Literary Cape Ann invites shoppers and book lovers of all ages to meet some of this region’s talented authors and buy their books for holiday gift-giving. Literary Cape Ann’s annual holiday book and author fair coincides with a special day in town that includes strolling musicians, carolers, and an art walk. Rockport promises to be a bustling day with these holiday festivities and beautiful trees glittering with colorful lights up and down Main Street. It’s the perfect time to bring the family, shop for books and gifts, and sing a few carols.

The fair will be held at Brackett’s Oceanview Restaurant, 25 Main St., downtown Rockport, on Saturday, December 14, from noon to 3 p.m. Choose from mysteries, novels, memoir, science fiction, poetry, cookbooks, children’s books, and related merchandise. The Bookstore of Gloucester will be on hand to sell additional titles of interest to North Shore readers. All are welcome to stop by and enjoy conversations with this large and lively gathering of 19 of the North Shore’s esteemed authors.

Refreshments will be for sale at Brothers Brew and Brackett’s. A very special thank you to Brackett’s and to the Bookstore of Gloucester for all that they do to make this event possible.

Meet the authors!

Dianne C. Braley, fiction; David Caiati, science fiction; Kristin Czarnecki, memoir; Maddy Day, mystery; Dan Duffy, memoir; Mary Faino, children’s; Kyle Fiske, historical fiction; Kate Flora, mystery; JoeAnn Hart, environmental fiction and true crime/memoir; Tammy Donroe Inman, cookbook; Innkeepers of Rockport, cookbook; Jim Mastro, nature writing; Andrew Merton, poetry; Sheila Moeschen, regional culture; Liz Mugavero, mystery; Gail Brenner Nastasia, memoir; Ellie O’Leary, memoir and poetry; Paul St. Germain, regional history/culture; Peter Swanson, fiction; and Bonnie L. Sylvester, children’s.

We’re kicking off the Holiday Season Friday & Saturday! Extended Holiday Hours are back and on Saturday we will have the very popular BLIND DATE WITH A BOOK! Including ARC Edition - which are free! - where we will collect donation money for Cape Ann Animal Aid & OpenDoor! Stop down to Main Street and shop local!

Mark your calendars for Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 7 p.m! Join us at the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church (10 Church Street, Gloucester, Mass) for a reading and discussion with author Dr. Sima Samar.

The Gloucester Writers Center will host Dr. Sima Samar, former Minister of Women's Affairs of Afghanistan,for a reading of her new book, the impassioned memoir, OUTSPOKEN: My Fight for Freedom & Human Rights in Afghanistan. Local writer and community activist Nicole Richon-Schoel will moderate the event.

Dr. Samar is a renowned human rights advocate for the world’s under-represented and marginalized groups such as women, children, and minorities. A Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Samar has dedicated her life to public service, humanitarian work, and women’s empowerment. Her Shuhada Organization provides education and healthcare in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with a focus on women and girls. Sima Samar’s wide-ranging experiences in her home country and the world have given her inside access to the collusion and corruption of Afghanistan leaders, and the hijacking of religion. With stories that are poignant and terrifying, inspiring as well as disheartening, Sima provides an unparalleled view of Afghanistan’s past and its present. She now makes Boston’s North Shore her home.

“I have three strikes against me. I’m a woman, I speak out for women, and I’m Hazara, the most persecuted ethnic group in Afghanistan.”

Moderator: Nicole Richon-Schoel is a psychotherapist in private practice. She has worked for many years with at- risk populations, including pregnant and parenting teens, homeless families and survivors of domestic violence.

This event is free and open to the public. Donations are warmly appreciated.

For more information, https://www.gloucesterwriters.org/

The Bookstore will have copies of the book for sale at the event! Preorders always appreciated. Let us know if you are not able to attend but would still like a signed copy.

Join us at Sawyer Free Library on Tuesday November 19th from 5-6pm for an author talk with Virginia Pye! Virginia’s will be discussing her latest book ‘The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann’, a historical novel set in Gilded Age Boston about an author who decides to write about her own story instead of the romances and adventure novels she is known for.

We will have books available for sale at the event!

Melissa Ludtke will talk about her new book ‘Locker Room Talk’ with fellow author Aime Alley Card at Sawyer Free Library on November 9th from 2:30-3:30pm!

We will have books for sale at the event!

Author Brigid Schulte will be at The Bookstore on Saturday November 9th from 1-2pm to sign copies of her new book ‘Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life’!

