Events Calendar

’Tis the season! The Crown meets When Harry Met Sally in the latest heartwarming historical novel from Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, bestselling authors of Last Christmas in Paris, Meet Me in Monaco, and Three Words for Goodbye.

Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author known for her deeply moving historical novels which explore the defining events of the 20th century. A recipient of the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award, her work has since been shortlisted for multiple awards in the UK and Ireland. Her latest novel, The Last Lifeboat, was a Times of London historical novel of the month, shortlisted for the 2023 Irish Book Awards and recipient of the 2024 Audie Award for Best Fiction Narrator. Hazel’s work has been translated into twenty languages and is published in twenty-seven territories to date. She lives in Ireland with her family.

Heather Webb is the award-winning and USA Today bestselling author of ten historical novels, including her most recent The Next Ship Home, Queens of London, and Strangers in the Night. To date, her books have been translated to eighteen languages. She lives in Connecticut with her family and two mischievous cats.

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.

Down Supper with Victoria Granof to celebrate her new cookbook, Sicily, My Sweet! Your ticket includes entrance to the event, a copy of the book, and a four course meal with wine pairings.

A love letter to the iconic and often over-the-top desserts of Sicily, gorgeously styled and endearingly written by Victoria Granof, one of the great tastemakers in the food world. Sicilian pastries are fanciful, bawdy, and brash. They are celebratory, superstitious, and some of the most show-stopping desserts around. Luckily, they are also quite easy to make at home now that Sicilian pistachios, almonds, flour, chocolate, sheep’s milk ricotta, jasmine water, fragrant lemons, and fennel are easier than ever to procure. In Victoria Granof’s expert hands, readers learn to make Meyer Lemon and Bay Leaf Gelato, Schiumone, a frozen mousse of jasmine-scented almond milk, Gela di Melone, a fruit pudding of white melon and orange blossom, and Pasticcini di Pistacchio Con Gelsomino, pistachio and jasmine macarons. ​Full of gorgeous food and location photography, warm and witty headnotes, and expert recipes, Sicily, My Sweet is sure to transport and delight.

Victoria Granof was named one of the most creative and inspiring women in food by Cherry Bombe, and a woman to follow by The Spruce Eats. She is one of today’s most visionary and vibrant culinary artists. (She was also dubbed Cannoli Queen by Bon Appétit.) Her loyal clients include Martha Stewart Omnimedia, Food & Wine, Vogue, Rachael Ray Everyday, Delish, Bon Appétit, Food 52, Epicurious, Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, and the New York Times. She is the author of four cookbooks and has styled or developed scores of others, most recently Please Wait to be Tasted. Victoria is based in Brooklyn, NY.

Down Supper with Victoria Granof to celebrate her new cookbook, Sicily, My Sweet! Your ticket includes entrance to the event, a copy of the book, and a four course meal with wine pairings.

A love letter to the iconic and often over-the-top desserts of Sicily, gorgeously styled and endearingly written by Victoria Granof, one of the great tastemakers in the food world. Sicilian pastries are fanciful, bawdy, and brash. They are celebratory, superstitious, and some of the most show-stopping desserts around. Luckily, they are also quite easy to make at home now that Sicilian pistachios, almonds, flour, chocolate, sheep’s milk ricotta, jasmine water, fragrant lemons, and fennel are easier than ever to procure. In Victoria Granof’s expert hands, readers learn to make Meyer Lemon and Bay Leaf Gelato, Schiumone, a frozen mousse of jasmine-scented almond milk, Gela di Melone, a fruit pudding of white melon and orange blossom, and Pasticcini di Pistacchio Con Gelsomino, pistachio and jasmine macarons. ​Full of gorgeous food and location photography, warm and witty headnotes, and expert recipes, Sicily, My Sweet is sure to transport and delight.

Join us for an In Conversation event with authors Marybeth Whalen and T. I. Lowe! This event is free to the public.

A small Southern town. An ordinary Saturday night. A little boy disappears without a trace. Everyone in Wynotte, North Carolina, knows the name Davy Malcor. Knows the video clip of him juggling four balls, “All at the very same time!” Knows the Marty McFly jacket his mother made for his birthday that he wore proudly, and often. But no one knows what happened to him the night he went missing more than twenty years ago.

