Book Notes New Hampshire

Book of the Week (10/19/2026)

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Invisible Monuments: Tribute, Memory, and the Summoning of the Past by Howard Mansfield (Lyons Press, 2026)

We don’t look at most of the monuments and memorials around us. They disappear from view. Think of all the mute memorials you may pass in a week that are unseen, a blurred background to your daily commute: the green-mottled great man on his horse, hosting only pigeons; the curious obelisk looking like a stunted Washington Monument; the historical marker crowded with so many words it looks like a warning label written by a cadre of liability lawyers. So much narrative left out in the weather, so much storytelling that has lost its way.

Any monument that we stand before asks something of us. Think of monuments as the first part of a call and response, as in music, as in worship. We bring our sense of history to the present, otherwise the granite/marble/limestone/bronze before us will be mute.

A few monuments aren’t invisible. They speak to us, like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and in another era, the Cenotaph in London that brought forth the strong emotional response after World War I.

Each chapter explores the invisibility of monuments:

The forced invisibility of the African Burial Grounds in Manhattan and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which have been rediscovered. These graveyards were destroyed in keeping with America’s “mortuary apartheid.”

The sad fate of the Irish immigrants building America’s railroads in the nineteenth century, many killed on the job to be buried in unmarked graves.

A grieving family’s memorial to a son lost in World War II, built stone by stone on the family’s farm, which still draws thousands to an outdoor “Cathedral of the Pines.”

A Ferris wheel, stopped forever after a tragic accident, abandoned to rust, which becomes a private monument for a five-year-old boy.

A celebrated, much-pictured monument for the Battle of Bunker Hill that doesn’t have the emotional charge and significance it once held.

An unusual monument, a tribute to the future—a clock being built deep in a mountain, a clock that is meant to run for 10,000 years.

And lastly, a monument hiding on museum walls. The great landscape painters of the nineteenth century, sometimes called the Hudson River School, weren’t out to just paint pretty pictures. They were chasing a moment of insight when they would see this new nation clearly. Their paintings taught Americans how to see wilderness and laid the bounds for many of our national parks.

The goal with these stories is similar to the landscape painters: the author refreshes our sight so we look anew at the monuments around us, and so we can engage in a call and response with our history. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Mansfield has been honored by the N.H. Humanities Council as “a gem in our granite landscape” and this fall he will receive the Sarah Josepha Hale Award. He has won a Gold Medal for Commentary for City and Regional Magazines, a silver medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, and was a City and Regional Magazine Feature Story Finalist. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Franklin Pierce University. He has served as a writer and consultant for museums, written and performed a stage show with composer Ben Cosgrove that was the subject of an Emmy Award-winning film, and has co-written a forthcoming documentary film. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife, author Sy Montgomery.

Upcoming events:

Join authors Howard Mansfield and Laura Knoy at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, NH on Friday, November 6, 2026 at 7 pm as they discuss Mansfield’s newest book.
Join Howard Mansfield at the Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough, NH on Saturday, November 7, 2026 at 11 am as he discusses his newest book.
Join Howard Mansfield at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, NH on Tuesday, November 10, 2026 at 6:30 pm as he discusses his newest book.

"Three Men and a One-Shilling Knife: a Genealogical Look at Local History" speaker program at NHSL!

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 17:31:17 +0000

Join us in continuing our celebration of America's 250th with our final speaker program of the year, "Three Men and a One-Shilling Knife: a Genealogical Look at Local History".

Presented by Robert Cameron Weir and Virginia Hansen from the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.

This engaging program uses a dramatic 1788 tavern killing in New Durham to show how genealogists uncover the stories from the past. Through newspapers, court records, military records, petitions, and other original sources, the lecture follows the intertwined lives of three Revolutionary War veterans and reveals how family history research can illuminate the people, events, and communities of New Hampshire’s past.-- program blurb

Speaker Information:

Robert Cameron Weir is a genealogical researcher, educator, and author who lives in Dover, New Hampshire. He specializes in hard problems related to New England genealogy, from 1620 to the present. He is a member of the Association for Professional Genealogy and is Vice President and Publications Director of the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.

