Author Archives: Kate Farrish

Journalist and author Susan Campbelll to speak May 5 as part of library series

Author Susan Campbell

Susan Campbell, an award-winning journalist and author, will speak Monday, May 5 about her new biography of Isabella Beecher Hooker as part of the Tolland Public Library Foundation’s popular Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series.
Campbell, a former longtime columnist at The Hartford Courant who shared in a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for the newspaper’s coverage of the shootings at state lottery headquarters, will speak at 7 p.m. in conference room A of Tolland Town Hall at 21 Tolland Green.
Campbell will also sell and sign copies of “Tempest-Tossed: The Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker,” the first full biography of Hooker, the feisty youngest daughter of Hartford’s Beecher family. Her older sister, Harriett Beecher Stowe, was the author of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
Campbell conducted most of the research for the book at the Harriett Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford. Isabella Beecher Hooker was a leader of the American Suffragist movement who was born in Litchfield in 1822 and died in Hartford in 1907.
Campbell spent more than 25 years as a columnist at The Courant. She is now the Robert C. Vance Endowed Chair in Journalism and Mass Communication at Central Connecticut State University as well as the communications/development director at the Partnership for Strong Communities, a statewide non-profit agency that’s working to end homelessness. She also co-writes a blog about religion called “Hot Dogma!”
Campbell’s talk is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, call at 860-871-3620.
The Tolland Public Library series, funded by the Phoebe Dimock King and Elizabeth C. King Eaton Endowment, has previously brought writers Dan Barry, Denis Horgan, Susan Schoenberger, Jeff Goldberg, Lucy Anne Hurston, Jane Haddam and P.W. Catanese to town.
About the Tolland Public Library Foundation
The Foundation was established in 1996 to receive donations to benefit the Tolland Public Library and to enhance library services beyond what the town budget provides. Tax-deductible donations can be sent to the Tolland Public Library Foundation, Inc., 21 Tolland Green, Tolland, CT 06084.

It’s Poetry Slam Time!

The 2013 Tolland poetry slam poets

TOLLAND – Teenaged writers will perform original poems and compete for prizes on Thursday, April 3 when the Tolland Public Library holds its third poetry slam.
The Tolland Public Library Foundation is sponsoring the slam for students aged 12 to 18 as part of its Young Adult initiative. The competition will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in conference room A at town hall (across from the Hicks gym) at 21 Tolland Green.
Preference will be given to Tolland residents, but students from other towns can participate if space permits.
Poetry slams were born in Chicago in 1986 to encourage and celebrate the art of performance poetry.
The Foundation is sponsoring the slam with the help of the library staff, Ivy Morrison, head of the Tolland High School English department, and other teachers and students.
Students will be performing up to two three-minute poems, which will be judged by a panel that will include THS Assistant Principal Margot Martello; THS senior Veronica Spadaro; Tolland Public Library’s young adult/children’s librarian Ginny Brousseau; Foundation President Linda Byam and Foundation Secretary Kate Farrish. A top prize of a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card and other prizes will be awarded.
The slam will be hosted by James MacArthur, a Tolland High English teacher.
Entry forms are available at the public library, the high school library and from any THS English teacher. Students must return the forms to one of the same places by Monday, March 31.
Poets must bring five copies of both of their poems to the public library by Wednesday, April 2 for the judges.
The slam is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, call the library at 860-871-3620.

About the Tolland Public Library Foundation
The Foundation was established in 1996 to receive donations to benefit the Tolland Public Library and to enhance library services beyond what the town budget provides. Tax-deductible donations can be sent to the Tolland Public Library Foundation, Inc., 21 Tolland Green, Tolland, CT 06084
About the Young Adult initiative
This initiative by the Foundation is aimed at bringing programs to the library for youths aged 11 to 18. It is made possible through grants from the Foundation’s Phoebe Dimock King and Elizabeth C. King Eaton Endowment. The Foundation has held college workshops, purchased software and books geared to young adults, sponsored book discussions and author visits and established the annual poetry slam as part of the initiative.