When the jacket is unexpectedly uncovered, the cold case reopens, and Davy’s family is thrust into yet another media storm. But at the heart of the story are four people forever changed by one single night: Thaddeus Malcor, Davy’s older brother, created the life of his dreams by writing a bestselling memoir about his family’s experience and is enjoying success and notoriety as a result, even if the memoir doesn’t quite reveal the whole story. Tabitha Malcor, his mother, is divorced and living alone, advocating for victims’ rights and faithfully cataloging her regrets each week, never including her biggest regret of all. Anissa Weaver was just a kid herself when Davy went missing, and her connection to him is one she cannot reveal as she serves as the Malcor family’s Public Information Officer. And, long suspected in Davy’s disappearance, Gordon Swift has kept his head down and scraped together a decent life. But the new attention to the case makes it impossible to hide from the public, and the past.

With hauntingly vivid prose, Marybeth Mayhew Whalen peels back the curtain on the inner turmoil of those who were left behind in the small Southern community as they pick up the pieces that remain and press forward into the light to find hope and healing.

Marybeth Whalen is the author of the forthcoming novel Every Moment Since (out fall of 2024) and nine previous novels. Marybeth received a BA degree in English with a concentration in Writing and Editing from NC State University a long time ago and has been writing ever since. She is the co-founder of The Book Tide, an online community of readers where “a rising tide raises all books.” Marybeth and her husband Curt are the parents of six children, with only one left at home. A native of Charlotte, NC, Marybeth now calls Sunset Beach, NC home.

Sometimes what haunts you most is wondering what could have been.

Avalee Elvis prides herself with being able to fix just about anything. . . except her past. Unable to put the puzzle of her life together, she pours heart and soul into making neglected places whole again. As the owner of Lowcountry Lost, Avalee spends her days in hot-pink Carhartt overalls and a tool belt reclaiming Lowcountry properties. Making them beautiful again releases the deep sigh that soothes the hurt she holds.

Avalee’s latest project takes her to tiny Somewhere, South Carolina, a long-abandoned town. She ignores its ghostly folklore but can’t miss the shock of hearing the familiar Irish brogue that materializes on the job site—the voice of the man she never wanted to see again.

Rowan Murray is a structural engineer hired by investors to oversee the redevelopment of the quaint downtown Avalee is bringing back to life. Once upon a time, he was also the man who knew Avalee better than anyone else—or so he thought. Six years ago, neither of them was prepared for the tragedy they would face together or what would happen in its wake. But as they work together to complete the rehabbing of Somewhere, their broken pieces and the pain that nearly consumed them begin to lose its grip, and both begin to wonder if it’s not too late for a restoration of their own.

From the author of the breakout Southern fiction bestseller Under the Magnolias comes a story of loss and abandonment, forgiveness, and the beauty of undying love.

T. I. Lowe is an ordinary country girl who loves to tell extraordinary stories. She is the #1 international bestselling author of twenty published novels, including her bestselling and critically acclaimed novel, Under the Magnolias, and her debut breakout, Lulu’s Café. She lives with her husband and family in coastal South Carolina.

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.

Sharkpedia is an entertaining and enlightening celebration of sharks featuring close to 100 entries, based on the latest knowledge and enriched by original illustrations. Avoiding tired factoids, shark authority Daniel Abel gives new bite to essential information about sharks, including their adaptations as top predators, 450-million-year evolution, behavioral complexity, ecological importance, existential threats, and often sensationalized appearances in popular culture, from Jaws to Shark Week.

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.

Enjoy 3 uninterrupted hours of silent reading in the M. Judson Gallery space. Your ticket includes snacks, beverages, and most importantly: peace and quiet.

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.

Join us for a free In Conversation event with Clemson professor Dr. Susanna Ashton to discuss her latest book, A Plausible Man, with fellow Clemson professor Dr. Rhondda Thomas.

A Plausible Man: The True Story of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin unfolds as a historical detective story, as Susanna Ashton combs obscure records for evidence of John Andrew Jackson’s remarkable flight from slavery to freedom, his quest to liberate his enslaved family, and his emergence as an international advocate for abolition. This fresh and original work takes us through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the restoration of white supremacy—where we last glimpse Jackson losing his freedom again on a Southern chain gang.

