Dennis Lehane has given many readings for his award-winning 2012 suspense novel, “Live by Night,” and may talk about it one more time on Tuesday, May 14 when he comes to the South End branch of the BPL as part of its The South End Writes series.  But then again, he may veer off into other subjects close to his heart, including Boston’s Authentic Voice, Dorchester Youth, the Boston Public Library  (of which is is a trustee) Movies, Boston, the Process of Writing, the Marathon Bombing or The Strength and Character of Our City. He penned the moving, defiant, compassionate and clear-eyed Op-Ed article for the New York Times about the state of his city the day after the Marathon bombing. If he wasn’t already a Voice for Boston then, “Messing with the Wrong City” made him one in full that day.

Since his first novel, A Drink Before the War (1994) –which won the Shamus Award,– Lehane has published nine others that have been translated into more than 30 languages and become international bestsellers: Darkness (1995), Take My Hand (1996); Sacred (1997); Gone, Baby, Gone (1998); Prayers for Rain (1999); Mystic River (2001); Shutter Island (2003); The Given Day (2008); Moonlight Mile (2010), and Live By Night. Three were adapted for film: the Academy Award-winning Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island, directed by, respectively, Clint Eastwood, Ben Affleck and Martin Scorcese.   Coronado (2006), a collection of five stories included Until Gwen, which was selected for The Best American Short Stories 2005, The Best American Mystery Short Stories 2005, and New Stories from the South 2005. A play by the same name, Coronado (2005) was produced for the stage in New York City; Chicago; San Francisco; and Genoa, Italy. The Dorchester born-and-bred Lehane is Writer-in-Residence at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the co-director of the Writers in Paradise Conference. He was a staff writer for HBO’s The Wire, and is a writer/producer on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. He has taught fiction and literature at the Harvard Extension School, the Stonecoast MFA Program, and Tufts University.

The event starts at 6:30 PM. Seating is limited. Books will be available for borrowing and sale. 

NEXT SOUTH END WRITES READINGS:

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Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman has published a total of twenty-one novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults. Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. Hoffman’s work has been published in more than twenty translations and some one hundred foreign editions. Her novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. The distinguished author wrote the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Wiest. Her teen novel. Aquamarine, was made into a film starring Emma Roberts. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and other magazines. Her latest,  The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. She will be introduced at this talk by another distinguished writer, Sue Miller.

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Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Stone,

the local filmmaker whose mesmerizing documentary, Angelo Unwritten, has followed the life of a teenager adopted out of foster care when he was twelve, will return with an update of new material gathered since December 2011.

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Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m.

Philip Gambone  

will return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

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