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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260304T180000
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DTSTAMP:20260226T151219Z
CREATED:20260121T214000Z
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SUMMARY:Oliver James: Unread (NEW DATE)
DESCRIPTION:NEW DATE! Originally scheduled for February 22 but postponed due to weather. \nIf you know BookTok\, then you’ve probably heard of this author! Curious Iguana is excited to host TikTok inspiration Oliver James on Wednesday\, March 4 from 6:00-7:00 pm (doors open at 5:30 pm) at Frederick Book Arts Center to discuss his new memoir Unread. Oliver’s book details his journey of learning to read\, which he boldly shared on TikTok; his story continues to inspire many readers and proves the power of reading is invaluable. Oliver will be in-conversation with Andrew West\, a director at the Literacy Council of Frederick County. Following their conversation\, Oliver will answer questions and sign books. Copies of Unread will be available for purchase at this event. Doors open at 5:30 pm.  \nPlease note: A portion of all book sales at this event will be donated to the Literacy Council of Frederick County. We deeply appreciate all the work they do to provide adults with pathways to essential literacy skills! You can find out more about the Literacy Council’s resources and local impact on their website. \nThis free\, public event is presented in partnership with the Literacy Council of Frederick County and Frederick Book Arts Center. For accessibility requests\, email info@curiousiguana.com at least two (2) weeks prior to the event.  \nAbout the book: As a result of childhood learning disabilities and educational neglect\, Oliver James graduated from high school and became one of approximately 45 million functionally illiterate Americans. However\, at age 32\, with big dreams and few tools to actualize them\, he dedicated himself to learning the key skill that had evaded him his entire life: reading. \nOliver has become a TikTok/BookTok sensation for the way he’s candidly documented his decision to learn to read as an adult\, and his struggles and triumphs along the way. Here\, he tells the full story behind his journey for the first time through the 21 key books that shaped and informed his experience. His story reveals the ways in which reading can teach each of us how to be better\, more empathetic people. \nIn just 365 days\, Oliver went from barely being able to read a restaurant menu to closing in on his goal of finishing 100 books in a year. Unread is a moving reminder to all of us that words and stories have power\, and that\, no matter our past\, it’s never too late to grow. \nAbout the author: Oliver James is a California-based personal trainer\, motivational speaker\, literacy activist\, and influencer. He has been featured in or on Today\, NPR\, Jennifer Hudson Show\, Los Angeles Times\, Newsweek\, Rachael Ray\, and ABC News\, among many others. Additionally\, he is the recent recipient of the 2023 Barbara Bush National Literacy Award. He lives in Costa Mesa\, California. \nAbout the moderator: Andrew West is the Development & Outreach Coordinator for the Literacy Council of Frederick County. He had originally become involved with the Literacy Council in the spring of 2024 as a volunteer tutor and was hired as a full-time staff member in March of 2025. Andrew is passionate about education and literacy\, considers himself a life-long learner and teacher\, and also works as an Instructor for the Literacy Council’s Workplace Literacy program. He supports LCFC’s work of Lifting Lives Through Literacy in the Greater Frederick area by bringing in funds to support the organization and attending community events to raise awareness of their mission in the community.
URL:https://curiousiguana.com/event/oliver-james-unread/
LOCATION:Frederick Book Arts Center\, 127 S Carroll St\, Frederick\, MD\, 21701\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Talk / Signing,Author Talk / Signing|Join Us!
