The Sleeping Giant Reading Series brings writers and book lovers together on the third Thursday of the month. In the long shadow of Hamden’s Sleeping Giant, writers of every kind gather to hear professional readings, raise a glass, network, and support one another’s work. All are welcome, whether you’re a scribbler who hasn’t yet dared to call yourself a “writer” or an experienced published author.

Curated by local writers Alice Mattison, Sandi Shelton (aka Maddie Dawson), Kathy Czepiel, and Heather Jessen, the Sleeping Giant Reading Series happens every third Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Best Video Film and Cultural Center in Hamden, Connecticut. The Sleeping Giant Reading Series is free to attend. Donations at the door for our guest readers are always appreciated.

Rebecca Chace’s Talking to the Wolf has just been published. Booklist has called it“brilliant, heartbreaking, and hopeful. . . a deeply empathetic novel with friendship at its core.” Rebecca’s previous novels are Leaving Rock Harbor—a New York Times Editor’s Choice, New England Books Award Finalist, and Indie Notable Book—and Capture the Flag, the subject of an award-winning film. She’s also written two memoirs. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Yale Review, LA Review of Books, Guernica, LitHub, The Brooklyn Rail, Bookpost, and many other publications.

Doug Hood, born in Michigan, is a retired Lecturer in Neurology at Yale University who now does clemency work for the incarcerated at York Correctional Institute. His book Daughter of Song was featured in The New York Times Book Review, NPR (Colin McEnroe), Yale Medicine, Connecticut Magazine and the Phnom Penh Post. He lives in North Haven with his wife and two children.