Please join us on Tuesday October 29th from 5-6pm at Sawyer Free Library for an author talk with Alice Markham-Cantor. Alice will be speaking about her new book ‘ The Once & Future Witch Hunt’ (description below!)

“Past and present collide in this page-turner investigation into Salem's irrepressible question: How could this have happened?

In 1692, Martha Allen Carrier was hanged in the Salem witch trials as the "Queen of Hell." Three hundred years later, her nine-times-great-granddaughter, Alice Markham-Cantor, set out to discover why Martha had died. As she chased her ancestor through the archives, graveyards, and haunted places of New England, grappling with what we owe the past, Alice discovered a shocking truth: witch hunts didn't end in Salem.

Extensively researched and told through alternating fiction and non-fiction chapters, The Once & Future Witch Hunt does not treat Salem as a cautionary tale. It treats Salem as an instruction manual―not on how to perform witch hunts, but how to stop them.”

Bring the kids down to the store Saturday October 26th between 11-12:30pm for a book signing and reading with Eve LaPlante! Her new picture book ‘Who Needs a Statue?’ features influential women and BIPOC figures who have statues around the country.

We’ll have books for sale and you can always call in to preorder as well!

More info about Eve & the book:
”Eve’s latest book is the “powerful” (Kirkus Reviews) picture book Who Needs a Statue? (Tilbury House), coauthored by Margy Burns Knight and illustrated by Alix Delinois. “A gallery of intrepid American groundbreakers, pathfinders, and activists who have earned commemorative statues,” Kirkus added. “Deserving but less prominent luminaries shine more brightly here.”

Publishers Weekly praised Who Needs a Statue? as “a reportorial work that opens conversations about public representation… LaPlante, making a children’s book debut, and Knight (Africa Is Not a Country) introduce sculptures across the country that immortalize people of color and women... Paintings by Delinois (Greetings, Leroy) show scenes from the subjects’ lives as well as the statues in their settings.”

Eve has published five nonfiction books for adults, including three biographies of her ancestors. American Jezebel tells the true story of Anne Hutchinson, the colonial teacher and founding mother. Salem Witch Judge, about Samuel Sewall, the 1692 judge who became an abolitionist and feminist, won the Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction. NPR named Marmee & Louisa, Eve’s dual biography of Louisa May Alcott and her mother, a top ten book of the year. Eve also collected and edited a companion volume to Marmee & Louisa, a compilation of writings by Abigail May Alcott, My Heart Is Boundless. Eve’s first book, Seized, was a narrative portrait of a common brain disorder that can alter personality. In this “fascinating account of medical research,” Howard Gardner said, “LaPlante shows how a brain scar may cause bizarre aggressive or sexual behavior – and works of profound creative imagination,” including works by Dostoevsky, van Gogh, and Lewis Carroll. Kirkus Reviews said, “LaPlante’s descriptions of the human brain are wonderfully concrete, her historical research is well presented, and her empathy for TLE’s victims is clear.”

Eve has four grown children and lives in Rockport with her husband.”

Mark your calendars for the book launch of JoeAnn Hart’s new novel ‘Arroyo Circle’ on October 3rd at the North Shore Arts Association! Join the Gloucester Writer’s Center on Pirates Lane at 7pm for a conversation between Hart and Maureen Aylward about the book.

We will have books for sale at the event!

Join us in store on Saturday September 21st from 10:30am-12:30pm as we welcome children’s book author and illustrator Karel Hayes! Karel will be reading from her ‘Visitors’ series books with accompanying activities for young readers. Books will be available for sale in store and preorders are always welcomed.

Join us September 12th from 5:30-6:30pm at the Sawyer Free Library (21 Main St) for a reading with Amanda Greaves. Amanda will be reading from her latest memoir ‘The Chameleon Diaries’.

We will have books for sale at the event! Preorders always welcome.

Join us in store on August 30th from 4:30-6pm (before the Block Party!) for a book signing with Ryan McRae! Ryan will be signing his new book ‘Gloucester and Cape Ann’. We’ll have copies in store for sale!

We’re so excited to participate in CAM’s Juneteenth Celebration for the 4th year! Once again, we will have a book giveaway with our friends from Dogtown Book Shop, thanks to funding provided by Art for Equity.

