PATRIOT LEDGER – South Shore authors gathered outside Cohasset’s Buttonwood Books & Toys on Saturday, June 12, for a Local Authors Signing Day.
Caroline Kautsire, of Weymouth, participated in the signing event promoting her memoir, “What Kind of Girl?” Kautsire published her memoir last year and is working on her second book, “Some Kind of Girl,” a sequel to her first memoir.
Before the event, Kautsire said she wanted to chat with visitors about what they will find while reading her memoir, which discusses the issue of gender and Malawian tradition.
“It’s one thing to give the book to the world, but the people have to respond to it,” Kautsire said. “And so a lot of people have been very supportive lately.”
Gail Gilman, of Mansfield, a props designer for theater productions, attended the event and said she met Kautsire about 10 years ago through theaters where she has worked and Kautsire has performed.
“She’s a phenomenal actress,” Gilman said. “We have so much fun. She’s always the life of the party. To know what she’s gone through to get here is just amazing and inspiring for all women.”
Cohasset author Debbie Cook attended the book signing event with her first published book, “Parted Water,” which explores an idea Cook heard in 2004 when she was listening to NPR about the Free State Project in Grafton, New Hampshire.
“They were going to come and take over a town and run it without laws and without regulations, and actually I was envisioning what would happen if that did happen,” Cook said. “Turns out it did happen, but I didn’t even know that before I finished the book.”
Cook said “almost everything” in her book is based on truth or real people she knows.
The event also featured previously published Stoughton author Ken Spears, who was promoting his latest book, “The Flowers of Peggotty Beach.”
Spears said the idea for this book, a coming-of-age story which follows the life of two cousins who vacation together after a family tragedy, came to him while on vacation in Alaska a couple of years ago.
Michelle McGrath, of Scituate, featured her cookbook, “The Creative Table,” at the event. The idea for the cookbook came to McGrath during the pandemic and is full of recipes she has made as a home cook.
“They’re things that I’ve originated in my kitchen, often from what I already have in the house for local ingredients, because I think it’s really important to support local,” McGrath said, “whether it be a bookstore or with the food that you cook at home and the produce that you cook with.
The children’s authors featured at the event were Elaine Kiklis, of Scituate, who presented her book, “The Farmer’s Promise”; Hingham author Jeff Michaelson, who wrote “Thistle’s Magical Whistle”; Weymouth author Mary Clair, who published “Bunnies Don’t Box”; Frank DeGiacomo, of Norwell, with “The Legend of the Chocolate Cows”; and Scituate Argentinian author Conor Detwiler, who was presenting “Light, Bright Light.”
By Jenna Manto, photos by Robin Chan
