Cocktails and Conversation: Gift Giving Edition

As the holidays approach Santa’s not the only one making a list. Luckily a book makes the perfect gift: Non perishable, easy to wrap, never out of style. But how to choose? Cocktails & Conversation to the rescue! On Thursday, December 9th join the New Rochelle Public Library Foundation for a special edition of Cocktails & Conversation focused on holiday gift giving.

The panel will talk about what to give and what to get in the world of books – with lots of great suggestions for books that inspire, entertain, amuse, even confound. On the panel: Jeff Pearlman, sportswriter/NYT bestselling author; Josh Christie, owner of Print Bookstore (Maine), and beer writer/cookbook connoisseur; Nicole Kear, memoirist/kids writer/YA novelist; and NRPL Trustee Dierdra Gray Clark.

The Cocktails & Conversation events take place via Zoom at 8 pm; admission is free but a $25 donation is suggested – and appreciated. To register go to www.nrplfoundation.org.

Cocktails & Conversation is one of the NRPL Foundation’s signature events, designed to bring book lovers together. The evenings feature authors in a discussion moderated by Prof. Amy Bass, Ph.D., NRPL Foundation Board Member, historian and acclaimed author (One Goal: A Coach, A Team and the Game That Brought A Divided Town Together). Participants sign up in advance to receive the Zoom link and the recipe for a signature cocktail to make (and enjoy) at home.

About the Panel

Nicole C. Kear is the author of the memoir Now I See You (St. Martin’s Press), chosen as a Must-Read by People, Amazon, Martha Stewart Living, Parade, Redbook, and Marie Claire UK among others. Her books for children include the middle grade novel Foreverland, the chapter book series The Fix-It Friends, and the middle grade series The Startup Squad, co-written with Brian Weisfeld (all published by Macmillan Kids’ Imprint). Her essays appear in The New York Times, Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, New York, and Psychology Today, among others. She teaches non-fiction writing at Columbia University and the NYU School of Professional Studies. A native of New York, she received a BA from Yale, a MA from Columbia, and a red nose from the San Francisco School of Circus Arts. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, three children and one very fluffy puppy.

Jeff Pearlman is the NYT best-selling author of nine books, as well as the host of the Two Writers Slinging Yang podcast. He was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated and a columnist for Yahoo, ESPN.com and The Athletic. He smells like wool.

Josh Christie is co-owner of Print Bookstore in Portland, Maine, and author of Maine Beer: Brewing in Vacationland among other titles (primarily about beer and skiing). Cookbook connoisseur, and a mover and shaker in indie book scene. Read more about him here: https://www.pressherald.com/2021/11/21/a-bookseller-has-a-sideline-baking-pie/

Dierdra Gray Clark is a Trustee of the New Rochelle Public Library and a Associate Pastor at New York Covenenat Church. A native of New Rochelle, she graduated from Mount Holyoke College, then moved to Washington D.C where she worked on Capitol Hill and completed a graduate degree in public policy from Columbia University. Dierdra received her M.Div from Alliance Theological Seminary. At NYCC, Dierdra leads the annual Covenant Justice Coalition Conference, which works to educate and train the church community on issues of justice. Dierdra and her husband Tim have 5 children.

Amy Bass is Professor of Sport Studies at Manhattanville College, where her interests focus on sport, culture, and politics, and Chair of the Division of Social Science & Communication. She received a Ph.D. with distinction in history with a comparative in cultural studies from Stony Brook University, and did her undergraduate work at Bates College. Her first book, Not the Triumph but the Struggle: the 1968 Olympic Games and the Making of the Black Athlete, is considered a standard-bearer for those interested in studying sport from a cultural perspective. Her followup, In the Game, solidified that reputation. Her third book, Those About Him Remained Silent: the Battle over W.E.B. Du Bois, received Honorable Mention from the National Council on Public History. Her most recent work, ONE GOAL: A Coach, A Team, and the Game that brought a Divided Town Together, was named a best book of 2018 by the Boston Globe and Library Journal, and has been optioned by Netflix.