkus called her debut novel Imposter, “an inspiring, unapologetically feminist takedown of misogyny in STEM culture.” Cait earned a BA from Barnard College and an MA from Middlebury College. When she isn’t looking for ways to help folks learn and build confidence, she likes to read, cook, play video games, and write fiction.

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: Rajani LaRocca

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in Massachusetts, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor–winning novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of novels and picture books, fiction and nonfiction, in prose and poetry. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, she lives outside Boston with her family.

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: Andrew Krivak

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Andrew Krivak is an award-winning writer whose books include Mule Boy; The Bear, a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read selection; and the freestanding novels of the Dardan Trilogy: The Sojourn, a National Book Award finalist and winner of both the Chautauqua Prize and Dayton Literary Peace Prize; The Signal Flame, a Chautauqua Prize finalist; and Like the Appearance of Horses, a Library Journal “Best Book of the Year” and Indie Next List for Reading Groups selection. He is a discussion facilitator with the Family Connections Center, New Hampshire Department of Corrections, and visiting lecturer on English at Harvard University. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts and Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

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: Lee Kelly

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Lee Kelly is the author of the acclaimed speculative fiction novels City of Savages, A Criminal Magic, and With Regrets. With Jennifer Thorne, she is also the co-author of The Antiquity Affair, The Starlets, My Fair Frauds, and The Midnight Show. Lee’s short fiction and essays have appeared in a variety of publications, and she holds her MFA degree from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. An entertainment lawyer by trade, Lee has practiced law in Los Angeles and New York. She lives with her husband and two children outside Philadelphia, where you’ll find them engaged in one adventure or another.

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 (9/14/2026)

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Noble Reckoning: An Emma Noble Thriller by Andrew Bridgeman (Mission Point Press, 2026)

A dead man sends Emma Noble a text: FIND NADIA.
Emma buried him only three weeks ago.

The message sends her searching for a teenage girl. Nadia knows the location of the terrorist behind the inauguration attacks. He evaded capture-vanished two years ago. And now, he's operational again.

But others are hunting the girl too. They need what's in her head. Whether she survives the interrogation isn't their concern. Somewhere in Florence, Nadia is running out of time.

Fired from the FBI, Emma has no badge and no backup.

And no idea there's a target on her back. -- Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Andrew Bridgeman is the internationally published author of the Emma Noble thriller series, with editions in Germany and Hungary. A former rugby player, jazz singer, and entrepreneur, he studied creative writing at Dickinson College and received a business degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Andrew lives in Ossipee, New Hampshire with his wife, Kathy. Beyond writing, his interests include hiking, music, and camping.

Join Andrew at Gibson's Bookstore on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 at 6:30 pm where he will be discussing his newest novel in the Emma Noble series!

NHBF Author: Meg Kearney

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Meg Kearney’s ninth book, Cardiac Thrill—a heroic crown of sonnets—was published in fall 2025. Meg’s All Morning the Crows, winner of the Washington Prize, spent six months on SPD’s poetry bestseller list in 2021. Meg is also author of Home By Now, winner of the PEN New England Winship Award; an award-winning picture book; and three verse novels for teens. Her work has been featured in Best American Poetry and on Garrison Keillor’s “A Writer’s Almanac” and Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry.” Meg is founding director of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program at Lasell University.

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: Hester Kaplan

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

Hester Kaplan is an award-winning writer of story collections, novels, and the memoir/biography, Twice Born: Finding My Father in the Margins of Biography, published in 2025 and longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her story collection, The Edge of Marriage, received the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and her work has been widely published and anthologized, including in The Best American Short Stories series. She is a recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Awards and was named a Quarry Farm Fellow by the Center for Mark Twain Studies for Twice Born. With over 30 years of teaching experience, Hester runs workshops and writing retreats, and works with writers at all stages of development. Recent presentations and features include an essay in Electric Lit, a talk on memoir and biography at the 2025 Boston Book Festival, and an interview on NPR’s Here & Now. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

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: Carla Kaplan

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Carla Kaplan is the Davis Distinguished Professor of American Literature at Northeastern University. She has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others. She serves on the board of Biographers International Organization and is a Fellow of the Society of American Historians. The author of eight books—including Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance and Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters, both New York Times Notable Books—she has also written for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Slate, and The Nation. Her latest book, Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford, traces the British aristocrat-turned-American Communist and muckraker with fresh insight. Kaplan earned her PhD in English from Northwestern University and divides her time between Boston and Cape Cod.

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: 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.