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Redding, CT

Bethel’s Byrd’s Books Launches New Memoir by Redding Author

On October 20 join Bethel’s Byrd’s Books will welcome Redding author Gail Howard

Her subject is marrying across the color line in 1968 and how being the white mother of a Black family has shaped her thinking.  On Friday, October 20th, 7:00 pm, join Bethel’s Byrd’s Books to welcome author Gail Howard as she launches her new book and memoir, White Wife/Blue Baby. Books will be available at the event for sale and signing. Registration is strongly suggested due to space. You may pre-order your book and save a seat by going to ByrdsBooks.com

Gail Howard’s compelling story begins as the author, twenty-one and unmarried, discovers her pregnancy, just as anti-war leaders invite protestors en masse to the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The father, a young Black civil rights worker, is thrilled, but what about Gail's family? The couple fights an invisible war of their own as Gail, not only expecting a Black man’s child, drops out of college mid-semester for reasons she can’t talk about. And when cops repeatedly stop her partner for phony moving violations, Gail wonders if their bond can hold. Their daughter is born fat and full-term, but with a mysterious medical problem. How do Chicago's rage and Gail's secret shame affect her relationship with her companion, and how will it all affect their struggling baby girl?

Gail Howard is retired from teaching and managing college programs at Norwalk Community College, University of Bridgeport and UMass/Amherst. As a survivor of sexual abuse, she draws energy from volunteering with SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). She started writing as a poet, but when people told her that her best poems were super-condensed family stories, she started writing prose about her past. For a few years she taught memoir writing as Truth Be Told Memoir Workshops. But she had to stop for a few years and take her own advice: Write every day. Give your writing the time it needs. The result, White Wife/Blue Baby, provides affirmation and support for those who choose to face their past — and write about it.

Byrd’s Books is located at 178 Greenwood Avenue, across from the Bethel Public Library. Author discussions and Book Group gatherings are regularly added to Byrd’s Books’ calendar of events at ByrdsBooks.com  Hours are Tuesdays to Saturdays 10:00am to 6:00pm, Sunday’s 12:00 noon to 4;00pm, Closed Mondays. For directions to the store or more information, call Byrd’s Books 203 -730-2973. To review the shop’s expanded catalog of new titles, go to ByrdsBooks.com
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Submitted by Redding, CT

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