After a summer hiatus, the Connecticut Authors Reading Series will return to C.H. Booth Library to introduce to readers and writers the work of four authors who live in the Nutmeg State. The next event in the ongoing series will take place Saturday, October 1, from 2 to 4 pm, in the main meeting room of the town library, 25 Main Street.

The guest writers will include fiction writer Tessa McGovern, poets Marianela Medrano and Ralph Nazareth, and memoirist Leigh Stein. The reading series is curated by Newtown author Sophfronia Scott.

The writers will read from both published works and works in progress, with time in between each reading for discussion and Q&A with the audience about the craft of writing. Refreshments will be served, and copies of each guests' books will be available for purchase.

Fairfield County Writers' Studio co-founder/teacher Tessa Smith McGovern is an award-winning writer whose linked short story collection, London Road: Linked Stories, is an Amazon best-seller and gold medal winner in the 2012 eLit Awards.

Her nonfiction book Cocktails For Book Lovers (Sourcebooks) is also an Amazon best-seller. Her many publication credits include The Connecticut Review and the English Arts Council at the Southbank Centre, London.

She is also host and producer of BookGirlTV  (BGTV), an award-winning digital channel that promotes books and reading on all digital platforms and smart TVs. Ms McGovern is currently working on a novel.

Marianela Medrano was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, and has lived in Connecticut since 1990. A poet and a writer of nonfiction and fiction, she holds a PhD in psychology, with a special focus on transpersonal psychology.

Her literary work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines in Latin America, Europe and the United States, including The Black Scholar, Phati'tude, Letralia, Callalooand  Sisters Of Caliban: Contemporary Women Poets Of The Caribbean.

Ralph Nazareth is a poet, teacher, and community organizer. His collection of poems, Ferrying Secrets, was published in 2005 in Hyderabad, India, and Cristal: Poemas Selectos was released by El Quirofanes Ediciones in Ecuador in 2015.

His poetry and prose have appeared in books, magazines, and journals in the US and abroad, including most recently in the award-winning collection Indivisible: An Anthology Of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry and Multilingual Anthology: The Americas Poetry Festival Of New York 2014 & 2015.

Mr Nazareth has participated in poetry festivals in the United States, India, the Middle East, and in Latin America. He is the coordinator of PoemAlley, a cultural outreach arm of the UUC in Stamford.

As managing editor of Yuganta Press, he has helped publish many excellent poets. Since retiring as professor of English at the end of 2015, he has been directing GraceWorks Inc, a nonprofit, charitable foundation that serves the marginalized in India, Africa, and other parts of the world.

Working at the intersection of literature and activism, Leigh Stein is the author of three books, and the co-founder and executive director of Out of the Binders, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing the careers of women and gender nonconforming writers.

Her debut novel, The Fallback Plan, made the "highbrow brilliant" quadrant of New York Magazine's "Approval Matrix," and her poetry collection Dispatch From The FuturePublishers Weekly's Best Summer Books of 2012 list and Rumpus Poetry Book Club. was selected for

Land Of EnchantmentThe New York Times, The Washington Post, Allure, Poets & Writersand Slate., BuzzFeed, The Cut, Salon , her memoir about young love, obsession, abuse, and loss, is just out from Plume. She has also written for

Reservations are not needed for Connecticut Authors Writing Series programs, but additional information is available by calling the library, 203-426-4533.

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