Virginia Hansen resides in Laconia, NH. She serves as the Treasurer for the NH Society of Genealogists. Since retiring from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and then embarking on a 3-year sailing adventure, she settled in Laconia and resumed her genealogical research. She has published several manuscripts on her own family and NH families. She is currently the manager of Bayside and Union Cemeteries in Laconia and volunteers with the Laconia Historical and Museum Society.

Event info: Free and open to the public!

Wednesday, November 4th from 1-2 pm at the NH State Library, 20 Park St., Concord, NH 03301

Click here for the Facebook event.

Questions?: contact Felicia Martin at 603-271-2316 or felicia.t.martin@dncr.nh.gov

Book of the Week (10/12/2026)

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

Beneath The Surface Waters: A Lake Winnipesaukee Fish Tale by Jeremy Osgood (Self-published, 2025)

Reuben’s got a secret twisting his insides like fishing line in a blender. He’s seen turtles older than the mountains, their shells thick as iron. Rainbow trout that radiate light as warm as a thousand shimmering candles. And he’s felt the pull of darker things, from the bone graveyard near Rattlesnake Island to a hidden sea beneath Lake Winnipesaukee where ancient creatures still dwell. Now he’s ready to tell what really happened that February at the fishing derby.
When Reuben and his brothers are transformed by an old family potion, their only hope lies in a perilous journey through fossil catacombs and into the Earth’s mantle. There, they stumble into a Jurassic world and uncover a brewing catastrophe: a super volcano stirring beneath the Ossipee Mountains that could wipe out their hometown.
Now the brothers must decide. Save themselves, or risk everything to stop a disaster that could bury everyone they love.
A thrilling middle-grade fantasy of family, courage, and the mysteries that lie beneath the surface. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Jeremy Osgood grew up in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, a small New England town in the lakes' region, affectionately known as "the oldest summer resort in America". With the picturesque setting as the perfect backdrop, he developed a love for the outdoors, photography, and writing. He combined his passions with a photoblog called Wolfeboro Chronicle while working in town.

Some of his earlier influences included his time out west where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Conservation and Political Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He spent six years working with National Geographic Maps as the Eastern Sales and Support Manager and eight years selling real estate while coaching basketball at various levels during that time. Currently, he owns and operates Jeremy Osgood Photography. When not taking photographs, or writing, he enjoys spending time with his wife, two daughters, and their rescue dogs near their Nashville, TN home.

Arthur turns 30!

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 15:12:32 +0000

Arthur Is Turning 30!

So, grab your library card and join the friends from Elwood City for ARTHUR’s 30-Day Reading Challenge during the month of November!

The Challenge:

Children ages 4-8 are invited to participate as part of a classroom, library program, afterschool program, homeschool group, or family reading routine.

How It Works:

• Read for 30 minutes a day throughout November.

• Track your reading using the challenge materials.

• Read independently, read with a grown-up, listen to someone read,

or read to a younger sibling, friend, or even a pet. It all counts!

FREE Reading Challenge Resources:

Access ARTHUR’s 30-Day Reading Challenge Digital Toolkit, packed with everything you need to get started:

• A 4-page Reading Challenge Guide with tips, rules, activities, and helpful links

• 4 themed booklists with discussion questions and reading ideas

• 4 weekly reading trackers to help kids celebrate their progress

• A Certificate of Achievement and fun printable activities

Click here to access the Digital Toolkit!

