New England mystery author Debi Graham-Leard
2023-06-03 13:00 - 15:00 UTC | Booklovers’ Gourmet, 72 East Main St, Webster, MA, 01570, United States
New England mystery author Debi Graham-Leard returns to Booklovers’ Gourmet to chat about her most recently published novel titled The Life She Left Behind. She’ll also discuss the 5th book in the Gwen Andrews Series titled Regrets Only due out this summer. Come by to hear how plots are developed, characters deepened, and covers designed.
For more information about the author, visit debigrahamleard.com

About the book:Can We Ever Truly Escape the Life We Left Behind?

After a bitter break-up, Boston editor Morgan Stone dodges her ex-boyfriend’s harassment by driving to Delaware for her twentieth high school reunion.

In the midst of reconnecting with old friends and her reserved mother, Morgan learns that putting distance between herself and her ex has only escalated his
efforts to control her.

While confronting the struggles of her past and the perils of her present, a simmering romance with a classmate creates a tough choice for Morgan’s future…return to Boston or remain in Delaware?

How can she possibly decide which life to leave behind?

Artist's Reception for "Views from a Palace"
2023-06-10 15:00 - 17:00
Join us for a meet & greet with artist Jim Palace. Chat about his techniques and inspiration while enjoying light refreshments.
Free and open to the public.

An Evening of Music with Sam Bowen & Blue Cat Groove
2023-06-10 18:30 - 20:00
Join us for a fun, high energy night of music!
General admission. Seating is limited.
Doors open at 6 p.m.
Beverages and snacks available for purchase. No outside food or drink.
Please use ticket link HERE.

Sam Bowen & Blue Cat Groove is an award winning blues band. They bring their brand of blues/Jazz styling to festivals, clubs, churches and coffeehouses. Founder Samuel Bowen has been performing for three decades including touring Ireland.
BCG has worked with Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre, Michael Sweet, Mitch Mcviker, Shawn Colvin, David Mallet, Tom Conlon, and many others. Their albums have been nominated for awards from Nashville to Massachusetts. Sam’s 2020 release “Bleeding Daylight” continues to gain critical acclaim. Blue Cat Groove was runner up at the Limelight Magazine 2016 best blues band awards and nominated three times for best band of the year: BCG won the 2022 best blues song of the summer at the World Songwriters Awards.

Check out a music video at https://youtu.be/lPqasjc4u4s

Birdhouse with Flowers Multimedia Paint Nite with Jean Walker Creations
2023-06-21 18:00 - 20:00
Join Jean Walker Creations for this fun summer multi-media project!
Finished piece is 11×14 stretched canvas with acrylic paint and origami paper.
*Please bring scissors to class*
All other materials supplied.

Cost is $25. Use ticket link or stop in store to register.
Beverages and snacks will be available for purchase.

Make Your Own Junk Journal
2023-06-24 12:30 - 14:00
Join us for a fun mini junk journal class! All supplies are included. Learn how to use bits and pieces to make your journal. A really easy and fun class.

Junk journals are typically made with junk mail, leftover crafting supplies, and miscellaneous ephemera.
Each journal will have ten pages to work on. Learn to add pockets, fold outs, journal cards and more!

Class will be led by Arteria’s Arts owner Annette Provost.
Cost $25 per person. All materials included.
Just bring yourself and be ready to create something fun and unique!
Use ticket link or stop in store to register.
Minimum 5, Maximum 10 people

A Feast of Losses by Judith Ferrara Book Release & Signing
2023-06-24 15:00 - 17:00
A Feast of Losses documents and celebrates the life of Yetta Dine, the poet Stanley Kunitz’s mother, a fierce, loving, magnificent woman truly worthy of our attention. Kunitz often remarked that a poet makes a myth of his life as a way of traveling the labyrinth of memory and experience to transformation. Close readers of Kunitz’s luminous poems will, in reading this book, gain a sense of the layers of life from which his myths emerged.
—Marie Howe, author of four books of poetry, the most recent, Magdalene
Join us for this free event. Signed books will be available for purchase.
Perhaps the most enduring poet of his generation, Stanley Kunitz once observed that “poetry is for the sake of the life.” Based on his mother’s recently recovered memoir, diary and letters, Judith Ferrara’s A Feast of Losses offers fresh and intimate insights into both her own and her son’s lives.
Yetta Dine emigrated from Lithuania to New York’s Lower East Side in 1890 and learned the garment trade before moving to Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1893 to marry Solomon Kunitz. Readers will have an unprecedented opportunity to hear Yetta’s own voice, understand her story and explore the influence she had on Stanley Kunitz as a poet and a person.
Who was this woman, immortalized as the mother in “The Portrait” who “slapped me hard” when Stanley found his dead father’s portrait in the attic? Yetta’s original papers and the striking details of her life have emerged against all odds—a story within a story.

