GATHERING OF AUTHORS AT SILAS BRONSON LIBRARY

WATERBURY, CT- A dozen authors, whose work delves into a variety of different cultures, will be gathered at the Silas Bronson Library for a group book signing on Saturday, September 24, from 11 a.m. to 4. The library event takes place during The Gathering, an annual celebration of music, dance, and food in Library Park which represents dozens of the different ethnic and cultural groups who live in Waterbury.

Authors participating in the event include Pari Forood, an Iranian-American author whose 2015 book, “The Gates of Light,” tells the story of her cousin’s flight to the United States during the Iran-Iraq War in 1984. At the time, Forood was press secretary to U.S. Rep. Hamilton Fish Jr., R-NY, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and an immigration reform advocate. Forood used her connections in Washington to help rescue her cousin from an almost certain death. Today, Forood lives in Connecticut and is the Executive Director of the Miles of Hope breast cancer foundation. Her articles have been published in numerous newspapers and magazines.

José B. González’s bilingual book of poetry, “Toys Made of Rocks,” explores Latin America’s recent history. González came to the United States from El Salvador when he was 8, escaping the country’s civil war with his parents. A Fulbright Scholar to Spain, González has won numerous awards and is a Professor of English at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He has presented at various colleges such as Harvard University and Cornell University; countries including Mexico, Spain, and El Salvador; and institutions including the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. The founder and editor of LatinoStories.Com, he has been featured in the nationally syndicated show American Latino TV and has been a contributor to National Public Radio.

Karen Johnson wrote and illustrated her 2015 children’s book, “Baba the Farmer,” a lyrical story of a father and his five sons. The story includes a sing-a-long portion, as Baba incorporates song into his farm duties. Johnson is the founder of Real Stories from the Heart, offering storytelling performances with a mixture of oral history and folklore, bringing African & Caribbean cultures to life. A Connecticut resident, in 2003 she was nominated for the Governor’s Arts Award by both residents of Connecticut and Nairobi, Kenya for her book, “A Mother Africa Storyteller and Songstress.”

Lyn Miller-Lachmann’s Teen/YA novel, “Surviving Santiago,” follows 16 year old Tina Aguilar during a return to her homeland of Chile during the final months of the Pinochet regime in 1989. In addition to writing novels, Miller-Lachmann translates children’s and young adult books from Portuguese and Spanish to English, and she is the assistant host of a weekly bilingual radio show at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute featuring Latin American and Spanish music, poetry, and history.

Anthony V. Riccio will be signing copies of his 2014 book, “Farms, Factories, and Families: Italian American Women of Connecticut.” Riccio’s book collects oral histories of Italian immigrant women who worked as charcoal burners, clay kneaders, cheese makers, and union organizers, as well as raising families. The women interviewed for the book lived in Waterbury, Naugatuck, New Haven, and several other Connecticut towns. Riccio is Stacks Manager at the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University. He is the author of “The Italian American Experience in New Haven: Images and Oral Histories” and “Boston’s North End: Images and Recollections of an Italian-American Neighborhood,” and the coauthor, with Silvio Suppa, of “Cooking with Chef Silvio: Stories and Authentic Recipes from Campania,” also published by SUNY Press.

Lorraine Mangione’s book, “Daughters, Dads, and the Path through Grief: Tales from Italian America,” is similarly based on interviews with Italian American women. Mangione, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Antioch University New England where she teaches doctoral students in The Department of Clinical Psychology. Her scholarly and teaching interests include group psychotherapy and group dynamics, clinical supervision, and creativity and personal development. She recently became immersed in Italian-American issues, presenting on loss and mourning, fathers and daughters, and film. Her co-author, Donna H. DiCello, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and an assistant clinical professor at Yale University School of Medicine.

Charles Monagan will be signing copies of his novel about Waterbury legend Carrie Welton, best known for the horse fountain on the Green. She was an unconventional Victorian-era woman, descended from the earliest English settlers of Connecticut. Her passions included the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and mountain climbing, the latter of which led to her early death.

Joy Robertson was born in Jamaica, moved to Canada as a teenager, and came to Connecticut in 1990. Her autobiographical book, “Broken Covenant; A Family in Crisis,” explores the crisis her family faced when her husband was diagnosed with, and soon died from, cancer. Robertson was forced to support a college student, keep a mortgage, and raise an unruly adolescent on her own. Through much prayer and divine supernatural help, Robertson was able to navigate her way through this dark time, helping her daughter graduate and keeping her son from becoming another statistic in our country.

Connecticut-based author Wally Wood has written mystery novels based in Japan and Italy. His latest novel, “Death in a Family Business,” was inspired by his work as a volunteer for Western CT SCORE, which provides free business counseling to entrepreneurs at the Silas Bronson Library.

Blanche Somma Feero’s memoir, “Remember to Smile: My Brain Aneurysm and Recovery,” explores her experience with a ruptured brain aneurysm nearly ten years ago. Feero is an adjunct instructor of English at Naugatuck Valley Community College and the founder of the Aphasia Support Group in Waterbury.

Waterbury resident and CNC machinist Joseph R. Adomavicia will have copies of his book of poetry, “A Step Into My Heart,” while another Waterbury resident, James W. Shine, will have his book, “The Whole Classroom Left Behind,” which describes his experience working at a city school.

The Silas Bronson Library is the public library of the City of Waterbury. Located at 267 Grand Street, the Library is open Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturdays from Labor Day to Memorial Day, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. For more information, CLICK HERE