Book of the Week (10/5/2026)

noreply@blogger.com (Felicia Martin) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

What Clever Friends: The Selected Letters of Jane Kenyon and Alice Mattison edited by Chad Wriglesworth (University of Michigan Press, 2026)

What Clever Friends, is a selection of engaging, frank letters between poet Jane Kenyon and fiction writer Alice Mattison. Ranging from their first meeting in 1979 to Kenyon’s death in 1995, this fifteen-year conversation between close friends reveals their experiences pursuing writing while living out the responsibilities of ordinary life. Writing to each other often, they help each other, confide in each other, and argue through the strains of rejection and acceptance, good reviews and bad, periods in which writing comes easily or when it does not. Over time, both writers emerged from obscurity to gain award-winning recognition as prominent voices in their respective genres.
Witty, tender, and aware; tempestuous and lyrical, these letters trace the evolution of a deep and largely unknown friendship that situates Kenyon’s work within a collaborative environment of other poets and novelists who were committed to the flourishing of contemporary women’s writing. With more than 500 edited and annotated letters, a retrospective foreword written by Alice Mattison, and a scholarly introduction written by Chad Wriglesworth, What Clever Friends conveys a compelling story that will interest readers and writers. --Publisher's blurb

About the authors:

Jane Kenyon, former New Hampshire Poet Laureate grew up in the Midwestern U.S. She earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1970 and an M.A. in 1972. As a university student, Kenyon met poet Donald Hall (also a former NH Poet Laureate). In 1972, they married and moved to his ancestral home in Wilmot, New Hampshire. Kenyon died in 1995 from leukemia.

Alice Mattison was born in Brooklyn and attended Queens College and Harvard University, where she received a doctorate in literature. She has lived in New Haven, Connecticut since the 1970s and has taught fiction in the Low-Residency MFA Program in Writing at Bennington College since 1995. Mattison began her career as a poet, but also began writing short stories in the 1980s.

3 on a Theme: Brothers & Sisters

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

The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell'Antonia

Blood Brother: Jonathan Daniels and His Sacrifice for Civil Rights by Rich Wallace and Sandra Neil Wallace

My Sister, the Freak: A Graphic Novel by Dani Jones

NHBF Author: Alexandra Villasante

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

Alexandra Villasante has always loved telling stories—though not always with words. She has a BFA in Painting and an MA in Combined Media (that’s art school speak for making work out of anything). Born in New Jersey to immigrant parents, Alex has the privilegio of dreaming in both English and Spanish.
Her latest novel, Fireblooms, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and praise from Kirkus and Booklist. It was selected as one of NPR’s Books We Love 2025. Alex’s debut YA novel, The Grief Keeper, was a Fall 2019 Junior Library Guild Gold Selection and winner of the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Children’s Literature/Young Adult Fiction. She's a contributor to several Young Adult short story anthologies including, Our Shadows Have Claws, Relit: 16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories and We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters Angels and Other Creatures. Alex is a co-founder of the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival and of the LKBF Latinx Storytellers Conference. When she’s not writing, planning or painting, Alex works for Boyds Mills, formerly known as the Highlights Foundation.

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: S. J. Taylor

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

S. J. Taylor writes stories steeped in folklore and magic, where young protagonists tackle big adventures and bigger questions. Although she grew up in Arizona's desert, her heart yearns for the Nordic lands. When she's not writing, she can often be found knitting yet another sweater (sweater weather is the best weather). She lives in Connecticut 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: Jacquelyn Stolos

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

Jacquelyn Stolos is the author of the novels Edendale and Asterwood. She holds an MFA in fiction from New York University where she was a Writers in the Public Schools Fellow. Jacquelyn has won fellowships from the New York State Summer Writers Institute and the Community of Writers. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Bodega Magazine, No Tokens, Joyland and more. She is the co-founder of Los Angeles’s Something Something Reading Series.

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: Dan Simon

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

Dan Simon is the founder and editor-in-chief of Seven Stories Press. He is the co-author, with Jack Hoffman, of Run Run Run: The Lives of Abbie Hoffman and translator of Van Gogh: Self Portraits by Pascal Bonafoux. Ashland is his debut novel. He lives in New York and 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: 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.