Events at The Sparkle Bookstore
Join us for exciting literary events, author readings, book clubs, and community gatherings. Stay updated with our latest happenings!
Upcoming Events & Classes
Welcome Your Autistic Grandchild Home
A chat and Q&A with Jennifer Kaufman, author of Grandparenting on the Spectrum.
Jennifer Kaufman MSET, MAEd, brings a rare dual perspective to autism education and family support. As both the principal of EPIC School, a specialized school for students with autism, and the grandmother of a child on the autism spectrum, she bridges professional expertise with deeply personal experience. With over 20 years in special education and 15 years as a school principal, Jen has transformed her unique insights into practical guidance for families navigating the autism journey.
Books will be available for purchase in advance and at the event.
How You Choose to Show Up: Interview with Marcy Axelrod by Richard Skipper
Showing Up is:
~How readily we look into each other's eyes . . .
~How effectively our schools and workplaces function . . .
~How we build prosperous societies . . .
~How nations come together toward peace . . .
~And how our environment heals.
Want to hear more about how to truly show up more often and with greater ease?
Join us as we welcome award-winning author Marcy Axelrod in conversation with local entertainment artist Richard Skipper.
Marcy has spent the past twenty-five years uncovering nature's model of how human beings are designed to thrive. Since 1999, her insights have helped individuals, teams, and some of the world's largest companies succeed.
Richard is an award-winning entertainer, storyteller, and legacy artist whose career spans more than 46 years. Through his platform Richard Skipper Celebrates and his website CallonDolly.com, he has interviewed thousands of artists and created tributes to icons like Carol Channing and Jerry Herman.
Meet Novelist Suzy Vitello
Welcome to our second author meet-and-greet!
Full of memorable characters, poignance, and humor, Suzy's crime fiction captures American families immersed in relatable situations: economic downturns, inheritance squabbles, Covid trauma . . . and murder.
Please join us in welcoming her and celebrating the release of her latest novel, The Bequest.
Books will be available for purchase in advance and at the event.
Make a Mini-Notebook! Bookbinding with Manojit Nandi
Join us for an introduction to bookbinding. Learn how books evolved to the styles we see today, how we make them, and about bookbinding in the digital age. Make your own mini-notebook using basic techniques. All materials will be provided for this introduction and are easy to obtain for our future projects; we suggest a fee of $5 to cover expenses.
Manojit is a Sparkle "early adopter" in our community. We're so glad he can share his expertise with us!
Sparklers: One-Hour Fiction Workshop with Jeff Bens Class
FINDING YOUR AUTHENTIC VOICE: Writing from the Emotional World of the Protagonist
In this one hour workshop, for writers of all genres and styles, we'll explore how to locate and write from our work's authentic, compelling voice. Voice arises naturally from the emotional world of our protagonist. We don't need to force it or even think it up.
We'll look at examples of voice from novels, short stories and a screenplay, then we'll practice the technique with our own work in progress or from a prompt, taking away a felt, intuitive approach to language, cadence, rhythm and structure that tells our stories, imagined or real, with earned momentum and genuine depth.
Thursday October 2 at 6pm
Jeff W. Bens is author of the novels The Mighty Oak and Albert, Himself. Jeff's short fiction and essays are published widely. He teaches at Manhatanville University.
Past Events & Classes
Book Fair at Ramapo Senior Activity Center
We look forward to bringing some sparkle to our friends at the Ramapo Senior Activity Center! We will have a selection of new and used fiction and nonfiction, some large print titles, puzzles, and coloring books. If you or a friend or loved one enjoys spending the day at the Center, we look forward to seeing you.
Kisses for K-9s! Meet Romantic Suspense Author Tee O'Fallon
Not all heroes are human! In honor of National Dog Day we are hosting Tee for a meet-and-greet featuring her K-9 Special Ops series, a 3-book collection of fast-paced action, heart-stopping suspense, and spicy romance -- with hunky dogs as well as hunky heroes.
Enter a raffle to benefit Carnival for Canines -- you might win tickets, a basket packed with doggie swag worth over $100, or a blingy pawprint necklace! And sneak a nibble of chocolate with us in the Sparkle Snack Bar. Drawing at 4pm.
Poetry Open Mic
Hosted by poet laureate of Rockland Juan Pablo Mobili.
We hope to make open mics a regular invitation to the poetry community! Please join us for our first gathering.
~ We will feature 8 poets in 5-minute slots. Five minutes is about long enough to read 3 haikus or a single poem with 3 to 4 stanzas (but not long enough to read a canto from the Divine Comedy!).
~ Please arrive a little before our start time to sign up so that we can begin promptly.
~ At sign up, we will also ask you to write down a single line introducing yourself and your work. Our host, Juan Mobili, will introduce you.
~ Please respect the time slots! We would like everyone to have the opportunity to read without feeling rushed.
We look forward to your work!
Community Meet-and-Greet with Book and Wine Pairings
We're pleased to partner with our neighbors The Grape D'Vine for our first books-and-wine community meet-and-greet!
D'Vine owner Joe Printz's super power is to suggest wine to pair with whatever food combinations you come up with -- and we hereby make him a "lit" wine expert too. He's studying a list of books from our inventory and pairing them with fun wines. Sample them along with snacks and hang out with us! Non-alcoholic sparkling will also be available.
The Flealess Flea Market
The Flealess Flea Market will take place in the side yard at 642 Main Street, Sparkill, right next to The Sparkle. Catique is pulling out all the stops to support Care About the Strays and Feed the Ferals. All proceeds from the sale of unique and excellent condition thrift household items and clothes will benefit the kitties.
Bring catfood, bagged or canned, and kitty litter to help provide for fostered strays.
You can also buy a raffle ticket to support the cause . . . and for the chance to win $10,000.
The Sparkle will provide space (and probably our tent), will sell food and drinks, and will also donate part of our sales that day to benefit the cats.
Opening Weekend Author Meet & Greet
Cozy up with local authors in our cafe space!
