One Book Bradford: Hart Presentation to Conclude Season

This year’s One Book Bradford season will come to a close Wednesday night with a presentation by author Lenore Hart.

Hart, who wrote this year’s One Book Bradford selection – “Becky: The Life and Loves of Becky Thatcher” – will speak at 7:30 p.m. at the Mukaiyama University Room at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

The event is free and open to the public.

Hart will talk about her approach to writing and the story behind the story of “Becky.”

Hart picked up where famed writer Mark Twain left off and carried Becky Thatcher, as well as other characters such as Tom Sawyer, into adulthood.

Hart’s visit will also include a morning session at the Bradford Area Public Library where she and her husband, Bradford native David Poyer, will speak with registered participants about “Then Things Your English Teacher Never Told You About Writing.”

Each year, One Book Bradford seasons end with a visit from the author of the featured reading. Hart’s visit culminates a busy season of activities planned by the One Book Bradford committee.

The season kicked off in true Twain style in October with an autumn cruise on the Chautauqua Belle.

A public book club meeting was held the next month at the Bradford Area Public Library where a discussion took place revolving around the historic events portrayed in the book, the characters’ evolution from childhood icons to adult personalities and the author’s use of another author’s characters.

Twain himself came to town in January through the help of Buffalo, N.Y., personality Mike Randall, who is a noted Twain impersonator, in the show Mark Twain Live!

The Bradford Little Theatre picked up the baton and presented “Never the Twain Shall Meet,” a one-act play by Diane Kerner Arnett.

The play, which depicted the inaugural meeting of a writers’ group, was followed by a talk by Linda Underhill, who spoke about how authors who build on characters created by other authors.

The committee is now accepting suggestions for next season’s One Book Bradford selection. Suggestions will also be taken at Hart’s talk Wednesday night by any OBB committee member.

One Book Bradford, which is in its third season, featured books written by authors Lauren Belfer and David Laskin in its first two seasons.

OBB is a community-wide reading initiative. The committee is composed of members from various local book groups.