Announcing our 2026 Spring Author Series
Our Spring 2026 Author Talks are scheduled!
FOSEL has evolved the South End Library Author Series to reach beyond the South End and Boston to entice our friends and neighbors to experience acclaimed authors, their books, and the conversations they generate.
This season enjoy a stimulating evening connecting with admired authors whose work will range across multiple genres and geographies! It’s a great time to connect with friends and neighbors! After the talk and Q&A discussion, take advantage of the opportunity to purchase the showcased book(s), enjoy the signing, and appreciate appetizers, wine or soft drinks with other readers from the South End.
Parkside Books, our new neighborhood bookstore at 260 Shawmut Ave, will be on site to sell the books and it will be a good moment to connect with them as well. https://www.parksidebookshop.com/
Our Spring 2026 series of three sessions will be held at the United Church at 485 Columbus Ave, at 6:30pm in the Connection Room. They will be available by Zoom for those who are unable to come in person and enjoy the camaraderie, refreshments, and book signings of these events.
FOSEL wishes ALL a peaceful and safe Holiday Season
Friends of the South End Library are so very grateful for all the support from the South End community – our donors, our engaged neighbors, our city workers, and our elected officials. We wish ALL a peaceful and safe holiday season and a happy new year that we hope will include the start of a new library building.
A large crowd was energized and delighted to hear from Ilyon Woo in our final author talk of the Fall 2025 series
In spite of a little rain, the crowd for our final author talk of the Fall 2025 series was energized and delighted to hear from Ilyon Woo about her Pulitzer prize winning book, Master Slave Husband Wife. Thanks to all who came out and to the folks who attended virtually.
Through Sara DiVello’s masterful interviewing we learned so much about Woo’s impetus for writing the book, her research, and her feelings about the characters in this amazing and harrowing true story of escape from slavery. We also learned she is writing a children’s version of this courageous couple from scratch to teach and engage that age group about an important part of our history.
To all who missed it, the video recording is available on our FOSEL Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FriendsoftheSouthEndLibrary
Or via Zoom link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/Ff-mHtW-ykH0i1XHhXuhsagYagvwYUNj_l8dNsgi0RPoiz21hS8pvQpWNq3pqB_w.BWV6Z3nbRAFwAT_H
Passcode: Z1^tgmEB
For future programs check this page as winter progresses and we make plans.
Union Church welcomed us for the spellbinding author interview with Alma Katsu & FOSEL’s Sara DiVello
Alma Katsu, author of Fiend and interviewer Sara DiVello kept us on the edge of our seats as they explored Alma’s career journey from CIA Analyst to novelist of multiple books in the spy and horror genres. We learned that Alma’s drive to write ultimately required she leave the CIA to pursue her current passion.
Born in Alaska but raised here in Concord, MA, Alma began writing before her intelligence career, and returned to it, publishing her first novel, The Taker, in 2011. Her novels often blend genres, such as historical fiction with the supernatural, evidenced in The Hunger, a story of the Donner Party, which received an NPR award for horror.
Alma shared that The Fiend, a story about a wildly financially successful family with a terrifying evil demon was inspired in part by the acclaimed TV series Succession and has many parallels with some of today’s real situations like the Sacklers, the Murdochs, and others.
Our next author talk will be on December 10th with local author, Ilyon Woo, sharing her experience writing Pulitzer Prize winning, Master Slave Husband Wife. Join us at 6:30pm at Union Church, 485 Columbus Ave, Boston.