2026 Summer Authors

Steve Thomas
Thursday, June 11 at 6:00pm

Steve Thomas is familiar to television viewers as the two-time Emmy award-winning host of This Old House, Renovation Nation, and Save Our History. But he is also an experienced blue water sailor. Beginning in 1977, he sailed a 43-foot wooden sloop from England to San Francisco via the Panama Canal, Galapagos, Marquesas, and Hawaii. In the early 1980’s, he journeyed to the remote Micronesian island of Satawal to learn the ancient technique of star path navigation, an experience that resulted in this book as well as a documentary for the PBS series Adventure.

This lecture, richly illustrated with Steve’s photographs, will take us to a remote island in Micronesia into a world of ocean navigation largely unknown to the West; a world in which the traditional navigator’s only directional tools are the stars, the ocean swells, and the flight paths of birds.

 

Christina Baker Kline
Friday, July 10 at 10:00am

Join Christina for this morning as she presents the history behind her new book, The Foursome. Often drawn to people on the margins of history, Christina delves into her own family history to tell the story of two sisters, Sarah and Adelaide Yates, who lived in 19th-century North Carolina and married the famous conjoined twins, Chang and Eng Bunker. A slideshow of images will accompany Christina’s presentation.

Spanning five decades and unfolding against the backdrop of a fractured nation hurtling toward war, “The Foursome” is both intimate and epic: a story of love and constraint, identity and reinvention. With piercing insight and emotional precision, Kline brings to life a forgotten chapter of American history and the complex, boundary-defying marriages at its center.

Christina is happy to answer audience questions before she signs books.

Paul Doiron
Tuesday, July 14 at 6:00pm

Paul Doiron is the author of the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels, including The Poacher’s Son, which won the the Barry Award and the Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel.

Paul will be in conversation with Gillian French about his new book, Storm Tide, Mike Bowditch’s sixteenth adventure into mystery and suspense. This book is scheduled for release on June 30.

“Bowditch series fans will be impressed with the pacing, the physical tests Mike endures, and the presence of core characters in this latest book…Doiron’s fantastic procedural series continues to hit a satisfying stride.” ―Library Journal

“Twisty… Doiron tightens [the] web with an insistent mastery that will keep most readers from noticing just how far-reaching it is until they’ve gained the end and can take some deep, cleansing breaths.” ―Kirkus Reviews