This acclaimed new novel serves as the last will and testament of an unnamed narrator, a Sri Lankan immigrant who cons his way through American society before ending up incarcerated in a Dutchess County prison.

Sunday, June 16: In her debut memoir, local author Lorraine Salmon turns tragedy into triumph by writing about it. If this sounds like a simplistic prescriptive for grief, it might be just that. Sometimes magic is simple.

Tuesday, June 11: Her own “journey of faith” begins more with Lucas’ Jedis and the Force than with her beloved clergyman father. Spiritual Rebel: A Positively Addictive Guide to Finding Deeper Perspective & Higher Purpose should be taken as a book of big ideas and not dismissed as another hyperbolic non-Western panacea for Western anxiety and emptiness.

Saturday, June 15: Throughout the day, from 9:45 a.m. to 5 p.m., 15 authors of recently published books that draw upon the Roosevelt Library archives or focus on the FDR era will present book talks followed by question-and-answer sessions and book-signings.

Wednesday, May 22: It is agents, not publishers, who read unsolicited manuscripts. Jeff Herman will discuss this and other aspects of the publishing industry at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck.

Saturday, May 4: This free showcase of literature for children and young adults is one of the biggest book festivals in the State of New York.

Saturday, April 27: Here are some of the one-day specials being offered at Oblong Books & Music in Millerton and Rhinebeck on Independent Bookstore Day: Free while supplies last, Oblong will be handing out copies of Atlas Obscura Literary Locations by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras and Ella Morton and Poems to Keep in Your Pocket, a hardcover mini-book of classic poems by Kipling, Wordsworth, Pope, Shakespeare, Dickinson and more.