“A Plausible Man is a remarkable piece of historical sleuthing and often a riveting read. Ms. Ashton’s tale is enhanced by the inclusion of numerous photos of people and places important in Jackson’s life.” —Wall Street Journal

“A scholarly detective story about a man who would inspire a world-changing book.” —Kirkus Reviews

Susanna Ashton is a Professor of English at Clemson University. An expert on slavery and freedom narratives, she was a Du Bois fellow at Harvard’s Hutchins Center, a fellow with Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center, and a Fulbright scholar.

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.

Celebrating publication of WHAT I ATE IN ONE YEAR (and related thoughts), by Stanley Tucci. Lifetimes ago, we watched the iconic indie food movie written and directed by Stanley Tucci, Big Night. It’s the story of two Italian brothers (played by Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub), with a restaurant that serves traditional Italian food for a dubious 1960s New York public. Across the street, the guy who’s doing a side of meatballs with everything is killing it. (He’s also married to the stunning Isabella Rossellini.) The solution?

Word gets out that jazz singer Louis Prima is in town, and coming to the brother’s restaurant for a make-or-break dinner to end all dinners— a very big night.

And what a dinner it was. Starting with martinis, ending with a fistfight, with a great big timpano and dancing in the middle. We’ve thought about, loved, and recommended this movie for almost 30 years.

In celebration of Stanley Tucci’s new memoir, WHAT I ATE IN ONE YEAR, we’re recreating the meal from the film, course by loving course.

Join Chef Teryi Youngblood of Camilla Kitchen and Christina Barest of Naked Pasta for a very big night. Each dish will be paired with Italian wines from Mission Grape, and each ticket (or couple’s ticket) includes a copy of the book. Seats are very limited. Conga lines are optional.

Cocktail attire encouraged.

Individual ticket $165

Couples ticket (one book) $300

Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White at Soby’s to celebrate the release of their book, The Author’s Guide to Murder! Your ticket includes entry to the event, a three course lunch, and a signed copy of the book.

Agatha Christie meets Murder, She Wrote in this witty locked room mystery by New York Times bestselling team of novelists: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White. There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead—under bizarre circumstances—in the castle tower’s book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems, the castle has done him in…or, possibly, one of the castle’s guests has. Detective Chief Inspector Euan McIntosh, a local with no love for this literary American show-off (or Americans in general), finds himself with the unenviable task of extracting statements from three American lady novelists. The prime suspects are Kat de Noir, a slinky, sexy erotica writer; Cassie Pringle, a Southern mom of six juggling multiple cozy mystery series; and Emma Endicott, a New England blue blood and author of critically acclaimed historical fiction. The women claim to be best friends writing a book together: a historical novel about the castle’s lurid past and its debauched laird, who himself ended up creatively murdered. But the authors’ stories about how they know Brett Saffron Presley don’t quite line up, and the detective is getting increasingly suspicious. Why did the authors really come to Castle Kinloch? Is the murder of the long-ago laird somehow connected with the playboy author’s unfortunate demise? And what really happened the night of the great Kinloch ceilidh, when Brett Saffron Presley skipped the folk dancing for a rendezvous with death? A crafty locked-room mystery, a pointed satire about the literary world, and a tale of unexpected friendship and romance—this novel has it all, as only three bestselling authors can tell it!

Beatriz Williams is the bestselling author of over a dozen novels, including The Beach at Summerly, Our Woman in Moscow, and The Summer Wives, as well as four other novels cowritten with Lauren Willig and Karen White. A native of Seattle, she graduated from Stanford University and earned an MBA in finance from Columbia University. She lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry. Lauren Willig is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. An alumna of Yale University, she has a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City. Karen White is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-five novels, including Dreams of Falling and The House on Prytania, as well as the Tradd Street mystery series. She currently writes what she refers to as “grit lit”—Southern women’s fiction. She is a graduate of the American School in London and has a BS in management from Tulane University. When not writing, she spends her time reading, singing, and avoiding cooking. She has two grown children and currently lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two spoiled Havanese dogs.

Calling all poets and authors! Hosted by the South Carolina Governor’s School, this monthly open mic night is a great way to showcase your latest writing project. Open to all, sign up at the event for a 5 minute timeslot!

Calling all poets and authors! Hosted by the South Carolina Governor’s School, this monthly open mic night is a great way to showcase your latest writing project. Open to all, sign up at the event for a 5 minute timeslot!

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.