More info below and at CAM’s website
Celebrate Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States! The 4th Annual Gloucester Juneteenth Celebration is presented by the Cape Ann Museum in collaboration with community organizations across the city. This community celebration of Black Independence Day began through grassroots organizing by Gloucester resident Toni Waldron in 2021 and became part of the Cape Ann Museum’s annual calendar of events in 2022.  Learn about the Juneteenth Holiday and its connection to Cape Ann history while celebrating Black history through music, dance and food.  

Kick-off Pride Month at the Cape Ann Museum with the Lavender Speakeasy from 6:00 – 8:00 pm on Friday, June 7, 2024.

Wear your finest fabulous outfits to learn about local and regional queer history, make your own green carnation, and put on a pair of lavender lenses to see the Museum’s collection in a new light.

• See a sculpture come to life with the Boston Circus Guild

• Dance to live music with The Femmes

• Pick up a LGBTQ+ book from The Bookstore of Gloucester*

• Get a pair of Lavender Lens and find queer history guides throughout the Museum

• Enjoy free tastings with Rockport Brewing Co.

Presented as the final event in CAM’s First Fridays: Art After Hours series for the 2023-2024 season, the Museum will be free and open to the public.

*The Bookstore will have LGBTQ+ Books for sale at CAM’s last First Friday! Lavender Speakeasy theme for Pride Month! We hope you can attend this free event!

Eric Jay Dolin will be at The Bookstore on Saturday June 1st from 4pm-6pm to sign books! His new book Left for Dead is perfect for nautical nonfiction lovers and a great Father’s Day gift! We will have copies of all of Dolin’s books in store for purchase and personalization - preorders are always appreciated!

Sally Goldenbaum’s Seaside Knitters Society Mysteries are a local favorite and we hope you can join us on May 30th at Sawyer Free Library from 5:30pm-6:30pm to hear all about these cozy mysteries!

We’ll have a number of Sally’s books available for sale at the event, but preorders are always appreciated!

We're thrilled to host an Author Talk with Sebastian Junger at Gloucester City Hall on May 23rd from 6-8pm! Join us for an evening with the renowned, Gloucester-favorite author as he shares insights into his latest work In My Time of Dying. We will have books available for sale at the event and time for book signing. This in-person event promises to be a memorable experience for all book lovers. Mark your calendars and we'll see you there!

Kyrouz Auditorium, Gloucester City Hall
9 Dale Ave
Gloucester MA 01930

THIS EVENT IS FREE BUT REGISTRATION IS REQUESTED: CLICK HERE

More about ‘In My Time of Dying’:

“A near-fatal health emergency leads to this powerful reflection on death--and what might follow--by the bestselling author of Tribe and The Perfect Storm.

For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger traveled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ever came to death was the summer of 2020 while spending a quiet afternoon at the New England home he shared with his wife and two young children. Crippled by abdominal pain, Junger was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Once there, he began slipping away. As blackness encroached, he was visited by his dead father, inviting Junger to join him. "It's okay," his father said. "There's nothing to be scared of. I'll take care of you." That was the last thing Junger remembered until he came to the next day when he was told he had suffered a ruptured aneurysm that he should not have survived.

This experience spurred Junger--a confirmed atheist raised by his physicist father to respect the empirical--to undertake a scientific, philosophical, and deeply personal examination of mortality and what happens after we die. How do we begin to process the brutal fact that any of us might perish unexpectedly on what begins as an ordinary day? How do we grapple with phenomena that science may be unable to explain? And what happens to a person, emotionally and spiritually, when forced to reckon with such existential questions?

In My Time of Dying is part medical drama, part searing autobiography, and part rational inquiry into the ultimate unknowable mystery.”

Join us at The Bookstore May 16th from 6pm-7pm for an author talk with David Curcio! Curcio will be discussing his latest book Smash Hit: Race, Crime, and Culture in Boxing Films.

We’ll have copies of the book available for sale and, as always, preorders are welcomed and appreciated!

A bit about the book:

“Cinema emerged alongside the rules that ushered in boxing's modern age and the "squared circle" proved the ideal stage for cinematic display. The public had its first taste of the new medium in 1894 through a heavyweight bout, recognized today as the world's first feature film.

As the two attractions fast-grew into the country's most popular entertainments, nascent Hollywood studios were quick to spot an opening for a surefire combo. Like a snap-jab to the teeth, the boxing film emerged as a popular genre wherein the fighter assumed his place among the private dicks, rebel cops, and desperate underdogs mired in America's expanding urban landscape.

