Brewster Ladies’ Library Continues Virtual Speaker Series

BREWSTER – Every month, the Brewster Ladies’ Library hosts a number of virtual speaker series, allowing viewers to engage with authors about their work. This month, library staff have arranged for three notable authors to speak about works with themes rooted in America’s past that are more topical than ever. 

 Zoom links will be available for registrants to watch the session live, but a recording will also be available. Registration pages for each event will have a link to submit questions beforehand. 

 On Thursday, Feb. 5 novelist Vanessa Riley will join the library virtually to discuss her new book “Fire Sword and Sea” at 7 p.m. Riley is an award-winning author and recipient of the 2024 Georgia Mystery/Detective Fiction Author of the Year. Her novels bring to life the hidden narratives of Black women and women of color in books like “Island Queen” and “Queen of Exiles.” Many of her stories celebrate strong sisterhoods, diverse communities, and resilience across genres like historical fiction, romance and mystery. Her work has been featured in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and the New York Times.

 Her new book is based onthe folk story of the female pirate Jacquotte Delahaye. Delahaye was the mixed-race daughter of a wealthy tavern owner on the island of Tortuga in 1675. The novel explores themes of gender expression, self-identity and reclamation of power in a male-dominated world. 

 On Thursday, Feb. 12 at 2 p.m., Dr. Lindsey Stewart will share insights into her book “The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic.” As a feminist philosopher, Stewart’s interests are Black feminism, African American philosophy, and social and political philosophy. She is currently an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Memphis and has had work featured in Blavity, Signs, Hypatia, and the British Journal for the History of Philosophy. She holds the 2021 Michael Beaney Prize for her paper "‘Count It All Joy’: Black Women's Interventions In The Abolitionist Tradition." She has also authored the book “The Politics of Black Joy.” 

 Her newest book tells the stories of “Negro Mammies of Slavery; the Voodoo Queens and Blues Women of Reconstruction” and the granny midwives and textile weavers of the Jim Crow era. 

 On Tuesday, Feb. 24, viewers will be joined by Tom Crouch, a Smithsonian veteran of almost 45 years. He has served both the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of American History in a variety of curatorial and administrative posts. He has won a number of major writing awards, including a 1989 Christopher Award, a literary prize recognizing "significant artistic achievement in support of the highest values of the human spirit," for “The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright.” His book “Wings: A History of Aviation From Kites to the Space Age” won the AIAA Gardner-Lasser Literature Prize for 2005.

 Crouch will be discussing “Smithson’s Gamble: The History Behind the World’s Largest Museum,” a book following the unique American establishment and its lasting legacies. The book centers on the fascinating growth and development of the world's largest museum and research complex during its first 60 years, helping to shape the country’s developing identity. 

 To register for any or all of these discussions, visit the Brewster Ladies’ Library website at brewsterladieslibrary.org and navigate to the calendar to select the corresponding date and time. More information about the books and authors is available under each calendar entry.