Judith Ferrara , Ph.D., holds degrees from the University of New Hampshire, Fitchburg State University and the State University College at Buffalo. Her publications in the field of education include Peer Mediation: Finding a Way to Care (Stenhouse Publishers). Her poems, essays and artwork have appeared in three collections and in journals. She received a Worcester Cultural Commission/Massachusetts Cultural Council Creative Arts Fellowship in 2003. In 2018, she received the Stanley Kunitz Medal from the Worcester County Poetry Association. Ferrara lives in Worcester, Massachusetts, with her husband John Gaumond.

July Art Show: Summer at The Beach-Paintings & Drawings by Laura Burnett
2023-07-01 - 2023-07-29
Summer at The Beach, paintings and drawings by Laura Burnett will be on display and for sale July 1st-29th in our cafe gallery. The show consists of things that you can do, or that you may see while at the beach, epecially around the Fourth of July.
A meet the artist reception will take place on Saturday, July 22nd from 3-5 p.m. Free and open to the public.
For more information call 508-949-6232 or email deb@bookloversgourmet.com.

Artist’s Bio: Laura Burnett lives with her family in Woodstock, CT. She is a self-taught painter and crafter who has been drawing since a very young age. She has been painting and crafting for the past 20 years. “I love what I do, when I make a piece for anyone I love to see the joy that it brings to them. My inspiration comes from people and places I have been to & from drawings and doodles I have done.”

CLOSED FOR HOLIDAY
2023-07-04
We will be closed the 4th of July.

Pebble Art Workshop
2023-07-22 11:00 - 13:00
Join Kerry Consentino Vilorio local artist, and owner of The Orange Jellyfish for a crafting class using only materials handpicked off local New England Beaches. We each will create our own family picture using various styles of pebbles, stones, driftwood & scallop shells. Each design allows for the representation of two to six people while being glued onto card stock and enclosed within a glass weathered gray frame. This class is an instructional class, offering continued guidance with the selection of card stock color, beach materials, placement, and gluing process. The workshop allows for a great deal of autonomy with selecting materials, as well as setting one’s own creative work pace.
Reserve your spot ASAP-Don’t Miss Out! All materials included.
Cost: $55/person
Reserve your seat by stopping in store during business hours, calling 508-949-6232 or emailing deb@bookoversgourmet.com
Or use this PayPal link.

Artist Reception for Summer at the Beach
2023-07-22 15:00 - 17:00
Stop by to take in the sights of Summer at the Beach and chat with local artist Laura Burnett about her work and inspiration.
Free & open to the public.
Light refreshments will be served.

Gil Christopher-Book Release Event with Rod Lee
2023-07-29 11:00 - 13:00
Rod Lee of Northbridge, MA a career newspaperman, writer and friend of Booklovers’ Gourmet, will discuss and sign copies of his new book “Gil Christopher,” about coping with the perils of aging.
A novel, “Gil” is autobiographical. The book tracks Mr. Lee’s journey from his hometown of Endicott, New York where he begins to have doubts about his future prospects, to his mid-seventies, when problems with growing old come in a torrent even as he still dreams of publishing a great work of art.
The event is free and signed copies will be available for purchase.
For more information, call 508-949-6232 or email deb@bookloversgourmet.com

Seventh Annual BVAA Sunflower Show
2023-08-01 - 2023-08-31
Sunflower watercolor by Betty Havens
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is celebrating the sun-shaped delight with a Sunflower Show throughout the month of August at Booklovers’ Gourmet in the cafe gallery.
A meet the artists reception will take place on Thursday, August 17th from 4-6 p.m.
Various interpretations of the flower by group members will include paintings, drawings, photography & mixed media.
The show may be viewed during regular business hours Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Wednesday 10am-6pm.

About the Show: If there ever was a flower which symbolized glorious summertime, the sunflower is the one. Did you know that nearly all of the 70 species of sunflowers are native to North America? They can grow to be up to six feet tall and they even tilt as the sun moves so they always face it.
About the BVAA: Since its inception in 1957, the Blackstone Valley Art Association has been dedicated to the advancement of the arts and preservation of the finest artistic traditions by means of exhibitions, classes, lectures, and other activities favorable to artistic expression, and to the development of friendly exchanges amongst artists and those interested in the arts.

