Join the Lehigh Valley Speculative Fiction Book Club for a Creepy Dracula book discussion, this Halloween season.

This is an in-person book club for the Lehigh Valley, to discuss the new and old books of magical realism, science fiction, weird fiction, fantasy, and other speculative genres of fiction.

Join us once a month at @Book & Puppet Company in Easton.

After the many hours of writing a novel, it's time to do something with it. But what? Take the traditional route? Self-publish it? How? When? Why? Three veteran best-selling and award-winning authors will discuss writing as a business, pros and cons of traditional and indie publishing, the importance of a writing community, and ways to market that book.

Pink Trees Press authors from New York, Phillip Giambri, Dr. Juanita Kirton, Linda Kleinbub, Ron Kolm, and C.O. Moed will be joined by Pennsylvania authors Gaia Abraxas, E. Lynn Alexander, Danielle Notaro, Darrell Parry, and more.

A romance-based panel where the authors discuss how much is too much, or if that’s even option. What is so important about romance and why women can’t get enough of it. Also, why some men may need to read it. Haha.

This interactive children’s workshop introduces students in grades 4 and above to early-stage entrepreneurship. Through fun, hands-on activities, participants will explore how to turn an idea or hobby into a simple business concept, identify whom it could help or serve, create a basic brand, and practice sharing their ideas with confidence. The workshop encourages creativity, communication, professionalism, and practical business thinking. Activities can also be adapted for teens.

A structured workshop: participants will connect moments in their lives (important moments, minor events, memories or dreams, odd moments from yesterday and/or years ago)—with—a mystery element, TBA! in order for the writing process to lead you and your readers somewhere unexpected.

This session will explore the treatment of honest feminist topics in modern publishing. Despite the fact that more than half of the published authors in the US are female, there are still plenty of taboos subjects and challenging situations common to the existence of women that rarely make it to the page. This may be due to gun-shy publishers, a reluctance to offend, editorial bias, or a slow-growing female tolerance for harsher subject matter like gore, violence, horror, or emotional dysfunction. Without examining these areas, though, publishing provides a less-than-honest representation of womankind, skirting around what’s really going on with us girls! Can we convince the world to let us express the authentic (sometimes even shocking) experiences of women through the characters and narrators that appear in our books?

Book release in Spanish. Presentation and book signing by authors from different Latin American countries living in New Jersey: Carlos Caprioli, Patricia Munoz, Monica Herrera, Jhon Valencia, Idali Ramos, Judith Jasso, Cesar Chiesa, and Ivan Rivas.

Antologia 2025 is the first book published by the group Cafe Literario LETRAS.

An interactive bilingual storytelling program for children and families featuring the award-winning Marilu book series. Through engaging read-alouds, audience participation, and conversation, children will explore themes of responsibility, cultural diversity, community, and Puerto Rican heritage. The program encourages literacy, curiosity, and appreciation of different cultures. Children will also have the opportunity to meet the author, ask questions, and learn about the inspiration behind the stories. The Marilu doll will be featured as part of the storytelling experience.

Create a bookmark using a frame loom. You will learn basic weaving techniques to create your very own personalized bookmark.

Never fear, Clifford is here!

Her name was Luna. She was a snail girl. A glittery silver trail shined behind her. Teachers gasped.“A…snail?”“Here?”“But how?” Students whispered.“Interesting.”“Cool.”“Unique!” The garden had never had a snail before. But once it did, it SHINED! The Silver Trail is a story about belonging, inclusion and the quiet but powerful mark we leave on the people around us. Join acclaimed children's TV writer, performer and special needs mom, Venessa M. Diaz in this charming, funny and interactive reading of her debut book, The Silver Trail.

Your kids and the whole family will be entertained and enlightened by this very special storyhour with puppets, that features PrideFest 2022 Royale Champion drag queen Eileen O'Brennan. Children learn tolerance early, and what better way to introduce them to the reality of human variety than in the safe, nurturing space of a children's storyhour?

