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This recording is presented by Princeton Public Library. Author Juda Bennett presents a one-act play, interpreting passages from his new book, "Qtopia: A Memoir of Love, Land, and Liberation," through a staged reading with two actors.

Following the performance, the author discusses the format of presentation, contextualizing it with respect to the transition in the world of book promotion, which has moved from traditional readings to author discussions and how a wholly new format, the book-as-enacted presents a new alternative.

About the Book (from the publisher):
In the 1970s, while communes bloomed like wildflowers across the land, most had no room for queer members. The so-called counterculture still clung to heterosexual norms, even as it preached freedom from traditional gender roles and the nuclear family. Juda Bennett’s engrossing memoir follows his escape from suburbia into the back-to-the-land movement—and chronicles the efforts it took for him to “drop back in” to mainstream society and the ways in which he and his compatriots continued to honor their communal vision.

After enduring the hollow promises of “progressive” communes, Bennett finally found what he didn’t know he was looking for at Lavender Hill, a rural queer commune of visionaries carving out a life beyond heteronormativity, beyond capitalism, beyond shame. They didn’t just survive; they built something messy, luminous, and defiantly alive. And when the commune began to unravel, they didn’t vanish. They evolved. "Qtopia" is a story of chosen family and radical transformation. It is a reminder that queer utopia isn’t behind us—it’s still out there on the horizon, singing its song of joy, defiance, and fabulousness.

About the Author:
Juda Bennett, a professor emeritus of English at the College of New Jersey, is the author of four academic books and numerous essays, short stories, and poems. He is a coauthor of the group memoir "The Toni Morrison Book Club."

Presented by the library's Public Humanities Initiative. Public Humanities programs are presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This event was recorded on October 26, 2026.

This recording is presented in partnership by Princeton Public Library's Public Humanities Initiative, the Historical Society of Princeton, the Morven Museum & Garden and the Princeton Battlefield Society. Author and PBS host Darley Newman, joined by a panel of featured speakers, presents her new book, "Revolutionary Road Trip: Hidden Stories from America's Founding Journey."

About the Book (from the publisher):
Follow along with travel expert Darley Newman as she road trips to hidden Revolutionary-era fortresses, authentic colonial taverns, and battlefields where hallowed ground and lesser-known heroes shaped a nation.

Join award-winning storyteller Darley Newman on a journey through American Revolution sites in national parks, great cities like Charleston and Princeton, and obscure haunts like a colonial tavern in Gettysburg. From lighthearted adventures like tasting Martha Washington’s recipe for Cherry Bounce to an emotional trek with a military historian at Camden Battlefield, Revolutionary Road Trip catalogs oral histories, tales, and truths passed down by generations of guides, community members, and experts whose boots are on the ground at historic locations across the thirteen original colonies. Step into a colonial time machine with Darley for a memorable, beguiling trip! Based on firsthand research and experiences, Darley shares untold stories for an entertaining, enlightening look at the founding of America and why exploring this history is so important.

Mixing delightful and intriguing fact-filled stories with practical travel advice, "Revolutionary Road Trip" is for the curious, intrepid history lover and traveler.

Featured Author:
Darley Newman is an award-winning host, producer, author, and travel expert recognized by Forbes for building a “PBS media empire.” She’s blended world-record feats with purposeful storytelling—from leaping off the world’s highest commercial bungee in Macao to riding horses across Botswana to interviewing civil rights witnesses and small business owners in rural United States. As the creator and host of Travels with Darley, Equitrekking, and Look Up with Darley, she combines travel, history, and narrative to uncover hidden gems across the United States and around the world. A trusted, authentic voice, her series and podcast reach dedicated fans on PBS, Amazon Prime, iHeart, and internationally in more than eighty-five nations. Darley has earned multiple Emmy Award nominations for hosting, writing, producing, and directing. She’s been honored with the North American Travel Journalist Award, Inspiring Woman Award, two Telly Awards, and induction into the Taste Awards Hall of Fame. Having filmed her series in destinations as close to home as New York City and Los Angeles and as far afield as Seoul, Uruguay, and Dubai, she inspires audiences to explore beyond their comfort zones. She is a graduate of The George Washington University.

Panelists:
- Elizabeth Allan, Deputy Director & Curator at Morven Museum & Garden
- Leslie Bramlett, Historical Interpreter at From the Grey Fortress LLC
- Will Krakower, Resource Interpretive Specialist at Princeton Battlefield State Park

Moderator:
Daniel Linke joined Princeton University Library in 1994 after working at the New York State Archives, the University of Oklahoma, and the Cleveland History Center. He has served in leadership roles within Special Collections at both the Mudd Manuscript Library (which he headed from 2002-2019) and Firestone Library (2019-present). In all of his positions, he has worked to increase access to collections by employing modern processing methods, technological innovations, and digitization. Notable projects that he has been a part of include the digitization of the student newspaper and other local publications; the Princeton and Slavery Project; the Princeton Archives, Research, and Collaborative History (ARCH) program; and working with various university initiatives related to campus iconography and history. He has a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts from Case Western Reserve University with a focus on 20th-century political and social history and has also taken doctoral courses in American history at Rutgers University.

