I will be adding recent and past events for a bit of a historic record.

On Thursday May 7th David Grant, author of The Social Profit Handbook, was dynamic, funny, passionate, precise, and inspiring. He spoke to around a dozen people, sold a big stack of books, and everyone left inspired. Thanks to everyone who turned out. Special thanks to Dottie Grant Reed for bringing this about! I guarantee you Carlisle will be affected people reading and sharing his book. Mulan toured the room throughout the event, so I expect Whistlestop's planning and rubrics will be much more effective now.

On Thursday April 2nd, 2015 Adrienne Su read from and signed copies of her newest book of poems, Living Quarters.  "It uses both the structure of a domestic space and the rhythms of the seasons to seek, but not reliably find, order and consolation in life's seeming disorder. Relationships dissolve; deaths come too soon; the past vanishes; the earth that gives beautiful and nourishing foods swallows up the creatures for whom it provides. These poems struggle with that mix of affirmation and destruction, celebrating nature's generosity while trying to make peace with its cruelty."  She was also joined by Dickinson College seniors Nicholas Cardelia and Ann Fogler who spoke about the process of setting poetry to music as they have done with Su's "On Writing."  A standing-room-only crowd had a fine evening of art and craft.

On Saturday, March 28, 2015, Deborah Sweaney, author of the excellent memoir/biography of her father Unpacking Memories, launched her new book of regional history, Up in the Air.  It is a gentle, affectionate, yet penetrating analysis of deep transformations in Holt County, Missouri (the rural northwest of the state) during the 1960s.  An appreciative crowd of family, friends, fans of her earlier book, and colleagues (Deborah is on the Carlisle Area School District school board) gathered for a sunny early afternoon talk and signing.

On Saturday, March 14, 2015, Sherry Knowlton gave a talk, reading, and signing of her debut novel, Dead of Autumn, a thriller set in Cumberland and Perry Counties, which ties in a contemporary mystery and the notorious story of the Babes in the Woods, a real tragedy from the 1930s.  The talk was fascinating, the readings were excellent and well-chosen, and Whistlestop moved many copies to an appreciative audience.  Mulan was constantly on the prowl, probably due to the suspense of the story.

On Wednesday, February 18, 2015, an appreciative crowd listened to Tom Reed of Dickinson College's English Department and Meghan Reedy and Christopher Francese of the College's Classics Department read from current work.  Tom read from a forthcoming novel about Robert Louis Stevenson as a detective, Meghan from a newly-printed chapbook of fiction, and Chris read his recent translations (and the originals) of Catullus.  It was a lovely, lively, and creative evening.

On the late afternoon and early evening of Wednesday, November 12th, students from Dickinson College held a reading of poetry, prose, and creativity in between.  Readers included Madonna Enwe, Noah Fusco, Margaret Wiggins, Brittany Barker, John Kneisley, Joanne Gillian, Talia Amorosano, and Alejandro H.  Mulan checked credentials.  Thanks to Nicola for arranging it!

Eleanor Alspaugh reading and signing her new book, The Mommy-Go-Round , Saturday, October 24, 2014.

Eleanor Alspaugh entertained and moved a capacity crowd by reading and talking about her memoir of raising her children and celebrating her family in a warm, spontaneous, and creative spirit.

Susan Stinson reading and signing her new book, Spider in a Tree, Tuesday, March 18, 2014.