Save the date for the Foundation’s third annual poetry slam

Poet Antonio Campellli

The Foundation will hold its third annual poetry slam for teens aged 12 to 18 on Thursday, April 3.
It will take place in town hall in conference room A (across from the Hicks gym) from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Entry forms are available at the town library, the Tolland High School library and from any THS English teacher. They must be returned to any of those places or teachers by Monday, March 31.
For more information, call the town library at 860-871-3620.

Young Adult Author Steven Parlato Entertains Tolland Crowd

A hardy crowd of a dozen people braved single-digit cold weather to turn out to hear an entertaining talk by young adult author Steven Parlato.
Parlato, an English professor at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, is the author of “The Namesake,” a too-early coming of age story about Evan Galloway, a 15-year-old who searches for his family’s secrets after his father commits suicide.
He shared tales on how to get published, where he gets inspiration for his writing and how he developed Evan’s story. His appearance was sponsored by the Foundation as part of its Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series.

Author Steven Parlato

The audience listens to Steven Parlato as he reads from his poetry and his novel.

Young author Steven Parlato

Authors, Poets and Laughter at the Library in 2013 – all Thanks to Foundation Grants

Young adult author Dawn Metcalf

The Tolland Public Library was filled with poetry, author visits, genealogy searches and even “Laughter Yoga” in 2013 thanks to $9,835 in grants from the Tolland Public Library Foundation.
The grants brought more young people into the library, helped patrons “Lighten Up @ at the Library” and enhanced services beyond what the town budget provides.
The funds also enabled the library to host award-winning authors, hold informative sessions on paying for college, host its second poetry slam and provide residents with useful databases including Ancestry.com, Consumer Reports and a new auto repair database.
“The Foundation’s support enriches the library experience for Tolland’s patrons in terms of materials, databases and programs,’’ Library Director Barbara Pettijohn said. “I am very grateful for the grants that we have received.”
The Foundation’s board of directors supported the $2.6 million expansion of the library into the former Hicks gym that was approved by voters on Nov. 5.
“The Foundation was pleased to support library programs in 2013 that benefitted patrons of all ages,’’ Foundation President Linda Byam said. “We’re excited about the library expansion and will be looking for ways to help bring even more patrons into the Tolland Public Library in 2014.”
Early in 2013, the Foundation funded the “Lighten Up @ the Library” series to give residents more laughter in their lives. The series included a visit by ventriloquist Larry Noiva of Tolland and a talk from Craig Elkin, a retired Middletown police sergeant, who shared amusing tales from his years on the beat. Instructor Laura Le combined humor and fitness during her “Laughter Yoga” workshop.
The Foundation continued its goal of offering more programs and materials of interest to students aged 11 to 18 through its “Young Adult Initiative.”
In May, the library resounded with the creative voices of teens from Tolland and surrounding towns who competed in the Foundation’s second poetry slam. A third slam is being planned for April 3, 2014.
The Foundation also paid for extra copies of the Tolland High School and Tolland Middle School’s summer reading books, and more than 140 people have attended talks on how to pay for college by financial advisor Craig Breitsprecher.
In June and October, the library hosted young adult author Dawn Metcalf. During her second visit, she conducted a sensory workshop for writers that drew a number of her teenaged fans.
Another grant enabled the library to introduce the “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” program, which encourages parents of young children to read that many books to their children before they attend school.
Adult patrons looking for work or how to fix their cars benefitted from Foundation grants in 2013. A grant enabled the library to offer a useful resource called JobNow!, which provides online career assistance, including one-on-one mock interviews, lists of common interview questions and professional critiques of resumes and cover letters.
Thanks to another Foundation grant, library patrons can now access the Auto Repair Reference Center for free at the library or from home using their library cards.
The database features repair instructions for more than 37,000 vehicles made from 1945 to the present as well as 110,000 technical bulletins and recall notices.
A Foundation grant also paid for the LibraryAware service, which allows the library staff to market its programs using flyers and other promotional materials.
Grants to the library have also funded the Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series, which in March brought Pulitzer-Prize winner Dan Barry of The New York Times to the library. The series has also included award-winning writers Caragh O’Brien, Denis Horgan, Susan Schoenberger, Ken Davis, Jeff Goldberg and Lucy Anne Hurston.
Many of the grants have been made possible through the Phoebe Dimock King and Elizabeth King Eaton Endowment.