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
Sparklers: One-Hour 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
$10
You'll be asked to register with our website, which will allow us to record your enrollment.
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.
This event is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Vendor Fair
Join us in welcoming local crafters and vendors to our side yard, weather permitting!
Further details TBA. If you are interested in featuring your creations, please get in touch. Visit out About page for contact information. There is no fee to participate. Just good local vibes!
~ Catique Boutique will bring retro home decor
~ Weiss Workshop will bring fanciful beeswax candles, 3D printed art, and more
Little Ones Reading Circle with Audrey Barbakoff
Join us in welcoming Audrey Barbakoff as she reads from her new board book Mazel Toes, which celebrates generations of love for new babies with playful, Yiddish-inflected rhymes and sweet gestures for every part of the body, like a kiss on the keppie and a boop on the nose.
No purchase necessary.
Books will be available for purchase at the event, as well as in advance.
Meet Jenna Schroeder - A Reading for Kids, 5 and Up
Join us as we welcome Jenna Schroeder, author of the comic romp Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza: Case of the Missing Hat, the lovely Are Enchanted Forests Real, and her newest book, the seasonally perfect Let Go, Little Leaf!
A perfect Friday evening for children aged 5 and up.
Pop-up at Green Meadow Fall Fair
We'll have a selection of children's books and gifts at the Fair, corner of Hungry Hollow Road and Chestnut Ridge Road in Chestnut Ridge, New York. The Fair features vendors of gifts and crafts; students will serve baked goods, hot and cold drinks, and grilled fare. Our Sparkill store will still be open.
Poetry Open Mic
Hosted by Patrick Aquino (I. Buenaventura). Patrick is a poet, martial arts practitioner and teacher, and LGBTQ+ activist from New Jersey.
Please join us for our Fall 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 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 Potluck with D'Vine Wines
We’re partnering with D’Vine again and gathering for a community potluck! Purchase a cookbook at The Sparkle, choose a recipe for an appetizer or side dish, and bring your dish to share. Enjoy the bounty with a taste of wines selected by Joe Printz for your fall and winter table.
Choose from these suggestions or purchase any cookbook from The Sparkle. If you’ve purchased a cookbook through our Bookshop.org portal, your proof of purchase will be your ticket to the event.
Orchids! Discussion and Potting Workshop Class
Maybe you fell in love with your first Phalaenopsis a while back and, like some of us, have encountered via YouTube growers of more “exotic” orchids: cattleyas, oncidiums, cycnodes, and others. Challenge your grower’s hand with something new!
Join us for 60 to 90 minutes discussing and potting a selection of lovely exotics. We’ll talk about origins, care needs, and how we might accommodate them in our homes.
Orchids, pots, and medium will be provided. Depending on enrollment, attendees will go home with 2-3 plants. Varieties may include cycnodes, oncicium, cattleya, and phalaenopsis, but specifics will depend on nursery stock.
There will also be books, of course!
$50
You'll be asked to register with our website, which will allow us to record your enrollment.
Please register by Friday, October 24. Minimum enrollment for this event is 10.
Martin Cahill Reads Audition for the Fox Class
Let Martin Cahill read to you from his fantasy debut. Nesi, a would-be acolyte, auditions to serve the Fox, the trickster deity in a pantheon of spirit animals. But the Fox's idea of an appropriate trial uproots Nesi from her own peaceful place and time, and asks her to risk life and limb for justice.
“If you love my worlds, you’re going to love Cahill’s: stunning imagination, daring premises, and deep character dives. A new author to watch.”
—N. K. Jemisin, author of the Broken Earth series
$15 includes purchase of the book at a special price.
You'll be asked to register with our website, which will allow us to record your enrollment.
If you've already bought the book in store or via our portal at Bookshop.org, your proof of purchase will be your ticket.
Martin Cahill has published short fiction in venues including Fireside, Reactor, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, and Nightmare. Cahill’s stories “The Fifth Horseman” and “Godmeat” were respectively nominated for the Ignyte Award and included in The Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2019. He was also one of the writers on Batman: The Blind Cut and a contributor to Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold. Cahill lives in New York. Visit him on the web at https://martintcahill.wordpress.com/.
Past Events & Classes
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!
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.
How We Choose to Show Up: Marcy Axelrod with 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.
Pop-up Talk with Suzanne Uttaro Samuels
We're attending Suzanne's talk on her eagerly anticipated novel, Seeds of the Pomegranate. We have copies at the store too, but if you would like to meet Suzanne she will be signing books at the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage Place, Ridgewood, New Jersey at 2pm. Books will be available at the event.
Fantasy Book Club: The Shattered King by Charlie Holmberg
Nym, a healer in a kingdom on the brink of war, is commanded to resolve the cold crown prince's mysterious ailment, which no other healer has been able to do. Much as she longs to leave the cruel court's twisted ways and return to her family's apiary, she pursues the cure, also finding herself unexpectedly drawn to the prince.
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.
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 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!