Ever wanted to start a book club but didn’t know where to begin? This session will cover everything you need to launch and grow a successful book club, from finding members and choosing books to planning engaging discussions, keeping members coming back, and building a welcoming community. Whether you’re starting with friends, at a library, or in your neighborhood, you’ll leave with practical tips and resources to get started.

A Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group sponsored event: Each panelist will read an excerpt of a minor conflict from one of their written works. Each work will be from a different genre. The Genres will be (Women's Fiction, Research Thriller, Appalachian, and Historical Fiction) After each author's reading, the panel will discuss the characteristics of the work that are unique to the genre. After all works have been discussed, the panel will examine differences in the genres and the possibility of cross-genre writing as an effective tool.

A discussion & reading from memoirs—on the topic of writing about family & living with a disability.

Poetry suffers in a culture valuing marketable content over quality. Journals housed in universities suffer funding cuts. Independent presses live or die on shrinking NEA funds. But most of us are already our own editors; with some tools already available, you can control your work’s destiny. Take the outlaw road." Mick Parsons presents more than a how-to, but an explanation as to why indie and diy publishing are the past, present, and future of poetry. Providing tools and suggestions based on more than 20 years of experience as an independent DIY publisher. The key to all of it is community. Know your community. Find your community. Help your community. Build networks. Be realistic about outcomes and expectations, but dream.

Meet and greet dozens of publishers and authors.

Academic writing and literary fiction writing are two completely different missions. Academic writing is meticulous and requires clarity and precision rather than lyricism, illusion, and metaphor. Yet the three novelists on this panel are all Lehigh academics who write fiction. They discuss the challenges and opportunities of dancing in two different ballrooms.

The Unbearables are a loose confederation of poets and writers who came of age in 1980s and 90s New York. Infamous for their high-minded aesthetics and low, barroom manners, the group has sought to torment literary powers-that-be throughout its more than three decades of existence. Collapse Press is an independent publisher and producer of events on both the East Coast locally and the West Coast with a focus on writing that speaks to the challenges of our times.

Women authors in conversation about writing their truth, sharing their stories, and exposing their down and dirty. What happens when women tell their truth? What happens when women write their lives? What happens when women are bold and audacious on the page?

Write and share our own scary stories! Join author and Intuitive Arts Coach Andrea R. Freeman as she guides you through crafting your own scary, Halloween story using various oracle card pulls to develop/prompt your: main characters, setting, plot, etc. 

All families have stories some members don’t want told. Memoirists often struggle with the ethical complexity of telling those stories—with writing about relatives, particularly when their narratives pertain to emotionally-charged conflicts; the revelation of family secrets; contested shared histories; or stories involving such subjects as abuse, trauma, addiction, mental illness pertaining to family members.  Moderator: B.K. Jackson.

Listen, learn, play, and create at an interactive puppet theater storytime with the Narberth Poetry Theater. Make your own puppets and tell your own stories! 

Historical fiction author and college professor Valerie Van Orman explores how to find and create historical fiction stories through family artifacts and genealogical research.

Presented by Mauve Perle Tahat and Kailey Tedesco, two authors featured in the anthology Subtle Body Horror.

Author Jake Lockett reads aloud, and discusses, his children’s picture book My Life as an Asthmanaut.

How much of a true story is actually "true"? This panel explores the boundary between factual recording and literary creation in poetry and memoir writing. While history demands strict facts, the human heart relies on emotional truth. Memory is famously selective, fragmented, and prone to revision over time. Our participating authors will discuss how they navigate the ethical dilemmas of reconstructing dialogue from decades ago, compressing timelines, and filling in the gaps of lost history to shape raw experience into a compelling narrative arc.

What makes a rocking chair so appealing for rocking? People rock for comfort, fun, relaxation, pleasure, or rest, so there must be something special about a rocking chair. In her book, The Red Oak Rocking Chair, author Nelibeth Plaza tells the story of one particular rocking chair that shares surprising, heartwarming, joyful, and sorrowful details of a family.