Meet Authors, Buy Books All Summer Long at Hamptons Bookstores

What does the East End have in relative abundance (other than beaches, shopping and fine dining)? Bookstores! You hardly have to leave the comforts of your own quaint village to get to one. You certainly don’t have to leave your town. And as a playground for the rich and fabulous, the Hamptons has, also in relative abundance, great bookstore events. Certainly the only thing better than casually searching the stacks at your local bookstore for the perfect book is getting to meet an author of a book you already love, or will come to love.

BookHampton, at 41 Main Street in East Hampton (631-324-4939 bookhampton.com), has an impressive slate of visitors week after week. Southampton’s Jennifer Ash Rudick will discuss the enduring appeal of shingled houses, modernist oceanfront designs, artists’ compounds, Montauk surf shacks and her new coffee table book, Out East, on Friday, July 7. Montauk fishermen John Aldridge and Anthony Sosinksi will talk about the harrowing tale of being lost at sea in the middle of the night, which is the subject of their book, A Speck in the Sea on Thursday, July 13. Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni will read from and discuss After Andy: Adventures in Warhol Land, in which she recounts her experience working in Andy Warhol’s Studio, and explores Warhol’s influence–during his life and forever after–on the art world, pop culture, society, fashion and how his iconic status gave rise to some of our most influential tastemakers today. New York Times best-selling and perennial beach-read author Dorothea Benton Frank will visit Saturday, August 5 to read from and discuss Same Beach, Next Year. One of the most prominent sportswriters in America, Mike Lupica, will read from his newest Middle Grade novel, Point Guard, on Saturday, Ausgust 6 at 4 p.m. Closing out the summer, Colson Whitehead, winner of the National Book Award AND the Pulitzer Prize for his latest novel The Underground Railroad, visits Saturday, September 2 at 5 p.m.

Southampton Books, at 16 Hampton Road (631-283-0270, southampton-books.com) On Saturday, July 15 Matt Klam and former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will take a break from the Southampton Writers Conference to visit to discuss there new books, Who Is Rich and The Rain in Portugal, respectively. Jill Santopolo comes Friday, July 21 to read from her devastatingly romantic debut, The Light We Lost. If you haven’t had too much of politics by July 28 you won’t want to miss Alvin S Felzenberg discuss his new nonfiction book, A Man and His Presidents: The Political Odyssey of William F Buckley Jr.

Over in Sag Harbor, Canio’s (631-725-4926, canios.wordpress.com) Leigh Gallagher will discuss what is sure to be of particular interest to local renters, landlords and lawmakers alike on Saturday, July 8: Her nonfiction book The Airbnb Story, a behind the scenes look into the creation and growth of the online lodging platform. On Saturday, July 22 Cheryl Boyce Taylor will read from her new poetry collection, Arrival. Colson Whitehead gets behind the Canio’s lectern Saturday, August 12 to read from and discuss The Underground Railroad. The anarchists among us will want to be at Canio’s on Tuesday, August 22 at 5 p.m. when historian and folk musician Stephen Sanfilippo discusses Sacco and Vanzetti on the 90th anniversary of their execution by electric chair.

As always, make sure to shop at your LOCAL bookstore!