Book Markers: 07.02.15

Fridays at Five

The popular Fridays at Five series is back at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton with authors coming to discuss their books every Friday from July 10 through Aug. 28.

The program kicks off with Colson Whitehead talking about “The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death.” Then in July it’s Bonnie Verbitsky talking with Walker Vreeland about her “Home Cooked Hamptons,” Ken Auletta on “Lifetime Lessons Learned as a Journalist,” and Florence Fabricant on “Wine With Food: Pairing Notes and Recipes From the New York Times.”

In August, the series will feature Frances Cole James on “How to Wow: Proven Strategies for Selling Your [Brilliant] Self in Any Situation,” Arlene Alda talking about her “Just Kids From the Bronx: Telling It the Way It Was: An Oral History,” Brooke Shields with Kathleen Marshall  on “There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me,” and, finally, to end the discussions, Alice McDermott discussing “Someone: A Novel.”

Admission is $20 for each talk or $80 for a pack of five. The authors will also sign books, which can be purchased on site. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served in the library garden. The programs run from 5 to 6 p.m., with doors opening at 4:30.

Writers Conference

The Southampton Writers Conference at Stony Brook Southampton, which is part of the college’s master of fine arts program in creative writing and literature, has invited the public to this summer’s readings, lectures, panel discussions, salons, and receptions without having to be registered for credit. The cost is $950. The conference begins on July 8 and runs until July 19.

Roger Rosenblatt, a prolific writer and Stony Brook English professor, will offer five lectures on the craft of writing and be joined by such guests as the cartoonist Jules Feiffer. Evening programs will include readings by Billy Collins, who twice was the United States poet laureate, Amy Hempel, Ursula Hegi, Meg Wolitzer, and Melissa Bank, among others. Attendees can sign up until the first day by going to stonybook.edu/mfa/summer.

Those attending the conference will receive complimentary tickets to a program celebrating the launch of The Southampton Review’s  summer/fall edition at the college’s Avram Theater on July 18 at 7 p.m. The program, “Selected Shorts,” at which actors and writers will read excerpts from the review, is otherwise for those who subscribe to it.