A couple of legacies and a mystery will be the topics of discussion and exploration during Fort Bend County Libraries’ upcoming Virtual Author Talks, so register today for your chance to hear the dialogue.
The August lineup includes talks by Smithsonian curator Paula J. Johnson, award-winning plant biologist and author Dr. Beronda Montgomery, and New York Times bestselling author Lucy Foley.
August 4 | 1 pm
THE TALK: The Legacy of Julia Child’s Kitchen
On Aug. 4 at 1 pm, Paula J. Johnson, curator and public historian at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, will delve into the legacy of cooking icon Julia Child.
Johnson is the author of Julia Child’s Kitchen: The Design, Tools, Stories, and Legacy of an Iconic Space, which includes interviews with chefs who knew Julia, commentary on Julia’s favorite culinary tools and kitchen gadgets, and a stunning array of photos.
During the virtual talk, Johnson will discuss how Julia Child continues to influence food today.
Johnson serves as the Director of the Smithsonian’s Food History Project, conducts research, and collects objects relating to the history and culture of US American food and consumption. She led the team that created “Food: Transforming the American Table,” a multi-layered exhibition that explores the major changes in food production, distribution, and consumption in the United States since the 1950s.
She was also one of the curators who collected Julia Child’s home kitchen in 2001. Julia Child’s 20’ x 14’ kitchen was a serious workspace and recipe testing lab that exuded a sense of mid-century homey comfort. It has been on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., for most of the past 23 years, and museumgoers have made it a top destination.
The kitchen contains more than one thousand parts and pieces—tools, appliances, utensils, furniture, artwork, knick-knacks, books, and bits of whimsy—all reflecting Julia’s status as an accomplished chef, gastronome, delightful cooking teacher, television trailblazer, women’s advocate, mentor, and generous, jovial friend.
Johnson is the author of many articles and three books, including Julia Child’s Kitchen, and received the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar in the Humanities Award in 2020.
August 25 | 1 pm
THE TALK: When Trees Testify: Reclaiming America’s Black Botanical Legacy
On Aug. 25 at 1 pm, award-winning plant biologist and author Dr. Beronda Montgomery will discuss how the histories of trees in America are also the histories of Black Americans.
Montgomery, who is an award-winning biologist, is the author of When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy. In her work, Montgomery explores the ways seven trees, as well as the cotton shrub, are intertwined with Black history and culture. She reveals how knowledge surrounding these trees has shaped America since the very beginning.
As Montgomery shows, trees are material witnesses to the lives of enslaved Africans and their descendants. Pecan trees were domesticated by an enslaved African named Antoine; sycamore trees were both havens and signposts for people trying to escape enslavement; poplar trees are historically associated with lynching; and willow bark has offered the gift of medicine.
These trees, and others, testify not only to the complexity of the Black American narrative but also to a heritage of Black botanical expertise that, like Native American traditions, predates the United States entirely.
Dr. Montgomery is a researcher and scholar who pursues a common theme of understanding how individuals perceive, respond to, and are impacted by the environments in which they exist.
Her primary laboratory-based research has been focused on the responses of photosynthetic organisms (i.e., plants and cyanobacteria) to external light cues. Furthermore, Dr. Montgomery pursues this theme in the context of effective mentoring and leadership of individuals and the role of innovative leaders in supporting success.
Combining the wisdom of science and history with stories from her own path to botany, Dr. Montgomery talks to majestic trees, and in this unique and compelling narrative, they answer.
August 27 | 1 pm
THE TALK: When Trees Testify: Reclaiming America’s Black Botanical Legacy
On Aug. 27 at 1 pm, Lucy Foley, a Sunday Times, Irish Times and New York Times bestselling author, will hold a thrilling conversation about her new Miss Marple mystery, Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, set for publication in September 2026.
Foley is a No.1 Sunday Times, Irish Times, and New York Times bestselling author, and more than 10 million copies of her books are in print worldwide, and several are currently being adapted for the screen.
As a lifelong Agatha Christie fan, Lucy has drawn immeasurable inspiration from the Queen of Crime. She was one of 12 writers to contribute to Marple, a collection of short stories featuring the beloved detective. In Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, she was inspired to transport Miss Marple – her favorite Christie creation – to the glamorous post-war setting of the Swiss Alps, in a mystery that feels gloriously escapist yet utterly relevant to current times.
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.
