Local Author Fair returns to Port Jeff

Local Author Fair returns to Port Jeff

Keynote speaker Isabel Vincent. Photo by Zandy Mangold

Readers of all ages can meet the authors and illustrators of thrillers, short stories, poetry, nonfiction and children’s books and hear about their newest books at the Port Jefferson Free Library’s 3rd Annual Friends of the Library Local Author Fair on Saturday, May 13, from 2 to 4 p.m. The event is free and open to all.

The keynote speaker this year will be author Isabel Vincent who will talk about her newest book, “Dinner with Edward,” at 2:30 p.m. The book is scheduled to be produced into a film version by Donald Rosenfeld, the producer behind “Remains of the Day” and, more recently, “The Tree of Life” and “Effie Gray.”

Vincent is an award-winning investigative reporter for The New York Post and the author of four books, including “Gilded Lily: Lily Safra, The Making of One of the World’s Wealthiest Widows.” The book is the unauthorized biography of the international philanthropist, whose fourth husband, the banker Edmond Safra, died in a mysterious fire in Monaco. Vincent spent several years researching her subject in Brazil, where the book has been banned by a local court.

Vincent is also the author of the award-winning “Bodies and Souls,” which tells the story of impoverished Jewish women from the shtetls of Russia and Poland who were forced into prostitution in South America. Vincent won the National Jewish Book Award (Canada) for her work on “Bodies and Souls,” which has become a primer for activists fighting against sex trafficking around the world today.

Her book on Swiss banks and dormant accounts in the Nazi era — “Hitler’s Silent Partners” — was the recipient of the Yad Vashem Award for Holocaust History, and her first book, “See No Evil,” goes behind the scenes in one of Latin America’s biggest kidnapping cases.

Marketing and outreach librarian at the Port Jefferson Free Library Salvatore Filosa said, “The library strives to provide open access to literature in many forms, one being a showcase of local authors whose works inspire so many people. Keynote Speaker Isabel Vincent’s newest book is truly a beautiful story that has a wide appeal to readers of many genres. Now is your chance to meet the author and gain insight into what it took to write the story. Readers of all ages are invited to find their next favorite book.”

The Port Jefferson Free Library is located at 100 Thompson Street in Port Jefferson. For more information, call 631-473-0022.