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ORGANIZER;CN="Curious Iguana":MAILTO:info@curiousiguana.com
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260306T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260306T193000
DTSTAMP:20260123T191516Z
CREATED:20251218T221535Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260123T191516Z
UID:10000663-1772821800-1772825400@curiousiguana.com
SUMMARY:Jennifer van der Kleut: The Better Mother
DESCRIPTION:Join us at Frederick Book Arts Center on Friday\, March 6\, from 6:30-7:30 pm for a thrilling evening with author Jennifer van der Kleut as she discusses her debut novel The Better Mother with fellow author Kathleen Barber. Following a surprise pregnancy after a fling with Max\, Savannah decides to reach out to him and his girlfriend\, Madison\, about co-parenting; however\, Madison’s initial excitement turns into obsessive control\, challenging Savannah’s own life plans. Following the discussion\, Jennifer will answer questions and sign books. Copies of The Better Mother will be available for purchase at the event. \nLocation: Frederick Book Arts Center – 127 S Carroll St\, Frederick\, MD 21701 \nThis event is free and open to the public\, presented in partnership with the Frederick Book Arts Center. For accessibility requests\, email info@curiousiguana.com at least two (2) weeks prior to the event. \nAbout the book: A modern spin on Fatal Attraction meets The Hand that Rocks the Cradle\, perfect for fans of The Last Mrs. Parrish. \nStill recovering from a devastating breakup\, 34-year-old Savannah Mitchell has finally managed to put her life back together when she gets the shock of her life—after a brief fling with a man named Max\, she is pregnant. \nWhen she gets in touch to tell him\, he reveals that he’s just gotten back together with his ex\, Madison\, and he will need time to break it to her. Surprisingly\, Madison isn’t upset—in fact\, she’s excited\, and wants to help. \nMax insists Madison has the best of intentions\, but Savannah finds her efforts—popping by uninvited\, demanding lifestyle changes\, and pretty much trying to take over the pregnancy—anything but helpful. When Savannah finally stands up for herself\, Madison’s treatment of her goes from casually cruel to downright dangerous. \nAll Savannah wanted to do was form a friendly co-parenting relationship with the father of her child—but his new girlfriend obviously has much more sinister plans in mind. \nShe has no plans to co-parent at all. \nAbout the author: Jennifer van der Kleut (née McBride) is an award-winning former journalist of both print and digital publications\, including the D.C. affiliate of ABC7 News. A graduate of San Jose State University\, she spent most of her life in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to the Northern Virginia suburbs of D.C.\, where she currently lives with her husband and two sons. For nearly a decade\, she was the lead singer of the Bay Area-based band SweetDuration\, and performed with artists like Jason Mraz\, Big Country\, Chantal Kreviazuk\, and Stabbing Westward. When she’s not writing\, she loves going to the beach with her family\, going to concerts with her girlfriends\, and getting lost in the pages of a book. Jennifer is also an enthusiastic book reviewer on Bookstagram as @‌jennvdk. \nAbout the moderator: Kathleen Barber is the author of Truth Be Told\, which was adapted by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine as an award-winning series on AppleTV+\, Follow Me\, and the forthcoming Both Things Are True and Sisterhood Above All\, and a certified book coach. A graduate of the University of Illinois and Northwestern University School of Law\, she now lives and writes in Washington\, DC\, with her husband and children.
URL:https://curiousiguana.com/event/the-better-mother/
LOCATION:Frederick Book Arts Center\, 127 S Carroll St\, Frederick\, MD\, 21701\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Talk / Signing,Author Talk / Signing|Join Us!
