Westport Barnes & Noble to Host Local Authors

BARNES & NOBLE TO HOST FIRST WESTPORT WRITERS’ WORKSHOP FUNDRAISER WITH AUTHOR READINGS AND BOOK FAIR.

Not all the best authors live in New York City. Local authors Chris Belden of Ridgefield and Christine Pakkala of Westport are celebrating the release of their latest books with readings and a book fair at the Westport Barnes & Noble in the Post Plaza Shopping Center, 1076 Post Road East beginning Sunday, October 4th. A special Barnes & Noble Book Fair Coupon will be available for use in-store or online October 4th-7^th, so that a percentage of each purchase will be contributed to Westport Writers’ Workshop, Fairfield County’s first non-profit literacy center. “I am extremely grateful to Barnes & Noble and our local community relations manager, Tricia Tierney, for stepping up to become the first corporate donor to Westport Writers’,” says executive director, Valerie Ann Leff. “All of our classes are partially subsidized by our donors, so that we can offer high quality creative writing workshops at a reasonable price. In addition, we are now able to fund certain projects and events, like our free book club for writers, and the publication of Sentences, an anthology of the writers in Chris Belden’s workshop for inmates at Garner Correctional Institution. And I am so proud of our faculty members, Chris and Christine, whose new books are hitting the shelves of bookstores nationwide.”

Chris Belden with Shriver: A Novel

Local author and beloved Westport Writers’ faculty member Chris Belden will be at Barnes & Noble Sunday October 4th at 4 PM with his new book out from Simon and Schuster, Shriver: A Novel, described as charming, clever and darkly sartiric. Movie rights for Shriver have already been optioned by independent producer, Michael Maren. Chris, a musician as well as a writer, promises to play a few songs to spice up his event and rally support for The Westport Writers' Workshop at the Book Fair.

Christine Pakkala is back with Last-But-Not-Least Lola and the Cupcake Queens

You can still support the Barnes & Noble Book Fair for Westport Writers' Workshop on Wednesday October 07, 2015 at 7:00 PM. Author Christine Pakkala, a Westport resident and Westport Writer’s Workshop instructor, will discuss the latest in her early grade children’s series, Last-But-Not-Least Lola and the Cupcake Queens and how book series create reading communities. (Also, there is a strong possibility of cupcakes!)

Westport Writers’ Workshop holds creative writing classes in a welcoming, inclusive environment. All workshop instructors are published writers. Registration is ongoing with classes year-round, at all levels and in a wide variety of genres, including: memoir, fiction, mystery, children’s and young-adult, and screenwriting.

Westport Writers’ Workshop is located at 3 Sylvan Road South, Westport, CT 06880. The website is www.westportwriters.org. The office is open between 9:30-1:30 Monday-Friday. Call 203-227-3250 for information about classes and events or to make a donation.

For additional information on Westport Writers’ Workshop, including creative writing classes, community events or outreach, or to schedule an interview with the Executive Director, please call Christine Kalafus at 203-227-3250, email: communications@westportwriters.org, or visit www.westportwriters.org