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Meet the Author: Fred Sokol

Fred Sokol will share his latest book Harry.

Harry was just a year out of college when he tried taking census in New York City's Lower East Side during the summer of 1970. He was sweaty and he tied a bandana around his head to keep his long hair from falling over his eyes. Harry loved music almost as much as he loved Carolyn, whom he felt he'd known forever. He was cool and she was pretty: a match.

He immediately grew close to apartment dwellers on Houston Street who took him in and would remain forever friends. Edison, the eclectic multi-instrumentalist, became a go-to guru for Harry. The kids could sing and that excited Edison. He was pivotal in pushing Harry and Carolyn, young yet in love, to marry.

Moab, Utah, land of Arches, beckoned Harry and Carolyn. Years later, one of their daughters lived there while everyone else in the family was back East. The topography, rock formations in browns and reds, could not be duplicated and these stunning scenes cast mesmerizing spells. Much, much later, Harry and Carolyn, now in their early sixties, would briefly return.

A troubled Harry gradually admitted to himself that his memory was no longer sharp - and he was worried to the point to panic. He sought Edison and his old friends and his daughters and, of course, Carolyn. On his better days though, he would neither give in nor give up.

Fred Sokol, in semi-retirement, writes novels and plays, including the novels,Silverbirch Summer, Destiny, Mendel and Morris and the scripted work The Forever Boys and The Lewis Sisters. Fred also continues to review professional theater in Connecticut and the Berkshires for talkinbroadway.com. He co-authored Muses in Arcadia: Cultural Life in the Berkshires. Fred enjoyed four decades as a community college and college professor—and directed 45 theater productions. Fred and his wife, Betsy, live in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.

Earlier Event: January 10
Pearl Street Matinee
Later Event: January 11
Taste Testers