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260314T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260314T150000
DTSTAMP:20260128T191208Z
CREATED:20260128T191208Z
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SUMMARY:L.S. Stratton: Sundown Girls
DESCRIPTION:Calling all young thriller readers! Curious Iguana is excited to welcome bestselling author L.S. Stratton to Urbana Regional Library on Saturday\, March 14 from 2:00-3:00 pm (doors will open at 1:30 pm) to discuss her new YA release\, Sundown Girls! This thrilling story follows Naomi\, a young teen who moves to a small town in Virginia with her family\, only to find that the trauma of the past doesn’t stay hidden forever. L.S. Stratton will discuss her work with local author Charlene Thomas\, then answer questions and sign books. Copies of Sundown Girls will be available for purchase at the event.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis event is free and open to the public\, presented in partnership with the Frederick County Public Library. For accessibility requests\, email info@curiousiguana.com at least two (2) weeks prior to the event. \nAbout the book: In the tradition of Jordan Peele and Tiffany Jackson’s The Weight of Blood\, a YA thriller about a Black teen whose fight for survival forces a small southern vacation town to face its dark history of racial violence. \nWhen sixteen-year-old Naomi Ward and her family head to a secluded cabin in the Shenandoah Valley for summer vacation they don’t know the small\, mountain town of Sparksburg\, Virginia has a dark and twisted past. But when they arrive\, Naomi can’t shake the feeling that something about Sparksburg just isn’t right—and it smells god awful\, but for some reason Naomi is the only one who can smell the town’s stench. When she learns Sparksburg had once been a Sundown Town—a town where Black people weren’t allowed after sunset lest they be murdered—Naomi’s unease starts to make sense. \nAs Naomi digs more into Sparksburg’s violent origins\, she finds herself haunted by the ghost of a girl\, appearing nightly outside her window. Then she learns of two girls who’ve recently gone missing and suspects the past may still be present in Sparksburg and beneath the quaint façade of this tourist town is a palpable danger. \nWhen Naomi decides to track the disappearance of the two girls herself\, she becomes suspicious of a local man who has kindled fear in Naomi more than once. She soon learns he has a connection to one of the missing girls\, and Naomi is certain he’s responsible for the disappearances. \nWhen no one believes her\, Naomi takes matters into her own hands. But to save the missing girls\, she’ll have to finally face her own past trauma as a “missing girl” as she finds herself in a fight for survival. \nGripping and triumphant\, L.S. Stratton tells an important and unforgettable story of racial reckoning inspired by historical events. \nAbout the author: L.S Stratton is an NAACP-Image Award-nominated author and former newspaper crime reporter who has written more than thirty books under different pen names in just about every genre from thrillers to romance to historical fiction. She currently lives in Maryland with her husband\, their daughter\, and their tuxedo cat. \nAbout the moderator: Charlene Thomas started writing when she was a little girl because she has a tendency to love telling stories just as much as she loves living them. She was sixteen when she wrote a manuscript that won the National Novel Silver Award from Scholastic Books\, and went on to minor in creative writing at North Carolina State University. Charlene’s debut novel\, Seton Girls\, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was deemed “a timely examination of consent\, power\, and who owns the rights to the truth” by Kirkus Reviews. Her sophomore novel\, Streetlight People\, released November 2024 and was deemed “Ray Bradbury-esque” in Publishers Weekly’s starred review. Her third novel\, It’s You Every Time\, released May 2025 and has been featured in Kirkus Reviews and praised by Booklist and School Library Journal. When Charlene isn’t writing\, she’s a marketer – having worked on brands at PepsiCo\, Diageo\, and Danone. She earned her MBA from Emory University\, a Certificate in Digital Marketing from Cornell University\, and a Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing from The University of Cambridge.
URL:https://curiousiguana.com/event/stratton/
LOCATION:Urbana Regional Library\, 9020 Amelung St\, Frederick\, Maryland\, 21704\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Talk / Signing,Author Talk / Signing|Join Us!
