April showers bring literary flowers

April is National Poetry Month. In Dayton, it’s also a month blooming with literary events for writers and readers alike. Get out your calendars now and plant some of these events on your schedule!

The Dunbar Literary Circle will focus on “Flowers and Springtime” on Sunday, April 10, 2-4 p.m., at The Dunbar House. The event is free and open to the public. The Dunbar House, part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park, is located on Paul Laurence Dunbar Street, off 3rd Street in Dayton. Visit www.nps.gov/daav/planyourvisit/paul-laurence-dunbar-house-historic-site.htm for details.

April classes at Word’s Worth Writing Center include “The Art of the Steal,” focusing on finding inspiration from other art forms, on Wednesdays, April 13, 20 and 27, 6:30-8:30 p.m. and “Craft a la Carte: Character,” on Thursday, April 21, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Both classes are led by local author Katrina Kittle, and both will be held at The Booksellers at Austin Landing (café area), 3649 Rigby Road, Miamisburg. For more information or to register, visit www.wordsworthdayton.com

Celebrate National Poetry Month on Sunday, April 17, 2-3:30 with Antioch Writers’ Workshop (www.antiochwritersworkshop.com) at a free mini-workshop lead by Grace Curtis (http://n2poetry.com/) an award winning poet whose collections include “The Shape of a Box.” The event will be held at Books & Co. at The Greene.

Join author Trudy Krisher at the Far Hills Speaker Series at Wright Library (1776 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood) on Sunday April 17, 2-4 p.m., as she talks about “The Other Assassination Attempt-Fanny Seward and the Night of Horrors. Trudy is the author of “Fanny Seward: A Life,” about the daughter of Secretary of State William Seward and her experiences on the night of President Lincoln’s assassination when John Wilkes Booth’s co-conspirator attempted to take Secretary William’s life. Learn more about Trudy and her book at www.trudykrisherauthor.com. The event is free and open to the public.

The Western Ohio Writers Association (WOWA) will present Beatnik Café “No Fear of Scars,” a live reading event on Friday, April 22, at 7 p.m. Author members of the WOWA will perform original pieces of prose and poetry to the theme “No Fear of Scars.” The event, which will be held at Books & Co. at The Greene, is free and open to the public for all ages. For more information, visit www.westernohiowriters.org.

The 10th Annual Ohioana Book Festival will be on Saturday, April 23, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., at Sheraton Columbus, at Capitol Square in Columbus, Ohio. The free and open-to-the-public festival features authors who are from Ohio or writing about Ohio. Authors from the Dayton area at the festival include Featured Authors John Scalzi, a renowned science fiction author and David Catrow, a children’s author and illustrator. Also at the festival will be Ann Hagedorn, a nonfiction author who is a Dayton native; Carrie Bebris, a mystery author; Hal McCoy, sports writer and memoirist. Learn more about the festival’s schedule and the more than 120 participating authors at www.ohioana.org

Coloring books for adults are now very popular … and growing in popularity. Local artist Amy Kollar Anderson and local horror author Rob. E. Boley are teaming up to create a dark fantasy color book, “That Naughty Pipe: A Scary Tale of the Pied Piper & Gremlins.” The duo will hold a celebration for the planned book, and its Kickstarter to help fund the book, on Thursday, April 28, 6-9 p.m. at Toxic Brew Company, in the historic Oregon District at 431 E. 5th St., Dayton. Learn more about the event and the creative team at www.robboley.com or www.kollaranderson.com

The seventh annual Dayton Book Expo, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Saturday, April 30, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., David H. Ponitz Conference Center, Sinclair Community College, Great Hall, Building 12, 444 West Third Street, Dayton. Visit with authors, participate in writing and publishing sessions, and take children to the interactive Kidz Zone. More information is available at www.daytonbookexpo.com

And finally, I’m pleased to share that starting in the next week or so, I will have a “Sharon Recommends” end-cap shelf at the Dayton Barnes & Noble (2619 Miamisburg Centerville Road, Dayton). “Sharon Recommends” will be devoted to Dayton-region authors whose books are available through the Dayton Barnes & Noble. This month, in honor of April as National Poetry Month, I’m focusing on poets! Learn more on the Dayton Barnes & Noble Facebook page (

), my Facebook author page (

), or better yet, stop in at the store and explore the “Sharon Recommends” shelf!

About the Author