Veteran Connecticut journalist James Herbert Smith will be at Bethel's Byrd's Books for a discussion and signing of his 5th book, Opinionated Women in the Land of Steady Habits, on Thursday, March 7 from 7 - 8:30 p.m. Yes, his wife, Jacky, the editorial page editor of The News-Times, will be there. So will Linda Tuccio-Koonz, entertainment feature writer for Hearst Connecticut Media, and Jane Stern, Connecticut's go-to food columnist.
All three are among the women who've been published in Connecticut newspapers from the 1950s to the present (including a flashback to 1828) profiled in the book. Each is a singular voice - covering art, fashion, nature, open government, politics, health care, sports, and high society events. Collectively, their voices glimmer with facets of recent history, revealed with clarity, honesty, humor, and vision.
The event is free and open to the public. To save a spot or pre-order a book, click here.
About the panelists:
After 44 years in journalism, James Herbert Smith retired from daily journalism and was inducted two years later into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame. He has served as president of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors, president of the Connecticut Associated Press Managing Editors association, and for five years president of the non-profit Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information. Smith also serves on the board of the New England First Amendment Coalition and the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government. Recipient of numerous awards, Smith was a reporter, city editor, and sports editor at The Hartford Courant and editor of the Connecticut Post, which he led to its first New England Newspaper of the Year Award. He also led The Day of New London, The News-Times of Danbury, the Record-Journal of Meriden, and the New Britain Herald to their first New England Newspaper of the Year awards. He is a recipient of the Yankee Quill Award from the Academy of New England journalists and is a 4-time winner of the First Amendment Award from the Connecticut Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Linda Tuccio-Koonz followed her father into journalism. As a cub reporter in Maine in 1984, she helped the FBI solve a coed’s murder. In 2013, she was part of the writing team that captured a national award for a narrative on the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Much of her career was at The News-Times in Danbury, where she served as the longtime features editor. Her writing also has appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Newsday, as well as in “Chicken Soup for the Working Woman’s Soul.”
Jane Grossman Stern specializes in books about travel, food, and popular culture. With her former husband Michael Stern, they are best known for their Roadfood books, website, and magazine columns, in which they find road food restaurants serving classic American regional specialties and review them. Starting their hunt for regional American food in the early 1970s they were the first food writers to recognize that this food was as worthy to report as was the haute cuisine of other nations. Their book Square Meals put comfort foods, like mac and cheese, meatloaf, and mashed potatoes, on the culinary map. In addition to their food writing, the Sterns have written books on American popular culture, including The New York Times bestselling Elvis World (1987) and The Encyclopaedia of Bad Taste (1990). In all, they have written over 30 books.
More on this distinguished panel can be found at byrdsbooks.com.