POSTPONED-Holy Fire Reiki Experience with Leo McCarthy
2023-08-02 18:30 - 20:00
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED TILL FALL. STAY TUNED FOR NEW DATE!!
About Holy Fire Experience:
During an Experience Leo McCarthy will be conducting a brief guided meditation and then stop talking for about 15 – 20 minutes during which time the Holy Fire® energy will be working directly with each person, providing a unique healing experience that contains what is needed by each person. Some people will have inner experiences such as seeing colors or feeling waves of healing energy flowing through them or visions of spiritual beings and so forth, and others will simply feel relaxed, but that everyone will receive something meaningful that will continue to produce benefits even after the event. After the Experience is complete, everyone will write in their journal or notebook about what they experienced and leave some time afterwards for some people to share their experience-s if they would feel comfortable.
Cost is $25/ticket.

** People attending should bring a journal or notebook to write about their experience.**
About Leo:
Leo J McCarthy » About Leo (leomediummccarthy.net)

A Life Worth Saving book release with Corrine James
2023-08-05 10:30 - 12:00
This is a story of one who was lost but now has been found. A story of redemption, new life in Christ, and a heavenly Father that was ever present and ever pursuing His wayward daughter. A Father that would never leave nor forsake her.

This is a story of everlasting love, forgiveness, and grace. The Lord began calling me to write my story, my testimony, about fifteen years ago. I remember questioning, “Lord, why me?” The Lord began to show me pieces of my life, pieces that were hidden deep within. There was a testimony inside that He wanted me to share, that I needed to share.

Out of that calling, A Life Worth Saving was birthed.
It’s about redeeming love, restored relationships, and freedom that only comes through Christ. It’s about my journey toward Christ, one that has taken me from sadness to joy, hopelessness to redeemed, confusion to truth, and fear to faith.

Signed copies will be available for purchase.

Turtle People Series Children’s Book Signing Event
2023-08-12 10:30 - 12:00
Join us for a fun time learning about sea turtles with Linda Spangrud, Alabama Sea Turtle Volunteer, and International Author who has just released her third children’s book in her Turtle People Series, “Miss Linda and the Turtle People Celebrate Mardi Gras”. In the last three years Ms. Spangrud has published two other children’s books in her series: “Miss Ella and the Turtle People” and “Miss Sandra and the Turtle People”. Her recent release still talks about her passion and favorite topic “coastal living and sea turtle preservation” but has a very different playful twist.
Local 4 Life, a local non-profit organization built around a passion for education, conservation and community-building and based in Webster, MA, will also offer a fun, hands-on project for kids about sea turtles. Ages 6+ are welcome to participate.

The event is free. Signed copies of each of the books will be available for purchase. A portion of the sales from profit of these books will be donated to support Sea Turtle Conservation programs.
To register, please call 508-949-6232 or email deb@bookloversgourmet.com
A retired Illinois educator, Linda Spangrud spent her career as a teacher, principal, and school district administrator. Family and friends are very important to her. She has always loved to read children’s books to her students, son, and grandson. Her zest for living includes writing, reading, golfing, music, and travel. She is an active volunteer in her community and enjoys celebrating Mardi Gras. When moving to the Alabama Gulf Coast with her Tom in 2006, they became involved in the sea turtle (Share the Beach) program. They have been volunteers ever since and continue to love every minute of it.
For more information check out her website: www.spangrud.com and Facebook: Linda Spangrud

Musician Cameron Sutphin
2023-08-12 14:00 - 16:00
Join us for an afternoon of live music!
Local singer/songwriter Cameron Sutphin returns to Booklovers’ Gourmet for an afternoon performance with his folk and country inspired music.
Donations will be accepted.
Cameron Sutphin is an Americana singer/guitar player, in 2017 as a solo act, he released his debut Nashville Recorded CD Heartbreak Town.
Cameron has also had the privilege to share the stage with many performing artists including national touring artist Drew Kelly, Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards, as well as Emily Ann Roberts Season 9 runner-up on The Voice.
Cameron performs original material and classic country and folk cover songs.

BVAA Seventh Annual Sunflower Show Reception
2023-08-17 16:00 - 18:00
Sunset for the sunflower by Mike Zeis
Come meet some of the artists in this group show by members of The Blackstone Valley Art Association, whose work celebrates the sun-shaped delight in the cafe gallery.
Various interpretations of the flower by group members will include paintings, drawings, photography & mixed media.
The show may also be viewed during regular business hours Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Wednesday 10am-6pm.

