Local Authors' Day in Sheffield, Mass.

SHEFFIELD, Mass. -- Enjoy a chat with a local author, get an autograph and even start your holiday shopping the seventh annual Local Authors' Day celebration from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Bushnell-Sage Library, 48 Main St., just south of the village green in Sheffield.

There is great talent in this tri-county corner of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, said the event's sponsors, the Library trustees and the Friends of the Bushnell-Sage Library. They added that they feel privileged to sponsor this event honoring our region’s gifted writers and illustrators.

Seventeen new authors will appear at the event in addition to returning favorites.

Children’s authors Barbara Shook Hazen, Michael Citron and Tracy Mack, Doreen Rappaport, Ben Hillman, Sue MacVeety and Cheryl Blackburn will be there. Mumbet is returning to Sheffield, this time through the work of co-authors Jana Laiz and Ann-Elizabeth Barnes and illustrator Jacqueline Rogers.

History, scenery and personalities of the Berkshires are featured in Stephen Donaldson’s photographic essays, Bernie Drew and Gary Leveille’s wonderful histories of our area and Dr. Richard Greene’s mysteries, which take place in Great Barrington. Andrea Scott’s book on the Housatonic, done in conjunction with local artists from the Housatonic Valley Art League, will catch your eye.

If poetry is your bent, the Bushnell-Sage Library is the place to be as Sharon Charde, Michelle Gillett, Irene Willis, David Giannini, and Bob Ronnow will appear. Want a celebrity autograph? Just visit with Roy Blount and Jim Bouton.

For dog lovers, Elizabeth Hess, Brooke Janis and Charles Steinhacker all have animal stories to tell.

Not to be overlooked are our local educators: John Toffey, former English teacher, college counselor and dean of faculty at Berkshire School; Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez from Simon’s Rock, who is the founder of the Berkshire Festival of the Arts; and Emmanuel Dongala, a chemist and novelist who also teaches at Simon’s Rock.

For foodies, Michael Ballon, owner/chef of Castle Street Café, and Miriam Jacobs will provide you with recipes to stimulate the palate.

Biographer Susan Dworkin will share "The Viking in the Wheat Field," which describes the life and achievements of Bent Skovmand, a Danish scientist. Historians Marshall Jon Fisher, Charles Parton, mystery history writer Leslie Wheeler, and Holocaust writers Roselle Chartock and Sonia Pilcer, will all be there -- as will Milton and Ruth Bass, who remind us of who we are and what we can be.

Others attending will be Matt Tannenbaum, owner of The Bookstore in Lenox; David Anderegg; decorative arts writers Gina Hyams and Marlene Hurley Marshall; Karen Berger and musician David Hodge; David Carriere and Richard Wise; mystery writer Jim Ciullo; John Friedman, author of "The History of Lightnin"; Louisa Gilder of quantum physics fame; Rob Robins, artist, raconteur and author of a book on macular degeneration; short-story writer Jessica Treat; columnist Dan Valenti; and novelist Kenneth Markel, who is now writing original ½-hour plays for radio station WBCR-LP at 97.7 FM.

Refreshments will be served all morning. There will be a host of volunteers keeping the
coffee urns filled and the goodie trays passed about. The sponsors say this is always a busy, joyful, noisy event.

At 12:30 p.m., the Friends of the Bushnell-Sage Library host a luncheon for the writers and their guests. Included at the luncheon will be authors from previous celebrations who come to renew friendships, and discuss the process of their craft and the business of getting published.

Information: Bushnell-Sage Library, (413) 229-7004.