Daral Boles
EVENTS
WHAT’S COMING UP
The Serra is Burning is both a book and a conversation. There is so much to talk about! Join me in the months ahead as we talk about climate change, wildfires, cultural appropriation, medical conundrums, and more. And let me know…
*What’s your favorite Indie bookshop?
*Is there a school or climate club or book group in your area that might be interested in hosting a conversation in person or on zoom? Send me your ideas and any contact info you care to share!
Lehigh Area Book Festival
Saturday, March 28, 11 AM-2 PM
Bethlehem Area Public Library
11 West Church Street
Bethlehem, PA
PAST EVENTS
Chestertown Bookplate Event
Scenes from Chestertown, MD! An unusual event, on many levels! For the talk on March 7, I was joined by a friend and former client of the center Susan Flanigan, who came to Portugal after the fire on her own grief journey. (She worked with another counselor on staff.) Between the two of us, we could offer both client and counselor perspectives on mental health care, on the mountain and the fire, and on Portugal and the Portuguese, accompanied by photographs of the Serra before, during and after the fire. We were guests of Emmanuel Church and sponsored by The Bookplate, a local institution crammed with books, old and new.
After the talk, 50+ guests were treated to a full-on Portuguese snack fest—bread, olives and olive oil on the salty side, and on the sweet-- the famous pasteis de nata, a custard dessert, and other confections made with almonds, coconut, or—wait for it—ones made with beans, and even ones made with spaghetti squash! Inventive, and sweet enough to set your teeth on edge!
As they ate, guests could peruse a beautiful display of Portuguese pottery. Who knew that an Indie bookstore on the Eastern Shore would also import and sell fainça pottery? I’m happy to report that The Serra is Burning is now nestled into the shop’s pottery display in the middle of the stacks. (Can you spot it?)
It’s our hope (that is, Susan’s and mine) that we might get the chance to reprise the event in other settings. Any suggestions? Let me know!
Book Launch Party @ Vine Bar
On December 4, 2025, some 70 of my closest friends and colleagues joined me for a book launch party at the Vine Bar in Lancaster, PA with eco-wine from the Vine Bar collection and a fabulous spread by GEMS Catering. Here’s the text of my THANK YOU to the folks who helped make The Serra happen.
Book publishers will tell you that only a vanishingly small number of book ideas make it to print. The fact that this memoir did is due in no small part to all of you. Every single one of you contributed, whether you knew it or not. Some of you listened to me struggle with the story in real time. You supported me in obvious ways like reading or reviewing but also in less obvious, what I like to think of as ‘community’ ways, creating the ecosystem that nurtured me and by extension, this narrative. In these ways, you are all co-authors, or editors, and this party is as much about you as it is about me.
I’ve said to just about everybody who’s asked that what I hope happens next is conversation, with me, with you, with readers, and on. I’m an ordinary person who experienced an extreme weather event, as the climate scientists call it, and its aftermath. I’m the proverbial canary in the coal mine.
But I’ve also discovered through this experience that I really do believe in resilience. NOT some innate quality measured on a personality assessment, but a muscle exercised by the hard stuff that life hands us, like a wildfire. I want to have conversations about what we can still do about what we have done, climate-wise. I want to talk about what happens to individuals and communities under stress. I want to talk about what it means to be sick and what it means to be well.
But all that is in the future. For now, as I love to do in any gathering, I’m going to urge you to look around. Find someone you don’t know and introduce yourself. I guarantee they are worth getting to know.
I’m also supposed to say that August and Citizen are waiting patiently to help you buy a book! Which I am happy to sign. There are bookmarks here and there; take one as a souvenir or pass it on.
And finally, most importantly, the message of this evening is thank you thank you thank you! Here’s to you, friends, colleagues, neighbors, community. You are the best.
~ Daral Boles
Book Signings
Barnes & Noble, Lancaster, PA
Saturday, March 14
Barnes & Noble, Warwick, RI
Saturday, May 16