Bookstore Romance Day!
2023-08-19 10:00 - 17:00
Bookstore Romance Day is a chance to celebrate Romance fiction—its books, readers, and writers—and to strengthen the relationships between independent bookstores and the Romance community.
We are celebrating with a special 25% discount on all new & used romance books, candles, wax melts & essential oils throughout the day. No coupon necessary!
There is also a full slate of FREE virtual events happening that is inclusive & diverse-something for everyone. Check out the options HERE!

Haunting of the Oxford Library Book Signing with Robert Racicot
2023-08-19 11:00 - 13:00
Do you believe in ghosts? The Library Rats: a small group of middle school students who regularly meet at the Oxford Library never thought about that question until they witness a strange sighting. The Rats begin the hunt to find evidence of the possibility that the library could be haunted by a real ghost.
Robert Racicot is a retired Air Force Lt Col and Professor of Chemistry. He is enjoying his retirement years hiking, mountain biking, and writing stories, and poetry. He is the author of the young reader book The Legend of Carbuncle Pond.

Celebrating Women in Fiction: Book Signing Event
2023-08-26 11:30 - 13:00
Jean Grant, Janet Raye Stevens, and Sharon Yang love to write about strong, intelligent women. Whether in warring medieval Scotland, intrigue and adversity-filled WWII home fronts, conflicted modern life, or even ranging across time itself, their heroines face their fears and doubts to overcome adversity with intelligence, integrity, courage, and humor.

Authors will give a brief introduction, do a reading, and then will open it up to audience questions, followed by a book signing.
The event is free. Signed copies of various titles will be available for purchase.

Evening Book Group
2023-08-30 17:30 - 19:00
Join us as we discuss Meet Me At the Lake by Carley Fortune.
A random connection sends two strangers on a daylong adventure where they make a promise one keeps and the other breaks, with life-changing effects, in this breathtaking new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After.
All book group picks receive a 10% discount in store or online.
Let us know if you’re coming by emailing deb@bookloversgourmet.com or calling 508-949-6232.

"Walking About Webster" Photo Exhibit
2023-09-01 - 2023-09-30
For the month of September, we are happy to be hosting a photo exhibit by William “Bil” Gardiner entitled “Walking About Webster”. Bil walked about the town of Webster during the spring and summer of this year photographing around town looking for the parts that make up the whole in Webster.
There will be a meet the artist reception on Saturday, September 9th, from 2-4 p.m. Light refreshments will be served and the public is invited to attend.
In addition to viewing the show, a contest will be held to try to guess the location of each of the photographs in the exhibit, which were all taken somewhere in Webster. The person that accurately guesses the most locations will win one of the featured 12×12 inch photographs of their choice.
Viewing hours of the show are Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Wednesday 10am-6pm, closed Sunday & Monday.
Please note: the store will be closed for vacation September 3rd-8th.

Artist Bio: William “Bil” Gardiner is a portrait photographer and photographic artist from Worcester, MA.
Bil has been a photographer most of his life, getting his first camera from a bubblegum type vending machine when he was around 8 years old.
From April 2012-13, he embarked on a yearlong personal assignment “A Picture a Day,” carrying his camera with him wherever he went, producing one image every day for a year. Through this body of work, a fellow artist noted that his work in this area resembled the Tibetan concept of Miksang, or “Contemplative Eye.” In this way, his work captures only segments of objects, rather than the whole, inviting the viewer to deeper contemplation.
As a result, the photographer needs to slow down and take their time while “contemplating” how to create their image, and the viewer has to take their time while trying to identify what it is they are looking at.

CLOSED FOR VACATION
2023-09-03 - 2023-09-08
We will be closed for vacation September 3rd-8th.
See you back on Saturday, September 9th!

