The Larkin Square Author Series welcomes you to a Celebration of Writing: Buffalo and Beyond on Thursday, May 10th at 5:30 pm in the Larkin Square Filling Station. The event features Elizabeth Licata, author of the new book 100 Things to do in Buffalo before you Die along with the writers Jeff Klein and Ben Gwin who wrote essays for the new book Voices from the Rust Belt.

Licata offers suggestions for Buffalo residents and visitors for enjoying “a rich banquet of intriguing history, iconic architecture, lush scenery, fun food, and a relentless nightlife”, (book cover). Suggestion number 57 encourages partying in the Hydraulics aka Larkinville, we heartily concur!

Voices from the Rust Belt features a collection of essays edited by Anne Trubek previously published in Belt City anthologies including writers from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Flint, Youngstown, Akron and Buffalo.

The essays in the book “address segregated schools, rural childhoods, suburban ennui, lead poisoning, opiate addiction, and job loss. They reflect upon happy childhoods, successful community ventures, warm refuges for outsiders, and hidden oases of natural beauty. But mainly they are stories drawn from uniquely personal experiences: A girl has her bike stolen. A journalist from Buffalo (Margaret Sullivan)  moves away, and misses home. A father gives his daughter a bath in the lead-contaminated water of Flint, Michigan” (from the introduction).

Joining the event will be the writers Jeff Klein and Ben Gwin with the editor Anne Trubek

Books will be available for purchase at the event through Talking Leaves. A signing will follow the talks. Beer, wine and other refreshments along with snacks will be available for purchase from the Filling Station.

The event is free and open to the public thanks to the support of presenting sponsor KeyBank and sponsor Independent Health.  Talking Leaves is the co-sponsor of the Larkin Square Author Series.

The Larkin Square Author Series welcomes Lauren Belfer and Margaret Sullivan on Monday, June 25th at 5:30 pm to Larkin Square.

The two nationally acclaimed  writers and expat Buffalonians will interview each other on stage and then open up the event to questions from the audience. Lauren Belfer is the best selling author of City of Light, And After the Fire and more. Margaret Sullivan is the former managing editor of the Buffalo News, former Public Editor of the New York Times and currently the Media Columnist for the Washington Post.

Books will be available for purchase at the event through Talking Leaves.  Included books are a selection of novels by Lauren Belfer and Voices from the Rust Belt which includes an essay written by Margaret Sullivan.  Beer, wine and other refreshments along with snacks available for purchase at the event. Book signing to follow the talk.

The Larkin Square Author series presents an evening of mystery writing with authors Jeff Schober and Suzanne Zewan on Wednesday, February 28th at 5:30 pm in the Filling Station in Larkin Square.

Everyone loves a good mystery, learn more about the art of crafting a good one from Jeff and Suzanne.  This will be Jeff’s third visit to the Larkin Square Author Series and Suzanne’s first.

Jeff Schober is the author of numerous crime fiction books including Boneshaker and Broken and Profane.  His nonfiction works include Growing up Gronk and Bike Path Rapist: A Cop’s Firsthand Account of Catching a Killer Who Terrorized a Community.

Jeff’s newest book, Faces and Fingertips, while written  as a stand-alone novel, continues characters introduced in Broken and Profane and Boneshaker. When these lonely souls converge, results are hopeful, electric, and sometimes heartbreaking.

Ken Connell is a former Buffalo detective who has lost everything: his wife, his job, even his striking good looks, thanks to a shotgun blast that punctured his neck. These days he investigates insurance fraud, reminisces about the woman he loved, and dreams of moving south, while convinced he is being followed. R.J. Sorrentino has always lived on the fringe. He was angry before leaving for Vietnam and grew angrier when he returned. He’s a survivor; yet lately, surviving isn’t enough. His one chance at redemption is his ability to draw. Now working as a police sketch artist, a grisly discovery twists him back into uncertainty. Laura Pantera inhabits a world that looks different from everyone else’s. Her cheating husband is gone, and she’s haunted by a painful childhood. Days are long and nights turn surreal when she plunges into an abyss. Yet a mysterious neighbor mat just provide a lifeline to happiness.

Suzanne Zewan  is coordinator at Genesee Valley Educational Partnership and is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College. She has a M.A. in English and Creative Writing and a M.S.Ed. in Career and Technical Education. Other publications include a poem in Jigsaw (2014), a short story and two poems in Jigsaw (2016), and a short story in Amaranth Review (2016).

Suzanne will be speaking about her novel, Shadow by the Bridge. In the book, 11-year-old Fritz Reynolds recalled his father telling him that man is the only creature who can find amusement in killing. Little did he realize that those words would become the theme for his teenage years growing up in the rural hamlet on Linden, New York. In this coming-of-age story, Fritz takes us back to a simpler time when neighbors gathered at the general store to listen to radio shows, drank barrel-aged cider and worshiped at the Baptist Church every Sunday. All was picturesque in his close-knit farming community until terror was unleashed on them.

Refreshments will be available for purchase, a Q and A and book signing will follow the talk. Books will be available for purchase at the events through the co- sponsor Talking Leaves.

The Larkin Square Author series and other  public events are presented by KeyBank and Sponsored by Independent Health.