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ORGANIZER;CN="Curious Iguana":MAILTO:info@curiousiguana.com
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260318T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260318T193000
DTSTAMP:20260311T203923Z
CREATED:20260102T180023Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260311T203923Z
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SUMMARY:SOLD OUT! Erik Larson: The Demon of Unrest
DESCRIPTION:This event is sold out and at capacity. You can join the waitlist by visiting the ticket link below.\n\nWe are excited to welcome New York Times bestselling author Erik Larson to Frederick on Wednesday\, March 18\, from 6:30-7:30 pm at the Downtown Community Room at ERUCC in Downtown Frederick. Erik will be discussing his bestseller\, The Demon of Unrest. Following his talk\, Erik will answer questions and sign books. Copies of The Demon of Unrest and additional backlist titles will be available for purchase at the event.  \n\n\n\nTickets are required to attend this event are and can only be purchased by clicking HERE. There are 2 ticket options\, each including a paperback copy of The Demon of Unrest with admission. Books purchased as part of a ticketed bundle and books purchased at events are non-returnable. \nFor accessibility requests\, email info@curiousiguana.com at least two (2) weeks prior to the event. \nAbout the book: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Splendid and the Vile offers a gripping account of the run-up to the Civil War in this “riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult” (Los Angeles Times). \n“This is Erik Larson at his best . . . an irresistible thriller.”—The Wall Street Journal \nMaster storyteller Erik Larson brings to life the pivotal five months between Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860 and the Confederacy’s shelling of Fort Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications\, enflamed egos and craven ambitions\, personal tragedies and betrayals. At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson\, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin\, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut\, wife of a prominent planter\, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln\, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State\, William Seward\, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750\,000 Americans. \nDrawing on diaries\, secret communiques\, slave ledgers\, and plantation records\, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late. \nAbout the author: Erik Larson is the author of six New York Times bestsellers\, including The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill\, Family\, and Defiance During the Blitz\, which examines how Winston Churchill and his “Secret Circle” went about surviving the German air campaign of 1940-41. Larson’s The Devil in the White City is set to be a Hulu limited series; his In the Garden of Beasts is under option by Tom Hanks for a feature film. He recently published an audio-original ghost story\, No One Goes Alone\, which has been optioned by Chernin Entertainment\, in association with Netflix. His Thunderstruck has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television for a limited TV series. Larson lives in Manhattan with his wife\, who is a writer and retired neonatologist; they have three grown daughters.
URL:https://curiousiguana.com/event/erik-larson-the-demon-of-unrest/
LOCATION:Downtown Community Room at ERUCC\, 15 W Church St\, Frederick\, MD\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Talk / Signing
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260326T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260326T170000
DTSTAMP:20260320T210909Z
CREATED:20260128T192608Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260320T210909Z
UID:10000709-1774540800-1774544400@curiousiguana.com
SUMMARY:Amy S. Hansen: Wanda Hears the Stars
DESCRIPTION:Join Curious Iguana at C. Burr Artz Library on Thursday\, March 26 from 4:00-5:00 pm for an event with children’s author Amy S. Hansen. Amy will read her book Wanda Hears the Stars and perform a fun science demonstration! Following her reading\, Amy will answer questions and sign books. Copies of Wanda Hears the Stars will be available for purchase at the event. \nThis event is free and open to the public\, presented in partnership with the Frederick County Public Library. For accessibility requests\, email info@curiousiguana.com at least two (2) weeks prior to the event. \nAbout the book: A nonfiction picture book biography of astrophysicist Wanda Díaz Merced and how losing her sight didn’t stop her from studying the stars. \nGrowing up in Puerto Rico\, Wanda Díaz Merced wanted to learn everything she could about the stars. But in college she started losing her sight. How could she study what she couldn’t see? \nWanda found a way. She learned to hear the stars using sonification\, which converts data into sounds. Listening to those chimes and drumbeats\, she made new discoveries about the universe. \nToday Wanda is a leading advocate for inclusive science. She and her friend Amy S. Hansen collaborated on this book to inspire children to follow their curiosity no matter the challenges. As Wanda urges\, “Never give up!” \nAbout the author: Amy S. Hansen is an award-winning author of more than than thirty-five books\, most of them about science. She and Wanda met when Wanda first arrived at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Amy was astounded when she tried listening to Wanda’s data! The two friends decided to write a book together to inspire all readers to find a path to success. Amy lives with her family in Maryland.
URL:https://curiousiguana.com/event/amy-s-hansen/
LOCATION:C. Burr Artz Public Library\, 110 E Patrick St\, Frederick\, MD\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Talk / Signing,Author Talk / Signing|Join Us!
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ORGANIZER;CN="Curious Iguana":MAILTO:info@curiousiguana.com
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