Free events at Milford Readers & Writers Festival – The Pike County Courier

Free events at the fifth annual Milford Readers and Writers Festival on Sept. 17 and 18 will be eclectic.

A program on the Future of YA in the Age of Book Banning will be sponsored by the Pike County Public Library on Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. The panel will be facilitated by Rachel Goldstein, featuring John Thompson, Melinda Michael and Kim Girratano.

Science fiction enthusiasts may want to attend Choose Your Reality at the Columns Museum. Experts include Karen Heuler, moderator, with Alex Shvartsman, C.D.E. Cooney, Nicholas Kaufmann and Randee Dawn. Their work evokes an array of realities. This session is scheduled for Sept. 17 starting at 11 a.m.

On Sunday, Sept. 18, the schedule is full of options. Starting at 11 a.m. Two Gentlemen of Milford will feature a conversation between film historian John DiLeo and author Richard C. Morais. They will talk about writing, publishing, fiction and nonfiction, art and entertainment and the journey of books-to-film.

For those interested in the paranormal, Haunted History and Ghost Hunting will be on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Waterwheel Café, Bakery & Bar. Jennifer Ziegler will be moderating a conversation between Bobby J. Gallo and Eleanor Wagner about haunted history and ghost hunting techniques.

Three programs on Sunday at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church start with Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington, featuring author James Kirchick and Sean Strub. Then Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching author Paula Giddings converses with NAACP official Christa Caceres. The third program will be a discussion between Steven W. Thrasher, author of The Human Toll When Equality and Disease Collide, and Edson Whitney. These programs begin at 11 a.m. and run through 5 p.m.

Stop by the bookstore at St. Patrick’s Church Hall over the weekend to meet guest speakers and authors and purchase their books.