Register today to listen to free upcoming dialogues from bestselling authors via Fort Bend County Libraries’ Virtual Author Talks.
July’s lineup includes talks by authors Karin Slaughter, Reyna Grande and Dr. Marisa Franco. Collectively, they will cover building relationships at any age, the healing power of storytelling, and upcoming fictional works.
July 14 | 6 pm
THE TALK: Small Towns and Big Secrets
On July 14 at 6 pm, International and New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls, the Will Trent series, and The Good Daughter, Karin Slaughter, will chat about her North Falls series, consisting of We Are All Guilty Here, in which two teenage girls vanish in rural Georgia, and her upcoming sequel, The Secrets We Hide, which releases on August 11.
Slaughter is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty-five novels, including the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and standalone novels Pretty Girls and False Witness.
As an international bestseller, she has been published in 120 countries and has sold more than 40 million copies globally. Pieces of Her, based on her novel, debuted at No. 1 worldwide on Netflix as an original series in 2022. Her bestselling thriller series, Will Trent, is now a television and streaming sensation in its fourth season. The Good Daughter has been adapted into a limited series starring Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy, and further projects are currently in development for film/TV.
Slaughter is also the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming.
July 16 | 1 pm
The Talk: Migrant Heart: The Hidden Cost of the American Dream and Healing Through Storytelling
On July 16 at 1 pm, award-winning and bestselling author of The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home, Reyna Grande, will talk about the power of stories and whether they can heal childhood trauma. According to Grande, this talk is for anyone who sees themselves as a seeker, dreamer, or “anyone who believes in the enduring, transformative power of finding one’s voice.”
With her signature blend of sophistication and raw honesty, Grande interrogates how living between two nations, two languages, and two identities has shaped the woman, mother, and writer she has become. Moving from the legacy of violence in her hometown of Iguala, Mexico, to a bittersweet family vacation in Europe spent reconciling her own impoverished past with her children’s world of abundance, she uncovers startling truths about the nature of survival.
Grande is an award-winning author, motivational speaker, and writing teacher. As a young girl, she crossed the US–Mexico border to join her family in Los Angeles, a harrowing journey chronicled in The Distance Between Us, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.
Her other books include the novels A Ballad of Love and Glory, Across a Hundred Mountains, and Dancing with Butterflies, the memoirs Migrant Heart, The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition, and A Dream Called Home, and the anthology Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings.
July 28 | 1 pm
The Talk: The Power of Connection: Creating Lasting Friendships in an Increasingly Lonely World
On July 28 at 1 pm, psychologist, professor, and New York Times Bestselling author Dr. Marisa Franco will talk about how to harness the science of human connection to create cultures of belonging. She will emphasize that making new friends and deepening longstanding relationships is possible at any age and that there are specific, research-based ways to improve the number and quality of one’s connections.
Known for digesting and communicating science in ways that resonate deeply enough, Dr. Franco writes about friendship for Psychology Today and has been a featured connection expert for major publications such as The New York Times, The Telegraph, and Vice.
She also speaks on belonging at corporations, government agencies, non-profits, and universities across the country, including HarperCollins Publishers, Cisco, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Department of State.
As one of the world’s leading experts in human connection, Dr. Franco explores the science of different attachment styles and how they impact our relationships– often in ways people don’t realize in her book, Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make–And Keep–Friends.
ABOUT VIRTUAL AUTHOR TALKS
Each month, Fort Bend County Libraries showcases a free live virtual author talk series featuring bestselling, award-winning, and highly acclaimed authors and thought leaders from around the world who cover a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.
The series, which is a partnership between Fort Bend County Libraries and Library Speakers Consortium, takes place two to three times a month and includes the opportunity to ask the author questions.
The complete list of upcoming talks and an archive of past recordings are available on Fort Bend County Libraries’ Virtual Author Talks website at https://libraryc.org/fortbendlibraries.
