Spinner Publications Celebrates 45 Years with Author Series and New Books

Spinner Publications has spent the last 45 years publishing books and calendars about people, places and culture here on the SouthCoast. Spinner is now embarking on a new phase, inviting local authors to speak about their books in a public setting.

Spinner's Joe Thomas and Jay Avila stopped by Townsquare Sunday to discuss the author talk series, and what new books are in the works for the coming year.

A New Chapter for Spinner Publications

Spinner's first author talk happened earlier this month when former Mayor John Bullard spoke about his book Hometown. Thomas said the author interviews have a distinct purpose.

Why Spinner Is Launching Author Talks

"Our mission right now is to promote writing, reading, and authorship as a creative process," Thomas said. "We want to promote the creative art of writing, so we decided to do a series of author talks, not just with our authors, but authors in general."

"We know a lot of people are moving to other media, the internet, podcasts, but we feel its important that people continue to read and write, and we want to be part of that," he said.

Upcoming Author Talks and Featured Writers

Another author talk is planned for June with Ben Shattuck of Dartmouth, author of The History of Sound. Avila said Spinner hopes to schedule another talk between now and June, but nothing is finalized as of yet.

New Books Coming From Spinner Publications

As for new books in the works, Avila said Spinner is working with local singer Candida Rose on her book on Cape Verdean music, and long-time Standard-Times sports writer Buddy Thomas has a book coming out on local sports heroes.

Also in the works: a new book by historian and educator Lee Blake on Black history in New Bedford, and Avila expects a book on Fall River's World War II casualties to be published this year.

You can learn more about Spinner Publications and its mission at spinnerpub.com.

If you would like your organization featured on Townsquare Sunday, please email the host at jim.phillips@townsquaremedia.com.