Devoting equal time to both mediums, Smash Hit: Race, Crime, and Culture in Boxing Films uses twenty films as the basis of a hard-nosed exploration of how the genre held a bloody mirror to twentieth century America's most prominent social anxieties, elucidating two conjoined mediums that serve as bellwether to an ever-shifting cultural zeitgeist.”

Join us at Sawyer Free Library (21 Main St) on May 9th from 5:30-6:30pm for an author talk with Henriette Lazaridis, author of the new fiction book ‘Last Days in Plaka’!

We’ll have books available for sale at the event (& in store before as well!)

More about the book:

“An immersive and multifaceted novel--The Talented Mr. Ripley by way of Elena Ferrante--that explores the lies at the heart of an old woman's identity and the desperation of a young woman's struggle to belong.

Today's Athens is a city of contradictions and complexity--it is grand and scruffy, ancient and modern, full of strivers, refugees and old-timers--and nowhere more so than the neighborhood of Plaka, where the Parthenon looms overhead and two women grapple with what is right and what is true, and how to live your life when you are running out of time.

Searching for connection to her parents' heritage, Greek-American Anna works at an Athens gallery by day and makes street art by night. Irini is elderly and widowed, once well-to-do but now dependent on the charity of others. When the local priest brings the two women together, it's not long before they form an unlikely bond. Anna's friends can't understand why she spends so much time with the old woman, yet Anna becomes more and more consumed by Irini's tales of a glamorous past. As they join the priest's tiny congregation to study the Book of Revelations in preparation for a pilgrimage to Patmos, Anna sinks deeper into Irini's stories of an estranged daughter and lost wealth and the earthquake damage to her noble home.

Looking for revelation of her own, and driven by a sense that time is running out, Anna makes a decision that puts her in peril, exposes Irini's web of lies, and compels Anna to confront the limits of her own forgiveness.”

We’re so excited for Sawyer Free Library’s ZINEFEST! Coming up on April 27th from 11am-3pm at SFL Main Street and 20 Main Street. There will be speakers, music, zine making and selling, and more!

Between Indie Bookstore Day & Zinefest - April 27th on Main Street is not to be missed! We’ll have a table of zines for sale at Zinefest and will be accepting zines on commission for sale in store. Stop by and say hello!

Check out Sawyer Free Library’s website for more details HERE

Please join us at the Sawyer Free Library on March 7th from 5:30pm-6:30pm for an author talk with Aime Card! Card will be discussing her latest book ‘Tigerbelles: Olympic Legends from Tennessee State’. ‘Tigerbelles’ is “…the epic story of the 1960 Tennessee State University all-Black women's track team, which found Olympic glory at the 1960 games in Rome" Perfect story to get hear about for Women’s History Month!

Beauport Hotel is hosting a ‘Fireside Chat’ with author Lisa Lutoff-Perlo about her new book ‘Making Waves: A Woman’s Rise to the Top Using Smarts, Heart, and Courage’!

Lisa will sign books at the event. Buy your copy before the event at The Bookstore and get your copy personalized at the Fireside Chat on March 4th from 6-8pm!

This event is free but space is limited; reserve your spot HERE

More about Lisa Lutoff-Perlo:
”Engage in conversation with Gloucester's own, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Vice Chairman, External Affairs for the Royal Caribbean Group.

Lutoff-Perlo is recognized for her work on broad strategic initiatives with industry organizations and key external stakeholders for the Royal Caribbean Group. Prior to that, she served as President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises from 2014 to 2023, the first woman to take the helm of a Royal Caribbean Group brand and one of the few women then leading a multi-billion dollar brand.

Lutoff-Perlo is a recognized trailblazer in the global hospitality industry. She was the driving force behind transforming and re-defining today’s relaxed luxury cruise experience with a bold, innovative approach to ship design and service for both the industry and the Celebrity Cruises brand. Launching Celebrity’s Edge Series in 2018, the ships were immediately hailed as game-changing for the industry and recognized on TIME Magazine’s annual “World’s Greatest Places” list. She also led the Celebrity brand through a digital transformation, tapping into new market opportunities, customer trends, a robust digital marketing focus and increasing guest loyalty.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of Fortune 500 company AutoNation (NYSE: AN) and actively lends her expertise to numerous international and regional nonprofit organization boards.

