Author Events

Did you know we have the biggest, number one author event series in the country? Each month the St. Louis County Library Foundation brings bestselling and award-winning authors from a variety of genres to the library, offering readers exclusive opportunities to meet and engage with their favorite writers.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Seating is limited; early arrival is highly recommended. Books for signing will be available for purchase at the events. For more information, please call 314-994-3300.

Ticketed Events   June Events    July Events     August Events

By Audience
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"Play Harder" book cover and color author photo

Gerald Early

Award-winning author Gerald Early, in collaboration with the National Baseball Hall of Fame, presents an authoritative exploration of how Black Americans have shaped baseball. No sport has been more associated with American identity than baseball. And no professional sport in America has been as dramatically connected to social change. “Play Harder” showcases the Black stars of the game—from its emergence after the Civil War to the Negro Leagues and Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier, up to today’s game. Playing out against the cultural and political events of 150 years, the story bears witness to the richness of this country’s diversity while remaining clear-eyed about the racial injustice endured by Black Americans.

Tuesday, July 22, 2025
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Clark Family Branch
"Paradiso" book cover and color author photo

Mary Jo Bang

National Book Critics Circle Award-winning poet, Mary Jo Bang shares the conclusion of her celebrated translation of Dante Alighieri's “The Divine Comedy.” Translating “The Divine Comedy” was an ambitious twenty-year undertaking for Bang. There have been very few translations of the entire work by women, and no other translation has made the trilogy quite as readable and fun by bringing Dante into a twenty-first century vernacular while remaining faithful to the epic narrative of the trilogy.

Thursday, July 24, 2025
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Clark Family Branch
"Not Quite Dead Yet" book cover and color author photo

Ticketed Event: Holly Jackson

The #1 bestselling author of “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder”—now a hit Netflix series—presents her debut adult thriller. Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin–until a violent attack leads to a catastrophic head injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, the injury will trigger a deadly aneurysm. She has at most seven days to live, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to solve her own murder.

Monday, July 28, 2025
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Clark Family Branch
"The Aviator and the Showman" book cover and color author photo

Laurie Gwen Shapiro

In 1928, a young hobby pilot named Amelia Earhart arrived in the office of George Putnam. Heir to a publishing empire and a “hitmaker,” Putnam was on the hunt for the right woman for a secret flying mission across the Atlantic. Earhart and Putnam’s ahead-of-its-time marriage supported her grand ambitions—but also pressed her into more and more treacherous publicity stunts, including her final flight. Earhart is a captivating figure, but the truth about her life is often overshadowed by myth and legend. Laurie Gwen Shapiro emphasizes Earhart’s multifaceted human side: her struggles, aspirations, and the compromises she made to fit into societal expectations.

Tuesday, July 29, 2025
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Clark Family Branch
"Angel Down" book cover and color author photo

Daniel Kraus

Bestselling author of “Whalefall,” Daniel Kraus presents an immersive, cinematic novel about survival, supernatural wonder, and moral conflict. Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of World War I through his wits and deception. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four other grunts are given a deadly mission: venture into the perilous No Man’s Land to euthanize a wounded comrade. What they find amid the ruined battlefield, however, is not a man in need of mercy but a fallen angel. This celestial being may hold the key to ending the brutal conflict, but only if the soldiers can suppress their inner jealousy, greed, and paranoia.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Clark Family Branch
"The Last Carolina Summer" book cover and color author photo

Karen White

Beloved novelist Karen White shares a captivating Southern drama about sisterhood, secrets and one woman’s reckoning with the past. As a child, Phoebe developed the gift of premonition after she was struck by lightning in the creek near her Charleston home. Plagued throughout her life by mysterious dreams, and always living in the shadow of her beautiful sister. Phoebe eventually moves as far from her family as possible. Now, years later, she is summoned home to help care for their ailing mother. But the longer Phoebe spends in her childhood home, the more her recurring nightmares intensify—bringing her closer to a shocking truth.

Monday, August 4, 2025
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Clark Family Branch