Public Humanities programs are presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This event was recorded on October 20, 2026.

This recording is presented in partnership by Princeton Public Library and Labyrinth Books. Bestselling author Chad Harbach is joined by Matthew Thomas to discuss his recently released novel "The Brightness."

About the Book (from the publisher):
From the bestselling author of literary sensation "The Art of Fielding" comes an urgent, deeply felt story of friendship, art, love, and grief, following two young women on the brink of irrevocable change.

Parties and weddings, messy hookups and marred friendships, art and love and grief—"The Brightness" follows the electric, chaotic, everything-can-happen lives of Pella and her best friend, Irma, as they fumble their way out of sleepy, Midwestern Westish College and into a larger world that will upend their connection and everything they thought they understood about their own place within it.

At 27, Pella’s life looks settled: she’s a recent college grad, engaged to Mike, her longtime boyfriend, and helping her friend Owen pull off his own destination wedding on Block Island. But over that wild wedding weekend, Pella’s past and present collide spectacularly, blowing up her plans and sending her spiraling toward an unplanned future in New York City. Meanwhile, back at Westish College, 21-year-old Irma’s involvement with a politically charged prank—one that has roiled both the campus and the world beyond—threatens to derail her brilliant future. As Irma and Pella cycle through possibilities and identities, both navigate the heights and depths of passion and ambition, and the incalculable wages of love and loss.

Energetic, funny, and deeply human, this much-anticipated follow-up to "The Art of Fielding" confirms Chad Harbach as one of the most accomplished and deep-seeing writers of our time.

About the Author:
Chad Harbach is the author of the bestselling novel "The Art of Fielding," which has been translated into more than twenty languages, and a founder of n+1. He was raised in Racine, Wisconsin, and educated at Harvard and the University of Virginia. He lives in Northern California with his son Ansel, and their dog, Curtis.

About the Moderator:
Matthew Thomas’s New York Times bestselling novel "We Are Not Ourselves" was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and the John Gardner Fiction Book Award, longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, the Guardian First Book Award, and the Folio Prize, named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times, named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Apple, and others, and named one of Janet Maslin’s ten favorite books of the year in the New York Times. "We Are Not Ourselves" has been translated into a dozen languages.

This event was recorded on October 25, 2026.

This recording is presented by Princeton Public Library. Anne Fulper reads from "Shards," a collection of personal essays about growing up surrounded by the vases, lamps and pottery created by her grandfather, William Hill Fulper II of Fulper Pottery.

Anne Fulper presents readings from a collection of essays called "Shards," synthesized, as she explains on her website, "from a trifecta of her personal experience":

- writing and performing scathing satire in NYC with The Sleazebuckets and Noh Radio
- working with the chemistry of the glazes at Fulper Tile
- a childhood growing up surrounded by vases, ewers, jugs, planters, lamps, powder boxes, perfume burners, bookends, candlesticks, flower frogs, ashtrays and crocks.

Now these pieces of pottery launch several memoir vignettes about a mid-20th century American family, one of whom takes the pot off the pedestal to tell the tale behind it.

About the Presenter:
Anne Fulper grew up on the Delaware Canal in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in a home dotted with ceramics from her grandfather’s Flemington, New Jersey pottery. Fulper is included in the permanent collection of many U.S. museums including The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Having never known, their “Master Craftsman” grandfather, Anne and her sisters were thrilled to find six notebooks, hidden under the eaves in the attic of the family home, written in their grandfather’s large, fluid scrawl. Here were the secret formulas for the glazes that made Fulper Pottery unique. As a way of connecting to a vanished past and because they knew the look of those glazes down to their bones, they turned those handwritten recipes into the Fulper Tile Company (1985-2000).

Presented by the library's Public Humanities Initiative. Public Humanities programs are presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This event was recorded on October 13. 2026.

This event is presented in partnership by Princeton Public Library and Sustainable Princeton.

Local experts discuss the projects, programs and stewardship efforts underway to support a healthy and resilient community forest.

The event highlights the work happening on the ground, from tree planting and care to restoration, community engagement and other initiatives helping Princeton’s trees thrive.

Speakers:

Will Krakower, Tom Saielli, and Glenn Stach — Princeton Battlefield State Park
Jenny Ludmer — Program Manager, Sustainable Princeton
Deanna Stockton — Municipal Engineer / Deputy Administrator, Municipality of Princeton
Inga Reich, Ph.D. — Open Space Manager, Municipality of Princeton

This recording is presented by Princeton Public Library. Author Lakshmi Sundar reads a selection from "Thin Air, Full Heart."

This reading was recorded as part of Princeton Public Library's Local Author Day 2026, held on October 17, 2026.