Lutoff-Perlo shares her powerful career stories and lessons learned in her leadership book, “Making Waves: A Woman’s Rise to the Top Using Smarts, Heart and Courage,” available for preorder on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or at your local bookstore. "Making Waves" will be released on February 20th. Please bring your copy of "Making Waves" with you to have your booked signed immediately after the Fireside Chat here at Beaport Hotel by Lutoff-Perlo.”

We’re teaming up with our Main Street neighbors for a special pre-Valentine’s Saturday of sweets and sales! Stop by participating stores on Saturday February 10th for sweet treats and specials.

Here at the Bookstore, we’ll have treats for all patrons and the first 14 shoppers will get to choose a handmade Valentines card with a discount inside! (To be used 2/10 during store hours)

Please join us for a reading at the Sawyer Free Library on February 8th from 5:30pm-6:30pm. Local author (& Bookstore regular!) Eric Lessinger will be discussing his memoir ‘Stethoscope on Reality’.

The Bookstore will have copies of the book for sale at the event! Books can also be preordered with us ahead of time, as well.

We’re so pleased to partner with Literary Cape Ann again for a special Book & Author Fair at Brackett’s Oceanview Restaurant in Rockport! Join us Saturday December 2 from 12-3pm and stock up on those personalized books by some wonderful authors! We’ll have books for sale at the event!

We’re partnering with GMGI to sell books at their Annual Art Science Lecture! This year the topic is Research and Storytelling About Extreme Ocean Environments with GMGI scientist Dr Matt Harke and author/ illustrator Lindsey Leigh.

We’ll have copies of Leigh’s book ‘The Deep!’ for sale at the event and will have copies in store before and after the event for purchase as well.

This event is free, but space is limited. Sign up by clicking HERE :)

More about ‘The Deep!’:

PRAISE FOR THE DEEP!:

• ★ “[I]nvite viewers on an unforgettable dive into ocean depths from the sunny epipelagic zone down to really deep, really dark hadalpelagic regions. Wonders aplenty await…with informative commentary…A broad and buoyant undersea venture.” – Kirkus, starred review

• “What an engaging dive into the ocean! Read about the ocean layers and the cool creatures who live in each ocean zone. The unique handwritten font…gives the feeling of waves and playfulness…And the dialogue bubbles of conversational creatures only add to the genius of this eye-catching book. I predict this will be very popular with middle grade readers!” – Imagination Soup

• “This clever and informative nonfiction survey uses comics and comedy to impart fascinating facts about the denizens of the most enigmatic areas of the ocean.” – The Comics Beat

• “Gorgeous…It’s a funny, fantastic ride.” – Fuse8, A School Library Journal Blog

• “Teachers who have the ocean as part of their STEM science curriculum will want to add Lindsey Leigh's creatively illustrated book…[C]omprehensive…fascinating…The illustrations are colorful and engaging for young learners…[O]ffers a wealth of ideas to include in your STEM curriculum.” – HubPages

• “[The Deep!] is by far the best book I have seen as a science teacher on the deepest part of earth’s oceans. The book has so many facts that is a great source for teaching, and yet it is fun for students to read…The colors are bright and the sea creatures are described in detail, making the book engaging and clever, keeping kids and adults interested…This book provides fascinating facts with a fun twist.” – Lit Pick

ABOUT: Plunge beneath the waves to find an alien world of bizarre creatures who explain for themselves how they’ve adapted to life in the deep dark sea.

Did you know that there are animals that are completely transparent? That some tube worms live for 1,000 years? That the Pigbutt Worm is also known as the “Flying Buttocks”? Or that there is a type of sea cucumber that is nicknamed “the headless chicken monster?” These are just some of the scientific facts, presented comics-style, that kids will pore over again and again. THE DEEP! is a captivating and educational survey of animals that live in the deepest part of the ocean created in a fun graphic nonfiction format. The first-person commentary by the animals themselves cover a wealth of facts from the surface of the ocean to the darkest trenches. And the beautiful, full-color illustrations bring them to life. From animal adaptations like bioluminescence and giant flashlight eyes to the habits and habitats of the Pram Bug and Dumbo Octopus THE DEEP! will keep readers fully engaged with life at the bottom of the sea. A great gift for fans of Everything Awesome About Sharks and Other Underwater Creatures! by Mike Lowery, and readers of all ages who love ocean creatures, history, and nature.

Join us at SFL @ 21 Main Street on Friday October 13th from 3-4pm for a spooky book talk with local authors Alyssa Alessi and EC Hanson.

The Bookstore will have books from each author available for sale!