Short story, book, play, film, and television discussion classes are scattered throughout the year to give you ample time for pleasure reading and viewing between each one. Pick a course or two to suit your literary tastes and register today!

*Pair this course with a very special event coming up later this spring:

Author Visit: Alice McDermott, Absolution (2023)

Monday, May 6 • 1:00pm-2:15pm • Zoom • Course 12590 • $30

Separate registration is required.

Author Visit: Will Schwalbe,

We Should Not Be Friends (2023)

Wednesday, April 3 • 1:00pm-2:30pm • Zoom •

Course 12440 • $25

Meet author and publishing executive Will Schwalbe to discuss his prolific, multi-faceted career, including his most recent memoir We Should Not Be Friends (2023). The book recounts his unexpected, 40+ year friendship with former Navy SEAL Chris Maxey and demonstrates the enriching and transformative power of friendships, especially unlikely ones. A lifelong bibliophile, Schwalbe will also address the pleasures and complexities of crafting a memoir, recent transformations in the publishing industry, why reading and discussing books still matter in today’s distracted, 24/7 smart-phone environment, and other topics at the intersection of literature, learning, love, and life. Time will be reserved for audience Q&A.

WILL SCHWALBE is the author of We Should Not Be Friends (2023) as well as two previous memoirs: The End of Your Life Book Club (2012), about the books he read in tandem with his mother while she was dying of cancer, and Books for Living (2017) a spirited narrative about how books can help us live more meaningful and emotionally connected lives. A long-time resident of New England, Schwalbe attended Yale University and worked as a journalist before becoming an editor at New York City publishing houses.

LORI ROTSKOFF is a cultural historian, writer, educator, and public speaker specializing in memoirs and narrative nonfiction, childhood and youth, women’s and gender studies, and arts and culture. She studied history and literature at Northwestern University and earned a PhD in American Studies at Yale.

Author Visit and Book Discussion:

Asha Lemmie, The Wildest Sun (2023)

Tuesday, April 9 • 1:00pm-2:15pm • Zoom •

Course 12578 • $30

Meet Asha Lemmie, New York Times bestselling author of Fifty Words for Rain, in conversation with Anna Katsavos as they discuss Lemmie's latest novel, The Wildest Sun (2023). Immediately after, dive into a book discussion. This sweeping and evocative coming-of-age story follows a young woman escaping her past in postwar Paris as she searches for the larger-than-life man, Ernest Hemingway, whom she believes to be her father. This book is an entrancing and surprising portrait of a young woman's struggle to find her identity in the midst of both personal and political turmoil.

ASHA LEMMIE is the New York Times bestselling author of Fifty Words For Rain and The Wildest Sun. She holds a BA in English Literature from Boston College and is a graduate student at Columbia University. Her historical fiction writing focuses on bringing unique perspectives to life.

ANNA KATSAVOS, PhD, is an experienced book group facilitator. A SUNY Professor Emerita of English Literature and Women’s Studies, she has received numerous awards for teaching, and her scholarship has been published in a variety of literary journals. She has interviewed many best-selling authors and has presented interactive programs focusing on a wide range of women’s issues. Additionally, she conducts writing, editing and publishing workshops.

Registration is still open for next Thursday's walking tour and the following Monday's author visit

Walking Tour:

Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature

at the Morgan Library and Museum

Thursday, March 21 • 1:30pm-3:00pm •

Morgan Library and Museum • Course 12423 • $80

Creator of unforgettable animal characters like Peter Rabbit, Mr. Jeremy Fisher, and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, the beloved children’s book author and illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) rooted her fiction in the natural world. Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature (February 23, 2024 through June 9, 2024) reunites her artwork, books, manuscripts, and artifacts from multiple institutions in the United Kingdom with the Morgan Library’s exceptional collection of her picture letters. Together, these objects trace how Potter’s innovative blend of scientific observation and imaginative storytelling shaped some of the world’s most popular children’s books.

HELEN LEE is an independent art educator, conducting research and crafting personal, customizable, in-person and virtual gallery experiences for adults and children at several museums. She studied art history as an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with areas of concentration in Asian Art and Modern Art.

Author Visit and Book Discussion:

Thrity Umrigar

The Museum of Failures (2023)

Monday, March 25 • 1:00pm-2:30pm • Zoom •

Course 12441 • $30

Meet best-selling author Thrity Umrigar in a half-hour conversation with Anna Katsavos as they discuss Umrigar's latest critically-acclaimed novel, The Museum of Failures (2023). Immediately after, dive into a book discussion. A story of family, frailty, and forgiveness, this book's focus is on the relationship between Remy Wadia who returns to visit his family in India after a long absence and his ailing, hospitalized mother. Newly disclosed family secrets cause Remy to reevaluate his entire childhood and his relationship to his parents at the point that he is about to become a parent himself. Grief, bewilderment, nostalgia, displacement, and guilt yield to redemption and healing in this heartfelt tale.

THRITY UMRIGAR is a best-selling author of the novels Bombay Time, The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet, The Weight of Heaven, The World We Found, The Story Hour, Everybody’s Son, The Secrets Between Us, and Honor. She has also published a memoir and three children’s picture books along with many essays and articles. She is currently a Distinguished University Professor of English at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She was raised in Bombay, India, as a Parsi child attending a Catholic school in a predominantly Hindu country before coming to the United States at age 21. Her latest novel, The Museum of Failures, was named a best book of 2023 by NPR and others.

ANNA KATSAVOS, PhD, is an experienced book group facilitator. A SUNY Professor Emerita of English Literature and Women’s Studies, she has received numerous awards for teaching, and her scholarship has been published in a variety of literary journals. She has interviewed many best-selling authors and has presented interactive programs focusing on a wide range of women’s issues. Additionally, she conducts writing, editing and publishing workshops.

Scarsdale Adult School | 914-723-2325 | P.O. Box 205, Scarsdale, NY 10583 | www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org

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