Searching For Atticus book talk & signing with Janice Harvey
2023-09-23 14:00 - 16:00
Molly Medavoy is having a hard time remembering she’s a kid since her father Frank took off on an “extended tour of the Southwest” that never ends. Life with her mother Twig and her quirky little sister Arlene is no picnic. Twig spends most of her days exploring ways to lose weight, while Arlene lines up cold cuts on the linoleum floor. Molly digs deeper into the books she borrows from the library, looking for some answers, wondering if a dad like Atticus Finch really exists. No one pays much attention to Molly – no one but Uncle Timmy, the long-lost Medavoy who shows up on the front stoop.
It’s up to Molly to figure things out for herself as she watches the world spin, from November of 1963 until that tumultuous decade comes to an end. For Molly, the search for an Atticus of her own unearths a few secrets better left buried.
About the Author:
Since 1995, Janice Harvey has been the lead columnist for the independent newspaper Worcester Magazine, winning numerous awards for excellence in humor, and serious column writing and reporting, from the New England Better Newspaper Association. In 2012, Harvey published a collection of her favorite columns for local readers to enjoy. Harvey recently retired after 30 years in public education and lives in Massachusetts, surrounded by kids and grandkids, while working on a second novel set in her beloved city of Worcester.

Evening Book Group September
2023-09-27 17:30 - 19:00
For September, we will discuss The Night Ship by Jesse Kidd. Based on a true story, an epic historical novel from the award-winning author of Things in Jars that illuminates the lives of two characters: a girl shipwrecked on an island off Western Australia and, three hundred years later, a boy finding a home with his grandfather on the very same island.
All book club picks receive a 10% discount in-store or online.
Call us at 508-949-6232 or email deb@bookloversgourmet.com to let us know you’re coming.

SPECIAL HOURS: OPEN 10AM-3PM
2023-09-29 10:00 - 15:00
We apologize for any inconvenience, but we are closing at 3 p.m.

CLOSED TODAY
2023-09-30
We apologize for any inconvenience, but we will be closed today.

October Art Show-Self-Care Through (Imperfect) Creative Expression by Tina Brinks
2023-10-03 - 2023-10-31
We are pleased to present the October Art Show-Self-Care Through (Imperfect) Creative Expression by our very own Tina Brinks!
The show is made up of pieces using different techniques, materials and tools. The pieces express the artist’s interest at various moments in her life and making them helped her navigate her busy life. That is why the pieces are not for sale. They are made because it was enjoyable to do so and are expression of herself. The pieces are also an invitation to try out, to let go of control, to get inspired, to play, to get curious and to ask questions. She hopes the viewer will find inspiration to explore. And since she works at the bookstore, she is available for any conversation you would like to have regarding the show during regular business hours.

Tina has called Webster home since 2002 and after taking care of her family she now works part time at Booklovers’ Gourmet. This is her first art show, and it shows an overview of different tools, techniques and materials used to explore, create and play. For her, creating is first and foremost a process that connects the heart, hand and head and results in a sense of calmness and peace. Especially color, sound and movement are areas of interest. She is always learning and loves to read and hear about different artists, art styles and their creative process. These resources are very inspiring for her and have expanded her horizon in many, many ways.

She learned to knit, crochet and embroider at a young age from her mother and grandmother and was later on blessed with a very creative mother-in-law as well. She was encouraged to try out new things and enjoy the process of making.

Banned Books Week
2023-10-03 - 2023-10-07
Join us in celebrating Banned Books Week! This year’s theme is “Let Freedom Read”.

Stop in the store anytime this week during regular business hours to participate.
Pick up some free stickers, pins & bookmarks, a checklist of 2022’s most challenged books,
and get special discounts on select “banned books” including classics & more!

Human Rights Book Signing & Art Display with Thaer Abdallah
2023-10-14 14:00 - 16:00
Booklovers’ Gourmet and local Amnesty International Group #356, of Webster, MA, are co-hosting a book signing, talk and art display featuring human rights activist and artist Thaer Abdallah.
He will be signing and discussing his book Song in the Desert: My Journey from Baghdad to Boston.
Signed copies will be for sale with proceeds to benefit Amnesty International Group #356. Donations will also be accepted.
Some of his paintings will also be on display.
For more information call 508-949-6232 or email deb@bookloversgourmet.com.

Thaer Abdallah is a Palestinian artist and human rights activist who was born in Iraq and grew up in Baghdad in a one-bedroom apartment with his 12 brothers and sisters. Together they survived three wars and unbelievable challenges, culminating in the kidnapping and torture of Palestinian community members following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Thaer’s story of hope and resilience leads him from the streets of Baghdad to the empty desert, from loneliness to love, from the pain of imprisonment and torture to an impossible dream of new life in a foreign land. His example of courage and survival gives hope to all who suffer seemingly insurmountable challenges, and shines a light through the darkness of our times.
Founded in 1961, Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 10 million people in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end abuses of human rights. For more information about Amnesty International, please visit www.amnesty.org.
