Book & Author Luncheon Speakers Announced

The General Federation of Women’s Club Women’s Club of South County announces the featured speakers for its 19th annual Book & Author luncheon, to be held Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 11:30 am, at the Dunes Club in Narrangansett. The three acclaimed and award-winning authors are:

Hank Phillippi Ryan will discuss Say No More: A Jane Ryland Novel, about Boston reporter Jane Ryland who reports a hit and run but who soon learns she saw more than a car crash. She has witnessed the collapse of an alibi, and now she's under pressure to tell all to the police. She's also digging up the inside scoop for an expose of sexual assaults on Boston's college campuses for the station's new documentary unit, but a disturbing anonymous message--SAY NO MORE--has her truly scared.

Hank Phillippi Ryan is the bestselling author of ten award-winning suspense novels that have garnered such prizes as the Agatha award and the Mary Higgins Clark award. Say No More has received the Library Journal’s Best of 2016 award. Ryan is also an award-winning investigative reporter at Boston's WHDH-TV. In addition to 34 EMMYs and 14 Edward R. Murrow awards, she has won dozens of other honors for her ground-breaking journalism.

Marianne Leone will discuss Ma Speaks Up: And a First-Generation Daughter Talks Back. The book is a record of growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, with the wrong family, in the wrong religion. Though Marianne’s girlhood is flooded with shame, it is equally packed with adventure, love, great cooking, and, above all, humor.

Marianne Leone is an actress, screenwriter and essayist. She had a recurring role on HBO’s “Sopranos” as Joanne Moltisanti, Christopher’s (Michael Imperioli’s) mother. She has also appeared in films by John Sayles, Nancy Savoca and Martin Scorsese.

Rachel Kadish will speak about The Weight of Ink, a novel about two women of remarkable intellect living in London but separated by centuries: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who serves as a scribe for a blind rabbi in the 1660s just before the plague hits the city, and Helen Watt, an ailing historian living in the early 2000s who has a love of Jewish history. Each woman finds she must make choices and sacrifices in order to reconcile the life of the heart and mind.

Rachel Kadish is the author of two award-winning novels, the novella I Was Here, and work that has appeared on NPR and in the New York Times, Ploughshares, and Tin House. Among her many honors are a Koret Award, a Pushcart Prize, and citations in the 1997 and 2003 editions of The Best American Short Stories.

Local celebrity, Michaela Johnson, will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies

The Book and Author luncheon is the WCSC’s major fundraiser. Proceeds benefit the organization’s Scholarship Fund for southern Rhode Island’s women in need and the WCSC’s GROW Hope Community Grants fund that benefits local nonprofit organizations working to enhance life in South County in four areas: education, social services, the arts, and conservation

Tickets are $65 per person, $30 which is tax deductible. Attendees have the option of becoming a benefactor by paying $100 per ticket, $70 of which is tax deductible. Benefactors will have their names listed in the program. Tickets are available via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/19th-book-and-author-luncheon-july-11-2018-tickets-43345688120

The WCSC is a 501 (c)(3) (nonprofit) membership organization devoted to helping Southern Rhode Islanders in need. The Club invites and welcomes new members who want to “live the volunteer spirit.” For more information, visit https://www.gfwcri.org/ on your laptop or tablet and click on South County or call (401) 287-4392.